Kristy is dumbstruck when she finds two more identical babies in her adopted son’s crib one day. An ominous note states the children are in grave danger, but Kristy will do whatever it takes to protect them.
Kristy approached the nursery with a bottle she’d just warmed for six-month-old Caleb, who she’d recently adopted. Moving to a new town had brought her the fresh start she needed in her life.
“Mama’s here…” Kristy trailed off as she stared at Caleb’s crib. Instead of one child, there were now three! And there was a note stuck to the side of the crib.
‘The children are in danger. Please take care of them. Beware of people with tattoos of three crossed dots.’
Kirsty examined the babies. There was no way these kids could look so much alike unless they were triplets. Her mind was racing from this startling discovery and the ominous note, but one thing was clear: these babies needed her help.
Once all three babies were fed and changed, Kristy called the cops. She showed the policewoman the note she’d found in the crib.”A local religious sect uses this symbol,” the cop replied. “They don’t cause trouble and their membership is restricted to a couple of different families. Did the agency mention your son having siblings when you adopted him?”
Kristy shook her head. “He was surrendered using a baby box; that’s all I know.”
There were no matching missing children reports, so the cop contacted Child Services. Kristy insisted on caring for the children in the meanwhile, but she still wanted answers. The mystery of Caleb and his brothers weighed heavily on Kristy as she went to bed.
She was soon woken by a loud crash followed by babies crying. Kristy ran to the nursery and saw a broad-shouldered figure climbing out the window with the babies in his arms.Kristy chased after the man, but he was too fast. He sped away in a panel van with Caleb and his brothers.
“You have to get them back!” Kristy demanded as the cops examined the nursery.
“We’ll do everything possible to track down the kidnapper, ma’am.” The taller of the two policemen reassured her.
It felt like an empty promise. She looked away from him as the second cop crouched to search beneath the crib. His shirt pulled up, revealing a tattoo on his lower back of three crossed dots.
This must be the tattoo the note warned her about! Oh God…this officer was affiliated with the sect she suspected had taken the babies.
Kristy couldn’t let this opportunity to find answers slip away. When the tattooed cop finished searching for evidence and left, Kristy followed him.The cop drove to a modest suburban house and parked his squad car in the garage. That seemed strange, but Kristy didn’t dwell on it. She crept up to the cop’s house.
The cop’s build was similar to the man who kidnapped the triplets, and Kristy hoped she might find them here. Kristy circled the house but found nothing. Moments after she returned to her hatchback, the cop exited the garage in a different car.
Where’s he going? It’s almost midnight! Kristy wondered.
Kristy followed him out of town and into the farms and small holdings surrounding the city. Soon, they approached a compound surrounded by a high brick wall.
The shady cop stopped at a gatehouse and was admitted into the compound. Kristy parked beside a copse of trees. She needed to check if the children were here. Kristy climbed one of the trees and dropped down inside the compound.Kristy headed toward the house lights she spotted through the trees. Moments later, a dog barked nearby, and a man’s voice rang out:
“Go, Rex. Search!”
Kristy ran, but she didn’t get far. The air left her lungs in a loud whoosh as the dog knocked her over. She flopped onto her back, and the dog’s teeth snapped shut right before her face.
“So there was someone out here!” A man said. “Our leader will decide what to do with you, outsider!”
The guard marched Kristy up to a huge mansion. Banners bearing the marking with the crossed dots hung on either side of the imposing front doors. The man led her to a storm cellar entrance around the side of the mansion.
“Is that an outsider?” The guard outside the storm cellar hurried to unlock the heavy chain wound around the handles on the storm cellar doors. “Get her in there fast. The less contact we have with her, the better.”
The guard shoved her into the basement. Kristy stumbled down the stairs and fell. She cried out as she scraped her hands.
“Hello?” Someone called softly from the darkness. “Who’s there?”
A dim overhead light flickered on, revealing a woman around Kristy’s age. Kristy crept closer to her as she introduced herself.
“I’m Alice.” The woman studied Kristy. “You’re that Kristy, aren’t you? The woman who adopted my baby.”
“You’re Caleb’s birth mother?” Kristy sat beside Alice. “How do you know who I am?”
Alice hung her head.
“The nanny, Maria. She saved my babies after…it’s a long story. I don’t think an outsider like you will understand.”
“Try me,” Kristy replied. “And start with why everyone keeps calling me an outsider.”
“You’re not one of the chosen people,” Alice replied. “If you were you’d know my triplets are the evil triad our prophet warned us about generations ago. The symbol of the three crossed-out dots reminds us to be alert for the prophesied children.”
