Chpater 35

- I still don't understand why you trusted him. - Oliver looks suspiciously at the boy accompanying them.

Their conversation about the death of the psychologist jumped to the topic of the found map. The girls are sure that Erik is on their side; they can't spurn him, especially since he turned out to be Oliver's older brother. They trust him and have decided that he will help them find where the uranium was hidden.

- Just trust him, Oliver. - Sara pulls at his gaze. She feels awkward in the company of her friend after she confessed in front of everyone that she loves him. The boy, at that moment, looked very surprised and — surprisingly — has not brought up the subject at all so far.

Erik stands in front of the door and points to it with a nod.

- I am convinced that this is the place," he announces, glancing sometimes at the map he holds in his hand.

The others cast surprised eyes at the door, behind which they were repeatedly found. Sara was the most frequent visitor there. Laura only once, when Simon tried to save her. She hates this place because it reminds her of the death of her beloved.

- Are you sure the uranium is located right there? - Sara's voice trembles. She can't believe it. This room holds many memories. It is where she was first locked up with Alan when they were on the run from the General.... This place is the witness of her first kiss.

- Wouldn't it be better to check it out?

- But this room is small... I've been there many times and didn't see anything suspicious....

- Do you think uranium is in the cantina? - he asks with amusement in his voice, out of the corner of his eye glancing at the girl. - Of course not. Just let me check it out....

He carefully looks around to make sure no one is following them. The general is still not in the building, so they have an easy task. He goes inside, followed by the others. Oliver is the last to close the door behind him. There is no light in there, so Laura tells herself that spiders are walking all over her and starts screaming. Oliver slaps her on the back of the head to get her to calm down. He tells everyone to keep quiet before they attract additional trouble.

Erik macs the walls to find the switch. After a long moment, a noise is heard. Sara asks if everything is okay. He answers her that he found a metal flap under the cover, which is located at the bottom of the wall. He opens it and realizes that there is a passage that leads to another room. Sara feels apprehension about the mysterious place.

Oliver takes courage and goes in there first, showing no fear. Laura and Erik follow right behind him. Sara stays at the end. She is afraid to join them. They urge her on, but only when the sound of footsteps from outside reaches her ears does the girl have no choice but to enter the corridor, which is more like a narrow tunnel. She closes the trapdoor behind her and realizes that the way leads down. She slips behind her friends and then spots a light.

When they are at the very bottom, they realize that the place is underground. A medium-sized stone is placed in the center, and a brightly glowing test tube is placed on top of it. Sara has no doubt that it is uranium 235, which is used to split the bomb.

The girl realizes that the psychologist actually lied to her. Alan was right when he told her that she should not trust him.

Erik was also affected by the lies the man had been instilling in him for a long time. He trusted him like no one else, because he had known him since childhood. He was the one who took care of him and Oliver when they lost their parents. So why did he deceive them? Could it be that the thought of money had changed him so much?

- How did my grandmother manage to hide uranium here? How did she know about this place?

She looks around the room and sees that from there is no other way out. The only passage is the narrow tunnel they got through. Her attention is caught by a wooden box that is in the corner. She walks up to it and hesitantly opens it to look inside. She notices the jewelry the psychologist mentioned to her.

- Look," she turns to the rest. They approach her, and Laura excitedly grabs the heavy, precious necklace and hangs it around her neck.

- Do you like glow sticks? - Erik dives into the box, ignoring his younger brother's gaze. In it, he finds a gold ring with a red diamond. He grabs Laura's hand and slips the jewelry onto her finger. - Can we consider this our engagement? This ring is probably worth more than your house, so you can't turn me down. - He winks at her, to which she snorts disdainfully, however he keeps the ring. It's beautiful, and she has no intention of taking it off her finger.

- Laura, put it back in the box," orders her friend, but she does not listen to her and turns her back. - The ghosts are not happy. This is theft.

- They're dead anyway, so they don't need it anymore," she claims, raising her hand. She delights in the red diamond on her finger. - I always dreamed that I would get such a marvel from the man who would be the love of my life.

Erik smiles surreptitiously.

- From now on we have to be especially careful. We have discovered the location of the uranium. If this information reaches Gen.

He looks carefully at the others.

- What do you want to do with it? - Oliver points his finger at the test tube.

- There is nothing we can do for now. Only hide the fact that we know the location of this dangerous substance.

- If it comes out... - begins Laura, then swallows her saliva harder. - We will be in great danger. We will die.

- Therefore, the four of us must trust only ourselves. We know the secret that can lead us to destruction.

Oliver looks at Erik for a long moment. As he dives into the pond and memories of the time when he was waterlogged as a child come back to him.... he is sure he was saying his name in his mind. He shouted it, desperately crying for help.

