CHAPTER 20: THE VOICE BENEATH THE FIELD
Ethan ran toward the dugout.
Emergency lights flickered beneath the seats.
Margaret was alive.
The bullet had struck the rope around her shoulder.
Ethan untied her quickly.
“Who fired?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Who brought you here?”
Margaret looked toward the darkness beneath the field.
“Samuel.”
Ethan froze.
“My father kidnapped you?”
“He said it was the only way to bring all of us together.”
Ava threw her arms around her grandmother.
Margaret held her tightly.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Conrad groaned near first base.
Bianca ran to him.
His hands had been bound, but he was breathing.
Dane remained beside home plate.
“We are running out of time.”
“For what?” Ethan asked.
A mechanical vibration moved through the field.
Metal doors began closing over the stadium exits.
Ward looked at the scoreboard.
11:56.
“If this place is programmed to seal at midnight, we may be trapped underground.”
The speaker activated again.
This time, the voice was not distorted.
“Ethan.”
He knew it immediately.
Samuel Mercer.
Ethan looked toward the empty owner’s box.
“Come out.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor made sure I would never walk into daylight again.”
Margaret began crying.
“Samuel, stop this.”
“I tried to stop it eighteen years ago.”
“You abandoned your son.”
“I saved him.”
Ethan shouted toward the speakers.
“Saved me from what?”
Samuel’s answer came quietly.
“From learning why Evelyn Hart chose you.”
Ward gripped his cane.
Ethan looked at the bracelet in his pocket.
Baby Ava Hart.
“What does Evelyn have to do with Ava?”
“Open the chamber and you will see.”
“No.”
“You have four minutes.”
“If you threaten my daughter—”
“I am not the threat.”
The scoreboard changed.
A live video appeared.
Eleanor stood inside a hidden control room.
Behind her were dozens of files and several red switches.
“She is,” Samuel said.
Eleanor looked into the camera.
“At midnight, Halcyon Field will collapse into the river.”
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The timer reached 11:57.
Three minutes remained.
