These were the kids I’d seen, the ones I’d reported.
I hadn’t thought about it for years.
I’d been eight when I’d slipped that piece of paper with the website address to that police officer. I never knew what happened afterward, if anything ever happened. Nobody ever mentioned it again, and years later, I wasn’t even entirely sure if it wasn’t just something I’d made up. Like other people made up invisible friends.
Well, apparently not.
But what if?
I went back and opened the second search result.
In the beginning, this file looked like a replica of the other one but only at the beginning because what came next was nothing like the first file. There were lists of bank accounts, financial records, IP addresses, and onion links.
Nina suddenly tensed at the window, where she’d been checking the grounds with a pair of binoculars.
“We need to go. Now,” she said urgently.
“What is it?”
“There’s been a super-yacht approaching the island. And smaller boats are already heading to shore. I guess they’resitting out the weather, but it looks like Grey’s helicopter on the heli-pad.”
I glanced at the file transfer—95% complete. “It’s too early. Grey wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow.”
“Well, tough luck,” Nina insisted, her voice tight. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t follow an itinerary. We gotta go.”
I added the two files to the download. Then reassembled the picture frame while I waited for the download to finish. Once the transfer was completed, I disconnected the drive, erased all traces of our presence from the system, and secured the drive in my pocket.
“Let’s go,” I whispered.
We moved as quickly as we could and retraced our steps to the tunnel, but instead of searching for the door to the maintenance tunnel, we headed right towards the light at the other end of this smaller tunnel.
It wouldn’t matter where we got out—as long as we got out undetected. My heart beat in my throat, and just as we reached the end, voices echoed from right outside.
Nina pulled me back and pressed both of us against the wall beside the tunnel entrance.
“Arrangements are complete. The board will hopefully be satisfied with your explanation.”
Grey’s voice. He was here. And he wasn’t alone.
The voices grew louder as they approached our position.
Oh my God, if they entered the tunnel, they would immediately stumble over us.
“Should we go back?” I whispered.
Nina shook her head.
I held my breath and stared at the light, waiting for the moment their shadows would cloud the entrance.
One second, two.
…And they went past us.
Thank God.
We waited a little, and I almost got my heart rate back under control, when Nina moved to the exit and pulled me with her.
She checked carefully before we emerged from the tunnel and were right at one of the walkways connecting the buildings to each other. Nina linked arms with me, and we pretended to be on a stroll around the compound.
