CHAPTER 5 — THE TUNNELS
The evacuation order came immediately.
Everyone ran toward the exits.
Evie did not.
Richard was still beneath the clinic, and the files Marcus had recovered suggested more evidence might be hidden there.
More importantly, a map on the wall showed that the maternity tunnels connected directly to the county detention building.
The place where Diane was being held.
Richard had never been trying to escape.
He was going back for his wife.
Marcus grabbed Evie’s arm.
“You’re leaving.”
“He’ll kill Diane before she can testify.”
“That is not your responsibility.”
“She knows where the missing children went.”
Marcus stared at her for one frustrated second.
Then he handed her a flashlight.
“Stay behind me.”
They entered the hidden passage with two officers.
The tunnel was narrow, lined with rusted pipes and old electrical cables. Gas hissed somewhere behind the walls.
They had only minutes before one spark turned the entire system into a furnace.
Halfway through, they found blood on the floor.
Richard had been wounded during the shooting.
The trail led to a locked maintenance room.
Inside were shelves of videotapes.
Hundreds of them.
Each label carried a woman’s name and a date.
Marcus took one tape at random.
“What are these?”
Evie saw the camera mounted in the corner.
“Confessions.”
The women had been recorded after being drugged. False statements could then be used to discredit them if they ever asked questions about their missing babies.
An officer photographed the room.
“We can’t carry all of this.”
“Take the hard drives,” Marcus ordered. “Leave the tapes. Fire crews will secure the tunnel.”
A voice came through the darkness ahead.
“Evie.”
Richard.
She followed the sound until the tunnel opened into an underground loading bay.
Diane sat in a wheelchair near an old service elevator, her hands bound.
Richard stood behind her with the gun pressed against her neck.
Blood soaked the side of his shirt.
“Put your weapons down,” he ordered.
Marcus did not move.
“You have nowhere to go.”
Richard smiled.
“You think this is about escape?”
He looked at Evie.
“It’s about making sure no one tells the story.”
Diane began to cry.
“Richard, please. It’s over.”
“You made it over when you opened your mouth.”
Evie stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“Why? She helped steal you.”
“I know.”
“She signed the papers.”
“I know.”
“She watched me lock your door.”
Diane closed her eyes.
Evie’s voice remained steady.
“She still gets to stand trial.”
Richard laughed.
“You really believe the law fixes anything?”
“No. But it gives the truth a permanent address.”
For the first time, Marcus glanced at her.
Richard’s face twisted with rage.
He pulled Diane from the wheelchair and backed toward the elevator.
Then the lights flickered.
Gas continued filling the tunnel.
Diane suddenly drove her heel backward into Richard’s injured leg.
He screamed.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Marcus lunged.
Richard swung the weapon toward him, but Evie grabbed the wheelchair and shoved it between them. The gun fell beneath the metal frame.
One officer restrained Diane.
Marcus tackled Richard against the elevator gate.
Richard reached into his coat and pulled out a lighter.
Evie stopped breathing.
“Take one more step,” he said, “and this entire tunnel burns.”
The gas hissed around them.
Marcus froze.
Richard flicked the lighter once.
A tiny flame appeared.
May you like
Then Diane whispered something that made Richard’s hand stop.
“Laura Bennett is alive.”
