“It’s too early to count money,” Ansel said. “Slaves captured are not slaves delivered. We sank most of our funds into this operation. I’ll celebrate when the cargo has been sold.”

Men tossed bones down the manhole. Cole did not hear them landing. Lastly, the redhead and a scarred man with long blond hair lowered the great skull down the hole, disappearing with it.

Soon only Ansel and the woman remained. Ansel’s eyes swept the room. Cole felt the urge to lower the edge of the curtain, but he realized that a hasty movement might draw the eye. He held still, trusting that his face was tucked far enough back into the shadows to escape observation.

“Are we finished?” the woman asked.

Ansel checked his pocket watch. “Just over six minutes left.” He gazed around the room again. “Doesn’t matter how we leave the place. Nobody can follow us. We’re done here.”

She climbed down the manhole, and he followed. “Do we cover it?” her voice asked from out of sight.

“No need.”

Cole waited. The room became silent. Were they really gone? Seemed like it. What would change in six minutes? Were they bombing the sewer tunnel? Closing it off somehow? Were they really going to sell all those kids into slavery?

In a far corner of the room a little girl crawled out from under a heap of curtains. She was small and skinny, with wavy auburn hair and freckles. She was dressed as an angel. Her wings had crumpled, and her tinsel halo was askew.

The girl looked around furtively. She approached the manhole cautiously and peered down. Then she turned for the stairs.

“Hey,” Cole called.

The girl whirled and jumped, her face contorting with fear. Cole came out from under his curtains. She stared at him in shock and wonder, as if he must be a mirage. “You hid too?” she asked.

“By accident,” Cole said. “I got lucky.”

“I was part of a big group,” the girl explained. “I ran for the corner and hid behind the curtains. Nobody noticed me. When the curtains came down, they covered me. I watched three groups get nabbed after I came here. You were with the last group.”

“Right,” Cole said.

“I wanted to warn you guys, but it was too late. They would have gotten me too.”

“Once we came down the stairs, we were doomed,” Cole said. “My friend heard them lock the door. He had a bad feeling about it, but I ignored him. And now . . .” He gestured at the hole.

“What do we do?” the girl asked.

Cole shrugged. “I don’t know. You don’t have a phone, do you?”

She shook her head.

“It sounded like they sent away the guys upstairs.”

The girl nodded.

Cole looked at the manhole. “They didn’t think they could be followed.”

“I didn’t understand why not,” the girl said. “A lot of what they said didn’t make sense. Where could they sell kids as slaves?”

“Some foreign country, I guess,” Cole said. He walked to the open manhole and stared down. Rungs descended as far as he could see, which was not very far. It got dark quickly.

“Look,” Cole said. “Why don’t you go for help? Call the police. I’ll go down and see if I can figure out where they’re going.”

“They’ll catch you,” the girl warned, her eyes wide. “They’re fast and strong. You should come with me.”

Cole folded his arms across his chest. She might be right. Then again, she was probably scared and wanted company. The kidnappers had seemed confident of escape. They had a ton of kids! They had Dalton! They had Jenna! “I’ll be careful. I’ll follow at a distance. I won’t get too close.”

The girl shrugged. “Up to you.”

Cole looked around the room. There were a couple of windows on one side. “Don’t go up the stairs. Use the windows. Break the glass if you have to, and run.”

“Good idea,” she agreed. “In case those other guys haven’t left yet.”

“What’s your name?” Cole asked.

“I’m Delaney.”

“I’m Cole Randolph. Tell the police where I went. Tell them they have to hurry.”

She nodded and ran over to one of the windows. Cole started down the hole. If he stepped lightly, the metal rungs were reasonably quiet. Of course, for anybody staring up from the bottom he was probably silhouetted against the light above. But the kidnappers hadn’t seemed like they intended to wait around. Besides, they had brought lanterns down with them. If they were still within view, he would see their lights below instead of the darkness.

Cole heard nothing as he descended. The space around him grew black. He looked up at the circle of light above him.

Suddenly his foot couldn’t find the next rung. He looked down and kicked around. There was nothing. The rungs simply stopped.

The kidnappers had told everyone to jump from the last rung. They had all come down here. The drop had to be relatively safe. How far would he fall? He could only see shapeless blackness below.

Cole peered up at the circle of light again. It wasn’t too late to head back up. But what if he saw something that could save everybody? The license plate of a truck, or the tunnel the kidnappers took. If they had lights and he was in darkness, they would be easy to follow and he would be hard to see. He had to try. He couldn’t desert his best friend and the prettiest girl he knew.

He tried not to imagine Jenna hugging him and calling him her hero. The thought embarrassed him, but it also helped confirm his decision.

Leaning away from the rungs, Cole dropped into the darkness.

Chapter 3

RESCUE

Cole was braced to land within a few feet, but instead he kept falling through darkness, picking up speed. Air whistled past him. With growing alarm he tried to prepare for a serious impact. Intuition suggested he might want to keep his body loose. Had the others who climbed down here all died? Was he about to join a pile of corpses? Could there be water at the bottom? With water he might fare better if he kept his body rigid and entered straight.

His speed kept increasing. He tucked his arms against his chest. At this velocity, simply clipping the wall would cause major injuries. Could there be an airbag at the bottom? If so, he should probably land on his back. He could hardly believe how far he was falling! He was going to die! Even if water waited at the bottom, nobody could survive a drop like this.

Glancing up he saw only darkness. Same when he looked down. His speed was no longer increasing. Only the air rushing by confirmed he remained in motion. Then the air stopped rushing, as if he were falling through nothing.