Chapter 16 - The Children Behind the Locked Door
Blaine's answer was immediate.
“No.”
May expected it.
Marshal Cole expected it.
Silas probably expected it.
May looked at Cole.
“Is he telling the truth?”
“We don't know.”
“Any missing children not accounted for?”
“Five.”
Blaine swore.
Cole continued.
“Three siblings from Idaho. Two boys from Montana.”
May stood.
“I'll talk to him.”
“No,” Blaine repeated.
She looked at him.
“If there is even a chance—”
“He is manipulating you.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
“Knowing a trap is a trap doesn't mean you ignore somebody inside it.”
Blaine's frustration was obvious.
“What if he only wants to hurt you?”
“He already did.”
The room went quiet.
May continued.
“He doesn't get to decide what I do with what happened.”
Blaine looked away.
He knew he had lost the argument.
Not because May was stubborn.
Because she was right.
Marshal Cole arranged the meeting with guards present outside.
Silas sat behind a table in a courthouse room.
No elegant coat.
No men.
No control.
Still, when May entered, her body remembered fear.
Silas noticed.
He smiled.
“There you are.”
May sat.
“Where are the children?”
“No greeting?”
“No.”
“I've missed your manners.”
“You never had them.”
Silas laughed softly.
“Mountain man changed you.”
“No.”
May met his eyes.
“I changed me.”
His smile faded.
“Where are they?”
Silas leaned back.
“You think I'm defeated.”
“You're in chains.”
“Temporary circumstances.”
“Where are they?”
He studied her.
“Do you know why I marked people?”
May's skin crawled.
“I don't care.”
“To make them stop imagining another life.”
May did not look away.
Silas continued.
“You were different. Even after three years, you kept watching doors.”
“Where are the children?”
“You'll never stop running.”
“No.”
May's voice was calm.
“I already stopped.”
That unsettled him.
Silas tried another angle.
“Mercer will leave.”
“Maybe.”
“He's a man who chooses mountains.”
“Maybe.”
“You'll be alone.”
“Maybe.”
She leaned forward.
“But even if every terrible thing you predict happens, I will still be free of you.”
Silas stared.
For the first time, May saw how small he truly was.
Without fear around him, he had very little.
She stood.
“If children die because you refuse to tell us, their deaths belong to you.”
His jaw tightened.
May walked toward the door.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
Silas looked away.
“Old limestone quarry east of Red Hollow.”
May's heart hammered.
“Where?”
“Storage tunnel Number Four.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
“Food?”
“Enough.”
“Guards?”
Silas hesitated.
“Two.”
May opened the door.
Silas called after her.
“May.”
She looked back.
“What?”
“Was it worth it?”
“What?”
“All this.”
She thought about the storm.
Blaine's cabin burning.
Caleb's lost years.
The people rescued.
The dead who could not return.
Was freedom worth the cost?
The question itself was wrong.
Silas wanted victims responsible for the price of resisting him.
May understood that now.
“Yes,” she said.
Then left.
The quarry was reached before sunset.
Two guards surrendered after seeing federal marshals.
Inside tunnel Number Four, they found a locked iron door.
Blaine broke the rusted latch.
A lantern glowed beyond.
Five children huddled beneath blankets.
Alive.
The oldest girl stood in front of the younger ones.
“Don't come closer.”
May entered slowly.
“You're safe.”
The girl stared at her.
“That's what they said.”
May stopped.
She understood.
So she did not promise.
She sat on the floor.
“My name is May.”
Silence.
“I was kept somewhere too.”
The girl noticed something in May's expression.
“You got away?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
May looked toward Blaine standing beyond the doorway.
“With help.”
The girl lowered her hands.
May continued.
“You don't have to trust us yet.”
That was what changed everything.
Not you are safe.
Not it's over.
Trust could not be commanded.
The girl began crying.
May stayed on the floor until she approached.
Hours later, all five children were outside.
Blaine gave his coat to the youngest boy.
Caleb built a fire.
Ruth arrived with food.
May watched.
This was what victory looked like.
Not Silas in chains.
Children eating soup.
The following weeks transformed Bitterroot Crossing.
Trials were scheduled.
Properties seized.
Victims located.
Winter House legally passed to Blaine and Caleb.
They transferred ownership into a trust.
May refused to let them name it after her.
Caleb suggested Mercer House.
Blaine refused.
Finally Clara offered:
“Haven House.”
Everyone agreed.
Repairs began.
The place where doors once locked people in would now keep its doors open.
Then winter delivered one final problem.
Silas Vane was being transported east for federal proceedings when the prison wagon was attacked.
Two guards were injured.
Rourke had returned.
May you like
And Silas Vane escaped.
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