by Aman Gupta
“Till now, we thought Sam’s client was connected to missing kids,” said Kate. “Maybe she lied. She worked for people at the Atlantis, the whole time.”
“I can’t believe she wouldn’t tell me that,” said Vik.
“She played us,” said Kate.
“But then why gag her up? She had plenty of opportunities to disappear,” said Vik. ”Maybe she’s a victim too.”
“So, you think the missing kids’ case is leading us to Atlantis,” said Kate.
“Maybe we have connected too many trails together without any actual proof. We have no evidence that Sam’s client could be connected to any kidnapping, let alone New Bay kidnappings. For all we know, there could be two separate groups operating in New Bay & West Gate, while Sam’s client is into something else entirely, perhaps related to Atlantis,” said Vik.
“Then what do you suggest?” asked Kate.
“We can’t infiltrate Atlantis right now. So I say we do the only thing we can – Search for Ally Drew,” said Vik.
“What about Sam?” asked Kate.
“She’s smart. They need her alive for something, and she’ll use that to her advantage. I know it,” said Vik.
“Hope so. We can start by interviewing all the missing kids who later returned. Maybe they all were kept at the same location,” said Kate.
After applying a quick relief anti-septic solution they found in the First Aid Kit on their wounds, they went to the New Bay School of Talents, switching the car from Vik’s to Kate’s which was parked in New Bay. They met with the Principal in his office, and asked his assistance in a meeting with the kids on the list they had brought with them. Initially, Principal Jeters was reluctant to expose the kids to a traumatic discussion, but since Drew Family held a high status in the town, he agreed to help.
He seated the kids in a classroom, telling Kate that he cannot force kids for a one-on-one interview without the consent of their parents. Knowing about the resistance that they could encounter from the parents, they went ahead with a group interaction.
“Hi, everyone! My name is Kate and this is my friend, Vik,” said Kate. “We were hoping to talk to you guys about something.”
“About what?” said a kid in the front.
“Umm.. Actually, we’re looking for someone,” said Kate.
“Who?”
“Ally Drew. She’s a student here too,” said Kate.
“Yeah, we know her. She’s missing,” said the kid.
“When was the last time any one of you saw her?” asked Kate.
“Long time ago. But why are you asking us?” asked another kid.
“Because a long time ago, all of you went missing too,” said Kate.
“What? You’re kidding. When?” said the kid, while all started looking at each other.
“What’s happening?” said Principal Jeters.
“We have a problem,” said Vik.
“What problem?” asked Principal Jeters.
“I don’t think they know they were missing,” said Vik.
“How’s that possible?” asked Kate.
The kids started screaming and shouting.
“Sorry, you lost,” shouted Vik.
“What do you mean?” asked a kid in the back.
“See, we play games all over the country. We gather girls like you, and tell them something like this. You know, a story. And whichever group asks questions about it, wins prizes. And those who panic, lose,” said Vik.
“You mean we lost?” said a kid.
“Unfortunately, yes. But we can give you a second chance,” said Vik. “Do you want one?”
“Yes,” said everyone in unison.
“Fine. Here’s a new story only for kids who have been to New Bay Forest. Have any of you been there?” asked Vik.
“I haven’t been there, but in my dreams, I have,” said a kid.
“Me too,” said another five.
“Anyone else had any other dreams about places they haven’t been?” said Kate.
Everyone nodded.
“Have your friends from school ever been in those dreams?” asked Vik.
Few of them raised their hands. Kate took down their names.
“Have anyone else been there with you?” asked Vik.
Everyone shook their head, except one.
Vik went over to her, got down on his knees and asked her to describe who she saw. The girl was initially scared but Vik got her to calm down by showing her various drawings that Katie had sketched on a deck of blank cards, one of them being a small sketch that Katie had drawn of him.
“Is that you? You look better in that drawing,” said the girl.
“Well, my daughter’s one of the best artists in the entire world,” said Vik. “You should meet her some time.”
“No, I’m better,” said the girl.
“I can’t know that unless I see some of your work too,” said Vik.
“I don’t have it here,” said the girl. “I can draw it.”
“Really? Why don’t you draw the person who was with you in your dreams,” said Vik.
“I didn’t see their faces completely,” said the girl.
“Faces? More than one person?” said Vik.
“Yeah. Around 4-5,” said the girl.
“Do you remember anything about them? Their names? Can you describe the place?” asked Vik.
Meanwhile, Kate asked other kids to write and describe their dreams.
“Remember, the one who describes it the best, wins,” said Kate.
The girl told Vik, “Not much. Some were men. Some were women. They used to wear those green masks, and white clothes, like a doctor. Then I would enter into some machine and after a few minutes, I’d come out. One time, one of them injected something in my left arm using 2 bottles but she dropped the second bottle. Not much else.”
She started sketching something.
“Did you ever hear their names? Their voices? Because your dream sounds extremely cool,” smiled Vik.
“Yeah, this woman used to talk to me sometimes. Saying that I’m a good kid who’s doing so well. She knew my name but never told me hers. She used to wear a mask so I didn’t see her face completely. She had blue eyes though. She sounded funny,” said the girl.
“Anything else? You’re so close to creating a winning story,” said Vik.
“This is where they kept me mostly,” said the girl and showed him a drawing.
Vik took the drawing and thanked the girl. She told him that her name was Jodie.
Few minutes later, they collected the pages from every girl.
“Now what?” asked a girl.
“We go through it, and come back soon to declare a winner. But till then, don’t tell anyone about this okay. We don’t want to ruin it for everyone,” said Kate.
The girls shouted in excitement. Principal Jeters asked the girls to join their classes. Vik and Kate thanked him for his assistance, and left.
They headed back to the New Bay Precinct, while Vik looked at the drawing the entire ride.
“Looks familiar?” asked Kate.
“Look at this window. What does it look like to you?” asked Vik.
Kate stopped the car and looked at the sketch.
“Trees. Lots of them,” said Kate. “Looks like Aspen trees, which are found in these forests.”
“Notice something strange though?” asked Vik.
“What?” asked Kate.
“The sketch is extremely detailed, almost looks like a photograph. Now look at the trees. Our view is of the top of the tree. They don’t look very far. So wherever Jodie was being kept, her room must be almost 70 – 80 feet above the ground, since that’s how tall Aspens are around here. But how is that possible? Almost all buildings in New Bay and West Gate only go as high as 50 feet,” said Vik.
“So where could she have been?” asked Kate.
“I think I know, but first we have 35 pages to go through,” said Vik.
They reached the police station and started
reading the pages written by the girls. After couple of hours, they narrowed the stack down to 3 pages which described the dreams in more detail than the others.
“Most of the information is common to all. In all the dreams, they think that they wandered into this imaginary place at night, only to wake up the next morning. All the stories have trees, rocky paths,” said Kate. “But why don’t they remember it?”
“I think whoever took them, drugged them with some kind of powerful medication, something like Fritoral. It was developed few years ago by Verati and other pharma companies to help people block out traumatic experiences. The side effects were dangerous, so they were never rolled out for the public. Military used them all the time back then,” said Vik.
“I see. So, medication reacted differently for each kid, so some remember more than the others,” said Kate.
“Only Jodie said, that in her dreams, they didn’t give her the complete dose, since the person injecting the serum dropped a bottle,” said Vik.
“That makes sense. If we’re to figure this out, we need to know their plan. Why kids, and why girls? Why not boys as well!” said Kate.
“Yeah, that’s strange. Plus, the kids look healthy too. No noticeable side-effects,” said Vik.
“Also, I looked at the files. Those kids who mentioned having seen their friends in their dreams, disappeared within days of each other. So they must’ve been kept at the same place,” said Kate.
“What else is in their dreams?” asked Vik.
“Some describe a bedroom. Some describe a cage. Some remember seeing a green lake,” said Kate.
“Lake with green water? Isn’t there one between New Bay and Old River?” said Vik.
“Yeah, but the frequent landslides damaged the roads to it badly and they closed it down years ago, as far as I know,” said Kate.
“Could be a good place to start,” said Vik.
“What about the trail Eric and Emma found in New Bay forest? Where Emma was attacked,” said Kate.
“It couldn’t be a live site, or else they would’ve killed you all. But before we leave for the lake, we can check it out,” said Vik.
Vik and Kate headed to the spot in the forest where Kate had found Emma unconscious. They went to the cottage on the other side on the fence, but it was completely empty. They found scratch marks on the walls and the floor, as they wiped away the dust.
“Don’t think anyone’s been here for a while,” said Kate.
“But someone had been here. The scratch marks aren’t too big either,” said Vik.
“Who do you think? Ally Drew?” asked Kate.
“See these ones? They are different than those ones on your left. Definitely more than one kid,” said Vik. “I think they were held here for a while, before being taken away. There could be many more hideouts like these nearby.”
“Whenever I feel we’re close, they just run away,” said Kate.
“That’s the problem with chasing. You are always behind,” said Vik.
“So, let’s stop chasing,” said Kate.
They came out of the cottage and looked around for footprints. They couldn’t find any, so they abandoned their search and retreated to the fuel station. Vik talked to the employee about the disappearances, while Kate charged the car, and grabbed the portable fuel pellets.
“Did he say anything else?” asked Kate.
“He said he saw Ally Drew several times here before she disappeared,” said Vik.
“Why? What was she doing here?” asked Kate.
“He said it looked like she was searching for something. She would go into the forest and come out in a few minutes, and then head back. For almost a week,” said Vik.
“So, should we go to the Byre Lake or search here again tomorrow?” asked Kate.
“Lake. First thing tomorrow. If we don’t find anything, we can focus all our attention to these forests,” said Vik.
They reached the station and dozed off to sleep. Kate received a call from Joey in the morning. He told them about lack of movement in Morrow, when Kate asked. Kate didn’t tell him about their plan. Afterwards, they went towards Byre Lake, which was around 35 miles from New Bay. Almost 25 miles in, they found the road closed and could see huge boulders on the road a short distance away. They decided to cover the rest of the distance on foot.
After a few miles going uphill, they could see the lake from afar.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” said Kate.
“Nature always is,” said Vik.
“Hope we don’t ruin it,” said Kate.
“Well, the odds are against the lake at 2 to 1,” said Vik.
Kate smiled.
They went downhill towards the lake, amidst the dense forest. With birds singing and chirping at every step they took and helping each other climbing up and down the rocks and the ditches, they reached the south side of the lake in a couple of hours.
The lake was almost half a mile long and wide, almost hexagonal in shape, with green water. Cold wind was blowing, skimming the water from the lake onto Vik and Kate’s face. They admired the beauty for few minutes without uttering a word. They noticed a deer, couple of rabbits and giraffes drinking water from the lake a hundred yards to their right.
“Let’s take a look around,” Vik said.
They went right along the lake while looking around and back into the forest to see any movements. They were unable to find anyone or any man-made structure near the lake, as they completed half a lap.
“What now?” asked Kate.
“Maybe we got the wrong lake,” said Vik.
“This is the only lake in the county. The next one is 200 miles away in Long Valley County,” said Kate.
They went back inside the forest through the lake’s north side. After a few hundred yards, they saw large number of footprints. Treading lightly, they followed the footprints and saw a camp. Kate and Vik looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to do. The camp was surrounded by armed guards patrolling the area.
Vik and Kate hid behind the bushes as the guard crossed them and then went back.
“What do we do?” said Kate.
“There are too many of them,” said Vik.
“We have to know if Ally Drew and the West Gate kids are here,” said Kate.
“Next time, this skinny guard crosses us, let’s capture him. He’ll know,” said Vik.
After waiting for another thirty minutes and several missed opportunities due to other guards being around, finally they found a window of opportunity where they could nab the guard without being seen.
“He’s coming. As soon as he comes, I’ll go for his legs and hands. You stuff this cloth in his mouth,” said Vik.
As soon as the guard crossed, Vik grabbed him from behind, and put his hand over the guard’s mouth.
Simultaneously, Kate kicked the guard’s hand and thrusted the rifle away. Vik dropped the guard on the ground into a sleeper hold, while Kate gagged him. She hit the guard on the head with a rock, and they dragged him away.
“Let’s hope they don’t notice he’s missing,” said Vik.
Vik splashed water on the guard’s face which woke him up. Kate pointed a gun at his face.
“You answer our questions, we let you go. You don’t answer, we don’t. You see where I’m going with this?” said Vik.
The guard didn’t respond. Vik grabbed a knife from Kate’s backpack and stabbed the guard in the thigh. The guard screamed in pain while gagged.
“Your loyalty only matters to your employer if you’re alive, but I doubt you don’t know that. So once again,” said Vik.
The guard looked up and nodded.
“We’re miles from your camp. If you try to scream, we’ll put a bullet between your eyes,” said Vik.
Kate ungagged him.
“Who are you working for?” asked Vik.
“Anton,” said the guard.
“Who’s Anton?” asked Vik.
“Our boss,” said the guard.
“We’l
l circle back to that. What’s your mission?” asked Vik.
“I don’t know. I am just a patrol guard,” said the guard.
“What are you guarding?” asked Vik.
“Our stuff,” said the guard.
“What do you know about kidnapped kids?” asked Kate.
“What kids?” said the guard.
Vik took out another knife from Kate’s bag.
“Wait, wait!” said the guard.
“Where are the kids?” asked Kate.
“We sent them in the van many days ago,” said the guard.
“What van? Where’s the van headed?” asked Vik.
“I don’t know. Anton knows,” said the guard. “We just protect the kids who are brought to the camp.”
“Where’s Anton?” asked Kate.
“Away,” said the guard.
“Where?” asked Vik.
“He earlier used to be at New Bay camp, but then he moved somewhere else,” said the guard.
“Moved where? West Gate?” asked Kate.
“I don’t know. You have to trust me,” said the guard.
“Who’s at your camp at the moment? The one you report to,” said Vik.
“I report to Jericho. He’s at the camp,” said the guard.
“Who else? There are too many guards for protecting stuff in the middle of nowhere,” said Vik.
“We..We..We..” said the guard.
“Just when I was starting to like you,” said Vik, as he raised the knife.
“No, I’m telling the truth,” said the guard.
Vik showed him three photographs.
“Have you seen these three girls? They have been missing recently,” said Vik.
“Yes, I remember seeing all three. But they aren’t here anymore,” said the guard.
“See. You started lying again. One of the pictures belongs to a dead girl. So they all can’t have been here, now could they?” said Vik.
The guard looked befuddled.
“The girls are still here, aren’t they?” said Vik.
“One of them is. But you’ll never get to her,” said the guard, as he smiled. “Kill me, if you want. You have already signed your death sentence when you took me.”
“You misunderstand. We aren’t here to protect the girl. We are here to kill her. So why not kill you guys too! Here’s a small grenade that you’ll carry in your camp for us,” said Vik.