Chapter 15 - FOOTPRINTS IN THE DUST
The group followed the tracks around the rear of the warehouse.
Unlike the front entrance, this side of the property remained almost completely hidden from the road.
Daniel crouched near the ground.
"There."
Ryan looked down.
Several footprints crossed the muddy earth.
Some belonged to work boots.
Others looked much newer.
Richard measured one with his own shoe.
"They were here within the last twenty-four hours."
Samuel scanned the tree line.
"How many people?"
"At least three."
Daniel noticed something else.
One footprint suddenly disappeared.
He frowned.
"That's impossible."
Richard walked over.
The trail ended beside a patch of cracked concrete.
No return footprints.
No continuation.
Ryan looked confused.
"Where did they go?"
Daniel slowly brushed dirt away with his hand.
Concrete.
Old.
Uneven.
His fingers suddenly struck metal.
Everyone froze.
Samuel knelt beside him.
"What is it?"
Daniel cleared away more dirt.
A rusted iron ring appeared, almost completely buried beneath years of soil and dead leaves.
Richard's heartbeat quickened.
"A hatch."
Ryan whispered.
"It goes underground."
Daniel gripped the iron ring carefully.
Years of rust protested loudly as he pulled.
The heavy metal hatch refused to move.
Samuel joined him.
Together they pulled harder.
With a deep grinding sound...
The hatch slowly opened.
Cold air rushed upward from the darkness below.
Ryan instinctively switched on a flashlight.
Stone steps disappeared into shadows beneath the warehouse grounds.
Richard stared into the darkness.
"I don't think this was ever on any official blueprint."
Daniel looked down the staircase.
Something about it felt strangely familiar.
Not because he remembered seeing it.
Because his father had described it once.
Very quietly.
Very briefly.
Many years ago.
"A place where good ideas sleep until honest people wake them."
Daniel whispered the sentence without thinking.
Samuel turned toward him.
"Your father said that?"
Daniel nodded.
"I never understood what he meant."
Now...
Standing before the hidden staircase...
He wondered if his father had been talking about this place all along.
None of them noticed that, high above the trees...
A small camera mounted to a branch silently rotated.
Its lens focused directly on the open hatch.
Several miles away...
Inside an office filled with computer monitors...
A red indicator light suddenly turned green.
Someone watching the live video smiled.
"They found the entrance."
Another voice replied calmly.
"Excellent."
"Do we move now?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"
May you like
"Because the entrance..."
"...is only the first lock."
