Chapter 7 - The Tunnel Under the Foundation
Police searched for another entrance.
A hollow section behind the wine cabinet led into a narrow tunnel beneath the house.
The passage connected the basement to an abandoned storm-drain system.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
One set belonged to a military boot.
Another belonged to a child.
My shoe size.
I had never entered the tunnel.
Detective Mills asked whether Wade had taken my shoes.
Diane remembered him carrying laundry from my room.
He used my shoes to create a false trail.
Why?
To make it look as though I helped someone escape.
At the tunnel’s end, investigators found a hidden room.
A cot.
Canned food.
Medical supplies.
A wall map covered with red marks.
Thomas had been living there.
On the table sat a photograph of Dad’s unit.
Five soldiers stood together.
Dad.
Thomas.
A younger Wade.
Nolan Price.
And a man named Colonel Marcus Reed.
Dad stared at the picture.
“Wade was never in my unit.”
The photograph proved otherwise.
Wade had served under another name.
William Mercer.
He disappeared after being accused of selling classified equipment.
Months later, he became Wade Collins, wealthy property developer.
Rachel discovered his identity when she found military records inside his office.
That was why he imprisoned her.
The map showed several storage sites in Colorado.
One was marked with tonight’s date.
An old mining warehouse thirty miles west.
Detective Mills prepared a team.
Then the lights in the hidden room shut off.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Thomas Hale’s voice filled the tunnel.
“Daniel, do not go to the warehouse.”
Dad looked toward the ceiling.
“Thomas?”
“There are people inside your command who still want the ledger.”
“Where are you?”
“Close enough to see what Diane did.”
My mother froze.
Thomas continued.
May you like
“She did not help Wade because she was afraid.”
“She helped him because they were married before she ever met you.”
