Chapter 6: The girl who disappeared
The tunnel opened onto the edge of the lake.
Moonlight shimmered across the water.
A small aluminum boat waited beneath the dock exactly where Adrian’s contingency plans said it would be.
Dominic untied the rope.
“We move now.”
Mara didn’t move.
She was staring at the photograph on Adrian’s phone.
Rachel Monroe.
Bound.
Bruised.
Alive.
“This is my fault.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
“I involved her.”
“You trusted someone trying to expose a predator.”
“She’ll die because of me.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“She’ll die if we panic.”
The words were harsh.
Necessary.
Mara nodded once.
They crossed the lake in silence.
On the opposite shore, another vehicle waited hidden beneath camouflage netting.
By dawn, they were inside an abandoned federal observatory outside Albany.
No windows.
Concrete walls.
Independent power.
Off-grid communications.
Dominic locked the steel door behind them.
“This is the last place Marcus knows about.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
For the first time in days, uncertainty crossed Dominic’s face.
“I think.”
That single word changed everything.
Inside the observatory, Adrian spread photographs and maps across a metal table.
Rachel Monroe.
Kelleher Holdings.
Warehouse properties.
Private security routes.
Known associates.
Mara sat quietly beside him.
Finally, she spoke.
“There’s another place.”
Adrian looked up.
“What place?”
“Nolan called it Haven.”
The room became still.
“Project Haven?”
She nodded.
“I didn’t know what it meant before.”
“But I remember hearing him say, ‘Move her to Haven.’”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Who?”
“The girl.”
“What girl?”
Mara closed her eyes.
“She couldn’t have been older than nineteen.”
“She was wearing a green sweater.”
“She had a scar on her wrist.”
“She kept asking for her brother.”
Mara’s voice began shaking.
“She begged me not to leave.”
Adrian remained silent.
“I still left.”
“You survived.”
“I abandoned her.”
“You escaped.”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Those are not the same thing.”
Dominic interrupted gently.
“We may be able to find her.”
Mara looked at him.
“It’s been eleven months.”
“She may not be there anymore.”
“No.”
Dominic pointed to the map.
“But if Haven exists, it’s a physical location.”
Adrian looked at Mara.
“Tell me everything you remember.”
She closed her eyes again.
“The elevator went down.”
“There was water.”
“I could hear generators.”
“The air smelled like bleach.”
“And?”
She hesitated.
“There was a church bell.”
Adrian frowned.
“A bell?”
“Yes.”
“Every hour.”
Dominic was already searching property records.
“Industrial buildings near churches.”
“Water access.”
“Backup power systems.”
The search returned dozens of locations.
Too many.
Then Adrian noticed something in the corner of the photograph from Rachel’s file.
A faded mural.
Blue waves.
A lighthouse.
“Enlarge this.”
Dominic zoomed in.
Mara leaned forward suddenly.
“I know that.”
“What?”
“The mural.”
“Where?”
“It was in the hallway outside the security room.”
She looked closer.
“There was a lighthouse.”
“And blue waves.”
Dominic typed quickly.
“There’s only one property connected to Kelleher Holdings with a registered historical mural.”
He turned the screen toward them.
St. Brigid’s Maritime Mission.
A decommissioned church complex on the Hudson River.
Adrian looked at the satellite image.
Church.
Warehouse.
Dock.
Underground utility tunnels.
A bell tower.
Mara whispered, “That’s it.”
Before anyone could speak, the emergency communications terminal activated.
An encrypted signal.
Dominic frowned.
“No one has this frequency.”
The screen flickered.
Then Rachel Monroe appeared.
She was alive.
Barely.
The video was shaky.
Hidden.
She was whispering.
“If you’re seeing this…”
She looked terrified.
“…they moved me.”
Static.
“Haven is real.”
“They’re keeping women underground.”
“I found records.”
She held up a notebook.
“Names.”
“Dates.”
“Payments.”
A loud noise interrupted her.
She looked over her shoulder.
“You have to hurry.”
The screen went black.
Dominic tried tracing the signal.
“It bounced through multiple relays.”
“Can you locate it?”
“No.”
Mara was crying silently.
“She’s trying to help us.”
Adrian looked at the frozen screen.
“She just gave us confirmation.”
He turned to Dominic.
“We move tonight.”
Dominic nodded.
“We’ll need at least twelve men.”
“Six.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Twelve.”
“No.”
Adrian’s voice was calm.
“This is a rescue.”
“Not a war.”
Three hours later, they were preparing weapons and equipment when Mara entered the armory.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s there because of me.”
“She’s there because of Nolan.”
“I know the layout.”
Adrian checked a magazine.
“I’m not risking you.”
She walked closer.
“You’re risking everyone else.”
He looked at her.
“I can identify the rooms.”
“The security rotations.”
“The elevator.”
“The blind spots.”
She held his gaze.
“You need me.”
He hated that she was right.
At sunset, the convoy left the observatory.
Three vehicles.
Six men.
Mara rode beside Adrian.
As the city skyline appeared in the distance, she became increasingly quiet.
He glanced at her.
“You can still stay behind.”
“No.”
“What are you thinking?”
She looked out the window.
“I’m thinking about the girl in the green sweater.”
“She told me her name.”
Adrian waited.
“I forgot it.”
She closed her eyes.
“I’ve tried to remember for eleven months.”
“I can remember the scar.”
“The sweater.”
“The way she cried.”
“But I forgot her name.”
Adrian reached over and took her hand.
She looked at him in surprise.
His voice was steady.
“Then we’ll ask her.”
Tears filled her eyes.
She squeezed his hand once.
The convoy turned onto the river road.
In the distance, the bell tower of St. Brigid’s rose above the trees.
Old stone.
Broken stained glass.
A place that looked abandoned.
Mara stared at it.
“That’s Haven.”
Adrian slowed the vehicle.
Through binoculars, Dominic studied the grounds.
“What do you see?”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Guards.”
“How many?”
“At least eight.”
He lowered the binoculars.
“And Adrian…”
“What?”
“There are lights underground.”
Mara felt her heart stop.
The church wasn’t abandoned.
May you like
It was operating.
And somewhere beneath it, the girl whose name she had forgotten might still be waiting for someone to come back.
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