CHAPTER TEN
The House by the River
The building looked abandoned.
Its wooden walls were darkened by years of rain, and vines had climbed over one side of the roof.
Yet Gila knew someone had been inside recently.
The door was too clean.
The ground beneath the entrance had fresh footprints.
She crouched.
"Someone comes here."
Thelma looked around.
"Then maybe we shouldn't."
Gila stood.
"That's exactly why we should."
The man beside them touched the door.
"It's locked."
Gila examined the symbol carved into the wood.
"There's something beneath it."
She brushed away a layer of dirt.
A small metal plate appeared.
Three letters were engraved into it.
Gila stared.
"R.M."
Thelma stepped closer.
"Rymus?"
"Maybe."
The man shook his head.
"Or someone else."
Gila pushed the plate.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
A faint click came from inside the door.
They froze.
The lock released.
The door opened several inches.
Nobody touched it.
Gila looked at Thelma.
"You heard that?"
"Yes."
The man stepped forward.
"I'll go first."
Gila grabbed his arm.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because we don't know what's inside."
"Exactly."
He looked at her.
"I'll still go first."
She reluctantly let him go.
He entered.
A moment later, he called out.
"Clear."
Gila and Thelma followed.
The room was almost empty.
A table.
Two chairs.
An old lantern.
A shelf.
Nothing else.
Then Gila saw the floor.
One section of the wooden boards looked newer than the rest.
She pointed.
"That."
The man knelt.
He tapped the wood.
Hollow.
Together they moved the table.
Beneath it was a concealed hatch.
Thelma whispered:
"This keeps getting worse."
Gila opened it.
A staircase descended into darkness.
She looked at the others.
"Stay here."
Thelma laughed.
"Absolutely not."
They descended.
The air became colder.
The stairs led into a narrow underground chamber.
There were shelves along the walls.
Boxes.
Files.
Maps.
Photographs.
Gila's breath caught.
"This is an archive."
The man moved toward the nearest shelf.
"Look."
He pulled out a folder.
Inside were photographs of boats.
Dozens of them.
Different boats.
Different locations.
The same symbol.
Gila moved farther into the room.
Then she saw the maps.
The entire river system had been marked.
Routes had been drawn between isolated settlements.
Several locations were circled in red.
She touched one.
"This one."
Thelma came closer.
"What?"
"It matches the location from the professor's file."
The man looked at another map.
"There are more."
"How many?"
"At least twenty."
Gila's stomach tightened.
Twenty transfer points.
Perhaps more.
This wasn't a small operation.
It was a network.
A large one.
She opened another file.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Destinations.
Everything was recorded.
Then she saw something that made her stop.
A list of people.
Some were marked with a single letter.
Others with numbers.
One name had been underlined twice.
Her own.
GILA.
She stepped backward.
Thelma saw it.
"What?"
Gila couldn't speak.
Thelma took the file.
Her eyes widened.
"Why is your name here?"
"I don't know."
The man took the document.
He looked at the date.
"This is recent."
Gila stared.
"How recent?"
"Two weeks."
The room seemed to tilt.
Two weeks.
Someone had written her name into Rymus's records only fourteen days earlier.
Before they found the photograph.
Before they came to the river.
Before they knew the operation was active.
Someone had already been watching her.
Then another file fell from the shelf.
It landed open on the floor.
A photograph slid from it.
Gila picked it up.
Her hands began to shake.
It was a picture of her.
Not from years ago.
From recently.
She recognized the clothes.
The location.
The day.
She remembered where she had been standing.
Someone had taken the photograph without her knowing.
Thelma stared.
"They've been following you."
Gila looked at the photograph.
"No."
She turned it over.
A date was written on the back.
Then a single word.
READY.
The room became silent.
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
Someone had entered the house.
Gila immediately turned off the lantern.
Darkness swallowed them.
Another footstep.
Then another.
The three of them stood completely still.
A man's voice came from upstairs.
"They're here."
Another voice answered.
"How many?"
"Three."
A pause.
Then:
"Good."
Gila's heart stopped.
The first voice spoke again.
"Rymus wants them alive."
Thelma grabbed Gila's hand.
The man moved toward the staircase.
Gila whispered:
"Don't."
He stopped.
Above them, footsteps began descending.
Slowly.
One step at a time.
Gila looked around the underground chamber.
There was no other visible exit.
The footsteps continued.
Closer.
Closer.
Then a shadow appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
A man stepped into the darkness.
Gila couldn't see his face.
But she heard him smile.
"Welcome back."
Gila froze.
She knew that voice.
It was the same voice that had spoken outside their room during the storm.
The man stepped forward.
Lightning flashed through a crack in the wooden wall above them.
For a single instant, his face became visible.
Gila recognized him.
He had been standing near the university.
Watching.
Waiting.
He looked directly at her.
"Rymus has been waiting a very long time for you."
Then the lantern upstairs exploded.
Darkness swallowed everything.