Chapter 9 - THE THIRD HOSTAGE

The unidentified heat signature moved behind Eli.

A teenage girl appeared briefly near the window.

Her hands were tied.

Grant’s team identified her as Hannah Price, the daughter of Mara’s coworker.

Hannah had disappeared three days earlier.

Her mother owned the vehicle found burning in the desert.

Cole had kidnapped Hannah to force her mother to provide access to the nonprofit’s financial system.

He was not improvising.

He had been preparing this plan for weeks.

Grant used the loudspeaker again.

“Release the girl and the baby as a sign of good faith.”

“There is no good faith left,” Cole replied.

Travis continued guarding the eastern gate.

He did not know that two officers were crawling through a dry irrigation channel behind him.

At 7:42 p.m., they reached the pickup truck.

One officer created a distraction by throwing a flare beyond the fence.

Travis turned.

The second officer tackled him.

A single gunshot echoed across the desert.

Travis fell against the gate.

The officers secured his weapon and placed him in handcuffs.

Cole heard the struggle.

His voice erupted through the loudspeaker.

“You betrayed me, Travis!”

For the first time, panic replaced control.

He dragged Eli back inside.

The door slammed shut.

Grant ordered the tactical team forward.

Before they reached the building, flames rose along the western wall.

Cole had ignited the fuel lines.

Thick smoke poured across the solar panels.

The officers could not enter through the main doors.

I watched the thermal monitor.

Eli moved away from Cole.

He crawled beneath a worktable while still holding Grace.

Hannah kicked a metal container toward the opposite wall.

Cole turned toward the sound.

Eli ran.

He reached a narrow hallway at the back of the building.

The thermal camera lost him beneath the roof.

“He’s heading toward the cooling chamber,” an officer said.

Grant studied the building plans.

“There’s no exit from that chamber.”

I remembered Eli’s first sacrifice.

He had survived the minivan by studying where the sunlight moved and using his body to protect Grace.

He did not run without a reason.

“There must be another way out,” I said.

Grant enlarged the old construction map.

A narrow line ran beneath the cooling chamber.

It connected to an underground cable trench.

The trench ended outside the northern fence.

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Eli had found an escape route.

But Cole was following him.