"It has now been almost a year since the four Rosewood teen girls have been abducted. With no new leads, police are reminding viewers to report any suspicious activity or any information. Many people are starting to lose hope. Those not losing hope, the families who truly believe that one day, their girls will come home."
"We won't stop until we have our girls back. Someone out there knows something and we ask that they please come forward. We just want our daughter back." Veronica told a reporter as she walked past them on her way into the police station, along with Peter, Byron, Ella, Ashley, Tom, Pam and Wayne.
"Knowing that someone out there has my friends and is doing this to them when they didn't do anything wrong is the hardest part. I just want my friends back." Ali almost cried before being led into the station by her dad.
"Lieutenant Tanner said they are heightening efforts in hopes of bringing the missing girl's home soon, before they hit the one year mark."
"We will spare no expense, and believe me, when we find who is doing this, they will be brought to justice."
"We will of course be bringing you continuous coverage of any developing news on this investigation. Now, new at six ….."
Veronica turned the TV on mute and the room around her went back to work after pausing to watch the story.
The Hastings household had become a bit of a command center in the search for the girls. It had been like this for the past few months once the investigation outgrew the largest conference room at the Police Station.
Peter and Veronica liked having everything in one spot, and more importantly, in one spot that could be easily protected by police and the very expensive security system the Hastings has put in. After the past year, they felt as if they could never be too careful. All of the parents and family members agreed. The parents tired to stay together and be a support system for each other just as the girls had always been for each other. They all still have to live their normal lives as best as they could.
The outside world kept going, but it was as if once you stepped foot in each of the girls homes, nothing had changed. None of the girls rooms had been changed, even a little bit. Some of the parents spent time in their daughters rooms as a way to feel close to them, others, couldn't even look, or open the door. It just hurt too much to think they might never come home and sleep in their own beds again.
Toby, Ezra, Caleb and Alison spent more time together than apart, working tirelessly to figure out where the girls were, all while being taunted by A. Whoever had the girls kept sending cryptic messages and nonspecific pictures. None of the pictures ever showed the girls in full, just bits and pieces so you could tell who it was, but never what shape they were in and never their faces. They always feared the worst but kept the thought in the back of their mind that A wouldn't be taunting them if the girls weren't still alive. They still had no idea what A's motive was and, even though the thought scared them all, why A had kept them alive this long.
Tanner had built an entire task force that's sole job was finding the girls. Ezra, Caleb and Alison were included and given special access into the police database to try and do whatever they could. Tanner couldn't deny that they were the ones who would know about A and the girls the best, them along with Toby would be a huge help in bring the girls home. When Tanner forced them to go home and try not to think about the investigation, they would go home, but do the opposite and hunker down at Toby's loft until they were okay to go back to the Hastings Residence.
Caleb was combing through technical stuff that no one tried to understand. Most nights he would fall asleep in his office, wake up and just keep on going. He only stopped to eat and drink when he absolutely had to and that was only because Alison made him.
Alison had taken on the role of keeping the boys feed and hydrated and not falling over dead from lack of sleep. She helped out in other ways that she could, talking through ideas and helping bounce things off of each other but, if she wasn't there, she was almost positive the boys would have run themselves ragged by now. Those two had the luxury of the investigation being able to be the sole focus of their lives. Ezra, wasn't so lucky.
Ezra only left when things desperately needed to be handled at The Brew. There were moments where The Brew was enough to distract Ezra from everything that was going on and give him the small break where he could pretend that Aria was still there and everything was normal. Everyday that they didn't have any new leads on where the girls were, it got harder and harder for him to have faith and harder for him to forget that Aria wasn't there and that he had no idea if she was safe … or alive. He of course played a game with himself. If he had gone to the Police about A … if he had been quicker to get the gun away from Shauna … if …. If Alison had never come back or if he had never spoken to Aria that day in the bar. Part of him will always feel responsible for the small part he played in Allison feeling like she had to stay away so long and keep the game going.
Today was like any other day.
