Chapter 5 - The Locked Stairwell
The moment that voice came through the radio, Denise surged toward the building.
"COLE!"
I caught her arm.
"Denise, wait."
"That's my son!"
Her face twisted with desperation.
For a moment, I thought she might break away and run straight into the abandoned mill.
Sergeant Ruiz moved toward us.
"Mrs. Parker, our firefighters have located a possible survivor. They are doing everything they can."
Denise shook her head.
"You don't understand. He's my only child."
Ruiz's expression softened.
"I understand that you need him home. Let us get him there."
Denise stopped struggling.
But she continued staring at the building.
Inside, the rescue team had reached a narrow corridor beneath the old boiler room.
The lower service gate was locked from the outside.
A thick steel chain had been wound through its handles.
One firefighter examined the lock.
"This wasn't an accident," he reported.
Ruiz asked him to repeat that.
"The chain was installed recently. Whoever closed this gate did it deliberately."
I felt Nathan stiffen beside me.
"That's what I told you," he whispered.
The firefighter began cutting through the chain.
Sparks briefly illuminated the dark corridor.
Then another voice came through the radio.
"Water coming in from the south drainage channel. We need to move."
I stared at Ruiz.
"How much water?"
She didn't answer immediately.
And that frightened me more than anything she could have said.
Nathan stepped toward her.
"There's another entrance."
"Where?"
"Behind the old laundry equipment. A maintenance passage goes around the lower gate."
One firefighter checked the building diagram.
"That passage isn't marked."
Nathan shook his head.
"June showed it to us. Cole and I used it to carry supplies."
Ruiz relayed the information.
A rescue worker moved toward the passage.
Then something unexpected happened.
Dean Pike, who had been standing near the fence with another officer, began walking toward a parked utility truck.
The officer called after him.
Pike kept moving.
When the officer approached, Pike suddenly stopped.
"I need to make a phone call," he said.
Ruiz walked toward him.
"You're not leaving until we've established what happened here."
Pike's jaw tightened.
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"Then you should have no problem answering questions."
He looked toward the mill.
For the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.
Not concern for the missing boys.
Fear for himself.
Meanwhile, the rescue crew had discovered something beside the locked gate.
A backpack.
Black, with a broken zipper and a faded baseball patch.
Denise recognized it immediately.
"That's Cole's."
A firefighter opened the outer pocket.
Inside were a water bottle, a small flashlight, and an old handheld camera.
The camera was damaged.
Its memory-card slot was empty.
Ruiz examined the items carefully.
"Was Cole filming something?"
Nathan nodded.
"He'd been recording everything at the mill. We wanted proof."
"What proof?"
"That the families were there. And that Mercer knew."
Ruiz looked toward Pike.
The security foreman avoided her gaze.
Suddenly, a firefighter shouted over the radio.
"We've got a second set of knocks!"
The sound came again.
Three taps.
Then two.
Then one.
Nathan looked up sharply.
"That's Cole."
I turned toward him.
"How do you know?"
"We made that signal up when we were kids. Three, two, one. It means, 'I'm here. Come find me.'
"
Denise began crying.
But there was hope in her expression now.
Her son was alive.
Somewhere beneath that building, he was still trying to communicate.
Then the rescue team reported that they had reached a narrow maintenance opening.
Through it, they could see the lower chamber.
The water was rising.
A firefighter crawled forward with a flashlight.
He called out.
"Cole! Eli! Can you hear me?"
For several seconds, there was nothing.
Then a young voice answered.
"We're here!"
Denise nearly fell to her knees.
But before we could celebrate, a terrible metallic boom echoed from inside the mill.
The rescue radio filled with urgent voices.
"Drainage gate just failed!"
"Water's coming through!"
"Pull the line back!"
May you like
And then one firefighter shouted something that stopped my heart.
"THE WHOLE LOWER CHAMBER IS FLOODING!"
