“I know.”
“Good.”
The cruiser sped through the darkness.
Ahead, the road disappeared into trees.
Then Evan saw headlights.
“Vehicle.”
Colter leaned forward.
“That's Nolan.”
The dark SUV turned onto a side road.
Evan followed.
The cruiser bounced over gravel.
Mara looked ahead.
“He's heading somewhere specific.”
“How do you know?”
“He isn't running.”
“What?”
“If he wanted to escape, he'd take the highway.”
Instead, the SUV continued deeper into the county.
They reached an abandoned agricultural processing facility.
The SUV stopped.
The driver stepped out.
Sergeant Nolan.
He looked toward the approaching cruisers.
Then he raised both hands.
Colter got out.
“Nolan!”
Nolan shouted back.
“Don't come closer!”
Mara stepped out behind him.
Nolan looked directly at her.
“That's what they wanted.”
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Why did you stop?”
“Because they have my family.”
The words silenced everyone.
Colter's face changed.
“Your wife?”
“My daughter.”
Nolan's voice broke.
“They sent me pictures.”
Mara approached slowly.
“Where are they?”
“I don't know.”
“What did they make you do?”
“Give them access.”
“To what?”
“Everything.”
Colter looked stunned.
Nolan's eyes filled with tears.
“I gave them the system.”
Mara asked quietly, “What system?”
“The federal interface.”
Colter stared at him.
“I didn't know we had one.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
Mara looked toward the facility.
“What's inside?”
Nolan looked away.
“A server.”
“How old?”
“Six years.”
Mara understood.
“What's stored on it?”
Nolan hesitated.
“Federal task-force records.”
“Which ones?”
“The ones nobody talks about.”
Mara's expression hardened.
“That's why they needed my credential.”
Nolan nodded.
“They wanted you to open the final layer.”
Mara looked at Colter.
He suddenly understood the entire trap.
The arrest.
The credential.
The false records.
The federal phone call.
The fabricated evidence.
Everything had been designed to put Mara into the one room where her credential could be captured.
But the attackers had not expected the red telephone to ring.
They had not expected the Pentagon to notice immediately.
And they had not expected Mara to realize that the sheriff himself was being manipulated.
Mara turned toward the facility.
“How many people are inside?”
Nolan shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Then we don't go in.”
Colter looked at her.
“What do we do?”
“We wait.”
“For what?”
Mara touched the credential wallet in her jacket.
“For the people who think they already won.”
The night became still.
Then the facility lights turned on.
One window.
Then another.
Then another.
A silhouette appeared behind the glass.
Mara stared.
The figure lifted one hand.