That wasn’t the case here.

It was dirt filled and rancid and bad.

When Myron looked down from the top of the stairs, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

Twenty, maybe thirty teenagers were scampering like rats when you hit them with a flashlight beam.

What the . . . ?

The basement looked like a bad refugee camp. There were cots and blankets and sleeping bags. No time to worry about that. As Myron started down the stairs, he saw the cell.

Empty.

He reached the bottom and turned to his right. The kids clambered toward that corner like something out of a zombie film—like they were climbing over one another and feeding on something stuck there. Myron started toward it. Kids got in his way. Myron pushed them aside. They were boys mostly, but there were a few girls sprinkled in too. They all looked at him with hollow, lost eyes, still pushing forward.

“Where is Fat Gandhi? Where are the boys he had in that cell?”

No one answered. They kept pushing and shoving toward that corner. Was there a door there or . . .

A hole?

The kids were disappearing into some kind of hole in the concrete.

Myron picked up his pace now, even if it meant being rougher than he wanted with these kids. One of them started screaming and clawing at Myron’s face. Myron knocked him away. He moved like a linebacker now, lowering his shoulder, throwing body blows, until he got to the hole.

Another kid started to climb into it.

It was a tunnel.

Myron grabbed the kid from behind. Other kids pushed in, trying to get to the opening. Myron held firm. He pulled the kid so that his face was right up against his.

“Is that where Fat Gandhi went? Did he take two boys with him?”

“We’re all supposed to go,” the boy said with a nod. “Otherwise the coppers will find us.”

They were pushing in again. Myron had two choices. Move to the side or . . .

He dived into the hole and landed on the cold, damp floor. When he stood up, his head whacked concrete. He saw stars for a moment. The tunnel’s ceiling was low. Shorter guys could probably run. Myron was not so lucky.

Other kids started flowing in behind him.

Have to move, Myron thought.

“Patrick!” he screamed. “Rhys!”

For a moment, he could hear only the scraping sounds of kids escaping through this dark tunnel. And then he heard someone scream: “Help!”

Myron felt his pulse race. The scream might have been short and only a word, but Myron knew one thing for certain.

The accent was American.

He tried to pick up his pace. There were boys already crowded into the tunnel, blocking his progress. Girls too. He swam past them.

“Patrick! Rhys!”

Lots of echoes. But no one returned his call.

The tunnel’s height and thickness were inconsistent, constantly changing. It twisted and turned in unexpected ways. The walls were black and old and wet. The few dim lights made the place feel more ghostly.