At the cabin, FBI agents scrubbed the location. They bagged and tagged fingerprints, used glasses, sheets from beds unmade, contents from desks, and anything else that might have been of use to them.
One of the critical pieces of information Agent Ortega found was surveillance cameras and the contents of the hard drive saving the feed. How far back the data went was still unknown; she hoped it would reveal a lot.
Other items the FBI and local authorities uncovered were a safe with plenty of firearms and ammunition. Just as Ortega was about to call the house cleared, noises came from inside the wall. Everyone pulled their guns, including Ortega.
Silence. They waited.
Again. A cough? Then another.
Ortega twirled in a circle, trying to locate the sound. There wasn’t a door or a closet. A few agents shrugged when she looked at them. An agent’s eyes darted to the floor as it creaked. Everyone else, who had not moved, followed.
The agent lifted his foot and then dropped it behind him. A notch in the corner of the floorboard lifted. He pressed into it, lifting it enough for fingers to dig it up. Ortega tiptoed toward him and placed her fingers within the gap and pulled. An entire panel came with her, like a portal to another world opened.
Stairs leading downward.
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