Chapter 34: The Fifth Researcher Was Waiting
Chapter 34: The Fifth Researcher Was Waiting
The room remained silent as Jonathan stared at the newly printed photograph.
The face had aged.
Gray hair now replaced the dark hair from the university photograph.
Wrinkles lined his forehead.
A neatly trimmed beard concealed much of his jaw.
But Jonathan recognized him immediately.
"There can be no mistake," he whispered.
"It's him."
Anna stepped closer.
"Who is he?"
Jonathan slowly lowered the photograph.
"His real name is Dr. Adrian Mercer."
One of the investigators quickly searched every government database.
Nothing.
No academic papers.
No professional licenses.
No university records.
No tax history before eighteen years ago.
It was as though Dr. Adrian Mercer had simply vanished.
The lead analyst frowned.
"That's impossible."
Jonathan gave a sad smile.
"No."
"It's expensive."
Everyone looked at him.
"Only someone with extraordinary resources could erase a life this completely."
Dr. Evelyn Brooks folded her arms.
"So what do we actually know?"
The lead detective began reading from the recovered report.
"Eighteen years ago, Adrian Mercer officially died in a boating accident."
Mrs. Foster looked surprised.
"But he's alive."
"According to these records..."
The detective continued,
"...yes."
"He assumed a new identity six months after his reported death."
Another investigator enlarged a property map.
"The house he purchased near Lakewood Farmhouse isn't luxurious."
Everyone examined the photographs.
A modest stone cottage.
Weathered wooden fences.
A neglected vegetable garden.
An old pickup truck parked outside.
Nothing about it suggested wealth or power.
Richard Carter frowned.
"This doesn't fit."
"If he's behind all of this..."
"...why live like that?"
Anna quietly answered.
"Maybe because he doesn't want anyone looking."
Jonathan nodded.
"The best hiding place is often the most ordinary one."
Another analyst opened the utility records.
The cottage consumed very little electricity.
Very little water.
Almost no internet traffic.
Yet one detail immediately stood out.
Every Friday night...
Electricity usage spiked dramatically for exactly three hours.
The engineer enlarged the graph.
"That's enough power..."
He calculated quickly.
"...to operate industrial equipment."
Dr. Brooks looked puzzled.
"Inside a small cottage?"
The engineer slowly shook his head.
"I don't think the equipment is inside the cottage."
Anna looked toward the buried lake on the map.
"You think it's underneath."
The engineer nodded.
"The power cables continue underground."
The room became silent again.
The tactical commander entered carrying aerial drone images.
"We flew thermal scans over the property."
He projected them onto the wall.
The cottage itself appeared cool.
Almost empty.
But beneath the ground...
A network of warm tunnels stretched toward the buried lake.
Jonathan looked stunned.
"The tunnel."
The commander nodded.
"B-17 doesn't end beneath the headquarters."
He traced the glowing lines.
"It continues all the way to Mercer's property."
Mrs. Foster whispered,
"So he could move between both locations..."
"...without ever being seen."
The investigators exchanged uneasy glances.
This wasn't merely an escape route.
It was an underground transportation network.
Built years before anyone suspected its existence.
Just then, another forensic specialist hurried into the room.
"I've recovered something from Mercer's financial records."
"What is it?" Dr. Brooks asked.
"He never received a salary."
Richard Carter looked confused.
"Then how did he survive?"
The specialist enlarged another document.
"He operated through charitable foundations."
Donation after donation appeared on the screen.
Millions of dollars.
Moving through educational nonprofits.
Research grants.
International scholarship programs.
Every transfer was perfectly legal.
Every audit had passed.
Jonathan sighed.
"They buried money the same way they buried evidence."
Anna studied the transactions carefully.
Something bothered her.
"The dates."
The analyst looked at her.
"What about them?"
She pointed to the largest transfers.
"They don't happen every year."
She highlighted another.
"They happen..."
She paused.
"...whenever a new school joins the partnership."
The room fell silent.
Dr. Brooks immediately understood.
"The funding wasn't rewarding education."
She looked toward Jonathan.
"It was expanding the network."
Jonathan nodded grimly.
"One school at a time."
The lead detective's secure phone suddenly vibrated.
He answered immediately.
His expression changed.
"What?"
The room fell quiet.
He slowly lowered the phone.
"Local officers just arrived at Mercer's cottage."
"And?" Dr. Brooks asked.
"They found the front door unlocked."
Jonathan stepped forward.
"Was he there?"
The detective shook his head.
"No."
"Any signs of struggle?"
"No."
He hesitated before continuing.
"But they found something else."
"What?"
The detective swallowed.
"Breakfast."
Everyone looked confused.
"It was still warm."
A heavy silence filled the operations center.
If breakfast was still warm...
Then Adrian Mercer had left only minutes earlier.
Anna slowly looked toward the map.
Then toward the underground tunnel.
Finally, she whispered the thought that chilled everyone in the room.
"He didn't run away."
Jonathan turned toward her.
"What do you mean?"
Anna's eyes remained fixed on the glowing tunnel map.
"He already knew we were coming."
She took a slow breath.
"And if he left a warm breakfast behind..."
She looked directly at Jonathan.
"...he wanted us to know we had arrived exactly on time."
The room fell completely silent.
Because for the first time since the investigation began...
It seemed possible that Adrian Mercer wasn't trying to escape.
He was leading them somewhere.
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And whatever waited at the end of Tunnel B-17...
He wanted Anna to find it.
