They Took the Wrong Road in America — By Morning, the Entire Village Wanted Them Dead
Chapter 10
The tunnel led beneath Bellweather.
They emerged inside an old storage facility.
Ethan found boxes containing passports.
Hundreds of them.
All belonging to missing people.
Then Maya saw a familiar name.
Her own.
She froze.
“Ethan.”
He turned.
Her passport was inside the box.
But it wasn’t the passport she currently carried.
It was dated twenty years earlier.
Maya stared at the photograph.
The little girl in the picture looked like her.
Ethan couldn’t speak.
“That’s impossible.”
Maya shook her head.
“I’ve never been here.”
Then she remembered something.
Her mother had always refused to talk about Maya’s childhood.
Especially the years before she turned eight.
Ethan opened another file.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Maya Bennett.
Different date of birth.
Different parents.
Different state.
She stared at it.
“My whole life…”
A voice came from behind them.
“You were one of them.”
They turned.
Sheriff Mercer stood in the doorway.
He wasn’t holding a gun.
He looked exhausted.
Maya whispered:
“Who am I?”
Mercer swallowed.
“Your parents were witnesses.”
“What witnesses?”
“They saw what Bellweather really was.”
“And me?”
“You were the only child they couldn’t erase.”
Maya stepped backward.
“Why?”
“Because someone powerful wanted you alive.”
“Who?”
Mercer looked at Ethan.
“Your father.”
Ethan froze.
Mercer continued.
“Your father discovered that Maya’s parents had evidence capable of destroying the entire network.”
Maya’s eyes filled with tears.
“He protected me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he disappear?”
Mercer looked away.
“Because the people above me found him.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Where is he?”
Mercer said nothing.
Then someone shot him.
He collapsed.
Ethan grabbed Maya.
“Run!”
