Chapter 6
The basement had no windows.
A single bulb hung from the ceiling.
Caleb’s hands were tied behind a metal chair.
Vanessa’s ankle was chained to a pipe.
Blood had dried along her hairline.
“Can you reach my ropes?” Caleb asked.
Vanessa stretched toward him.
The chain stopped her two feet away.
“No.”
“Move the pipe.”
“It’s bolted down.”
“Then break it.”
“With what?”
Caleb scanned the room.
A broken bottle lay near the wall.
He tipped the chair sideways.
It crashed against the floor.
Pain shot through his shoulder.
Vanessa stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting closer.”
He pushed with his legs.
The chair scraped across the concrete.
After several attempts, he reached the bottle.
Vanessa used her foot to slide a piece of glass toward his hands.
Caleb sawed at the rope.
“Why did you help him?” he asked.
Vanessa looked away.
“I wanted the company.”
“You wanted Jamie’s money.”
“That too.”
“At least you’re honest now.”
“Your father promised no one would be hurt.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“You knew what he did to Mom.”
“I knew he put her in a hospital.”
“You visited her.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“She didn’t recognize me at first.”
“And when she did?”
“She begged me to take her home.”
The glass cut Caleb’s palm.
He kept sawing.
“What did you say?”
“I told her you were happy.”
“You lied.”
“I told myself it was kinder.”
“No. You told yourself whatever let you sleep.”
Vanessa began crying.
Caleb felt no sympathy.
The rope finally snapped.
He freed his hands and untied his ankles.
Then he used the glass to work on Vanessa’s chain.
It was too thick.
A door opened upstairs.
Caleb returned to the chair and wrapped the cut rope around his wrists.
Grant entered carrying a tray.
He set down bread and water.
Vanessa glared at him.
“You said you would take me out of the country.”
“You failed to bring me Jamie.”
“I tried.”
“You allowed an eight-year-old to escape.”
“I didn’t know about his allergy.”
Grant struck her.
Caleb lunged before he could stop himself.
The loose ropes fell.
Grant stepped back.
For one second, surprise filled his face.
Then he smiled.
“There you are.”
Caleb raised the broken glass.
“Let us go.”
“You sound like your mother.”
“Good.”
Grant drew a gun.
Caleb froze.
“Drop the glass.”
Caleb obeyed.
Grant walked behind him and pressed the weapon against his back.
“You believe Sarah rescued you. She has only made your life harder.”
“You made our life hard.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me a dead mother and an empty father.”
Grant shoved him against the wall.
“I taught you strength.”
“You taught me how not to become you.”
Grant’s control cracked.
He hit Caleb across the face.
Vanessa screamed at him to stop.
Grant hit him again.
Caleb fell.
Grant kicked him in the ribs.
“You are nothing without my name.”
Caleb looked up through tears.
“Then I’ll change it.”
Grant aimed the gun at his head.
A phone rang upstairs.
Grant stared at Caleb for several seconds.
Then he lowered the weapon.
“Your mother is searching for you.”
Caleb forced himself to breathe.
“You’re afraid she’ll find me.”
“No. I need her to try.”
Grant left and locked the door.
Vanessa crawled as close as the chain allowed.
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
She tore part of her sleeve.
Caleb pressed it against his bleeding palm.
“Why does he need Mom to search?”
“The ranger station was never the real trap.”
“What is?”
“I don’t know.”
Caleb remembered Grant’s habit of making one threat hide another.
The police raid drew officers away from the bunker.
The kidnapping drew Sarah into the open.
Grant wanted her alone.
“We have to warn her.”
Vanessa pointed toward the ceiling.
“There may be a vent leading upstairs.”
Caleb stacked the chair on the table.
He climbed and pulled at the rusted grille.
It came loose.
The opening was barely wide enough for him.
He squeezed inside.
The narrow metal passage scraped his shoulders.
He crawled toward voices.
Grant was speaking with Dr. Voss.
“The boy is more resistant than expected,” Voss said.
“He’ll cooperate when Sarah arrives.”
“And if she brings police?”
“She won’t.”
“How can you know?”
“Because I have Jamie.”
Caleb stopped breathing.
A child whimpered below.
Caleb moved toward the sound.
Through the vent, he saw a small room.
Jamie sat on a bed.
His hands were not tied, but the door was locked.
Grant had lied.
He had taken both brothers.
Caleb whispered through the vent.
“Jamie.”
Jamie looked up.
“Caleb?”
“Quiet.”
The little boy climbed onto the bed.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Mom?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad said she doesn’t want us anymore.”
“He’s lying.”
“He said you left me again.”
“I’m here.”
Jamie pressed his hand against the vent.
Caleb touched the other side.
“I’m getting you out.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Footsteps approached.
Caleb crawled backward.
Through another opening, he saw Grant and Voss standing over a map.
A red circle marked the Reed estate.
Grant pointed to the greenhouse.
“When Sarah enters, lock both doors.”
Voss picked up a metal case.
“What about the injection?”
“Enough to stop her heart.”
“And the cameras?”
“They’ll show Caleb attacking her.”
Caleb’s stomach twisted.
Grant planned to murder Sarah at the family estate and use altered footage to frame him.
“After she’s dead,” Grant continued, “Caleb will sign the trust documents.”
“And if he refuses?”
Grant smiled.
“Jamie will convince him.”
Caleb crawled back to the basement.
He dropped through the vent.
