They were silent for several moments.
"Anyway," she said. "I'm sorry — for everything."
He felt a rush of feeling for her and realized that it had been some time since he had felt like that.
"Let me ask you one thing," he said. "When we first met — that interview and everything — was that set up?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, were you told to meet me? Were you operating under some kind of instructions?"
She put her arm on his. "No. You came to me, remember?"
"Yeah, that's what I can't figure out."
"I liked you the moment I saw you. But I'll tell you this — I think that somebody was pulling strings, that somehow it was arranged for us to meet."
"But why?"
"Maybe they were worried about you, maybe they wanted to keep an eye on you — after all, Skyler had already escaped. Maybe they knew he would try to contact you."
"I've thought of that. But it doesn't make sense. They could have just bumped me off — they don't seem adverse to doing that kind of thing."
"That's a pretty extreme step. And it's messy — it brings in the police."
"Okay. But then why send a spy who's ignorant of her mission?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why send a spy who doesn't report back? Unless, of course, you have been reporting back."
Tizzie looked at him, her eyes blazing.
"I suppose I deserve that. But I want you to know — it's just not true. I think that was their plan. But the moment I met Skyler and we all began figuring out the truth, there was no possibility. Don't ever think that — not for one moment. I would never do something like that."
Jude believed her — something in her tone convinced him. And he liked the fact that she didn't turn contrite but angry.
"That whole business about being a researcher in twins studies — that was true?" he asked.
"Of course. I couldn't bluff something like that. And I wouldn't."
"Quite a coincidence."
"Not really. I was always attracted to that research, lost twins and all that. And now, of course, I know why — somehow I knew deep down I had one."
He waited half a second before asking the next question.
"Tell me," he said. "When we went for dinner that first time, when we went to Brighton Beach, when we made love — all that was real, wasn't it? I mean, none of it was scripted?"
"Of course not. They just brought us together — like two little protozoa in a petri dish. They just let nature take its course. — My God," she suddenly exclaimed. "I never thought of this. They had reason to think we'd fall for each other. Because that's what happened to Sklyer and Julia. They knew what would happen. We were like… puppets."
Jude looked at her; she was attractive, anyone would find her so. But he refused to believe that his feelings for her could have been determined by someone else ahead of time.
He thought he heard a sound way off in the distance, but he didn't mention it.
He took her in his arms. She yielded and placed her head into his shoulder. They stayed like that for some minutes, until she drew back, wiping her eyes with her wrist.
"You're right about one thing," he said. "The people we're dealing with here—whoever they are — they're powerful. They think they're invincible. We can fight them, and the odds aren't in our favor. But we've got one thing on our side."
"What?"
"They don't know what to make of us. They think you're on their side — or could be, with a little muscle. And as for me — I don't get it, but they seem to think I'm potentially of some use. I think that's why they haven't killed me."
He had another question, but he never got to ask it.
At that moment the sound in the distance grew; it turned into an ominous rumble, and the small cave they were in began to tremble slightly. He looked at Tizzie and saw his fear reflected in the pallor of her face. Then a little puff of wind extinguished the candle.
They felt for their flashlights and turned them on.
"What is it?" she uttered.
His answer came out in a single word: "Cave-in!"
They ran from the hideaway back through the tunnel they had used shortly before and came to the large research chamber and then the main tunnel. After two yards, they halted — ahead was a boiling brown cloud, a curtain of dust that swirled around them and out into the chamber.
"Stop! Go back!" cried Tizzie.
They leapt back into the room to wait for it to settle. Jude felt his fears grow and crystallize into the claustrophobe's panic: the unmentionable fear of entombment. His abdomen tightened, and he felt a wave of heat circulating through his bloodstream like bubbles of seltzer water.
"I can't believe that was an accident," he said. "Someone heard us. Or they knew we were in here. They made it happen."
"That wouldn't be hard to do. But that tunnel was shaky when I came through it. Maybe it just happened by itself."
He cast her a skeptical look. "You've become a great believer in coincidences."
The dust had settled into a thin blanket that covered the metal table nearby. Jude looked at the mouth of the tunnel, mostly clear now that the brown cloud had turned to a thin mist whose particles glittered in their flashlight beams. He dreaded going back in.
They stepped inside to investigate, careful not to touch the walls and trying to tread lightly, as if walking on thin ice. Tizzie went first and Jude made no effort to stop her — he was finding it hard to breathe and took gulps of air into his lungs. She stopped and he came up behind her, and they shined their flashlights over the debris before them, hoping to spot a hole. They didn't see one. The wall of rock and dirt appeared impenetrable, starting at the ceiling of the tunnel and slanting down at an angle to the floor. Tizzie poked it gently with her foot.
"Christ," he said. "We've had it."
"Maybe we could dig our way out, if we were careful. We could pile the dirt inside the room."
He shined the beam up at the roof, where a thin trickle of dirt was still pouring down through a crack.
"Maybe, but chances are we'd just make it worse. Once the ceiling is cracked like that, there's nothing to stop more earth from pouring through. It's like sand in an hourglass."
"Let's go back," she said. He felt relief to be leaving the tunnel.
Inside the chamber, they examined every wall, looking for an indentation, a crevice, anything that might hint at a passageway out. Again, they found nothing, except for the single tunnel at the rear that led to their cave. Tizzie went to investigate it, but Jude stayed in the chamber, watching her light bounce off the narrow walls and then recede, getting dimmer until it disappeared altogether.
He badly wanted a cigarette, and felt the pack in his pocket, but he knew that would be foolish and selfish — under no circumstances could he use up the little remaining oxygen. He looked around the chamber again, trying to estimate the size. How long would the air last?
For want of anything else to do, he paced in a circle, trying to think and to run through the possibilities. It was like examining the tunnels — there was none that led anywhere.
So deep in thought was he that he didn't notice Tizzie's return. He was startled when she spoke.
"Nothing," she said in a tone of resignation. "No way out there at all."
When Skyler awoke in the motel room bed, with the sheets twisted and damp with sweat, he knew that something was wrong — grievously wrong. His illness had taken a turn for the worse — more than a turn, he had entered a whole new territory. He was confused; he had been sick before, but never like this.