Chapter 3 - The Stolen Ledger
The knocking on the door grew more frantic by the second.
Mrs. Whitmore’s face drained of all color at the mere mention of the ledger.
Kessler cursed under his breath and rushed toward the locked door.
He undid the heavy deadbolt and yanked the wooden door open.
The hallway was completely and entirely empty.
Jordan was absolutely nowhere to be seen.
Nolan used their sudden distraction to dive fiercely under the science tables.
He crawled desperately toward the emergency exit window at the back of the room.
Mrs. Whitmore spotted his movement and lunged aggressively across the linoleum floor.
She missed grabbing his ankle by a mere fraction of an inch.
Nolan pushed the heavy window open and tumbled out into the thorny landscaping bushes.
He scrambled to his feet and ran across the deserted soccer field as fast as he could.
He desperately needed to find Jordan before the corrupt administrators did.
The hidden ledger had to be the real reason Mrs. Whitmore was targeting Jordan.
Nolan hid behind the metal bleachers to catch his breath and assess the situation.
He pulled out his phone, but the screen was completely frozen and black.
Kessler’s jamming device had somehow fried the motherboard permanently.
The video evidence he had recorded was completely gone forever.
Nolan punched the cold metal bleachers in sheer, overwhelming frustration.
He suddenly heard a soft, terrified rustling sound coming from the nearby equipment shed.
He cautiously pushed the heavy wooden door open, ready to fight.
Jordan was huddled in the dark corner, clutching a thick red notebook tightly to his chest.
He looked up at Nolan with wide, utterly terrified eyes.
He whispered that Mrs. Whitmore was secretly changing failing grades for massive bribes.
She was paying Kessler to turn a blind eye to the altered academic transcripts.
Jordan had accidentally found the notebook hidden inside her desk yesterday afternoon.
He was targeted today because she knew he had seen the illegal numbers.
Nolan realized the gravity of this massive, district-wide corruption scandal.
They needed to take the red ledger directly to the local police station immediately.
Before they could take a single step, the heavy shed door slammed shut.
The exterior metal padlock clicked loudly and securely into place.
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They were completely trapped in the suffocating darkness of the tiny room.
A thick, overwhelming smell of gasoline began to seep rapidly under the door.
