Chapter 3 - THE VOICE BEHIND THE WALL“Eli!”
The boy's mother surged toward the wall.
Daniel caught her before she reached it.
“Don't.”
“That's my son!”
“I know.”
“I heard him!”
“So did I.”
Rex scratched again.
Daniel knelt.
The sound came from behind a reinforced partition separating the security room from a utility corridor.
“Back up,” Daniel ordered.
Two officers moved in.
A maintenance worker brought tools.
Within seconds, the wall panel came loose.
Behind it was a narrow service passage.
Dark.
Barely wide enough for one adult.
Rex entered first.
Daniel followed.
The dog's ears were forward.
His body tense.
They moved through the passage.
Then Eli's voice came again.
“Mom?”
Daniel stopped.
The sound came from ahead.
They reached an intersection.
Nothing.
Then a small phone screen lit up on the floor.
Daniel picked it up.
The screen showed a live video.
Eli sat in a dim room.
A man stood behind him.
His face was hidden.
The boy was crying.
“Sir?”
Daniel stared at the screen.
The masked man leaned toward the camera.
“Officer Brooks.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“You have the wrong person.”
“No.”
The voice was calm.
“You have exactly the right person.”
Daniel looked at Rex.
The dog was watching the phone.
The man continued.
“You brought your dog because we knew you would.”
“Who are you?”
“You'll find out.”
“Let the boy go.”
A quiet laugh.
“Your K9 has already done the important part.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
The video ended.
A timer appeared.
10:00.
Daniel looked at the screen.
Then 9:59.
“Get bomb response.”
The radio exploded with voices.
“Brooks!”
“Daniel!”
Then the entire airport emergency system triggered.
Security doors slammed shut.
Metal barriers dropped from ceilings.
Passengers screamed somewhere beyond the walls.
Daniel stared at the timer.
9:32.
The boy's mother was crying over the radio.
“Please save my son.”
Daniel wanted to tell her he would.
But he didn't know where to begin.
Then Rex walked past him.
The dog stopped at the end of the corridor.
He sniffed the floor.
Then barked once.
Daniel followed.
On the concrete was a faint trail of white powder.
Not enough to see unless you knew what you were looking for.
Rex did.
Daniel crouched.
A security officer whispered:
“What is it?”
“I don't know.”
“But Rex does?”
Daniel nodded.
The dog followed the trail.
It led through the service passage.
Up a staircase.
Across a loading platform.
Then to a locked steel door.
Daniel tried the handle.
Locked.
The timer continued.
6:41.
Daniel smashed the glass panel beside the handle.
They entered.
Inside was an abandoned baggage room.
Rows of old luggage cages.
Dust.
Broken lights.
No Eli.
Then Rex froze.
He stared at a suitcase.
Daniel opened it.
Empty.
Except for a photograph.
A man.
A woman.
And a little boy.
Daniel recognized the man immediately.
His throat tightened.
“Nathan Hart.”
The mother, Olivia Hart, had told authorities her husband disappeared eleven months earlier.
She had never mentioned that Daniel knew him.
Nathan had once worked security systems for the same airport.
And three weeks before his disappearance, Daniel had personally arrested him for trespassing inside a restricted server facility.
Nathan had claimed he was investigating something.
Daniel had never believed him.
Until now.
He turned the photograph over.
A handwritten message was on the back.
ASK BROOKS WHAT HAPPENED AT SERVER ROOM 7.
Daniel stared at the words.
Behind him, Rex barked.
The timer hit 5:00.
Then every screen in the airport turned on.
A live image of Daniel appeared.
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And beneath his face was a single sentence:
HE KNOWS WHY THE BOY WAS TAKEN.
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