CHAPTER TEN: THE FIRST TEST RUN
The maze staff had scheduled a private test run for selected volunteers before the ribbon cutting.
Daniel learned about it from a printed notice taped behind the ticket booth.
Voss’s company had invited a group of young participants to demonstrate the new timed route for potential investors.
Nobody had mentioned this plan to Iris.
When Daniel showed her the notice, she read it twice.
“They advertised an opening rehearsal after I suspended the controls,” she said.
“That’s a separate violation of the procedure.”
The notice listed six participants by first name.
One was Benji.
Carol saw the name and grabbed the paper.
“He helped me paint the lanterns last year.”
“He’s only eleven,” Daniel said.
“His brother follows him everywhere.”
Iris sent a volunteer to the registration desk to find the boys.
The volunteer returned with bad news.
The team had been told to report directly to the service gate, where a contractor would lead them inside.
The registration staff assumed the activity was approved.
Daniel felt a chill despite the afternoon sun.
The service gate was where the new passage began.
“We need to close every opening in that fence,” he said.
Iris gathered volunteers and assigned each a stretch of the outer perimeter.
Daniel walked toward the north side carrying a roll of warning tape.
He found two unlatched panels and a gap large enough for a child to crawl through.
A cardboard sign marked the area as CREW ACCESS.
The sign had been turned toward the inside, where visitors could not see it.
He pulled the panels together and tied them with a temporary strap.
At the next gap, a worker was stacking crates in front of an open maintenance passage.
“Can you close that?” Daniel asked.
“I was told to leave it free for deliveries.”
“There won’t be deliveries while people are walking around.”
The worker glanced at his schedule.
“There are three more trucks due.”
“Then somebody needs to watch the opening.”
Daniel called Iris again.
She sent an additional volunteer to stand beside the passage.
By the time Daniel returned to the central gate, the warning tape had been stretched across several entrances.
The festival band began playing the first song of its public program.
Parents gathered near the ribbon cutting platform.
Nobody outside the crew area seemed aware that the safety coordinator was trying to shut down an event advertised as ready.
Carol found Benji’s mother near the snack stall.
She introduced herself and asked where the boys were.
“They’re helping with the lantern demonstration,” the mother replied.
“A man gave them yellow wristbands.”
Carol’s stomach tightened.
“Did you see which man?”
“He had a red cap.”
Carol looked toward the maintenance trailer.
The contractor in the red cap was no longer there.
She called Daniel, who had just joined Iris beside the mayor.
“The boys may already be inside,” she said.
“Iris needs to know.”
Daniel repeated the warning.
Iris immediately ordered the control station closed.
Then she took the microphone from the registration table and asked all volunteers to account for their assigned children.
A handful of parents looked up.
Most of the crowd kept talking.
Daniel moved toward the north service entrance.
He did not wait for the committee to finish its discussion.
