Page 372 of Hidden Depths

Mom looked at the five plates.

“I think they meant my daughters.”

A metallic clank sounded beyond the control room.

Ward signaled for silence.

Footsteps entered the outer chamber.

Slow.

Uneven.

One person.

Ben moved beside the doorway.

Nathan drew Mom behind the control console.

Ward pushed me behind him.

A shadow crossed the wall.

Ward lifted his weapon.

“Show me your hands.”

A man stumbled through the doorway.

Blood covered his shirt.

I recognized him as the guard Ward had taken down near the tunnel entrance.

His weapon was gone.

One hand pressed against his side.

The other held a phone.

“Don’t shoot.”

Ward searched him and pulled him into the chamber.

“Who do you work for?”

The man laughed weakly.

“You still think this is about one crew?”

“Who do you work for?”

“It doesn’t matter. We failed.”

“Who has the Sinclair sisters?”

“No one.”

Relief nearly weakened my knees.