- However, I don't know if it was a good idea that we came to this place," says Sara, not taking her eyes off the test tube.

- We had to find out if the uranium talk was true. Now at least we know the truth and what we are in danger of.

Sara flinches. She is terrified at the thought of what will happen when this substance gets into the hands of Gen....

*

They look around the room and then carefully search it, when they realize that someone has taken the psychologist's body. There is silence in the office. It's all starting to get more and more disturbing.

- The body was lying exactly here," Erik speaks, pointing with his finger to the traces of blood. Sarah's attention is caught by a handicapped man, who viciously bangs on the glass.

- Someone was here before us. He took care of the body while we were searching for that place. We should have come here first.

- And what would you do with him? Plant him dead in an armchair? - Laura tries to be funny, but it's not the right moment or joke.

- Can you guess who took care of his body?

- The one who killed him. - Oliver snorts contemptuously. - Alan substitutes his grandfather with dignity.

- Something doesn't sit right with me here... if the psychologist was on their side, could he have killed him?

- He did it for you. - She sees that Oliver is jealous again, so she ignores his accosting remarks.

Sara is anxious. She is puzzled by the General's sudden departure from the building, as well as the Director's disappearance. She hasn't seen him for a long time. Besides, does he already know about her son's death? There is a strange, apprehensive silence in the center.

Something is wrong...

- Am I the only one who feels that most people are not in the building? It's as if we are slowly becoming out of control.... Should we check it out?

- I noticed that too. - Oliver looks at the girl. - And I don't mean the other students, but the Nazis. There are fewer and fewer of them lately.

Sara looks at the man banging on the glass. He looks as if he wants to convey something critical to her. She can see it in his eyes. He knows the truth. He can't speak, but he whines loudly, as if asking her to come closer. So she does. She looks into his eyes for a long moment. She wonders what happened to this man that he suffers so much....

Laura looks at him distrustfully. She shudders when she remembers that he is the main reason through which Simon died. If they hadn't run away from him.... then he wouldn't have fallen for his knife.

Sara decides to go inside and stops the guys who want to accompany her. She assures them that she will be fine, as the man behind the glass will not harm her.

The man turns his back on them and focuses all his attention on the teenage girl's face. Unexpectedly, he runs up to the table and grabs a blank sheet of paper. With a red marker, he begins to draw her a map. She realizes that it is the same drawing that Oliver found in the pond.

He pats his chest, assuring the girl that it was his work. Sara is shocked when it occurs to her that he was the one who threw the map into the pond, because he knows the location of the uranium and jewelry. That's why he's so important to these people. They torture him and hold him here because they want to get information out of him at all costs.

The teenager can't understand how this is possible. There are cases when sick people turn out to be smarter than healthy people, but it all seems unreal to her.

How could he have thrown the map into the pond, if he's been detained here the whole time? How did he find out about that place?

Well, she doesn't know that he was involved in a car accident as an adult, which caused him to suffer a brain injury. Sara has no idea that he was previously a healthy boy who was locked up here by his parents. In appearance, he was always different from his peers, and because of this, he was ridiculed and carried away. His parents were ashamed of him. They locked him up in the center, claiming he was dangerous, and they couldn't deal with him.

Many times, he hid from his peers, who hated him for his ugly appearance. The cantina became a refuge for him. One day, he found a passage in it that led to the place where the uranium was hidden. He didn't tell anyone about it. He was locked up inside. Furthermore, he disposed of the map, which he threw into a pond protected by ghosts, so that in the future a hero would appear to end it all.

*

Julia stands over the bodies that are in the underground. She looks carefully at the dead faces as the boys join her.

- I don't know if I will be able to live with such a conscience....

- You didn't kill them. You just helped," claims Alan, putting his hands on his chest. - I'm the one who will live with the sin.

- But we also have our fingers in it. Together, we planned the murder of the director. Do you think we are innocent despite this? - Julia looks at Matthew and notices that a shadow of fear runs across his face.

- We will rescue them from this hell. All we have to do is get rid of the ringleader as soon as he returns to the building, and then we can leave. Everyone.

Alan lowers his face.

- Are you okay? - Matthew looks at him closely as he sighs loudly. - I understand that you are worried about her, but do you think she will ever forgive you for your despicable behavior?

- From her perspective, I thoroughly understand her, so I'm not counting on a miracle. Sara doesn't know that joining the General was the plan all along. She thinks I'm the same as this man. Maybe she is right? After all, I killed people in cold blood, and that already means something, right? - Julia and Matthew are not of the same opinion. Nevertheless, they both remain silent. - I couldn't control my anger. I got too carried away by jealousy of Oliver, so I treated her badly. I don't deserve forgiveness. The most important thing is for Sara to get out of this place. I will do everything to protect her. Even if I risk my life in the process...