Chapter 7 - THE CHILDREN BEHIND THE STEEL DOOR
At eleven seventeen, Nathan Rowan heard nine children screaming beneath Blackwater Quarry.
The automatic flood release had begun two minutes earlier.
Water hammered through old concrete channels.
Warning lights flashed along the maintenance road.
And somewhere below ground, children were trapped behind a steel door.
Nathan grabbed a state police flashlight.
Lena Ortiz blocked his path.
"You're staying here."
"My daughter could have been in that room!"
"She isn't. She's safe with Meredith and June."
"Those children belong to somebody!"
Lena held his gaze.
"I know. That's why we're going to get them out without losing more people."
Nathan looked toward the entrance.
A rescue team was already descending into the tunnel.
But no one knew the complete underground layout.
Except Nathan.
He had been imprisoned there for ten months.
He knew where the guards stood.
He knew the sound of the locks.
He knew the corridors that narrowed near the drainage pipes.
And he knew that every second mattered.
"I can lead you to the lower rooms."
Lena hesitated.
Cole stepped forward.
"So can I."
Nathan turned toward him.
His brother's shoulder was heavily bandaged.
"You can barely stand."
Cole grimaced.
"Still remember how to walk."
"You'd slow us down."
"Maybe."
Cole looked toward the tunnel.
"But I know the emergency bypass Voss had installed last winter. Your guards probably never showed you that."
Lena weighed the options.
Then she spoke into her radio.
"Two civilian guides coming down with the entry team. Both under escort. Nobody moves without an order."
Nathan and Cole exchanged a glance.
For the first time in twenty years, they were about to walk into danger together.
Neither spoke.
They simply followed the rescuers.
The tunnel smelled of rust and wet concrete.
Nathan's flashlight illuminated stains on the walls.
Scratches near a doorway.
An old security camera.
He recognized the hall.
A wave of nausea hit him.
For ten months, he had walked these floors under guard.
For ten months, he'd wondered if anyone knew where he was.
Now he was returning by choice.
A rescue officer stopped near the first junction.
"Which way?"
Nathan pointed left.
"That's the cellblock. Lower level is through the next maintenance passage."
Cole shook his head.
"Voss changed it."
Nathan looked at him.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
Cole led them toward a narrow stairwell hidden behind a storage cage.
An electronic lock blocked the door.
Lena signaled a technician.
Cole raised his hand.
"Wait."
He entered a six-digit code.
The lock clicked.
Nathan stared at him.
"You knew this was here."
Cole nodded.
"I used to deliver supplies."
"To the children?"
"Sometimes."
Nathan looked at him with disgust.
"You saw them locked up?"
Cole swallowed.
"Yes."
"And you walked away?"
Cole said nothing.
Nathan stepped closer.
"Every night I was trapped here, I wondered how anyone could look at a locked door and pretend there wasn't a person behind it."
Cole's face tightened.
Nathan continued.
"You knew."
His brother whispered, "I did."
"Then don't ask me to thank you for opening it now."
Cole nodded.
"I won't."
The rescue team moved forward.
At the bottom of the stairs stood a reinforced door.
Behind it came pounding.
A little voice screamed.
"HELP US!"
Lena rushed forward.
"State police! We're getting you out!"
Water flowed beneath the door.
The rescue technician examined the lock.
"It's electronically secured."
Cole entered another code.
A red light flashed.
ACCESS DENIED.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Nathan looked at the water.
It was rising around their boots.
"Cut it."
A technician brought forward a hydraulic tool.
Metal groaned.
The frame bent.
Finally, the door gave way.
Children poured into the hallway.
Some were crying.
Some were silent.
One little boy carried a plastic dinosaur.
A girl who looked about twelve held the hand of a younger child who could barely walk.
"How many?" Lena demanded.
An officer counted.
"Eight!"
Nathan looked into the room.
"There's supposed to be nine."
The oldest girl shook her head.
"Ben's still inside."
"Where?"
She pointed toward a dark corner.
"He's scared of the water."
Nathan rushed in.
The room was filling rapidly.
A small boy crouched behind an overturned cot.
He looked no older than six.
Nathan knelt.
"Hey, buddy."
The boy shook his head.
"No."
"My name's Nathan."
"No!"
Water splashed against Nathan's knees.
He kept his voice gentle.
"What's your name?"
"Ben."
"Okay, Ben. We're going somewhere dry."
Ben looked at the open doorway.
"Are they going to lock me up again?"
Nathan felt his chest tighten.
"No."
"Promise?"
Nathan hesitated.
He had learned not to make promises he couldn't keep.
Then he held out his hand.
"I promise I'll do everything I can to keep you safe."
Ben stared at him.
Finally, he crawled forward.
Nathan lifted him.
Behind them, a pipe burst.
Water slammed into the wall.
"ROWAN!" Lena shouted.
Nathan ran.
He barely cleared the doorway before a surge of water swept across the room.
The rescuers pushed the children toward the stairs.
Nathan followed, carrying Ben.
But halfway up, a radio crackled.
"Shots fired at the surface! Sheriff Harlan is on the west access road!"
