Sarah entered.
The door closed.
Five minutes later, the red telephone rang.
Brenda answered.
“Sheriff’s department.”
Her expression changed immediately.
“Yes, sir.”
She straightened.
“One moment.”
Then looked toward Ryker.
“Sheriff.”
He ignored her.
“Sheriff.”
“What?”
Brenda covered the receiver.
“There’s a colonel from the Pentagon asking to speak with Major General Sarah Hayes.”
Nobody moved.
Ryker stared down the hall.
Sarah sat behind the bars.
Their eyes met.
He walked slowly toward the telephone.
Took the receiver.
“This is Sheriff Ryker.”
The voice on the other end belonged to Colonel Matthew Grant, duty officer for a Pentagon command coordination desk.
“Sheriff Ryker, what lawful grounds do you have for detaining Major General Sarah Hayes?”
Ryker’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
“She was arrested following a traffic stop.”
“For what?”
“Reckless driving.”
Sarah heard him from Cell Four.
She looked at the camera.
Reckless driving.
Now official.
Grant asked:
“Was she provided counsel?”
“She has not been here long.”
“That wasn't the question.”
Ryker looked toward Brenda.
“She made a phone call.”
“To a command duty desk.”
“Yes.”
“That is not legal counsel.”
Ryker’s hand tightened around the receiver.
Grant continued:
“You will preserve all body-camera footage, dispatch traffic, booking video, property records, vehicle-search documentation, and evidence-room activity associated with General Hayes.”
Ryker’s gaze moved involuntarily toward the evidence-room door.
Sarah saw it.
So did Jared.
Grant added:
“Do not manipulate her secure communications device.”
Ryker swallowed.
“I haven't.”
Sarah stood.
“Third lie,” she said.
Ryker covered the mouthpiece.
“Shut up.”
Grant heard him.
“Sheriff?”
Ryker removed his hand.
“Yes?”
“Do not speak to the general again without counsel available unless necessary for immediate safety.”
“This is my jail.”
A pause.
Then Grant said:
“For the moment.”
Ryker’s face changed.
“What does that mean?”
Before Grant answered, the station lights flickered.
Sarah’s secure device illuminated inside the property tray.
One line appeared on its formerly dark surface.
SECURE TRACE COMPLETE
Then another.
SECONDARY SIGNAL DETECTED
Sarah stared.
That was not expected.
Ryker saw.
“What the hell is that?”
Sarah looked from the device toward the evidence-room wall.
The signal direction indicator pulsed.
Twenty-two feet.
Exactly where the locked military case would later be found.
Her breath slowed.
The operation had just changed.
She looked at Ryker.
“What's inside your evidence room?”
His face went pale.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Sarah’s eyes narrowed.
She had not mentioned an object.
Only a room.
Ryker had reacted as though she had.
Then he said into the phone: