Page 45 of Once Vanished
“Clear the room,” Bill ordered.“Check every corner, every shadow.”
They worked methodically, covering every possible hiding spot.But as the minutes ticked by with no sign of their quarry, a familiar sense of frustration began to build in Bill’s chest.This felt like every other encounter with Leo—always one step ahead, always just out of reach.
“Sir,” Jensen’s voice came through his earpiece.“We’ve cleared the south and west quadrants.No sign of the target.”
Similar reports came in from other teams.No sign of Leo at any of the exit points.No sign of him anywhere in the building.
“He can’t have vanished,” Hogue growled, joining Bill in the central chamber.“We had eyes on every exit.Thermal imaging on the roof.Where the hell is he?”
But Bill already knew.“He tricked us.Again.”
“Agent Jeffreys!”A voice called from the far end of the chamber.One of the younger agents was waving urgently.“I found something.”
They converged on the spot where the agent stood pointing at what looked like an unremarkable pile of debris in a shadowed corner.Bill approached cautiously, then saw it—the edge of a metal hatch partially concealed beneath rusted pipes and broken concrete.
“Jesus,” Hogue breathed.“Maintenance tunnels.”
Bill crouched down, pushing aside the debris to reveal a rusted circular hatch, its handle recently disturbed—the dust pattern showed clear signs of use.He pulled it open with a grinding screech of corroded metal.A ladder descended into darkness, the air wafting up damp and cold.
“These old maintenance tunnels probably run beneath the entire facility,” Hogue said, pulling out his flashlight.“They must connect to the city’s storm drain system or the river culverts.”
“Gleason,” Bill called to the female agent.“Get a map of the underground infrastructure.We need to know exactly where these tunnels lead.”
As they stood there, a uniformed officer with a tactical vest and flashlight barreled past Bill, his boots scraping against the concrete floor.The officer’s face was set in grim determination as he dropped into the black maw of the tunnel.
Hogue swore under his breath.“Miller, Carson, back up Anderson,” he yelled, his voice echoing against the cold walls.Two agents immediately rushed forward and disappeared one by one into the yawning darkness below.
“The rest of you,” Hogue broadcast a command, “maintain the perimeter until we get those maps.We need backup teams at every potential exit point from those tunnels.Now.”
Bill stared down into the dark tunnel, a cold certainty spreading through him.The careful staging of the confrontation.The precise timing of Susan’s injury.The hidden escape route…
Leo had planned it all.Had known exactly how they would respond, where they would position their forces.Had probably counted on their discovery of the tunnels being delayed just long enough for him to slip away through the underground labyrinth.
“He’s gone,” Bill said quietly, the admission tasting bitter.“He’s been three steps ahead of us this entire time.”
Hogue’s face was grim in the harsh beam of the flashlight.“We’ll find him.Those tunnels have to lead somewhere.”
But Bill knew better.By the time they mapped the tunnel system and mobilized teams to cover the exit points, Leo would be long gone.Free and clear, just as he’d planned.
Susan Martinez had at best a slender chance of surviving, if she wasn’t dead already.And Jilly was still missing.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Riley sat alone at the metal table, her hands resting on the surface, still faintly stained with traces of blood she hadn’t been able to scrub entirely from beneath her fingernails.Susan Martinez’s blood.She stared at the institutional beige wall opposite her, seeing not its blank expanse but the moment when Leo’s knife had flashed across Susan’s throat.
An hour had passed since they’d returned to headquarters.An hour since she’d given her initial statement, her voice mechanical as she recounted Leo’s taunting words, the careful recreation of a fourteen-year-old failure.She’d pressed her hands against Susan’s wound, felt the woman’s life pulsing away.The medical examiner had been blunt in his assessment—the cut had severed the carotid artery in a way that ensured maximum blood loss in minimum time.Death had been inevitable from the moment Leo’s blade made contact.
Riley closed her eyes, willing away the image of Susan’s face, her eyes wide with terror and disbelief as she realized what was happening to her.But another image rose unbidden—Dana Chen’s face, fourteen years ago, wearing that same expression of disbelief as Riley made the fateful decision to chase after Voss instead of staying to help.
Two women.Two deaths.Two choices she would carry forever.
The tactical team had found the tunnel entrance within minutes, but by then Leo was already gone.The maintenance tunnels beneath the old waterworks facility had been built during a different era, a labyrinthine network originally designed to provide access to underwater machinery and piping systems.They had followed the most likely route, guided by fresh scuff marks on the dusty concrete.
The tunnel had led them to a rusted hatch, hidden behind a dilapidated chain-link fence and a tangle of overgrown brush along the riverbank.A quarter-mile downstream from the waterworks, well outside the established perimeter.The perfect escape route—shielded by thick woods and the constant sound of rushing water that would mask any noise Leo might make emerging from his underground passage.
“He had it all planned,” Bill had murmured after he and Riley arrived there, crouching to examine the ground around the hatch.“Every detail.The confrontation inside, the timing of Martinez’s injury, this escape route, where he could park a getaway car.He knew exactly how we’d respond, where we’d position our people.”
A sharp knock at the door jolted Riley back to the present.She straightened in her chair, expecting another detective or perhaps an FBI representative to begin the next round of questioning.