Danny's Proof

Danny Santos's POV

Danny Santos ran through the courthouse halls with Tommy right behind him, his heart beating so fast he thought it might burst.

"We have to show everyone!" Danny shouted, pulling out his own phone. "We have to prove what they did!"

Tommy was crying, still in shock from watching his father die. "My dad... he saved us."

"I know," Danny said, grabbing Tommy's shoulder. "And we're going to make sure it wasn't for nothing."

They burst through the courthouse's front doors and found themselves facing hundreds of angry locals. Everyone was screaming, demanding answers, waving their phones in the air.

"There they are!" someone yelled. "The boys from the recording!"

Mrs. Patterson pushed through the crowd, her face twisted with rage. "My kid has been sick for two years! The doctors said it was just bad luck. Was it the water? Did they poison our water?"

Danny's throat went tight. He knew Mrs. Patterson's daughter, little Rosie, who was only seven years old and spent half her time in the hospital.

"Yes," Danny said loud enough for everyone to hear. "They poisoned the water. And I have proof."

The crowd went quiet.

Danny held up his phone with shaking hands. "Three months ago, I saw trucks dumping barrels behind the old textile plant. I took pictures before they caught me. That's why they framed me for arson—to make sure nobody would believe me."

"Show us!" Mr. Chen demanded. He was Maya's father, and his younger son had been sick too.

Danny opened his phone's picture gallery and held it up. The first shot showed a truck with no license plate backing up to the factory's rear fence. The second showed men in masks rolling huge barrels off the truck. The third showed the barrels being dumped into a hole in the ground.

"That hole leads straight to the underground stream that feeds our water supply," Danny explained. "I saw them do it three times before they caught me."

Mrs. Martinez pushed forward, tears running down her face. She was Sarah's mother, and she'd lost her daughter to Judge Brennan's evil. "My baby found out about this too, didn't she? That's why they killed her."

Danny nodded, his own eyes burning with tears. "Sarah took pictures too. Better shots than mine. She was going to turn them in to the state cops. But they killed her first."

The crowd exploded with angry shouts.

"We need to see the dump site!" someone yelled.

"We need proof the police can't ignore!" another person added.

Tommy wiped his eyes and stepped up beside Danny. "I know where it is. My father told me once when he was drunk. He felt bad about it."

"Then let's go," Danny said. "Right now, before Webb's men can destroy the evidence."

The crowd pushed forward, following Danny and Tommy through the streets of Millbrook. Hundreds of people, all wanting justice, all ready to see the truth with their own eyes.

They reached the burned ruins of the textile plant twenty minutes later. Danny led them around to the back fence, where a hole had been cut in the chain-link years ago.

"Through here," he said. "But be careful. The ground is soft."

The crowd squeezed through the fence one by one, using phone flashlights to see in the darkness. Danny's heart pounded as he led them deeper into the plant grounds.

What if the proof was gone? What if Webb had already cleaned everything up?

But then Mr. Chen's flashlight found something half-buried in the mud.

"There!" he yelled. "I see a barrel!"

Everyone rushed forward. Sure enough, dozens of rusty barrels were buried in the ground, some fully covered, others still visible. Each barrel had warning signs that made Danny's blood run cold.

"Toxic waste," Mrs. Patterson read out loud. "Danger. Cancer-causing toxins. Do not touch."

"They've been dumping this poison for years," Tommy said softly. "My father said Judge Brennan made millions from the chemical companies who didn't want to pay for proper disposal."

A woman started crying. "My son has leukemia. The doctors said they didn't know why. It was this, wasn't it? This poison in our water made my baby sick."

Danny felt tears running down his own face. His little sister Maria had been sick too. She had headaches all the time and kept getting spots that wouldn't heal. The doctors couldn't explain it.

Now he knew why.

"We need to call the state police," Mr. Chen said, pulling out his phone. "The EPA. The news stations. Everyone needs to see this." But before anyone could make a call, truck engines roared in the distance.

Danny's stomach dropped. "They're coming."

Four big trucks crashed through the factory's front gate, their headlights flashing like angry eyes. Men jumped out bringing equipment that made Danny's heart stop.

Flamethrowers.

"They're going to burn everything!" Tommy shouted. "They're going to destroy the evidence!"

The men didn't care about the crowd of locals. They started spraying fire at the buried barrels, trying to melt the proof before anyone could stop them.

"Run!" someone screamed.

But Danny knew if they ran, Webb would win. The proof would be lost, and all those sick children would never get justice.

He had to do something. But what could one sixteen-year-old kid do against guys with flamethrowers?

That's when Danny remembered something his grandfather had taught him back in Mexico. When the strong tried to destroy the truth, sometimes the only weapon was making sure everyone saw them do it.

"Don't run!" Danny yelled over the chaos. "Everyone get your phones out! Record everything! If they destroy the evidence, we'll have proof they tried to cover it up!"

The townspeople understood instantly. Dozens of phones came out, all recording the men with flamethrowers trying to burn the toxic trash barrels.

But the fire was growing fast, and the barrels were starting to heat up.

"Those chemicals are going to explode!" Mr. Chen yelled. "If those barrels blow, the poison will spread everywhere!"

Danny looked at the flames getting bigger and bigger. The men with flamethrowers weren't stopping. They didn't care if they poisoned the whole town, as long as they destroyed the proof.

One of the barrels started making a terrible hissing sound.

"It's going to blow!" Tommy grabbed Danny's arm. "We have to get everyone out of here!"

But the crowd was too big, and the fence hole was too small. They'd never get everyone to safety before the barrels burst.

Danny's mind raced. There had to be another way. There had to be—

That's when he saw it. An old fire hydrant near the factory's side wall. If he could get it open, maybe the water would cool down the barrels before they burst.

"Tommy, help me!" Danny ran toward the water.

The hissing sound got louder. The barrel was burning red now, ready to blow any second.

Danny grabbed the valve wrench someone had left on the ground years ago. His hands shook as he slipped it onto the valve.

"Hurry!" Tommy helped him turn the wrench.

The opening was stuck, rusted shut from years of not being used.

The barrel's hissing turned into a high-pitched scream.

"It's going to explode!" Mrs. Patterson shrieked.

Danny and Tommy threw all their weight onto the wrench. The valve groaned, moved, and then suddenly broke free.

Water burst from the hydrant like a geyser, shooting fifty feet into the air.

But they were too late.

The barrel burst with a tremendous boom that shook the ground, sending burning chemicals spraying into the air like deadly fireworks.

And Danny watched in horror as the flaming poison arced through the sky, dropping straight toward the crowd of townspeople who couldn't run fast enough to escape.