Chapter 12: Level Four
Adrian Cross hit the concrete floor with a dull thud.
Nathan reached him first.
"Stay with me."
Blood spread across Adrian's tactical vest, but the entry wound was strangely small.
Maya knelt beside him and carefully pulled the fabric apart.
"This wasn't meant to kill him immediately."
Nathan looked up.
"A silenced rifle."
"The shooter wanted him to talk..."
"...just not for very long."
Adrian coughed violently.
His breathing grew shallow.
Nathan leaned closer.
"What is Level Four?"
Adrian forced his eyes open.
"They're..."
He struggled to inhale.
"...moving everyone."
"Where?"
Another cough.
"The elevator..."
"What elevator?"
Adrian's trembling hand pointed deeper into the underground corridor.
"Behind..."
His arm fell.
The tunnel became silent.
Maya checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
She slowly stood.
"He's gone."
Nathan closed Adrian's eyes with two fingers.
"He crossed a line."
Maya frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"He chose to help."
"And someone made sure he'd never testify."
Far beneath the warehouse...
Claire held the youngest woman's hand as the emergency alarm continued to echo.
The room shook slightly.
Heavy machinery had started somewhere below.
"What are they doing?" Claire asked.
Evelyn listened carefully.
"They've activated the freight lift."
"The what?"
"They're taking everyone to Level Four."
The youngest woman burst into tears.
"No..."
"I won't go back there."
Claire turned.
"What happens on Level Four?"
None of the women answered.
Their silence said enough.
Nathan followed the direction Adrian had pointed.
The corridor narrowed before ending at a reinforced steel wall.
Nothing.
No doors.
No switches.
Officer Liam searched with his flashlight.
"There has to be an entrance."
Nathan noticed faint scratches on the floor.
Parallel marks.
As if something enormous slid sideways.
He placed both hands against the wall.
Cold steel.
Then...
A faint vibration.
Maya tapped the wall with the handle of her flashlight.
The sound changed.
"Hollow."
Nathan searched along the edge until his fingers brushed a recessed panel hidden beneath chipped paint.
He pressed it.
A low mechanical rumble echoed through the bunker.
The wall slowly slid open.
Behind it...
A freight elevator large enough to carry military vehicles.
Its indicator glowed in red.
LEVEL 4
The display changed.
4...
5...
6...
"It's moving down," Liam whispered.
Nathan pressed the call button.
Nothing.
"It's locked."
Maya spotted a keypad.
Six digits.
Before anyone could guess, Liam noticed something taped beneath the panel.
A tiny handwritten note.
417026
Nathan entered the code.
The keypad flashed green.
The elevator began returning.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Every passing second felt heavier than the last.
Miles away, in an elegant office overlooking the river, a woman watched multiple security feeds.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
Perfect posture.
Her name was Victoria Ashcroft.
To the public, she was the founder of one of the city's largest charitable foundations for mothers and children.
To almost everyone else...
She was untouchable.
A young assistant entered hurriedly.
"Ma'am."
"They found Warehouse Twelve."
"I know."
She didn't even look away from the monitor.
"Should we evacuate?"
Victoria smiled.
"No."
"They've only reached the front door."
The assistant hesitated.
"And the prisoners?"
Victoria picked up a crystal chess piece from her desk.
A queen.
"You don't sacrifice the queen."
She calmly knocked over three pawns.
"You sacrifice these."
The elevator doors finally opened.
Empty.
Nathan stepped inside first.
The metal floor was still warm.
"It was just used."
Maya examined the control panel.
There was no button labeled Level Four.
Only B1.
B2.
B3.
Nathan looked upward.
"They hid the real floor."
Liam searched the panel carefully.
Then pressed against the lower corner.
A hidden button clicked into place.
A fourth button illuminated.
L4
Nathan pressed it.
The elevator descended.
Deeper than any of the basement levels.
The digital display didn't show numbers anymore.
Only one word.
AUTHORIZED
When the doors opened, cold air rushed inside.
The corridor beyond looked nothing like the bunker above.
Bright white lights.
Fresh paint.
Modern surveillance cameras.
Glass walls.
It resembled a private research facility.
Empty wheelchairs lined one wall.
Small pairs of children's shoes lined another.
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"This place wasn't built to hide people."
Maya looked through a glass observation room.
Rows of monitors displayed empty bedrooms.
Medical bays.
Playrooms.
Everything spotless.
Everything abandoned only moments earlier.
"They cleared out in a hurry."
Nathan entered the largest room.
A family photograph lay on the floor.
He picked it up.
It wasn't Claire.
Or any of the women they'd been searching for.
On the back, someone had written a date.
October 14, 2012
Below it were six words.
They all believed they escaped.
Nathan slipped the photograph into his pocket.
Then he heard it.
A faint sound.
Almost too quiet to notice.
A baby's cry.
Everyone froze.
"It came from behind that wall," Liam whispered.
Nathan approached the wall.
The crying stopped.
Then...
A tiny hand struck the other side.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
May you like
Someone...
Was still alive behind the wall.