Ezra was at one end of the loft going through his research for what felt like the millionth time, trying to find anything he could have missed and seeing if anything went along with the newest A texts they had been sent. Ezra had had a pit in his stomach the last few days when none of the texts or pictures mentioned or showed Aria. It had never been like this and none of them wanted to admit that something might have happened to her. Alison and Caleb had mentioned it to eachother, but didn't dare say anything to Ezra. The multiple holes that Toby has had to fix in his drywall were enough to keep him in the dark about their suspicions.
Caleb was at the other end, tracing the signal from something when Allison tore into the apartment looking frantic.
Both guys jumped up at her sudden entrance.
"Guys …. Toby needs us at the Spencers right now …."
"Did they find them?" "What's going on?" They both asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that Toby called me and said that Tanner wants all of us to get there as soon as possible and neither of you were answering your phones."
"We turned them off so it didn't interfear with the trace I was doing …" Caleb said, inwardly beating himself up.
Both turned their phones back on and were immediately swarmed with missed calls and text messages.
"Let's go." Ezra said quickly.
"I'll drive." Allison said before leading them out of the loft.
The Hastings Household was so packed with people, it was almost hard to move. It looked like every single person involved in the investigation plus a number of extra police backup had been called in to hear what Tanner had to say. As soon as Tanner saw them walk into the room, she began.
"Now that everyone is here, we got a called from a State Trooper at Tyler State Park. A camper reported seeing large amounts of smoke coming from a nearby area. What they found was what looks like a fire from an underground facility. Problem is it is guarded by an electric fence that we are having a hard time getting through."
"What does this have to go with the girls?"
"Well for the past few days we have been monitoring the park after troopers reported suspicious noises and activity and then yesterday, we were able to trace a signal from a message sent to Officer Cavenaugh."
"What did the message say?" Caleb immediately asked. This was news to them, so it must have just happened recently.
"It's time to end this. See if you all can smoke me out before it chokes them out."
Only the people that needed to know knew that A was the person who had the girls. That was basically Tanner, the parents, Caleb, Toby, Allison and a few select people of the task force. They didn't even need to ask if the message was from A. It fit right into their matra. They figured if A knew more people were involved, that wouldn't end well for any of the girls and this message must mean that A had figured out that more people were involved and was pissed.
"Now we are working as quick as we can to get access to the area to investigate and see if this is where the girls are. We are heading there now, all of you have your assignments as to where to go. Keep in constant contact and report anything."
Everyone most quickly as the three moved over to Tanner.
"Where do you want us?" Caled asked as they moved out of the house towards a waiting van.
"You three are coming with me and Cavenaugh. If this is where the girls are, you four have the most experience with A and are most likely to keep the girls calm. The parents would be too emotional and these girls are going to be traumatized most likly. The parents will be waiting in an area of the park close by if we need them. They aren't happy one bit, but they get it." Tanner continued after they all got into one van with a few other officers and started driving. "We have electricians at the site now working with the fire department to try and get access. We don't -" Tanner was cut off by a call coming over the radio.
"We're through the fence. Smoke is getting thicker. What is your ETA?"
"Tanner pulling into the park right now. Be there in less than two minutes." she said quickly before turning back to Caleb, Toby, Alison and Ezra.
"We are sending in the fire crews with police first to evaluate the area and find the source of the smoke. Once it's safe, we will go in and look around more and try to find the girls. I am pretty confident that this is where the girls are and A figured out more than just you four are involved."
The van pulled up outside of a large 20 foot high metal fence. The police officers and Tanner piled out of the van, heading for the bunker. Tanner stopped when she saw the four of them trying to follow her.
"All of you guys stay back until we have deemed everything safe." Toby tried to object but Tanner quickly shut him down. "Don't even try Cavenaugh, you knew once it got to this point we were going to be keeping you at a distance."
Toby wanted to object but he understood. It had been a fight to continue to let him be as involved as he had been and if he was being honest, he didn't know what they would find down there and he was scared how he would react if/when they found Spencer and the others.
The police ran into the double doors and the wait was agonizing.
The seconds went by like hours until finally …. They heard yelling coming from the bunker.
"We've found something …."