Alice sobbed. “It also symbolizes our salvation…by killing them.”
“What!” Kristy rounded on Alice. “Those are your babies you’re talking about.”
“I know!” Alice wailed. “I’d never hurt them. My father didn’t want to kill them either and he’s our leader! He asked Maria to take my third son away. I fainted after giving birth and didn’t know I’d had triplets until she told me everything.”
Kristy shook her head. “But why did Maria bring me the other two boys, and why did your ‘chosen people’ kidnap them?”
“Three months ago, a fire destroyed our fields, the barns, and the warehouse,” Alice replied. “Dad thought it was a sign, that the prophesied destruction was starting because he spared my sons.”
“Oh, what a load of—”
“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching since I was locked up down here.” Alice looked Kristy in the eye. “I know my babies aren’t evil and I have to stop my father from killing them.”
“I agree, but how do we get out of here?”
Alice showed Kristy the door leading inside the house, where the meals were delivered. The women searched the basement but only found junk. Eventually, Kristy came up with a risky plan.
Kristy crouched near the door clutching a stone. Eventually, she heard footsteps in the corridor. A bright light shone through the bars set into the door, illuminating Alice and the patches of bright blood soaked into the skirt of her white dress.
A man rushed inside, and Kristy hit him over the head. He dropped to the floor immediately. Alice, who’d been playing possum, sat up and bandaged the wound on her thigh while Kristy discarded the stone she just used as a weapon.
The women snuck upstairs. They ducked into the shadows of the main staircase as voices carried down to them from above.
“…gather by the barn,” a gruff-voiced man said. “We will kill the evil triad there at dawn.”
“I will tell them,” a woman replied.
Alice shook in Kristy’s arms as they listened to the pair exit the house. The women hurried upstairs to the nursery. The triplets were fast asleep in three identical cribs. Alice and Kristy rushed over and picked up the babies.
The nursery door swung open. A silhouette filled the doorway as the two women were spotlighted in light from the hallway. They were trapped!
“Maria, thank God it’s you!” Alice sighed.
Maria glanced from Alice to Kristy, then stepped aside. She didn’t say a word as she walked away down the hallway.
Alice led Kristy to the garage. They climbed into a massive pickup truck. Kristy slammed her foot down on the accelerator as soon as the garage door finished opening. Within a few minutes, the compound entrance loomed ahead.
The gates burst open when the pickup smashed into them. Metal screamed against metal, and something heavy smashed the windscreen. Glass rained down on Kristy as she turned the pickup and headed toward town.
“Do you know the way to the nearest police station?” Kristy asked.
“Yes, but we’re almost out of gas. Look.” Alice pointed at the fuel gauge.
Kristy swore. “What do we do?”
“Pull over,” Alice replied. “I have an idea.”
“Take my babies and run,” Alice said. She told Kristy how to find the road as she fashioned a jacket into a baby sling. “I’ll lead them away until the truck dies.”
Alice hopped back into the truck and drove off. Kristy said a quiet prayer for the brave woman and set off across the fields.
Kristy reached the road at dawn. She was exhausted and almost wept when she was able to flag down a passing car. Her relief was short-lived, however.
As the driver pulled away with Kristy in the back, she noticed the tattoo of three crossed dots behind his ear.
Kristy soon found herself back in the basement. She’d wanted to fight when she realized that man was one of the ‘chosen people,’ but there wasn’t much she could do while holding three babies she didn’t want to risk harming.But her decision haunted her. Alice had trusted her to protect the triplets; instead, she’d doomed them.
Kristy’s head jerked up as she heard a sound outside the door. She wouldn’t give up yet. The door flew open, and Kristy charged. She only noticed at the last minute that it was a woman wearing a police uniform.
After a full day of interviews and statements at the police station, Kristy insisted that Alice and the babies come home with her. They settled the children in the nursery, then Kristy urged Alice to tell her what happened after they parted ways.
Alice smiled shyly. “I had three cars on my tail when I ran out of gas. I ran into a barn and the chosen people cornered me there. But the farmer and his sons came out with guns. They chased the chosen away and let me call the police.”
Kristy leaned over and hugged Alice. “When I think of how badly this whole thing could’ve turned out…”
“Don’t.” Alice looked into her eyes. “The most important thing is that we’re all safe now. I don’t know where I’ll go from here—”
“Nowhere.” Kristy moved her hands to Alice’s shoulders. “I want you and the boys to live here. Please say you’ll stay, Alice.”
Alice smiled. “How could I refuse?”
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