Chapter 3 – Part 2: The Man Behind the Curtain
Chapter 3 – Part 2: The Man Behind the Curtain
Emily's fingers remained pressed against the words carved into the wall.
PLEASE DON'T STOP LOOKING FOR ME.
Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
"He wrote this..." she whispered.
Marcus crouched beside the message, shining his flashlight across the grooves.
"The concrete dust is still loose."
Emily looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
"It wasn't carved years ago."
He gently brushed a fingertip over one of the letters.
"It was written recently."
"How recently?"
Marcus looked around the basement.
"I'd guess within the last few days."
Emily's heart pounded.
"So we just missed him."
Marcus nodded grimly.
"Which means whoever is moving these children knows we're getting close."
The Hidden Locker
As officers finally arrived and began searching the basement, one called out from the far corner.
"Detective!"
Marcus hurried over.
Behind a stack of old classroom cabinets was a narrow metal locker.
Unlike everything else in the room, it had a brand-new padlock.
A firefighter used bolt cutters to snap it open.
Inside were several plastic storage boxes.
The first contained canned food.
The second held children's clothes.
The third stopped everyone cold.
It was filled with missing-person posters.
Hundreds of them.
Children from different cities.
Different years.
Different families.
Emily slowly flipped through them.
Every poster had been folded carefully.
As if someone had read them over and over.
Then she found one that made her knees weaken.
Leo's picture.
The same smiling six-year-old from three years ago.
The edges of the poster were worn, almost soft from being handled.
On the back, written in childish handwriting, were three words.
I'm still here.
Emily pressed the poster against her chest.
"He kept it."
Marcus swallowed hard.
"He never stopped hoping."
Across Town
Leo crouched behind broken shelves inside an abandoned grocery store.
The school had become too dangerous.
He had escaped through an old drainage tunnel he discovered months earlier.
Now he was alone again.
Cold.
Hungry.
Tired.
He carefully unfolded the clean napkin wrapped around the sandwich Emily had given him.
He hadn't eaten the last corner.
Instead, he stared at the tiny handwritten note on the napkin.
It read:
You matter. Stay safe.
Emily had written it absentmindedly while waiting for her order.
She never imagined anyone would read it.
Leo traced the words with dirty fingers.
He couldn't remember exactly why...
But seeing that handwriting made his chest ache.
For the first time in years...
He allowed himself to believe.
Maybe she really had come back.
The Man in the Suit
Several miles away, inside the top floor of a luxury office building, the organization's leader watched security footage from multiple hidden cameras.
His name was Richard Voss.
Publicly, he was a respected businessman and generous philanthropist.
Privately, he had spent years building a network that exploited vulnerable children across several states.
Victor entered the office.
"We lost the boy."
Richard didn't look away from the monitor.
"I know."
"The police searched the school."
"I know."
Victor hesitated.
"The woman is getting close."
Only then did Richard smile.
"Good."
Victor frowned.
"Good?"
Richard stood and walked toward the window.
"The mother is useful."
Victor looked confused.
Richard continued calmly.
"She'll keep searching."
"And sooner or later..."
He turned back.
"...she'll unknowingly lead us straight to the boy."
Victor's face slowly relaxed.
"So we watch her."
Richard nodded.
"Every step."
An Unexpected Witness
The following morning, Marcus received a call from forensic analysts.
"There was another item in the locker," the technician explained.
"It had fallen behind one of the shelves."
Marcus drove to the lab immediately.
Waiting for him was a small plastic dinosaur.
Green.
One eye missing.
He stared at it for several seconds.
Then called Emily.
She arrived twenty minutes later.
The moment she saw the toy, she burst into tears.
"Oh my God..."
Marcus asked quietly,
"You recognize it?"
Emily nodded.
"This was Leo's favorite toy."
She picked it up carefully.
"He called him Rex."
She smiled through her tears.
"He took Rex everywhere."
She turned the toy over.
On the bottom was faded black marker.
L.M.
Leo Matthew.
His initials.
There was no doubt anymore.
Marcus gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"We're no longer searching for a possibility."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"We're searching for your son."
The Phone Call
That evening, Emily's phone rang from an unknown number.
She answered immediately.
"Hello?"
Only silence.
Then...
Breathing.
Very soft.
Very shaky.
Emily's heart began racing.
"...Leo?"
A tiny voice whispered.
"...Mom?"
Emily nearly dropped the phone.
"Leo! Where are you?"
The child began crying.
"I... I tried..."
His voice cracked.
"I couldn't remember your face."
Emily sobbed openly.
"You don't have to remember."
"I'm coming."
"I promise."
Suddenly another voice shouted in the background.
"There he is!"
Leo gasped.
"They found me!"
The line filled with running footsteps.
Heavy breathing.
Then—
A loud crash.
The phone disconnected.
Emily screamed,
"LEO!"
She called back instantly.
The number was already inactive.
Marcus, who had been listening beside her, grabbed his keys.
"We can still trace the call."
His phone buzzed before they reached the door.
The technician's voice came through urgently.
"We've got a location."
Marcus didn't wait for details.
"Send everything."
The reply came immediately.
The signal had lasted only nineteen seconds.
But it was enough.
It originated from an abandoned railway station on the eastern edge of the city.
Emily and Marcus looked at each other.
Neither spoke.
May you like
They ran for the car, unaware that another vehicle had quietly pulled away from the opposite side of the street—its driver smiling as he reported into a headset:
"They're taking the bait."
