Chapter 10: Beneath Building Nine
Rain drummed softly against the rusted freight cars as we crouched in their shadow.
From our position, Building Nine looked almost peaceful.
Children chased one another across the courtyard.
Two women supervised them, smiling as if this were an ordinary boarding school.
A gardener trimmed hedges near the entrance.
Nothing about the scene suggested a criminal operation.
That was precisely what made it so dangerous.
Detective Hayes lowered the binoculars.
"They've built the perfect disguise."
I looked at the children again.
"Do you think they know?"
Hayes shook his head.
"Some probably don't."
"They may believe this is their home."
The realization was heartbreaking.
If children had spent years here, they might no longer remember another life.
Lily Points
Lily tugged gently at my sleeve.
"They don't sleep upstairs."
"What do you mean?"
"They only play there."
"They sleep underneath."
Hayes immediately looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"They wake everyone up after the lights go out."
"Where do they take you?"
She pointed toward the center of the building.
"There's an elevator."
"But it isn't really an elevator."
I frowned.
"What is it?"
"It goes down."
The Plan
Hayes gathered the small team.
"We're outnumbered."
"We assume Reynolds has armed security."
"We also assume Ellis has additional officers nearby."
He spread a map of the school across an old crate.
"There are three objectives."
Rescue every child.
Capture Reynolds alive.
Secure every document and computer before they're destroyed.
My father folded his arms.
"And if we only get one chance?"
Hayes answered without hesitation.
"The children come first."
Everyone nodded.
The Woman in Blue
As we watched the courtyard, a side door opened.
A woman stepped outside.
Blonde hair.
Blue jacket.
She carried a box of books toward another building.
Lily gasped.
"That's her."
"The lady who cried."
Hayes quickly focused his binoculars.
"She isn't armed."
"She looks nervous."
The woman glanced around repeatedly before slipping a folded envelope beneath a loose stone beside a bench.
Then she hurried back inside.
She had left something behind.
For someone.
The Envelope
Night fell completely.
The courtyard lights switched on.
Most of the adults disappeared indoors.
Only two guards remained outside.
Using the freight train as cover, Hayes and I slipped through the fence.
Every step felt impossibly loud.
We reached the bench.
Hayes lifted the loose stone.
An envelope waited underneath.
Inside was a handwritten map.
Not of the school above ground.
Of the levels below it.
Three underground floors.
Each marked with coded rooms.
At the bottom of the page, someone had written:
Children are on Level B2.
Reynolds never stays below during emergencies.
Server room is B3.
Destroy the red terminal last.
Trust Lily. She remembers more than she knows.
There was no signature.
Only a tiny blue flower drawn in one corner.
Hayes carefully folded the map.
"Our mystery helper is still inside."
Inside Building Nine
A maintenance entrance on the east side had been left unlocked.
Deliberately.
The blue-jacketed woman had given us a way in.
The hallways were spotless.
Children's artwork decorated the walls.
Framed photographs showed smiling graduates leaving for college.
Every image reinforced the illusion that this was a place of hope.
Yet every surveillance camera tracked silently as we moved.
Someone was watching.
"They know we're here," I whispered.
Hayes nodded.
"But they haven't stopped us."
The Hidden Elevator
The map led us to what appeared to be an ordinary supply closet.
Shelves lined with cleaning products.
Buckets.
Mops.
Nothing unusual.
Until Lily walked to the back wall.
She pressed her tiny hand against a wooden panel.
Click.
The shelving unit silently slid aside.
Behind it stood a polished steel elevator.
Exactly where she'd said it would be.
No buttons.
Only a fingerprint scanner.
Hayes studied it.
"Can you remember what happened?"
Lily closed her eyes.
"They always used a card."
Before we could search for one...
The scanner flashed green.
The doors opened by themselves.
Everyone exchanged uneasy looks.
"They're inviting us in," my father said quietly.
Level B2
The elevator descended.
One floor.
Then another.
The doors slid open.
Rows of small bedrooms stretched before us.
Each room held two neatly made beds.
Children's clothes.
Books.
Family photographs.
Only...
The photographs weren't real.
Every frame contained digitally altered pictures.
Children smiling beside adults who weren't their parents.
New names beneath each image.
New birthdays.
New lives.
Project Sparrow hadn't only kidnapped children.
It had been rewriting their identities.
A soft voice echoed from the end of the hallway.
"Daddy?"
I spun around.
It wasn't Lily.
Another little girl stood barefoot in the corridor.
Brown hair.
Pink sweater.
Ava.
She stared at Lily in disbelief.
"Lily..."
"You came back."
The two girls ran toward each other and embraced tightly.
Tears filled Ava's eyes.
"I knew you'd keep your promise."
Before anyone could speak...
A loud electronic buzz echoed through the underground level.
A calm male voice filled the hallway through hidden speakers.
"Welcome, Michael."
It was David Reynolds.
"I've been waiting for you."
Every bedroom door clicked shut at the same instant.
Heavy steel barriers dropped over every exit.
The hallway became a trap.
Then Reynolds spoke one final sentence.
"If you truly want to save the children..."
May you like
"...you'll have to choose which ones."
End of Chapter 10
