Lydia straightened. “You need something flat and strong to pry it open.”
He could hear her pacing around the room and then retreating to the other rooms. She returned with a flathead screwdriver, which he pressed into the seam so he could separate the pieces of metal.
He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. “Hello.” He could see a concrete floor and stairs.
Lydia squeezed his shoulder. “Elsie might be down there.”
“Yes, and we might be going into a firefight. Let me call Eli and let him know what we found.”
He pressed Eli’s number.
“Yes?” said Eli.
“We found a passageway in the fireplace of the clubhouse that might lead to a bunker. What is your situation?”
“The shooter appears to have retreated.”
“Can you and Maren get up here? I’m going to check this out. Someone needs to stay with Lydia.”
“Be there in five,” said Eli. “I’ll let Maren know.”
“Sounds good.”
Lydia stepped closer to him. “I’m going down there with you.”
“It could be dangerous. You need to wait up here with one of the other officers.”
“Elsie might be down there.” Her voice held a note of urgency.
Through the window that looked out onto the range and the parking lot, River caught a flash of motion. He turned. A car he didn’t recognize had pulled into the lot.
Lydia let out a breath and squeezed his arm. “What if he’s been sent by Gregory Larson?”
Now Lydia might be in danger if she stayed above ground. “We’ll go down the steps to hide.”
River phoned Eli to let him know what was going on. After Frankie made her way down the stairs, he and Lydia followed. He slid the metal doors closed. He shone his flashlight to reveal a long concrete passageway. This had to lead to the bunker down the hill.
Lydia was already making her way along the corridor. “Hold up,” he said. “We have to wait for backup.”
Lydia walked briskly, as if she hadn’t heard him. The compulsion to find her daughter overrode even keeping herself safe.
When he checked his cell phone, he found he had no bars meaning there was no signal once they were underground. He ran to catch up with her. They moved down the concrete hallway until they came to a set of steps off to the side.
River tilted his head. Two more metal doors, but much larger than the fireplace doors. On one side of the wall was a metal box.
Lydia opened the box. Inside was a set of buttons and switches. He pressed a green button and the doors lifted open. He hurried up the stairs and peered around. They were probably midway between the clubhouse and the boundary to Gregory’s land.
“This must be where Sheryl came outside to make her phone call.”
The doors had a substantial amount of dirt and grass on them, so the entrance would be concealed from anybody walking by. Through the open doors, River stood where he could get a signal and called Eli. “There’s an escape hatch midway between the clubhouse and the river. We’ll leave it open for you.”
“Wrangler and I can get there fairly quickly. Maren and Haven are headed up to the clubhouse to question the man who just pulled up.”
“We’ll wait for you.”
When River descended the stairs, Lydia was already making her way through the corridor, Frankie beside her.
He hurried to catch up with her. “Lydia, slow down. We don’t know what we’re walking into.”
