Chapter 4 - The Woman in the TunnelAlex entered the tunnel alone.
“Alex…”
Megan's voice came again.
Barely audible.
“Please…”
He moved forward.
“I'm here.”
No answer.
Jet barked somewhere ahead.
Then Alex saw her.
Megan was crouched beside an old maintenance room.
Her baby was in her arms.
She looked terrified.
“What happened?”
“I heard crying.”
“You took your baby into a tunnel because you heard crying?”
“I thought Eva was here.”
Alex stopped.
“Why?”
Megan hesitated.
Then she finally said:
“Because I knew her.”
Everything inside Alex went still.
“You lied.”
“I didn't know what else to do.”
“How do you know Eva?”
Megan looked down at her daughter.
“Because her mother asked me to help.”
Alex's eyes narrowed.
“Eva's mother?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Megan looked at him.
“Her name was Claire.”
Alex knew that name.
It was in the original missing-person report.
Claire Cross.
Eva's mother.
Reported dead eight months after Eva disappeared.
Officially, a hit-and-run.
Unofficially, nobody knew what happened.
Megan continued.
“Claire believed someone was taking children from families who owed money.”
“Owed money to who?”
“I don't know.”
“You've got to know something.”
“I only delivered messages.”
“What messages?”
“Warnings.”
Alex stared at her.
“Then why was your name in that backpack?”
Megan's face tightened.
“Because Claire asked me to protect Eva.”
“You failed.”
“I know.”
A noise came from the maintenance room.
Both looked toward it.
Jet growled.
Alex stepped forward.
The room door was locked.
He tried the handle.
Nothing.
Then something struck the other side.
BANG.
Megan flinched.
“Alex…”
BANG.
Again.
The baby began crying.
Alex drew his weapon.
“Step back.”
He kicked the door.
Once.
Twice.
On the third kick, the lock broke.
The door swung open.
No one was inside.
Only a mirror.
And written across it in red marker:
YOU FOUND THE WRONG CHILD.
Alex stared.
Then his eyes moved downward.
A security camera had been hidden above the door.
A tiny red light blinked.
Someone was watching them.
Alex grabbed the camera.
Too late.
A speaker crackled overhead.
A man's voice filled the room.
“You should have left the dog alone.”
Megan whispered:
“Who is that?”
Alex shouted.
“Show yourself!”
The voice laughed.
“You've been asking the wrong question, Trooper.”
Alex looked at Jet.
“What question?”
“Not who took Eva.”
A pause.
“Ask who wanted Eva to disappear.”
The speaker went dead.
Alex felt a chill.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message.
One photograph.
It showed his own house.
Taken that morning.
Underneath:
YOU'RE NEXT.
Alex looked at Megan.
“We're getting out of here.”
They returned to the road.
But Daniel was gone.
His truck remained.
The driver's door was open.
A dark stain marked the seat.
Jet ran to the truck.
Alex followed.
Inside was Daniel's phone.
A voicemail was still recording.
Alex pressed play.
Daniel's voice came through, broken and breathless.
“Alex, don't trust…”
Static.
Then a scream.
And one final sentence:
“…the woman with the blue scarf.”
Alex looked around.
A woman stood across the road.
Blue scarf.
Watching them.
Then she turned and walked away.
Alex ran after her.
She disappeared around the corner.
On the ground, she had dropped something.
A photograph.
Alex picked it up.
It was taken two years earlier.
Eva stood beside Jet.
And beside Eva stood Alex's own father.
His father had been dead for six years.
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On the back of the photograph was one sentence:
HE WAS THERE THE NIGHT EVA VANISHED.
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