Chapter 3 - THE MAN IN THE WALLThe boss pulled the office door shut.
The lock clicked.
He checked it twice.
Then he moved the girl toward the private conference room.
“Stay behind the chair.”
She obeyed.
For the first time, she looked less frightened.
She looked determined.
The boss noticed.
“You're not surprised.”
“By what?”
“By any of this.”
She hugged the bunny tighter.
“My mommy said people can lie with their mouths.”
The boss stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“She said eyes don't know how.”
A strange silence followed.
He looked toward the hallway again.
Nothing.
The rain continued tapping against the windows.
Then his phone vibrated.
This time, a photograph appeared.
The image showed his office.
Taken from somewhere inside the room.
The boss stared at it.
The girl was visible beneath the desk.
So was him.
The photograph had been taken less than a minute earlier.
His eyes moved toward the ceiling.
Cameras.
He had personally designed the security system.
There were no cameras inside his private office.
At least, there weren't supposed to be.
He walked toward the smoke detector.
The girl whispered.
“Don't touch it.”
He stopped.
“Why?”
“He said you would.”
The boss turned slowly.
“Who told you that?”
She looked at the wall.
“The sad man.”
His face hardened.
He pulled a small utility knife from his desk drawer.
Then he noticed something strange.
The red light beneath the desk wasn't blinking randomly.
It was blinking in a pattern.
Two flashes.
Pause.
Three flashes.
Pause.
Two flashes.
His expression changed.
He recognized it.
A military signaling sequence.
Not ordinary Morse code.
Something older.
Something used by a private security network he had worked with before leaving federal contracting.
His phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Silence.
Then breathing.
Slow.
Measured.
The boss said nothing.
A man's voice finally whispered through the receiver.
“You were always difficult to scare.”
The boss's eyes narrowed.
“Who is this?”
“You know.”
The call ended.
The girl suddenly covered her ears.
“Make him stop.”
The boss looked at her.
“Stop what?”
“The clock.”
He listened.
The ticking clock on the wall had stopped.
But something else was ticking.
Under the floor.
A steady metallic rhythm.
He crouched.
Pressed his palm against the carpet.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
His face went pale.
The sound wasn't coming from the desk.
It was coming from beneath the building.
He immediately grabbed the girl.
“We're leaving.”
They reached the private elevator.
He pressed the button.
Nothing.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then every elevator indicator on the floor turned red.
The girl whispered:
“He doesn't want us downstairs.”
The boss stared at her.
“How do you know?”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“Because he told me.”
The boss's hand tightened around the elevator door.
“Then we're going upstairs.”
He led her toward the emergency staircase.
Before opening the door, he stopped.
Footsteps echoed from the other side.
Slow.
One step.
Then another.
The boss motioned for the girl to stay behind him.
The footsteps stopped.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then a man's voice came through.
“You shouldn't have opened the desk.”
The boss's eyes narrowed.
He had never opened anything.
Not yet.
The little girl quietly whispered:
“He knows.”
The boss looked down.
The red light beneath the desk had appeared again.
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Except now it wasn't beneath the desk.
It was blinking from inside his own phone.
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