They were waiting at his house.
Nina and Emily looked relieved as he turned the corner and ran up the front porch steps.
“Where have you been?” Nina shouted. “Do you realize how long you’ve been gone? What happened?”
Breathless, Tim bent over at the waist and grabbed his knees.
“I would like to tell you where I’ve been,” he managed. “But I’m not sure you would be able to handle it.”
“Your parents aren’t home,” Emily said. “Wait, where is Max?”
Tim stood up straight.
“What do you mean? He was with you.”
“No,” said Emily. “He went back to get you.”
“Back, back where?” Tim stammered.
Nina eyed him curiously.
“The cabin of course,” she said.
•••••
The search for Max began small.
Everyone assumed that he simply lost track of time and would return home—everyone except Tim.
The police had paid a visit to see Tim’s parents. They were not happy to learn he had been back to the cabin. Neither were Emily’s or Nina’s folks.
The authorities had asked all three kids to come down to the station so they could get a better handle on who had seen Max last. As Tim walked into the stark office of investigations, he heard a familiar voice.
“Nope, Max never came back,” Rusty was saying to a young, nervous-looking officer. “At least not that I saw.”
Noticing Tim, he waved.
“It’s a pretty big cabin, and if I’m upstairs, it’s hard to hear anything.”
Tim just stared at him from across the room.
This was a man he had trusted. First the phone call, and now Max was suddenly gone after he had gone back to the cabin. How could Rusty be involved in this mess?
A chill began to form at the nape of his neck and slowly spread down to the base of his spine. There was no way he was telling anyone about the tunnel yet, but he knew he had to tell the authorities what he overheard when he had gone back to the cabin.
“If you don’t get the other kids out of here and back on Earth soon, the whole plan could be ruined.”
It could only mean one thing. Rusty was involved.
But that seemed impossible. Tim had known Rusty all his life. He loved the man like a second father. All the kids did. And there’s no way he would ever hurt anyone—especially his own son.
They all trusted him.
They all trusted him.
The missing kids were not foolish. How could they all have been taken by the man with yellow hair—a complete stranger?
But they all trusted him.
Canary had been talking to someone on the phone that night. Could it have been Rusty?
Max had gone back to the cabin to find him —and now he was gone. Max certainly knew how to find his way to the cabin. There was no way he would get lost heading there.
Rusty must have taken Max. But why, where?
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
“He’ll turn up,” Rusty said with a smile and a pat on the back. “You know Max, he probably just got turned around in the woods. They’ll find him.”
Tim turned to face him.
“I’m not so sure about that,” he whispered. “I heard what you said at the cabin. So tell me right now where he is—tell me what’s going on—or I’ll tell everyone what I heard.”
Rusty looked like someone had just punched him in the gut.
“I’ll tell you exactly where he is,” Rusty replied. “He’s behind you.”
Tim turned just as Max came walking through the front door of the office. His parents followed closely behind.
“Max!” Tim called out. “Where have you been?”
Emily and Nina ran over to give him a hug.
“I just got lost, man,” he mumbled. “I just got lost.”
Rusty walked over to him and held his hand out.
“Glad you were found,” he said.
Instead of taking his hand, Max gave Rusty a hug.
“Thanks, man.”
Tim watched as the police escorted the family into an office and then dropped into the nearest chair, covering his face with his hands.
He was exhausted and confused. When he finally composed himself, he looked up to find that Rusty was gone.
“Come on, Tim,” his mother called from the door. “Let’s go home. It’s late, and Max is going to be okay.”
On the drive home, he couldn’t stop thinking about Rusty. The look in his eyes when he accused him of taking Max was hard to erase.
After all that, Max had just gotten lost. But that didn’t seem to make sense either. And where did all the other openings in the tunnel lead to? Who was using them?
His head was spinning.
He reached in his pocket to grab his phone.
Not there.
Checking the other pocket, he found it was empty.
His heart sank as he realized it must have dropped out of his pocket when he tripped and fell in the tunnel.
His phone was in the tunnel.
If the people who used the tunnel found it before he did, they would know he had been there. Someone had gone to great lengths to hide the tunnel, what would they do if they found out he had been in there without permission?
He had to get that phone back.