Vanessa stared at him.
“You found something.”
“Jamie is here.”
Her face fell.
“He planned it all.”
“He’s luring Mom to the estate.”
Vanessa looked toward the locked door.
“There’s another way out.”
“You said there wasn’t.”
“I didn’t think we could reach it.”
She pointed at the pipe holding her chain.
“This building used to be a storm shelter. The drainage tunnel runs behind that wall.”
“How do you know?”
“Grant brought me here when we were children.”
Caleb examined the wall.
One section sounded hollow.
He kicked it.
Dust fell.
Vanessa helped by striking it with her chain.
They worked for nearly an hour.
Finally, a stone broke loose.
Cold air entered.
Caleb widened the opening until he could see darkness beyond it.
“I can fit.”
“What about me?”
He looked at Vanessa’s chain.
“I’ll come back.”
“You hate me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would you return?”
“Because Jamie is watching what I do.”
Caleb crawled into the tunnel.
It led beneath the building and opened near a frozen creek.
He emerged into the forest.
No roads were visible.
He climbed a hill and saw the stone shelter below.
Two black vehicles were parked outside.
A guard smoked near the entrance.
Caleb needed help.
There was no phone.
No house.
Then he saw a narrow radio tower above the trees.
A ranger emergency station.
He ran.
Branches tore his clothes.
His injured ribs burned.
He reached the tower and found a locked equipment box.
He smashed the lock with a rock.
Inside was an emergency radio.
“Mayday. My name is Caleb Reed. I’ve been kidnapped.”
Static answered.
He tried again.
A voice finally responded.
“Caleb, this is County Emergency. Give your location.”
“I don’t know exactly. An old storm shelter near a ranger tower in the mountains. My brother Jamie is inside. Grant Reed has him.”
“We’re tracing the signal.”
“Tell Detective Ortiz the Reed estate is a trap. My father is trying to kill Sarah Reed in the greenhouse.”
The radio crackled.
“Caleb, stay where you are.”
“I can’t.”
“Officers are coming.”
“Jamie is eight.”
“Do not return to the building.”
Caleb switched off the radio.
He returned to the creek and covered himself with mud.
At the shelter, the guard was gone.
Caleb entered through the drainage tunnel.
Vanessa was waiting.
“Police are coming.”
He used a piece of metal from the tunnel to pry the chain loose from the pipe.
Together, they moved upstairs.
Voss’s voice came from a distant room.
Caleb unlocked Jamie’s door.
Jamie ran into his arms.
“You came back.”
“Always.”
Vanessa searched a desk.
She found a gun.
Caleb took it from her.
“No.”
“I know how to use it.”
“So does Grant.”
“He’ll kill us.”
Caleb removed the magazine and emptied the bullets into his pocket.
“You’re not becoming him today.”
An alarm sounded outside.
Grant rushed into the hallway.
He saw Caleb and Jamie.
His face became murderous.
“You ungrateful little—”
Vanessa stepped between them.
“It’s over.”
Grant raised his weapon.
A shot exploded.
Vanessa fell.
Caleb pulled Jamie behind the desk.
Grant fired again.
The bullet tore through the wall.
Caleb grabbed the empty gun and threw it toward the opposite doorway.
Grant turned at the sound.
Caleb and Jamie ran.
Dr. Voss appeared near the exit with a syringe.
Jamie bit his arm.
Voss screamed.
Caleb struck him with the metal chain.
They reached the door.
Police vehicles climbed the dirt road below.
Grant grabbed Jamie’s hood.
Caleb spun and drove his shoulder into Grant’s chest.
All three fell.
Grant wrapped his hands around Caleb’s throat.
“You destroyed everything!”
Jamie picked up a stone.
“Leave my brother alone!”
He struck Grant’s hand.
Grant roared.
Caleb shoved him away.
Police swarmed the yard.
Grant dragged Jamie against him and pressed a gun to the child’s head.
Everyone stopped.
Caleb stood ten feet away.
Jamie’s face was white with terror.
Grant backed toward a waiting vehicle.
“Tell them to lower their weapons.”
Caleb looked at the officers.
Then he looked at Jamie.
His little brother was staring at him.
Waiting for Caleb to save him again.
Caleb raised his hands.
“Dad.”
Grant paused.
“You were right.”
Sarah’s voice echoed in Caleb’s memory.
Grant loved obedience.
Caleb stepped forward.
“I need you.”
Grant’s expression softened.
“There’s my son.”
“Take me instead.”
“No,” Jamie cried.
Caleb kept walking.
“I can sign the accounts. Jamie can’t.”
Grant considered it.
Money mattered more than love.
Control mattered more than blood.
Grant pushed Jamie forward.
“Come here, Caleb.”
Jamie ran toward the police.
Caleb moved toward his father.
When they were one step apart, Caleb opened his bloody palm.
The bullets from Vanessa’s gun fell to the ground.
Grant looked down.
Detective Ortiz fired.
The bullet struck Grant’s shoulder.
He fell.
Officers rushed forward and arrested him.
Caleb ran to Jamie.
They crashed into each other.
Ortiz handcuffed Grant.
He looked at his sons with hatred.
“This isn’t over.”
Caleb held Jamie tighter.
“No.”
Police lifted Grant to his feet.
“It finally is.”
Then Ortiz’s radio sounded.
May you like
A frantic officer shouted from the Reed estate.
“Sarah entered the greenhouse. We’ve lost contact with her.”
