Page 19 of Knox

He ran the light up the bar and saw that the angle ended at the broken joint of an electrical conduit that ran under the counter. It had broken off on one end and stabbed poor Tori when the counter fell.

“Stay still now,” he said and reached over her to the joint. He held the conduit steady with one hand. With his other hand, he gave the metal connector that held the conduit to the wall a good wrench, and it broke free.

Tori cried out, but mostly from fear, as he hadn’t moved the conduit. But now the conduit hung loose, two feet protruding from her leg.

He had to stabilize the impalement, keep it from ripping out of her leg before medical help came.

If it came.

Certainly, Rafe and Katherine knew where Tori had gone. They just had to hunker down and wait, right?

He flashed the phone around, and the light crested over the debris of the costume rack, tangled in metal and crushed under the cement. Reaching his hand through the opening, he yanked out a blouse.

This could work.

“Tori. This might hurt a little—” No, actually, a lot, but he didn’t want to scare her. “I’m going to just wrap this around your leg, okay?”

Tori’s wide eyes clung to him like he might be a superhero. But he felt like a villain as she cried out, as he wrapped her leg tight with the body of the shirt, cutting off some of the blood supply, then securing the bar with the arms, coiled twice, then also around her leg.

Please, let this hold. Because her breathing was shallow and fast, and she might be going into shock. He placed his big hand on her little cheek and bent his head close to hers. “I’m going to get us out of here. Just hang on, honey.”

She nodded.

“I’ll be right back.”

He wanted to weep when she pressed her hand over his. But he scooted away and back to Kelsey. She had replaced her hand over her face, and he leaned to her ear. “Kelsey, I need you. Tori is really hurt. Wake up, please. Come back.”

She didn’t move, and he blew out a breath. Maybe she, too, was in shock. Which meant he had two people to rescue, and pronto.

He couldn’t wait for the dogs or the SAR teams or whoever might be digging through the rubble to get to him sometime in the next twelve hours.

Knox shined the light up the falling ceiling joist to the floor above, then taking a breath, shimmied up alongside it so he could make out the damage.

When the joist fell, it had left a crawl space, and when he flickered his light into it, he made out the hallway. Beyond that, to his recollection, lay the expanse of the arena.

“Hello! We’re in here!”

His voice echoed into the darkness.

He crouched back down. Closed his eyes.

Could use a little help here, Lord.

At leasthewasn’t hurt.

He took a look at Kelsey, then over to Tori.

Tori first.

He’d have to climb the ceiling joist. It was girded by smaller crisscrossed beams, almost like a ladder, but if he found a way to secure Tori, he could probably hoist her up to the next floor. Drag her out through the crawl space.

If the beam didn’t collapse.

He crawled under it to Tori. Took her hand, his heart thumping.

“Okay, listen. You’re so brave, Tori, and I need you to be braver. I’m going to get you out of here, but I need to figure it out, okay?” He needed a board, or something—

A scream filled the room and he jerked, slammed his head on the counter.