Chapter 53 - The Watchman's Cabin
Blackstone Quarry had officially closed twenty-seven years earlier.
Rusted machinery still surrounded the massive excavation site like forgotten monuments.
The moon barely illuminated the narrow access road.
Near the entrance stood a small wooden cabin.
Its windows were dark.
The faded sign still read:
WATCHMAN
Daniel pushed the door open.
Dust floated through the air.
Everything appeared abandoned.
Yet the fireplace contained fresh ashes.
Someone had used it recently.
Samuel searched the desk.
Old maintenance logs.
Visitor permits.
Tool inventories.
Nothing unusual.
Until Lily noticed a loose floorboard beneath the bed.
Inside rested a weatherproof metal box.
Unlike every other container they had discovered, this one wasn't locked.
It contained a stack of photographs.
Most showed the quarry during ordinary workdays decades ago.
Then the images changed.
Workers disappeared.
Instead, black SUVs appeared parked near the deepest excavation pit.
Several men in suits stood beside them.
One photograph froze Daniel in place.
The elderly man from the estate.
Much younger.
Standing beside Victor Hayes.
Both men appeared to be supervising construction beneath the quarry.
Samuel turned over the final photograph.
On the back someone had written:
Entrance completed. Awaiting transfer.
Transfer of what?
Before they could continue searching, a loud metallic clang echoed from somewhere deep inside the quarry.
May you like
Someone else had arrived.
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