Chapter 5: The Shot in the Dark
The gunshot changed everything.
Officer Brooks tackled Mia and me behind the concrete wall.
Another officer dragged Vanessa down.
Someone shouted, “Shots fired!””
Flashlights swept across the trees.
Police spread through the yard.
The bunker door, unlocked but still closed, stayed exactly where it was.
Mia screamed against my chest.
I covered the back of her head.
“I’ve got you.””
“Daddy!””
“I’m here.””
Another officer shouted from the fence.
“No impact! No one hit!””
The shot had been a warning.
Which somehow made it worse.
Marcus wasn’t trying to kill us.
He wanted us frightened.
Controlled.
Officer Brooks stayed low.
“Ryan, do not move.””
My phone remained on the ground where it had fallen.
The call was still connected.
Marcus’s voice came through the speaker.
“Good. Now everyone understands.””
Vanessa made a sound beside us.
“Marcus.””
The line went silent for half a second.
Then he laughed.
“Hello, Vanessa.””
I looked at her.
She was shaking violently now.
Not acting.
Whatever else she had done, she was truly afraid of this man.
Officer Brooks signaled another officer to trace the call.
Marcus continued.
“You made a mess.””
Vanessa whispered, “You told me you were taking Caleb tonight.””
“You were supposed to keep the girl away.””
Mia buried her face in my chest.
My rage became almost impossible to contain.
I leaned toward the phone.
“You threaten my daughter again—”
Marcus laughed.
“Ryan Carter.””
The way he said my name told me he had known it for a long time.
“You have no idea what you married.””
“I’m learning.””
“Not fast enough.””
“Where are you?””
“Close.””
Police moved farther into the trees.
Officer Brooks silently motioned for me to keep him talking.
I hated that my daughter was hearing this.
But Marcus was the only person who might tell us what we needed to know.
“Why is Caleb in my bunker?””
“Your bunker?””
Marcus laughed again.
“That place belonged to people like me before your father ever bought the house.””
“My father?””
Vanessa looked at me.
I froze.
Marcus had just said the one thing that could cut through everything else.
“My father had nothing to do with this.””
“You sure?””
“Yes.””
“Ask Vanessa.””
I turned toward her.
She refused to meet my eyes.
My stomach sank.
“Vanessa.””
“Not now.””
“What did my father know?””
“Ryan, please.””
“What did he know?””
Marcus spoke through the phone.
“She didn’t marry you by accident.””
The yard disappeared around me.
For a moment, I heard nothing but blood pounding in my ears.
I stared at Vanessa.
“What is he talking about?””
“Ryan.””
“You knew who I was before we met?””
She started crying again.
Officer Brooks glanced between us but said nothing.
“Answer me.””
“Yes.””
The word nearly broke something inside me.
I thought about the restaurant where Vanessa and I supposedly met by chance.
She had dropped her purse.
I helped pick up the contents.
We laughed.
Coffee became dinner.
Dinner became months together.
Then marriage.
All those little accidents.
Manufactured.
“You targeted me.””
“No.””
“You just admitted you knew who I was.””
“I knew your name.””
“Why?””
“Because of the property.””
Marcus laughed softly through the speaker.
“There you go.””
I wanted to smash the phone.
Officer Brooks shook her head sharply.
Keep him talking.
I forced myself.
“What about the property?””
Marcus said nothing.
“Marcus.””
“You’re standing on it.””
“On what?””
“The reason Caleb is underground.””
I looked at the oak tree.
Then the bunker.
Then Vanessa.
“What is buried here?””
Marcus sighed.
“Now you’re finally asking the right question.””
The call disconnected.
“Damn it!””
Officer Brooks grabbed the phone.
“Did we get it?””
An officer checked his device.
“Burner. Signal bounced twice. Last registered less than two miles away, but that could be false.””
Mia began shaking harder.
I looked down.
Her eyes were closing.
“Mia?””
She blinked slowly.
“Daddy…”
“Stay with me.””
Officer Brooks called the paramedic.
He checked Mia quickly.
“She’s exhausted and terrified. Probably crashing after the adrenaline.””
“I want her out of here.””
“We have an armored unit coming to the front. We can move you both.””
