Chapter 4 - BENEATH THE FARMBy noon, federal agents had been notified.
By one, Caleb had thrown them off his property.
Not because he distrusted law enforcement.
Because one of the agents showed up wearing a Red Hollow Foundation pin.
Caleb recognized the symbol from childhood: a black mountain inside a silver circle.
Eleanor noticed it too.
They exchanged a look.
The agent claimed Red Hollow was merely a charity sponsoring rural development projects.
Caleb didn’t believe him.
Neither did Eleanor.
After the authorities took the kidnappers away, Caleb gathered everyone in the kitchen.
Eli sat beside him eating peanut butter straight from the jar because Caleb had stopped caring about normal parenting rules for the day.
“What exactly is beneath my farm?”
Eleanor unfolded an old geological survey.
“Your land used to belong to Blackridge Manufacturing.”
Caleb stared.
“I bought it through a foreclosure auction.”
“In 2017?”
“Yes.”
“Blackridge transferred it to a shell company in 2001.”
The year before the fire.
Vivienne placed another document beside it.
The shell company’s name was Red Hollow Agricultural Holdings.
Caleb’s stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
Eli raised his hand.
The adults looked at him.
“Can I say something?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a tunnel.”
Silence.
Caleb turned slowly.
“What tunnel?”
“The one behind the barn.”
“There is no tunnel behind the barn.”
“Yes, there is.”
Apparently, three months earlier, Eli’s dog had chased a rabbit beneath rotting boards near the old barn foundation.
Eli found a metal hatch.
He knew Caleb would tell him not to explore it.
So naturally, he explored it.
Caleb rubbed both hands over his face.
“Please tell me you didn’t climb inside.”
“I only climbed a little.”
“How little?”
“Like... twenty feet?”
Caleb closed his eyes.
Vivienne covered a smile.
“This isn’t funny.”
“No.”
“You’re smiling.”
“I’m terrified and impressed.”
They went to the barn.
Eli led them behind a collapsed wall.
Beneath decades of dirt and straw sat a rectangular steel hatch.
A symbol was stamped into the metal.
A black mountain inside a circle.
Red Hollow.
Caleb looked toward Eleanor.
“You knew?”
“No.”
He pulled the hatch open.
Cold air rose from darkness.
A ladder descended into the earth.
Eleanor’s security chief insisted on going first.
Caleb refused.
“My land.”
“Mr. Morrow—”
“My son already made it down there.”
Eli beamed.
“That argument does not mean you’re going again.”
“Aww.”
Caleb descended.
Twenty feet became forty.
The ladder ended in a concrete corridor.
Electric cables ran along the ceiling.
Old but intact.
Vivienne came down behind him.
“So Blackridge built an underground facility?”
“Looks that way.”
Several rooms stood empty.
Others contained rusted shelving.
Then Caleb found a locked steel door.
In its center was a keyhole.
Vivienne slowly touched the brass key around her neck.
“No.”
Caleb looked at her.
“My father sent you that key.”
She removed it.
The key turned perfectly.
Inside the room sat filing cabinets.
Boxes.
Old computer towers.
And one enormous fireproof safe.
Caleb whispered, “What the hell were they hiding?”
Eleanor entered moments later.
Her face changed.
“Records.”
Thousands of them.
Blackridge safety reports.
Financial documents.
Property transfers.
Employee files.
But the most disturbing discovery was a wall covered in photographs.
Politicians.
Judges.
Bank executives.
Police officials.
Some had red circles drawn around their faces.
Others had dates.
Vivienne whispered, “This wasn’t just fraud.”
Caleb found a photograph of Victor Shaw shaking hands with a United States senator.
Another showed the Red Hollow symbol behind them.
Eleanor opened a folder.
Inside were payment records spanning decades.
“They built a network.”
Caleb moved toward the safe.
Digital keypad.
“What code?”
Eleanor shook her head.
Vivienne examined the key.
Tiny numbers were engraved near the base.
Caleb entered them.
Nothing.
“Birthday?” he asked.
“My father’s.”
“Then not the code.”
Eli’s voice floated down the hallway.
“Dad?”
Caleb nearly exploded.
“ELI!”
Eleanor’s security team had allowed him down with two guards.
“He wouldn’t stay upstairs,” one apologized.
Caleb glared.
“I’m starting to understand why.”
Eli looked at the safe.
“Try Grandma’s birthday.”
“What?”
“Mom always used Grandma’s birthday because nobody guessed it.”
The adults exchanged glances.
Caleb suddenly remembered his mother.
April 11, 1967.
He entered it.
The safe clicked.
Caleb stared at Eli.
“Go upstairs.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Eli groaned and left.
Inside the safe was not money.
There was one leather ledger.
One cassette tape.
And a photograph.
Caleb picked it up.
Three men stood in front of Blackridge Mill.
Harrison Vale.
Victor Shaw.
Daniel Mercer.
But there was also a fourth person.
A woman.
Caleb’s mother.
Rebecca.
He nearly dropped the photograph.
“My mother worked at a hospital.”
Eleanor whispered, “That isn’t what Daniel told us.”
Caleb turned.
“You knew her?”
“I met her twice.”
“You said nothing.”
“I wasn’t certain.”
“Stop deciding what I deserve to know.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled with regret.
“Rebecca Mercer was an accountant for Victor Shaw.”
Caleb stared at the photograph.
His mother had died when he was six.
Car accident.
At least that was what he had been told.
Eleanor continued.
“She discovered the first shell companies.”
“No.”
“She gave evidence to Harrison.”
“No.”
“And five years later, after her death, Daniel continued her work.”
Caleb’s hands trembled.
“My mother died because of this?”
“We suspected it.”
“You suspected?”
“Harrison believed her car was tampered with.”
Caleb backed away.
His entire childhood suddenly rearranged itself.
His mother.
His father.
The fire.
His uncle hiding him afterward.
Nothing had been accidental.
Vivienne picked up the cassette.
A handwritten label read:
FOR CALEB — WHEN HE IS READY
There was an ancient tape player on one shelf.
Caleb inserted the cassette.
Static filled the room.
Then his father’s voice came through.
Caleb stopped breathing.
“Son... if you’re hearing this, I failed to keep you out of it.”
Caleb leaned against the safe.
Daniel continued.
“Your mother and I made choices you may never forgive.”
The recording crackled.
“Victor Shaw was never the highest person involved.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
“There is someone above him.”
The tape clicked.
Then Daniel said a name.
A name that made Eleanor stumble backward.
Caleb looked at her.
“Who is Adrian Vale?”
Vivienne went pale.
May you like
Eleanor whispered:
“My son.”
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