Emma's Prison

Emma Morrison's POV

Emma Morrison pressed her ear against the cold basement door, trying not to cry as she listened to the scary men talking upstairs. Her wrists hurt from the rope they'd used to tie her up, but she'd finally managed to wiggle free.

"The sheriff is dead," one man was saying. "Phoenix confirmed it ten minutes ago."

Emma's heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces. Daddy was dead. The bad men had killed her daddy.

"What about the Morrison kid?" another person asked.

"Still running. But Phoenix will catch him soon. Then we eliminate the whole family line."

Emma covered her mouth to keep from making noise. They were talking about killing Jake too. Jake, who had taught her how to ride a bike and always brought her candy on her birthday.

She had to do something to help him, but she was just a twelve-year-old girl locked in a basement.

Emma looked around the small room where they were keeping her. It was full of old boxes and filing cabinets. Most of the stuff looked like it hadn't been touched in years.

That's when she noticed something that made her heart beat faster.

An old telephone sitting on a dusty shelf.

Emma grabbed the phone and lifted the speaker. There was a call tone! The men upstairs must have forgotten about this old phone line.

She dialed 911 with shaking fingers.

"911, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.

"Please help me," Emma whispered. "My name is Emma Morrison. Bad men took me and killed my daddy. They're going to kill my cousin Jake too."

"Honey, where are you calling from?"

"I'm in the basement of City Hall. The guys upstairs are part of something called the Circle. They've been killing people for twenty years."

There was a pause on the line. Then the operator's voice changed, becoming cold and scary.

"Emma Morrison, you need to hang up that phone right now."

Emma felt like ice water was running through her veins. Even the 911 operator was working with the bad guys.

She slammed the phone down and backed away from it like it was a deadly snake.

How many people in town were part of this? How deep did the cheating go?

Emma heard the guys upstairs moving around, and she realized they might have heard her phone call.

She needed to find somewhere to hide.

Emma started looking through the boxes and file cabinets, trying to find a hiding spot. Most of the boxes held boring papers and old records.

But then she opened a box that made her gasp.

It was full of pictures.

Horrible pictures.

Pictures of Judge Brennan shaking hands with criminals. Pictures of her own father taking bags full of money. Pictures of Mayor Whitfield talking with drug dealers in dark alleys.

But the worst shots were at the bottom of the box.

Photos of people who looked hurt. People who looked scared. People who looked dead.

Emma recognized some of the faces from missing person stories she'd seen on TV. People who had "disappeared" from Millbrook over the years.

They hadn't disappeared.

They'd been killed.

And someone had been taking pictures of it.

Emma felt sick, but she kept looking through the pictures because she realized something important.

This was proof. Real proof that could prove what the Circle had been doing.

She found pictures of the night Sarah Martinez died. Pictures showing it wasn't Tommy who killed her - it was one of the Circle's paid killers.

There were also pictures from the factory fire. Pictures showing that Danny Santos didn't start the fire - the same killer had done it and planted Danny's hat afterward.

Emma stuffed as many pictures as she could into her jacket pockets. If she could get out of here alive, these pictures could save Tommy and Danny.

But then she heard something that made her freeze with fear.

Footsteps on the stairs.

Someone was coming down to the basement.

Emma quickly closed the box and looked around desperately for somewhere to hide.

There was a big filing cabinet in the corner that had fallen over years ago, making a small space behind it. Emma squeezed into the tiny hiding spot just as the basement door opened.

"Emma?" a woman's voice called out. "Emma, honey, are you okay?"

The voice sounded familiar, but Emma couldn't quite place it.

"Emma, my name is Captain Rodriguez. I'm with the state cops. Your daddy sent me to help you."

Emma almost came out of her hiding spot, but something made her stay quiet.

If Captain Rodriguez was here to help her, why hadn't the woman turned on the lights? And why was she walking so quietly, like she was looking for something?

"I know you're scared, sweetie," Captain Rodriguez added, "but you need to come out. The bad men might come back soon."

Emma peeked around the edge of the filing cabinet and saw the woman looking through boxes and papers.

Captain Rodriguez wasn't here to help anyone.

She was looking for the proof.

The same proof Emma had hidden in her jacket.

"Emma, I found the phone you used," Captain Rodriguez said, her voice getting less friendly. "I know you're down here somewhere. Make this easy on both of us."

Emma held her breath and tried to stay perfectly still.

"You know, Emma, your daddy wasn't the hero you think he was. He was part of our group for twenty years. He helped us kill people. He helped us destroy families."

Tears ran down Emma's face, but she stayed quiet.

"But in the end, your daddy picked the wrong side. Just like your cousin Jake. Just like that reporter girl Maya."

Captain Rodriguez was getting closer to Emma's hiding spot.

"Here's what's going to happen, Emma. You're going to give me those shots you took from the evidence box. Then you're going to come with me to a special place where you'll be safe forever."

Emma knew that "safe forever" meant dead.

She quietly reached into her jacket pocket and felt the pictures she'd hidden there.

These pictures were the only thing that could save Jake and Maya. The only thing that could prove Tommy and Danny were innocent.

But if Captain Rodriguez found her, Emma would never get the chance to show them to anyone.

The footsteps stopped right next to the filing cabinet.

"I can hear you breathing, Emma," Captain Rodriguez said softly. "Come out now, and I'll make it quick. Stay hidden, and I'll make it hurt."

Emma closed her eyes and made a choice that could save everyone or get her killed.

She took the deepest breath she could and screamed at the top of her lungs: "JAKE! MAYA! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, THE EVIDENCE IS IN CITY HALL BASEMENT! BOX NUMBER SEVEN!"

Captain Rodriguez cursed and lunged toward Emma's hidden spot, but Emma was already moving.

She rolled out from behind the filing cabinet and ran toward the stairs, still screaming: "THE PHOTOS PROVE EVERYTHING! BOX NUMBER SEVEN!"

But as Emma reached the bottom of the stairs, she ran right into someone who made her heart stop.

A man in a black mask was blocking her exit.

Behind the mask, cold blue eyes stared down at her with no feeling at all.

"Hello, Emma," the man said in a voice that was calm and frightening. "You've been very helpful tonight. More helpful than you know."

Emma looked back and saw Captain Rodriguez smiling.

"Emma," Captain Rodriguez said, "meet Phoenix."

The man in the mask reached out and grabbed Emma's arm with a grip like steel.

"You've led us to exactly what we were looking for," Phoenix said. "Now you're going to help us set the perfect trap."

"What trap?" Emma whispered.

Phoenix pulled out a radio and spoke into it: "Jake Morrison, I know you can hear me. I have your cousin Emma. If you want her to live through the night, you'll bring me what your real father hid. You have one hour."

Emma realized with growing fear what was happening.

She hadn't saved anyone.

She'd given the bad guys exactly what they needed to destroy Jake and Maya.

"Where's the meeting?" Jake's words crackled through the radio, full of pain and desperation.

Phoenix smiled behind his mask.

"The old church cemetery. Where your real father is buried. Fitting, don't you think?"

The radio went quiet.

"Now comes the fun part," Phoenix said to Emma. "You get to watch your cousin walk into the trap that will kill him."

But as they started pulling Emma up the stairs, she remembered something that gave her hope.

Before Captain Rodriguez had found her, Emma had done one more thing with that old telephone.

She'd called a number she found written inside one of the evidence boxes.

A number labeled "FBI Emergency Contact - Agent Sarah Williams."

And Agent Williams had answered on the first ring.

Emma just hoped the FBI agent would figure out what was happening before it was too late.