Page 212 of Rangers Unexpected Return

I walked behind the desk.

The fire had blackened one side, but most of the heavy oak had survived.

I aimed the flashlight underneath it.

Nothing.

I searched along the back.

Nothing.

Then I noticed something odd.

“Mace.”

“What?”

“Help me move this.”

The desk weighed several hundred pounds. Neither of us could move it alone.

Together, we slid it six inches.

Ash drifted across the floor.

Beneath the desk was a rectangular shadow in the wood, surrounded by four dark rust stains.

Something metal had rested there for years.

A box.

The same approximate size as the clean outline inside the cabinet.

“The cabinet was a decoy,” I whispered.

Mace looked at me. “What?”

“The real hiding place wasn’t inside the cabinet.”

He immediately understood.

“The cabinet distracted whoever searched the office.”

“They opened it.”

“Took the obvious box.”

“And never looked beneath the desk.”

Will hurried into the ruins.

“What happened?”

I pointed toward the marks on the floor.

He photographed them before kneeling.

“There are drag marks.”