Chapter 9 - THE TUNNEL UNDER WASHINGTONThe tunnel smelled of concrete, dust, and old rain.
The girl held tightly to the boss's hand.
Ethan walked several feet ahead.
No one spoke.
Eventually, the boss broke the silence.
“How long have you been underground?”
“Long enough.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is the only safe one.”
The tunnel stretched beneath the city.
Old brick walls appeared beneath layers of concrete.
The boss recognized the architecture.
“These tunnels are government property.”
Ethan nodded.
“Some of them.”
“And the others?”
“Someone forgot to put them on the maps.”
The girl suddenly stopped.
Ethan turned.
“What?”
She pointed toward the wall.
A small red light blinked.
The boss's expression tightened.
“Another device.”
Ethan approached.
“No.”
He looked closer.
“It's a marker.”
“For what?”
Ethan wiped dust from the wall.
A symbol appeared.
The same symbol from the ledger.
The girl whispered:
“Mommy drew that.”
The boss crouched beside her.
“Why?”
“She said it means the door is close.”
Ethan looked at the wall.
“There is no door.”
The girl smiled faintly.
“Yes, there is.”
She placed her palm against the brick.
Nothing happened.
Then she whispered a name.
A section of wall clicked.
The boss stepped back.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a small room.
A desk.
A chair.
Several boxes.
And hundreds of photographs.
The boss walked inside.
He picked up the first one.
His father.
Second.
His mother.
Third.
Ethan.
Fourth.
The girl's mother.
Then one photograph made him stop.
The girl.
But she was only two years old.
Standing beside someone else.
A woman whose face had been scratched away.
He turned to Ethan.
“Who is this?”
Ethan didn't answer.
The girl did.
“Grandma.”
The boss stared.
“Your grandmother?”
She nodded.
“She said Daddy was never dead.”
The boss looked at Ethan.
“What does that mean?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“The girl's father isn't dead.”
The boss felt the room tilt.
“Then where is he?”
Ethan looked toward the tunnel.
“Closer than you think.”
A sound echoed behind them.
Metal scraping concrete.
Someone was entering the tunnel.
Ethan grabbed the boxes.
“We leave now.”
The boss looked at the photographs.
“Take everything.”
Ethan nodded.
The girl suddenly pointed at one final photograph.
A photograph of a White House event.
Dozens of people stood smiling.
In the background, almost hidden behind a column, stood the security chief.
Beside him stood the girl's father.
And between them stood a man whose face the boss recognized instantly.
His own father.
The boss whispered:
“They've been connected for decades.”
Ethan answered:
“That's why nobody ever escaped.”
The lights in the tunnel went out.
May you like
Then a voice echoed through the darkness.
“Because nobody ever really wanted to.”
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