Chapter 6 - Not Without Him
For several terrible seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Sergeant Ruiz's radio crackled again.
"Rescue Team Two, report your position."
A firefighter answered through heavy breathing.
"We're at the maintenance opening. Water's coming in fast. We can hear two people."
Denise pressed both hands against her mouth.
"Two," she whispered.
I understood.
Cole and Eli.
Both still alive.
Inside the building, the rescue crew was working against rising water and a collapsing drainage system.
The old chamber had once been used to move heavy equipment beneath the factory floor.
Its walls were concrete.
Its ceiling was low.
And the only accessible door had been chained shut from the outside.
According to the firefighters, Cole had climbed onto a raised maintenance platform with Eli.
They were trapped behind a metal partition.
Water was already covering the lower steps.
One firefighter managed to squeeze through the narrow opening.
"Cole, can you hear me?"
A weak voice answered.
"Yes."
"Is the little boy with you?"
"He's here."
"Can he breathe?"
A pause.
"Not good. Please hurry."
I looked at Rosa.
She had begun trembling.
June wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"It's going to be okay," the elderly woman whispered.
But none of us knew whether that was true.
The rescue crew began feeding a safety line through the opening.
A second firefighter brought respiratory equipment and a small rescue breathing mask.
They reached Eli first.
The little boy was conscious but frightened, clutching Cole's sleeve with both hands.
When the firefighter tried to lift him, Eli refused to release his grip.
"Don't leave Cole," he whispered.
The firefighter promised he wouldn't.
They carefully guided Eli through the opening.
Minutes later, we heard the sound of hurried footsteps inside the building.
Then a firefighter appeared at the loading entrance carrying a small child wrapped in a thermal blanket.
Rosa screamed his name.
"ELI!"
She rushed toward the rescue team.
The firefighter lowered the little boy into the waiting arms of an emergency medical technician.
Rosa dropped beside him.
"I'm here, baby. Mommy's here."
Eli coughed and reached for her.
"Where's Cole?"
That question silenced everyone.
I turned toward the mill.
No one had emerged behind Eli.
Denise looked at Ruiz.
"Where is my son?"
Inside, the firefighters were still struggling to free Cole.
A section of damaged metal had shifted when the drainage system failed.
Cole's leg was trapped beneath a fallen support.
Water was rising around the platform.
Nathan stood beside me, looking sick.
"This is because of me," he whispered.
I turned toward him.
"No."
"I told him to go after Eli. I should've stayed."
I grabbed his shoulders.
"Look at me. Right now, Cole needs you to stay calm."
He shook his head.
"I promised him we'd get everybody out."
I pulled him into my arms.
For the first time that morning, my son let me hold him.
Then the radio crackled.
"Support cleared. We're bringing the second victim out."
Denise went completely still.
We heard boots striking concrete.
A stretcher appeared through the entrance.
And there was Cole.
His face was pale.
His clothes were soaked.
But his eyes were open.
Denise ran toward him.
"Cole! Oh, sweetheart!"
He turned his head slightly.
"Mom?"
That single word broke her.
She bent over him, touching his face, his hair, his shoulders, as if she needed to convince herself he was real.
"I'm here. I'm right here."
Cole managed the faintest smile.
"I'm sorry."
Denise shook her head.
"Don't apologize. Just stay with me."
The paramedics began moving him toward the ambulance.
But Cole suddenly caught Sergeant Ruiz's sleeve.
"Wait."
Ruiz leaned closer.
"What is it?"
Cole's lips trembled.
"The door didn't close by accident."
"We know it was chained."
Cole struggled to breathe evenly.
"The man with the city badge was there."
Ruiz went still.
"Which man?"
Cole closed his eyes.
"I heard Pike call him Deputy Director Keene."
Ruiz glanced toward the officers guarding Dean Pike.
Then Cole whispered something even worse.
"Pike said we were still inside."
May you like
He swallowed.
"And Keene told him to leave the gate closed."