Lena stopped.
"Repeat that!"
"Two armed suspects. They're trying to reach the pump controls!"
Cole's expression changed.
"Voss sent them to close the upper exit."
Nathan looked toward the children.
"If they seal us in—"
"We use the maintenance bypass," Cole said.
Lena radioed the surface team.
"Keep them away from the controls. We have nine children coming up."
Suddenly, the lights went out.
The tunnel fell into complete darkness.
Children screamed.
Lena switched on her flashlight.
"Nobody run!"
Water surged across the steps.
Nathan placed Ben in the arms of a rescue worker.
Cole grabbed the emergency door.
"It's a manual wheel!"
He began turning it.
The mechanism resisted.
Nathan joined him.
Together, they forced the heavy wheel counterclockwise.
It moved one inch.
Then another.
A metallic boom echoed from deeper inside the quarry.
A wall of water crashed through the lower corridor.
"FASTER!" Lena shouted.
Nathan strained.
Cole cried out as his wounded shoulder gave way.
Blood soaked his bandage.
Still, he kept turning.
Finally, the upper door lifted enough for the children to crawl beneath.
One by one, rescuers pulled them through.
Eight.
Nine.
Lena counted again.
Everyone was out.
Nathan ducked beneath the door.
Then realized Cole wasn't behind him.
He turned.
His brother was kneeling beside the wheel.
The rising water had reached his waist.
"Cole!"
"Go!"
Nathan crawled back.
Cole shook his head.
"The wheel's slipping. If I release it, the door closes."
Nathan looked at the mechanism.
An old steel maintenance bar lay nearby.
He grabbed it and jammed it beneath the wheel.
The metal screeched.
But held.
Nathan seized Cole.
"You're coming with me."
His brother stared.
"Why?"
Nathan tightened his grip.
"Because our mother buried an empty coffin once."
He hauled Cole upright.
"I'm not letting her lose another son."
Cole's face crumpled.
Together, they stumbled beneath the door.
A second later, the mechanism snapped.
The door slammed down.
The tunnel behind them vanished beneath black water.
Outside, emergency vehicles crowded the quarry entrance.
Nine rescued children sat beneath blankets while paramedics examined them.
Zoey arrived with a state child-protection specialist and immediately began searching the group.
When she spotted the oldest girl, she ran.
"AMY!"
The girls threw their arms around each other.
Nathan watched them cry.
For a brief moment, he allowed himself to believe they had won.
Then Lena's radio crackled again.
"Investigator Ortiz, we've secured Sheriff Harlan's vehicle."
"Is he in custody?"
"Negative. He escaped on foot."
Lena cursed.
"What about Voss?"
"No sign."
Nathan looked toward the flood-control building.
A security camera rotated slowly above the entrance.
He suddenly remembered the monitor room where guards had watched his cell.
"The surveillance records," he said.
Lena turned.
"What?"
"They filmed everything."
"Where are the recordings?"
"In the control building."
Cole shook his head.
"Voss will have wiped the system."
"Maybe the live feed," Nathan said. "But the older cameras were connected to a local backup. I heard the guards complain about it."
Lena called a forensic technician.
Ten minutes later, they found a metal cabinet beneath the control-room desk.
Inside were stacks of storage drives.
Some were labeled by date.
Others by room number.
Nathan recognized his former cell number.
B-14.
Lena opened the most recent recording.
The screen showed Sheriff Harlan speaking to Charles Voss inside the control room.
The timestamp was from that afternoon.
Harlan looked furious.
"You promised me the children would be transferred!"
Voss stood calmly beside the desk.
"They are being transferred."
"To where?"
Voss glanced at the camera.
"Somewhere no one will ask questions."
Harlan slammed his fist against the wall.
"You can't drown nine kids!"
Voss's expression never changed.
"They aren't children to me, Wade."
He picked up a file.
"They're liabilities."
Nathan felt sick.
Then Voss continued.
"Once the quarry is gone, we can blame everything on Nathan Rowan. The unstable accountant who disappeared and came back to settle a score."
Harlan shook his head.
"And the daughter?"
Voss smiled.
"She's the final problem."
Lena froze the video.
Nathan's throat tightened.
"Find my family."
Lena immediately called the safe location where Meredith, June, Ismerie, and Theo had been taken.
No answer.
She called again.
Still nothing.
A third call finally connected.
But the voice that answered wasn't Meredith's.
It was Sheriff Harlan's.
"Congratulations, Nathan," he said.
"You saved nine children."
Nathan snatched the phone.
"Where's my daughter?"
Harlan laughed softly.
"That's the interesting thing about fathers."
Nathan could hear a little girl crying in the background.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
Harlan's voice hardened.
"Voss gave me an order."
A pause.
"And for once, I'm not going to follow it."
Then he whispered:
"Come to the old courthouse before midnight, Nathan. Bring the evidence."
"Why?"
"Because I've got Ismerie."
A little voice screamed through the phone.
"DADDY, PLEASE COME!"
May you like
The call ended.
And Nathan realized that saving nine children had placed his own daughter in the hands of the man who had helped destroy his family.
