They came to another set of doors, this one in front of them, with another control panel. River pulled his gun. Up the hallway, he could see Eli and Wrangler approaching. The compact Malinois moved with grace.
“Stand off to the side, out of view,” said River.
Lydia pressed herself close to the wall. “This could be it. My little girl could be in there.”
River reached to open the control panel just as Eli caught up with them. He pulled his gun as well.
River pushed the button and the doors slid open. Inside were shelves stocked with food and water jugs, several beds and a couch. The place appeared to be empty. The two men moved inside with their dogs by their side. A narrow hallway led to a bathroom and more shelving that contained guns, ammunition and blankets.
River called to Lydia. “It’s clear.”
Lydia crossed the threshold. “She’s not in here?”
River shook his head.
Shoulders slumped, head down, Lydia stepped into the room and gazed around. She stopped, letting out an audible breath and then rushing over to one of the beds, where she picked something up. “Elsie was here. This is her barrette.”
“We were too late.” River could feel the weight of failure suctioning around him all over again. If they had thought of the possibility of a bunker sooner, they might have been able to rescue Elsie right away.
Clutching the barrette in her fist, Lydia hurried over to him, patting his arm. “This is not your fault. No one could have guessed this was here.”
While he appreciated her not blaming him, he could not let go of the idea that he should have figured it out about the bunker sooner.
Eli stepped up to River. “This isn’t anything we’ve had to deal with before. All kinds of things can distort a scent for a K-9. It certainly never came up in any of our training.”
Eli moved around the room. “They couldn’t have made it all the way up that hill and into the clubhouse entrance without being spotted, or even to that midway spot. There must be an entrance closer to the river.” He pulled back a curtain. “There’s another hallway here.”
Lydia crept forward. “Another room, maybe Elsie is in there.”
River held her back. “Let us go first.”
Both men had their guns drawn as they made their way down the short hallway to a garage-style room where the tan SUV was parked. That explained why the vehicle had simply disappeared the day they’d chased it on the dirt road. Gregory had probably bought the car from a private citizen and then never registered it so there would be no way to trace it.
River circled the vehicle and peered inside. Nothing. Fighting off his own disappointment, he looked up the hallway to where Lydia stood, a hopeful expression on her face. He shook his head, and her jaw dropped. He felt the disappointment he read on her face in the hollow of his chest.
Eli strode across the concrete floor. “There’s another control panel here.” He opened it and pressed a button.
A sort of loud yawning and creaking filled the room as metal doors weighted with dirt and grass opened wide.
River looked up in time to see Gregory Larson aiming a rifle at his chest.
SEVENTEEN
With terror coursing through her, Lydia screamed when she heard the rifle shots. More shots were fired. One dog barked and another yelped as if in pain. She couldn’t see River anywhere.
Eli advanced up the hallway and grabbed her elbow. “We need to get you out of here.”
She pulled away. “Where’s River?”
“Come on,” said Eli. Wrangler stayed close to Eli.
She still clutched Elsie’s barrette as she was led up the passageway.
As they ran, she could hear the yawning sound of the huge doors closing. Where were River and Frankie?
Up ahead in the hallway, light still streamed through the midway doors where they had been left open. Eli drew his weapon and pressed his back against the concrete wall, signaling for Lydia to do the same. Lydia reached over to the control panel to shut the doors.
When she looked over her shoulder, River was moving up the hallway with Frankie. She let out the breath she’d been holding. River and Frankie were okay.
