CHAPTER 7: Before Monday
I couldn't stop thinking about the look on that little girl's face.
It wasn't panic.
It wasn't confusion.
It was recognition.
She knew Ethan.
And she knew she only had until Monday.
"Ethan."
He never took his eyes off the road where the truck had disappeared.
"That's Emily."
"You know her?"
He nodded slowly.
"She's Bryce's little sister."
"Have you ever talked to her?"
"Only once."
"What happened?"
He swallowed.
"She told Bryce to leave me alone."
"And?"
"He slapped her."
Sarah's face turned white.
"In front of you?"
Ethan nodded.
"He said she wasn't allowed to talk to me."
A cold feeling settled in my stomach.
Children don't invent rules like that.
Adults do.
Sheriff Ruiz arrived within fifteen minutes.
She listened carefully while Ethan described what he'd seen.
"You said she wrote on the window?"
"Yes."
"What exactly?"
"'Help me before Monday.'"
Ruiz looked toward Marcus.
"What happens on Monday?"
Marcus was already checking the files recovered from the hidden bunker.
"School starts after the weekend."
Ruiz shook her head.
"No."
"I think it's something else."
The search warrant for the Coleman estate was approved just after sunset.
Grant Coleman's attorney fought it immediately.
He lost.
Two state investigators.
Four deputies.
Marcus.
Ruiz.
And I waited outside the massive iron gates while the warrant was served.
Grant stood on the front steps with his lawyer.
"This is harassment."
Marcus calmly handed him the paperwork.
"This is a court order."
"You'll find nothing."
"I hope you're right."
Grant forced a smile.
"So do I."
The mansion was enormous.
Three floors.
Twenty-two rooms.
A guest house.
Horse stables.
A private lake.
Everything looked perfect.
Almost too perfect.
Marcus had learned something over the years.
People who worked hardest to appear respectable usually had the most to hide.
Emily wasn't inside.
Neither was Bryce.
Grant claimed both children were spending the weekend with relatives.
Ruiz asked where.
Grant couldn't remember the address.
That alone raised suspicion.
Then one investigator opened a second-floor bedroom.
Pink curtains.
Stuffed animals.
Books neatly arranged.
Everything looked untouched.
Except...
The bed.
Marcus knelt beside it.
The dust beneath the frame had been disturbed recently.
He lay flat on the floor.
There were scrape marks.
Something heavy had been moved.
"Help me."
Bear and I lifted the bed.
Beneath it was a square wooden hatch.
Grant stopped smiling.
The hatch led to a narrow staircase.
The air below smelled damp.
An emergency generator hummed softly somewhere in the darkness.
Ruiz drew her flashlight.
Marcus went first.
The room underneath wasn't a bunker.
It was a classroom.
Tiny desks.
Children's books.
A whiteboard.
Shelves filled with educational workbooks.
Sarah stared in disbelief.
"Why would someone build this?"
Then Ethan quietly answered.
"So nobody has to leave."
Marcus looked around.
Everything had been cleaned.
Too clean.
Until he noticed crayons scattered beneath one desk.
He picked up a sheet of paper.
A child's handwriting.
Large uneven letters.
If you are nice they let you see the sun.
No one spoke.
Another investigator searched a storage cabinet.
Inside were dozens of folders.
Every one labeled with a child's first name.
No surnames.
No photographs.
Only progress reports.
Behavior.
Obedience.
Trust.
Punishment.
Ruiz flipped through them.
Then froze.
One folder read:
EMILY
Another:
CALEB
Another:
NOAH
Marcus frowned.
"Those aren't random names."
"No."
Ruiz whispered.
"They're children we've been looking for."
Just then, Marcus's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"What happened?"
His expression changed.
"When?"
He hung up.
"Bryce's phone just connected to a cell tower."
Ruiz looked up.
"Where?"
Marcus read the location.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
"Old Blackstone Mine."
Bear looked confused.
"That place's been abandoned for thirty years."
Marcus nodded.
"So why is Bryce there?"
The convoy reached the mine just after midnight.
Floodlights illuminated rusted conveyor belts and collapsed buildings.
The place looked abandoned.
But Marcus noticed something immediately.
Fresh tire tracks.
Several vehicles.
Very recent.
SWAT officers spread out.
Drones launched overhead.
Thermal cameras scanned the tunnels.
One operator suddenly raised his hand.
"Movement."
"How many?"
He zoomed in.
His face changed.
"I..."
"What?"
"There are children."
Marcus grabbed the monitor.
Tiny heat signatures.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Twelve.
Then more.
At least twenty.
Sleeping beneath the mine.
Ruiz whispered,
"My God..."
The rescue teams prepared to enter.
Just before the order was given, Ethan tugged on my sleeve.
"Mr. Jack?"
"What is it?"
He pointed toward the monitor.
"The little one."
Marcus enlarged the image.
Emily.
Curled against the wall.
Holding someone's hand.
Another child.
A boy.
About twelve years old.
Marcus stared.
"I know him."
Ruiz looked closer.
"No..."
The boy slowly turned toward one of the hidden cameras inside the tunnel.
His face came into view.
Sarah gasped.
"That's..."
Marcus finished the sentence.
"Caleb Reed."
Deputy Mark Reed's missing son.
Alive.
After two years.
But before anyone could celebrate...
Every thermal image suddenly began moving at once.
Someone inside the mine had discovered the rescue operation.
Then a loud explosion echoed from deep underground.
The entrance collapsed.
Dust and rock blasted into the night sky.
One SWAT officer shouted into his radio.
"They're sealing the tunnels!"
Marcus stared at the collapsing entrance.
More than twenty children were still trapped inside.
And whoever was running the operation...
May you like
Had just declared war.
TO BE CONTINUED...
