Chapter 8 – The Voices Below
Every person in the cabin fell silent.
The frightened voice drifted up the concrete stairwell again.
"Hello?"
It was unmistakably a child.
Weak.
Scared.
Alive.
Detective Sarah Collins reacted first.
"Ramirez, Miller—secure the suspect. The rest of you, with me."
Two deputies handcuffed the gray-bearded man outside despite his calm protests.
"You don't understand what you're walking into," he said.
Collins didn't even look back.
"We're done listening."
Daniel squeezed Leo's shoulder.
"Are there really other children down there?"
Leo nodded.
"I used to hear them at night."
"You saw them?"
"Sometimes."
"How many?"
"I wasn't allowed to know."
Daniel frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Leo swallowed.
"The doors stayed locked."
The team descended carefully.
Their flashlights cut through the darkness.
Concrete walls stretched ahead, far newer than the century-old foundation beneath Patricia's house.
Electrical wiring ran neatly along the ceiling.
Someone had spent years building this place.
"This wasn't an old tunnel," one deputy whispered.
"It was engineered."
The passage sloped downward before splitting into two directions.
One tunnel curved toward Patricia's property.
The other continued much deeper underground.
Fresh muddy footprints covered the floor.
"They were just here," Collins said quietly.
Behind them, Leo suddenly stopped walking.
His breathing became uneven.
"I don't want to go farther."
Daniel knelt beside him.
"You don't have to."
Leo pointed toward the right-hand tunnel.
"That's where they took us."
"Us," Daniel repeated.
"You keep saying 'us.'"
Leo stared at the floor.
"There was a girl."
"How old?"
"About Inés's age."
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
"And another boy."
"Were they taken recently?"
"I don't know."
"They never let us talk for long."
The farther they walked, the colder the air became.
After nearly two hundred yards, the tunnel opened into a large underground chamber.
Rows of metal doors lined the walls.
Each one had a small observation window.
Most stood open.
Empty.
The room looked as though it had been abandoned in a hurry.
Blankets lay scattered across the floor.
Half-eaten meals sat untouched on folding tables.
Battery-powered lanterns still glowed dimly.
"They left minutes ago," Collins whispered.
One deputy examined a portable generator.
"It's still warm."
Daniel looked around in horror.
"This wasn't hiding one child."
"No," Collins replied.
"This was a facility."
Then...
A soft knocking came from the last door at the end of the hall.
Three gentle taps.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Everyone froze.
Daniel rushed toward it.
"Someone's inside!"
The door was secured with a heavy steel latch.
Two deputies forced it open.
The hinges screamed as the door swung inward.
Inside sat a little girl wrapped in a blanket.
She couldn't have been older than seven.
She flinched as the light hit her face.
"It's okay," Daniel said softly.
"We're here to help."
The girl didn't answer.
Instead, she looked past everyone...
...straight at Leo.
"You're back," she whispered.
Leo's eyes filled with tears.
"Emma..."
The little girl stood and ran into his arms.
"I knew your dad would come."
Daniel felt hope surge through him.
Then Emma whispered something that turned that hope into dread.
"They took the others."
Detective Collins stepped closer.
"Who took them?"
Emma looked toward the deepest tunnel.
"The man with the gray beard wasn't the boss."
A heavy rumble echoed beneath their feet.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The lights flickered.
One deputy shouted from the tunnel entrance.
"Detective!"
"They've triggered explosives!"
The concrete walls groaned.
May you like
Somewhere deeper underground...
...the tunnel began to collapse.
