Chapter 13: The Hidden Ward
Nathan pressed his palm against the wall.
Cold.
Solid.
But the faint tapping came again.
Three slow knocks.
Then silence.
Officer Liam scanned the surface with a portable thermal camera.
"Colonel..."
He frowned.
"I'm getting heat."
"How many?"
Liam adjusted the focus.
"More than one."
The display slowly sharpened.
Small shapes appeared beyond the concrete.
Some standing.
Some sitting.
Nathan's pulse quickened.
"Children?"
"I... I think so."
Maya immediately radioed the tactical team.
"We have possible survivors behind a concealed wall. Medical units to the lower level immediately."
No response.
Only static.
She tried again.
Nothing.
"The radios are being jammed."
Nathan looked up.
"They don't want anyone outside knowing we've found this place."
The engineering team arrived minutes later with portable cutting tools.
The hidden wall wasn't ordinary concrete.
It was reinforced composite panels.
Designed to resist fire...
And delay forced entry.
"Give us five minutes," one technician said.
Nathan shook his head.
"We don't have five."
He grabbed a heavy steel pry bar lying nearby.
Liam joined him.
Together they forced it into a narrow seam.
Metal groaned.
The panel shifted.
Just enough.
A tiny hand reached through the opening.
Nathan froze.
It belonged to a little girl.
No older than six.
Her fingers were covered in dust.
He gently took her hand.
"My name is Nathan."
"My friends call me Colonel."
A tiny voice answered from the darkness.
"Are you really here?"
"Yes."
"Did my mommy send you?"
Nathan swallowed.
"I'm here to take you home."
The girl didn't smile.
Instead she whispered,
"They said nobody would ever find us."
The opening widened.
Dozens of children stared back.
Some clutched blankets.
Others held worn stuffed animals.
The oldest looked about twelve.
The youngest could barely walk.
A volunteer medic stepped forward.
"Most of them appear physically healthy."
Nathan noticed something else.
"They're all wearing the same bracelet."
Every child had an identical silver band around one wrist.
Liam carefully removed one.
It wasn't jewelry.
It contained a tiny electronic chip.
"A tracking device."
Maya photographed each bracelet.
"Someone wanted to know where every child was."
One little boy tugged on Nathan's sleeve.
"Mister..."
"Yes?"
"They took the mothers."
Nathan knelt.
"When?"
The boy pointed toward the ceiling.
"When the loud alarm started."
Meanwhile...
Claire, Evelyn, and the three pregnant women hurried through a maintenance corridor beneath Level Four.
Evelyn stopped at an old security door.
"I worked here once."
Claire stared at her.
"You worked here?"
Evelyn nodded sadly.
"I believed it was a research center."
"What kind of research?"
"They told us we were helping mothers."
She closed her eyes.
"I didn't understand the truth until it was too late."
Claire quietly asked,
"Then why did you stay?"
Evelyn looked away.
"Because leaving meant disappearing."
Nathan's team continued searching the lower level.
Every office had been emptied.
Hard drives removed.
Documents shredded.
Yet the evacuation had been rushed.
Coffee cups still sat warm on conference tables.
Computer monitors displayed error messages.
One workstation remained powered on.
Officer Liam sat down.
"The drive's encrypted."
Nathan noticed something unusual taped to the monitor.
A child's drawing.
A man holding hands with a little girl beneath a bright yellow sun.
At the bottom, written in uneven crayon letters:
Thank you, Miss Evelyn.
Nathan looked toward Maya.
"She protected them."
Maya nodded.
"Which means she's probably running."
Suddenly, the emergency lights flickered.
Then every monitor in the facility switched on simultaneously.
A woman's face appeared on each screen.
Elegant.
Composed.
Silver-haired.
She smiled as though greeting honored guests.
"Colonel Nathan Hale."
"I've been expecting you."
Nathan stared at the screens.
"Who are you?"
"My name isn't important."
"It will be."
She ignored the remark.
"You've already accomplished more than anyone before you."
"You found the children."
"You reached Level Four."
"You even convinced one of my employees to betray me."
Her smile faded.
"Unfortunately..."
She pressed something out of view.
"...you're still too late."
A warning siren echoed through the underground complex.
A computerized voice repeated the same message over and over.
Evacuation sequence initiated.
Facility lockdown in three minutes.
Liam looked toward Nathan.
"We have to get everyone out."
Nathan nodded.
"Children first."
As officers began leading the rescued children toward the elevators, Maya noticed one final camera feed still active in the control room.
She enlarged it.
Her face went pale.
"Nathan..."
He turned.
The screen showed another underground chamber.
Much larger than Level Four.
Rows of hospital beds stretched into the darkness.
At least thirty women lay inside.
Most appeared unconscious.
Claire...
wasn't one of them.
At the bottom of the screen, a label blinked in red.
LEVEL FIVE
May you like
The bunker they had just searched...
Was only half of the facility.
