Chapter 11 - Junction Four
Nicole raced from the diner with Evelyn, Caleb, and Harper behind her.
Victor and Travis attempted to flee through the alley, but federal officers intercepted them.
This time, Nicole ordered separate transports and military escorts.
She did not trust any route Wexler could alter.
Harper stopped beside her vehicle.
“My wife.”
Nicole looked at him.
“You helped kidnap my mother.”
“I know.”
“You covered assaults, disappearances, and trafficking.”
“I know.”
“And now you expect help because the people you served betrayed you.”
Harper’s face collapsed under the weight of the words.
“No,” he said. “I expect nothing. But I know a way into Junction Four.”
Nicole hesitated.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He removed his badge and placed it on the hood.
“But if Victor lied about Miriam, she may have been taken through the same route as Daniel.”
Evelyn approached.
“Let him show us.”
Nicole looked at her mother.
“He hit you.”
“So did Travis. Hatred will not open the tunnel.”
Nicole allowed Harper into a separate vehicle under guard.
They drove toward the old dam.
At 10:22, Hale’s tracking signal stopped moving beneath the river.
Reed contacted Nicole.
“Wexler has national command searching for you.”
“Tell them to search Junction Four.”
“He claims Hale abducted Daniel Turner and that you are assisting him.”
“Has anyone asked how a dead civilian was abducted?”
“Not loudly enough.”
The convoy reached the dam.
Harper directed them to a maintenance building hidden behind the spillway.
Inside, he pressed a sequence of switches.
A freight elevator opened.
“How long have you known about this?” Nicole asked.
“Twenty years.”
“And you never told Daniel?”
“I was the one who showed him.”
Evelyn stared at Harper.
“You helped him investigate?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“My daughter was six. Nathaniel sent me a photograph of her walking to school. He told me Daniel’s investigation would make her an orphan.”
“So you betrayed Daniel to protect your child.”
“Yes.”
“Where is your daughter now?”
“Married. Living in Oregon. She believes I’m a good man.”
Evelyn said quietly, “Truth arrives eventually.”
The elevator descended.
When the doors opened, they found an empty loading platform.
Blood stained the floor.
Hale’s broken radio lay near the wall.
Nicole followed tire marks into the tunnel.
They reached Junction Four.
The truck was gone.
One of Hale’s investigators lay wounded beside the floodgate controls.
Reed knelt beside him.
“Where did they go?”
The investigator struggled to speak.
“North tunnel. Hale... gave them the code.”
Nicole looked at the empty passage.
“Did they force him?”
The man shook his head.
“He volunteered.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Nicole remembered Daniel’s warning.
If General Hale salutes with his left hand, run.
Hale had saluted with his right at the police station.
But what if the warning meant more than literal direction?
What if left hand referred to the person operating beside him?
The investigator grabbed Nicole’s sleeve.
“He said... tell Colonel Turner... honor survives the grave.”
Nicole’s stomach tightened.
The identification phrase.
Hale was part of Nathaniel’s network.
Or he wanted them to believe he was.
Harper approached the floodgate controls.
“The north tunnel leads to the quarry.”
Reed checked the map.
“Kane’s quarry has an airstrip.”
Nicole contacted Agent Chen.
“Secure the quarry.”
Chen replied through heavy static.
“We’re already there. No aircraft.”
“Search underground.”
A blast echoed through the tunnel.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Harper looked toward the north passage.
“They collapsed the route.”
“Alternative?” Nicole asked.
“Old drainage line.”
“Where?”
“Underwater.”
The river roared behind the floodgate.
Harper pointed to a maintenance hatch.
“It reaches the quarry reservoir, but parts are submerged.”
Reed shook his head.
“Too dangerous.”
Nicole removed her jacket.
“How long?”
“Fifteen minutes if the pipes are clear.”
Evelyn grabbed her arm.
“You cannot chase them alone.”
“I’m not.”
Reed began removing his equipment.
Two investigators joined them.
Harper said, “I know the route.”
Nicole looked at him.
“You stay here.”
“You’ll miss the second junction.”
“Draw it.”
“There is no time.”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Take him.”
Nicole stared at her mother.
“You trust him?”
“No. But Daniel once did, and we need to understand why.”
Harper lowered his eyes.
They entered the maintenance hatch.
The drainage pipe was narrow and cold. Water rose to their waists, then their chests.
Halfway through, the ceiling dropped.
They had to swim.
Harper led them through a submerged fork and surfaced inside a cavern beneath the quarry.
Voices echoed ahead.
Nicole climbed onto a rock ledge.
Through a gap, she saw the truck.
Daniel sat inside an open cargo container.
General Hale stood beside him.
Wexler faced them with armed soldiers.
An elderly man occupied a medical chair beneath portable lights.
His body looked frail, but his eyes were sharp.
Nathaniel Turner.
Nicole’s grandfather.
He had been dead for thirty years.
Nathaniel looked toward the cavern entrance.
Directly toward Nicole’s hiding place.
May you like
“Come in,” he said.
“You were always terrible at hiding from me.”
