“Visible guards.”
Correct.
Very correct.
Because places like this never show all their teeth at once.
Mason’s surviving team spreads through the rail yard perimeter while Gabriel kneels beside a rusted maintenance hatch half-hidden beneath weeds and flood debris.
“There,” he says quietly.
Old underground utility access.
My favorite.
Not.
Hannah steps beside him and freezes.
I notice immediately.
Always do now.
“Hannah?”
Her eyes stay locked on the hatch cover.
Fear flashes across her face.
Not memory overlap this time.
Recognition.
“I’ve been here before.”
Cold slides through me instantly.
Gabriel looks up sharply.
“What?”
Hannah swallows hard.
“The tower isn’t the real entrance.”
Well that’s comforting.
She kneels slowly beside the maintenance hatch, fingers brushing rusted metal.
“They brought us underground through service tunnels.”
A pause.
“So nobody would ever see children entering the facility.”
Jesus Christ.
Russ mutters a curse under his breath.
