Chapter 11 – The Voice in the Darkness
The crying echoed through the archive.
Grace froze.
It was not coming from the speakers.
It was real.
Charles switched on the flashlight attached to his phone.
A narrow beam sliced through the darkness.
Rows of filing cabinets stood like silent sentries.
The sobbing continued.
Grace followed the sound.
She reached the far corner of the room.
There, hidden behind a cabinet that had shifted when the lights went out, was a small steel hatch.
She knelt beside it.
"It's locked."
The crying stopped.
A frightened little voice whispered from below.
"Please..."
"Don't let them hear you."
Grace's heart pounded.
"You're safe."
"We're here to help."
"No."
"They always say that."
Charles examined the hatch.
Fresh fingerprints covered the handle.
Someone had opened it recently.
One of the guards stepped forward.
"I'll force it."
Before he could swing the crowbar...
Every emergency light suddenly turned back on.
A single sentence appeared across dozens of old security monitors lining the wall.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT.
The monitors immediately went black again.
May you like
No one noticed the hidden camera quietly following their every movement.
End of Chapter 11
