Deep Down (Sam Stone Book 1) Read Free

minutes before the dinner theater portion of tonight’s entertainment begins, so please, if you wish, take that time to look at the museum’s exhibits and gift shop before you find your assigned table.  There will also be an intermission later, at which time you’re welcome to resume your exploration of the museum portion of the mines.  Please, do not wander away from the museum area for any reason during the evening’s festivities. And, always remember to wear your hard hat.”
    The blonde tour guide gave them all a megawatt smile, full of skillfully whitened, precisely straight teeth, and then gestured for them to begin their exploration of the museum.
    Jenny looked off down the excavated tunnels that bisected the main area of the museum, and wondered why anyone would even contemplate wandering off from the group into the dark recesses of the mine.  She shuddered at the thought of missing her ride back to the surface.  Surely only a certifiably insane person would wander off and chance being stuck down in the mines for an extended period of time?
    Stone felt her shiver and smiled at her reassuringly.  “Come on, let’s go see the exhibits.”
    “Debbie and I have seen the exhibits several times on our previous visits here, so I’ll go find our table while you two look around.  We’ll meet you in the dining area in twenty,” Gilbert said, taking Debbie’s hand and leading her off down the wide tunnel.  They strode past the antique mining equipment and huge salt boulders that were on display, lining the sides of the tunnel, and headed off toward the dining area where the dinner theater would be performed.
    Debbie’s twenty-something niece, Alice, and Debbie’s elderly mother and father, Paul and Cheryl, who had joined their small group for the evening’s entertainment, followed after the couple, leaving Jenny alone with Stone in the dimly sparkling entry cavern.
    Jenny tried not to cough as their departing footsteps stirred up tiny puffs of salt-laden dust from the floor of the mine, knowing that coughing would only exacerbate the feeling of tightness in her lungs.  She hoped that the next few hours passed quickly, because she was already anticipating taking a huge breath of fresh air when they returned to the surface again. 
    “Here, would you carry this for a bit? It’s getting heavy,” Jenny said as she slid her heavy backpack-style purse off of her shoulder and handed it to Stone.
    Stone took the bag from her and effortlessly slung the strap over his shoulder.  “What have you got in this thing, Jenny?  It is more than a little heavy, especially for you to be carrying around down here for hours.”
    “Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that.  Healthy snacks in case I don’t like dinner, a couple of extra bottles of water for us in case we get thirsty, aspirin, lip balm.  That kind of thing.  You know I like to be prepared.”
    Stone chuckled, but said nothing, reaching over to take her hand again. 
    Pulling her Droid from her pocket one-handed as Stone held her other hand, Jenny snapped a few photos of the enormous, deeply veined and marbled salt boulder directly in front of them, intending to send them out via Snapchat.  She groaned softly when she remembered that there would be no cellular service so far underground.   Since she normally spent so much time on her phone, texting and making calls, this lack of service disturbed her greatly, and she felt even more cut off from world than she had just a moment before as they’d stepped off of the lift.  No calls, no texting, no Instagram or Snapchat, no Facebook or Twitter – no sort of outside connection for the next four hours. 
    This dinner theater had better be spectacular, she thought.
    With a small sigh, she crammed her now almost useless cell phone into her pocket and followed Stone’s tug on her hand as he led them further into the mines.  She’d be glad when this ‘fun’ was over and she could leave behind the