Chapter 8: Nathan's Last Letter
Chapter 8: Nathan's Last Letter
The children screamed.
Harper instinctively pulled Emma behind her.
Above them, separated by thick reinforced glass, the gray-haired woman stood with perfect composure.
She looked less like a criminal...
and more like the headmistress of an elite boarding school.
Elegant.
Patient.
Cold.
She folded her gloved hands behind her back.
"Welcome home, Emma."
Emma buried her face against Harper's shoulder.
"No..."
"I don't want to go back..."
The woman's expression never changed.
"You misunderstand."
"You never left."
Harper looked around the underground chamber.
"What are you talking about?"
The woman smiled faintly.
"This place has always belonged to us."
"The Whitcomb Foundation merely borrowed the building."
Harper felt the words hit like ice.
Borrowed.
The mansion...
The underground prison...
Everything had existed long before Preston Whitcomb.
Long before Nathan.
Long before Enzo.
The Shepherd had been here all along.
...
Elsewhere beneath the shelter...
Enzo sprinted through the tunnels carrying Nathan's journal beneath one arm.
His radio crackled with static.
Every security channel had been jammed.
Only one frequency remained open.
Harper's emergency beacon.
He followed it deeper underground.
Behind him came hurried footsteps.
Marco—his chief of security—finally caught up.
"Boss."
"We've evacuated half the children."
"The police are five minutes away."
Enzo shook his head.
"We don't have five minutes."
He handed Marco Nathan's journal.
"If anything happens to me..."
Marco immediately interrupted.
"Don't."
Enzo stopped walking.
"Read the last page."
Marco reluctantly opened it.
His eyes widened.
"My God..."
Enzo nodded.
"Exactly."
They ran faster.
...
Inside the underground chamber...
The gray-haired woman pressed a button.
Old projectors flickered to life around the walls.
Grainy black-and-white films filled the room.
Children.
Hundreds of them.
Standing in neat rows.
Singing.
The Shepherd's song.
Harper felt sick.
Emma squeezed her eyes shut.
"I don't want to hear it..."
The woman ignored her.
"Children are wonderfully adaptable."
"They become whatever they're taught."
She slowly paced behind the glass.
"Some become judges."
"Some become politicians."
"Some become billionaires."
"Some become ghosts."
Harper looked at her with disbelief.
"You're insane."
"No."
"I am patient."
She gestured toward the films.
"We never trafficked children."
"We cultivated influence."
"Raise them young."
"Control them forever."
Harper suddenly understood.
The Shepherd wasn't simply kidnapping children.
It was creating loyal servants.
Decades of them.
Hidden in every level of society.
Nathan hadn't uncovered a criminal organization.
He had uncovered an empire.
...
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The chamber shook violently.
Dust exploded from the ceiling.
The gray-haired woman frowned.
A second explosion followed.
The reinforced wall beside Harper cracked open.
Enzo emerged through clouds of concrete dust.
Covered in debris.
Nathan's revolver raised.
His voice echoed through the chamber.
"Step away from the children."
The woman looked genuinely amused.
"I wondered how long it would take."
She pressed another button.
Steel shutters slammed down around the observation window.
She vanished.
Only her voice remained.
"You've already lost."
Gas hissed into the chamber.
Marco shouted from behind Enzo.
"Masks!"
Security officers quickly distributed emergency respirators.
Enough for every child.
Enough for Harper.
Enough for Emma.
One remained.
Enzo handed it to Liam.
The little boy hesitated.
"What about you?"
Enzo smiled.
"I'll borrow someone else's."
Liam nodded seriously and put it on.
Harper watched him.
"You don't have one."
"I know."
Without another word, Harper removed hers and placed it over Enzo's face.
He tried to refuse.
She wouldn't let him.
"We survive together."
Before he could answer...
Emma tugged Harper's sleeve.
"I remember."
Harper knelt.
"What?"
"The way out."
...
Emma ran toward the far corner of the chamber.
She dropped beside the stone floor.
"There."
Everyone stared.
"There isn't anything there."
Emma shook her head.
"Lily found it."
She pressed three loose stones in a strange sequence.
Click.
Click.
Click.
A hidden trapdoor slowly opened.
Fresh air rushed inside.
Marco laughed in disbelief.
"I don't think this kid understands impossible."
Emma whispered,
"My sister did."
One by one, the children climbed through the escape passage.
Harper stayed behind until every child was safe.
The last to leave was Emma.
She reached for Harper's hand.
"Come."
Harper smiled.
"I'm right behind you."
She lied.
...
Because Enzo hadn't moved.
He stood facing the only remaining entrance.
Footsteps echoed beyond it.
The attackers had finally arrived.
More than twenty of them.
Enzo quietly checked Nathan's revolver.
Only two bullets remained.
Marco stood beside him.
"So..."
Enzo smiled.
"So."
"You think we're getting out?"
Enzo looked toward the tunnel where the children had escaped.
"They are."
May you like
The steel door exploded inward.
The fight began.