“No.””
Mia suddenly grabbed my shirt.
“Caleb.””
I looked toward the bunker.
The paramedic had been unable to reach him again.
No coughing.
No whispering.
Nothing.
I couldn’t leave him.
Not knowing he was alive.
“Mia, the police are going to help him.””
She shook her head.
“He gets scared when people open it.””
“How do you know?””
“He told me.””
“When?””
“Yesterday.””
Everyone looked at her.
Officer Brooks crouched.
“What did Caleb say yesterday?””
Mia rubbed her eyes.
“He said when the door opens, bad people come.””
Vanessa started sobbing.
I looked at her.
“You knew that too?””
“He’s confused.””
“No. You keep saying everyone is confused except you.””
“He has trauma.””
“Because of who?””
She looked toward the trees.
“Marcus.””
The paramedic interrupted.
“We cannot wait much longer. If the kid’s unresponsive, we go.””
Officer Brooks nodded.
“Do it.””
Vanessa shouted, “Wait!””
Nobody listened.
Two officers covered the tree line.
The paramedic and rescue technician moved to the rusted door.
Mia clung to me.
The hinge groaned.
One inch.
Two.
Cold red light spilled across the dirt.
Then a smell came out.
Damp concrete.
Mold.
Something chemical.
The paramedic recoiled.
“Hold it.””
He raised a detector.
Vanessa whispered, “Oh, no.””
I heard her.
“What?””
She shook her head.
“What?””
“Marcus changed something.””
The technician checked the meter.
“Low oxygen.””
The paramedic pulled on a respirator.
“We need ventilation.””
A portable fan was brought in.
Nobody opened the door wider than a few inches.
Mia whispered, “Caleb?””
Nothing answered.
Her eyes filled.
“Caleb?””
I kissed her temple.
“Let them work.””
Officer Brooks moved beside Vanessa.
“Tell me exactly what’s inside.””
“A hallway.””
“How long?””
“Maybe twenty feet.””
“Rooms?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“Two.””
My skin crawled.
“Two?””
She nodded.
“One storage room.””
“And the other?””
Vanessa looked at me.
“A sleeping room.””
“You built a sleeping room underground?””
“No. It was already there.””
“For your son?””
“No.””
That answer was almost worse.
Officer Brooks asked, “Then for who?””
Vanessa whispered, “I don’t know.””
I didn’t believe her.
Neither did Brooks.
The rescue team began preparing to enter.
Then another officer came running from the oak tree.
“Detective.””
Brooks turned.
“What?””
“We found something.””
Vanessa went completely still.
The officer held a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a small metal box.
Mud covered most of it.
But on the lid, beneath the dirt, someone had scratched a name.
CARTER.
My last name.
I stared at Vanessa.
“What is that?””
She shook her head.
Officer Brooks asked, “Was this what Marcus buried?””
Vanessa whispered, “No.””
“How do you know?””
“Because that box is older.””
The officer wiped more dirt from the lid.
A second marking appeared.
Initials.
R.C.
My initials.
Ryan Carter.
I felt Mia’s fingers tighten around mine.
“That isn’t possible.””
Officer Brooks looked at me.
“Why?””
“Because I’ve never seen that box in my life.””
Vanessa looked like she was going to be sick.
Then she said the last thing I expected.
“You have.””
I turned toward her.
“What?””
“When you were a child.””
My breath stopped.
“I didn’t know you when I was a child.””
“No.””
She stared at the box.
“But Caleb’s father did.””
The rescue technician suddenly shouted from the bunker.
“We have movement!””
Everyone turned.
A weak hand had appeared for half a second beneath the gap.
Then vanished again.
Mia cried out.
“Caleb!””
The paramedic knelt close.
“Caleb! Can you hear me?””
A voice answered.
Barely.
But it wasn’t Caleb’s.
It was older.
Male.
Weak.
“Ryan…”
Every hair on my arms rose.
Officer Brooks stared at me.
Vanessa stopped breathing.
The voice came again from somewhere deeper inside the bunker.
“Ryan Carter…”
I stepped forward despite every officer telling me not to.
“Who are you?””
Silence.
May you like
Then the stranger whispered four words.
“Your father is alive.””
