Chapter 15: Someone Was Watching From Inside the School
Chapter 15: Someone Was Watching From Inside the School
The blinking red dot remained fixed on the digital map.
No one in the gym took their eyes off the screen.
One floor above them.
Inside the school.
The anonymous caller had not been miles away.
He had been close enough to hear almost everything.
Dr. Evelyn Brooks immediately turned to the investigation team.
"Seal every exit."
"No one leaves this building."
Within seconds, investigators and security officers moved with military precision.
Two officers secured the front entrance.
Others spread through the hallways, stairwells, and emergency exits.
The reporters outside noticed the sudden movement and began broadcasting live.
Something serious was happening.
Jonathan Vale looked toward the map.
"Can you narrow the location?"
The forensic technician continued typing rapidly.
"The signal originated..."
He enlarged the building blueprint.
"...from the old administrative wing."
Principal Howard frowned.
"The third floor?"
The technician nodded.
"Yes."
Howard looked confused.
"That hallway has been closed for almost two years."
Mrs. Foster immediately disagreed.
"No."
Everyone turned toward her.
"It was supposed to be closed."
She hesitated.
"But I occasionally saw lights on late at night."
The investigators exchanged quick glances.
"You never reported it?"
"I did."
She sighed.
"I was told maintenance workers were updating storage rooms."
Jonathan looked toward Dr. Brooks.
"I don't believe in coincidences."
"Neither do I."
Dr. Brooks turned to the lead investigator.
"Search the entire third floor."
"No one enters alone."
The officers nodded and disappeared into the stairwell.
Meanwhile, Anna continued staring at the digital map.
Something still bothered her.
Jonathan noticed.
"What is it?"
Anna looked thoughtful.
"The caller wanted us to trace the phone."
Several investigators paused.
"What do you mean?"
"If someone has hidden for years..."
She pointed toward the blinking location.
"...they wouldn't suddenly make a mistake like this."
Jonathan slowly smiled.
"You think it was intentional."
Anna nodded.
"I think they wanted investigators to find something."
Richard Carter laughed nervously.
"So now we're following clues from anonymous criminals?"
Anna looked at him calmly.
"No."
"We're following evidence."
Richard opened his mouth to argue.
But stopped.
Because that single word—
Evidence.
—had defeated every argument he had made that day.
Five minutes later...
One of the investigators spoke through his radio.
"Control, we've reached the third floor."
Static answered.
Then his voice returned.
"The hallway is dark."
"Dust everywhere."
"It doesn't look like anyone has been here in months."
Another investigator interrupted.
"Wait..."
"There are footprints."
Dr. Brooks immediately picked up the radio.
"Fresh?"
A brief pause.
"Yes."
"Very fresh."
The gym became silent again.
Jonathan quietly tightened his grip on his cane.
"Continue."
The investigators advanced carefully.
Flashlights illuminated the abandoned corridor.
Broken ceiling tiles.
Old filing cabinets.
Windows covered with thick layers of dust.
Everything appeared forgotten.
Except...
The footprints.
They continued toward the very end of the hallway.
One investigator stopped.
"There's a door."
Another looked surprised.
"It isn't on the building blueprint."
The lead investigator pushed gently.
Locked.
He examined the handle.
"No dust."
"It was opened recently."
Dr. Brooks answered immediately.
"Open it."
A portable lock bypass tool appeared.
Thirty seconds later...
Click.
The door slowly swung inward.
Silence.
Then one investigator whispered,
"Oh..."
"My..."
The radio went quiet.
Too quiet.
Jonathan frowned.
"What do you see?"
No answer.
Dr. Brooks repeated more firmly,
"Report."
Finally, the investigator spoke.
"You need to come up here."
"What did you find?"
Another long silence.
Then...
"A hidden office."
Gasps spread across the gym.
"A what?"
"It doesn't appear on any official school plans."
The investigators slowly entered.
The room looked nothing like the abandoned hallway outside.
Modern computers.
High-speed internet equipment.
Multiple surveillance monitors.
Filing cabinets.
Fresh coffee.
Recently printed documents.
Someone had been working there.
Recently.
Very recently.
The lead investigator carefully approached the desk.
"The computers are still warm."
Another officer looked toward the corner.
"There's a second door."
He opened it.
Empty.
Only a narrow staircase leading downward.
"It connects to the maintenance tunnels."
Principal Howard looked horrified.
"There are tunnels beneath the school?"
Mrs. Foster nodded slowly.
"They were built decades ago."
"Most people don't even know they exist anymore."
The investigator continued searching the office.
He picked up a framed photograph from the desk.
His face suddenly changed.
"Superintendent..."
"You need to see this."
Dr. Brooks hurried upstairs with Jonathan and Anna following close behind.
The hidden office was exactly as described.
Someone had secretly operated from inside the school for a long time.
The investigator handed Dr. Brooks the photograph.
She stared at it.
Then looked toward Jonathan.
Without saying a word, she handed it to him.
Jonathan's calm expression disappeared.
Anna stepped beside her grandfather.
"What is it?"
Jonathan slowly turned the picture toward her.
It showed five people standing together at a ribbon-cutting ceremony nearly ten years earlier.
Principal Howard.
Martin Graves.
Several district officials.
And standing in the center...
Smiling proudly for the cameras...
Was a man Anna had never seen before.
Across the bottom of the frame, a brass nameplate had been engraved.
Chairman — National Student Partnership Council
Anna looked confused.
"Who is he?"
Jonathan's voice became unusually quiet.
"The one person..."
"...I hoped this investigation would never lead to."
The room fell completely silent.
Because everyone realized the same terrifying truth.
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The hidden office didn't belong to a school administrator.
It belonged to someone whose authority reached far beyond a single school... far beyond the district... and perhaps far beyond anything they had imagined.
