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waited for the vibration from the phone that might be Asha texting back. But I felt nothing.
    It was a warm spring night. The full moon was bright enough for us to see, even without our headlamps. We left the car by the side of a dirt road and picked our way through the thin woods on the edge of the DMA facility. The only sound was the hollow roar of traffic on the highway in the distance.
    I’d taken some maps we needed from Kieran’s laptop and dumped them onto my smartphone. The maps were pretty good, and I was able to quickly lead us to where I thought the tunnel entrance might be. Then it was a matter of hunting around to actually find them in all the bushes and undergrowth. After about an hour, I was starting to get cold. Then I heard a low whistle from Jake.
    Kieran and I arrived at the same time. Jake was pulling overgrown black-berry bushes from a huge round metal grate made of thick rebar. It was set into the slope of a hill that rose gently toward the DMA facility, about half a mile away.
    The metal bars of the grate were about the thickness of my finger. I clicked on my headlamp and shined it in. All I could see were the concrete sides of a tunnel, heading off into murky shadows. I flicked on my phone, activated the gps and checked the digital map on the screen.
    â€œThis would make sense,” I said. “This is it.” I saw Kieran smile in the faint moonlight. All that stopped us from lifting the grate aside was some thin wire attached to the concrete. Jake snapped that with bolt cutters. Then we all grabbed part of the grate.
    â€œOn the count of three,” I said. It was heavy, almost too heavy to move. We grunted and heaved. The grate finally flipped away from the tunnel entrance onto the ground. It made a ringing sound that quickly died away. Just the same, we turned off the head-lamps right away. I scanned the moonlit darkness around us to make sure no one heard. There was no sign of anything, just a bit of wind rustling the leaves.
    We went in.
    The tunnel was big enough that I could stand up and stretch out my arms, no problem. But that didn’t make it easy to travel through. The floor and walls were curved and slimy. There was a steady stream of knee-deep water running down the middle of the big concrete tube. I tried to stay to one side but kept slipping and landing in the stream, swearing at the shock of the cold water every time.
    Occasionally there was a weird gust of damp wind like the tunnel was taking a deep breath. Single file, we kept marching through the tunnel in silence.
    Fifteen minutes later the only thing different was that the stream was deeper, up to our waists. The water was cold, but we got used to it. The deeper it was, though, the harder it was to push against the current. To keep me going, I kept thinking about Asha. What she’d say when I gave her the money. What we could do in the summer, the places we could explore together.
    We were all getting tired and cold. I wasn’t sure how much farther we could go on tonight. I was pretty sure we’d have to turn back. We hadn’t brought the right gear for something this wet. Beyond bolt cutters and a few other basic tools, we hadn’t brought anything serious.
    â€œKieran,” I finally said. “Kieran!” I saw his headlamp stop up ahead in the tunnel, then spin around toward me.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWe need to go back and take another run at this tomorrow. The water’s getting deeper, we need different equipment. I’m not even sure if this tunnel is going the right way.”
    â€œCan’t you check the map on your phone?”
    â€œNo. The GPS doesn’t work underground.”
    â€œHey.” Jake had slogged back toward us as well. “Did you guys see that?”
    â€œWhat?” said Kieran.
    â€œTurn off your headlamps, then look up ahead.” We did. At first, the darkness was complete. The gurgle of water around us sounded louder than ever. Then,