CHAPTER 3: The Voices Beneath the House
“They're crying.”
Lily's whisper echoed through the narrow tunnel.
Every instinct told me she was imagining it.
She was six.
She was terrified.
Children hear monsters when adults hear silence.
Then I heard it too.
A faint sound.
Not words.
Not footsteps.
Crying.
Somewhere ahead of us.
Soft.
Weak.
Human.
I froze.
The tunnel smelled of damp earth and rust. Dust coated my hands as I crawled forward. Above us, muffled voices drifted through the floorboards.
“They're still inside,” Paul said.
“They won't be for long,” the other man replied.
A loud metallic clang echoed overhead.
Then another.
“They're sealing it,” I whispered.
Lily looked back at me.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we have to keep moving.”
The tunnel grew narrower.
Cobwebs brushed against my face.
My knees scraped against rough concrete.
Behind us came the grinding sound of something heavy being dragged across the hatch.
Then...
A roaring machine.
Concrete mixer.
My heart nearly stopped.
They weren't bluffing.
They really intended to entomb us beneath the house.
“Mommy...”
Lily pointed ahead.
“There.”
A faint light flickered in the darkness.
Yellow.
Weak.
Like an old flashlight running out of batteries.
I crawled faster.
The crying became clearer.
Someone was definitely down here.
The tunnel opened into a small underground utility room I had never seen on the inspection report.
Old pipes ran across the ceiling.
Broken shelves lined one wall.
A camping lantern sat on the floor, casting a dim glow.
And in the corner...
A little boy.
Maybe eight years old.
Curled beneath a blanket.
Beside him sat an elderly woman with silver hair and frightened eyes.
She clutched him protectively the moment she saw us.
“Please,” she begged.
“We're not with them.”
I held up my empty hands.
“Neither are we.”
The woman searched my face.
Then looked at Lily.
Finally, she nodded.
“They found another family.”
My stomach twisted.
“Another?”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“You think you're the first?”
I couldn't speak.
“What do you mean?”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“This tunnel has been used for years.”
My blood ran cold.
“For what?”
She hesitated.
Then answered quietly.
“People who knew too much.”
The little boy finally looked up.
His left cheek was bruised.
His lower lip was split.
“They said nobody would believe us,” he whispered.
The words sounded rehearsed.
Repeated.
As though he'd been forced to say them over and over.
“What happened to you?”
He looked toward the woman before answering.
“My dad worked for Mercer Construction.”
Paul Mercer.
My pulse quickened.
“He found fake inspection reports.”
The elderly woman continued.
“They were covering up deadly building defects.”
The boy nodded.
“When Dad said he was going to the police...”
His voice broke.
“They came to our house.”
I felt dizzy.
This wasn't about Derek anymore.
It was bigger.
Much bigger.
Paul Mercer wasn't just Derek's business partner.
He was protecting an entire criminal operation.
The woman introduced herself.
“My name is Helen.”
She rested a trembling hand on the boy's shoulder.
“This is my grandson, Noah.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Three days.”
“Three days?”
She nodded.
“They've been bringing us food.”
My stomach turned.
“They were waiting.”
“For what?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“For the house to explode.”
Lily gasped.
“They wanted everyone to think we died too.”
Helen nodded slowly.
“Dead witnesses never testify.”
A violent boom shook the tunnel.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The lights flickered.
“They've started,” Helen whispered.
“The gas.”
Another explosion echoed somewhere above us.
This one much louder.
The house groaned.
Wood cracked.
Pipes screamed.
Lily burst into tears.
“Mommy!”
I wrapped both arms around her.
“We're getting out.”
“How?”
Helen stood and grabbed the lantern.
“There is another exit.”
Hope rushed through me.
“Where?”
She pointed into the darkness.
“At the end of the tunnel.”
We hurried forward.
The passage sloped upward.
Fresh air drifted toward us.
For the first time since this nightmare began, I believed we might survive.
Then Noah stopped walking.
He stared at the dirt floor.
“What is it?” I asked.
Without answering, he bent down and picked up a shiny object buried in the mud.
It was a gold cufflink.
Engraved with a single letter.
D.
I recognized it instantly.
I had bought that pair for Derek on our tenth wedding anniversary.
Which meant only one thing.
My husband hadn't just planned this.
He had been inside these tunnels himself.
Many times.
And then, from somewhere just beyond the exit, we heard Derek's unmistakable voice.
“Search every inch.”
“They can't have gotten far.”
Lily clutched my hand so tightly it hurt.
My husband hadn't left on a business trip.
May you like
He had been waiting for us all along.
TO BE CONTINUED…
