Midnight Sun (74 page)

“
You
have?
”
Tomer
asked with
unguarded
astonishment.

“
Yes,
I
have,
”
Warner
said
.
“
While
you
two
were
chatting
and
making
googly
eyes
at
each
other
,
I
have
noted
that
there
were
six
valves
that
had
been
used
within
the
past
few
weeks,
and
two
of
those
within
the
past
twenty
-
four
hours.
This
was
obvious
by
varying
degrees
of
dust
missing
from
the
valve
handles.
But
none
of
the
bolts
on
the
pipeline
seams
themselves
appear
to
have
been
tampered
with.
”

He
gave
a
hard
tap
of
the
metal
baton
onto
segment
JPF-3527-a.
It
responded
with
the
same
dull
thunk
as
the
previous
segments
had.
Tomer
gave
a
supercilious
look
and
motioned
toward
the
mass
of
cables,
pipes
,
and
electrical
conduit
on
the
opposite
wall.

“
Oh,
well
,
while
you
were
doing
that
,
I
was
inspecting
the
electrical
cables
and
this
stuff
up
here
on
the
wall
for
signs
of
a
bomb.
”

“
And
did
you
find
any?
”

“
Any
what?
”

“
Signs
of
a
bomb?
”

“
Oh,
”
Tomer
replied,
waving
the
question
away
with
his
hands,
“
no.
No
signs
of
a
bomb
on
this
side
of
the
tunnel.
”

“
Good.
Let's
get
this
thing
finished
and
get
up
top
for
dinner.
”

“
Finish?
”
Tonia
said
.
“
It's
noon
,
and
we
’re
still
near
the
entry
we
came
in
by.
We
’re
at
the
halfway
point.
That
means
it
will
be
nearly
five
o'clock
before
we
get
this
inspection
done.
My
stomach
is
telling
me
it's
break
time
now.
And
if
you
go
telling
that
sorry
story
about
going
for
two
weeks
on
a
single
MRE
in
Afghanistan
,
I'm
going
to
take
Tony
here
and
walk
out
on
your
skinny
ass.
'Cause
I
am
not
going
to
waste
away
down
here
in
this
tunnel
while
you
play
drums
on
these
metal
pipes
all
day
long.
”

She
emphasized
her
wishes
by
crossing
her
arms,
lowering
her
head
,
and
looking
up
at
him
with
a
“
gotcha
”
kind
of
stare.

“
Yeah,
”
Tony
said.
“
I'm
kinda
hungry
too.
”

“
Somehow,
”
Warner
replied,
“
I
doubt
that
either
one
of
you
would
waste
away
down
here
—at
least
not
for
a
couple
of
weeks.
”

Tonia's
mouth
dropped
open
at
the
insinuation
,
“
Did
you
just
call
me
fat?
”

“
No.
I'm
just
saying
that
it
takes
more
than
a
month
without
nutrition
to
die
of
starvation.
Serious
weight
loss
doesn't
even
start
for
two
weeks.
I
was
simply
stating
the
facts.
”