From behind her Nancy heard Sergeant Lightfoot step back as he released the bolt of his rifle. The sharp, distinctive snap of the M-16 bolt ramming a round into the chamber, followed by the ominous click as Lightfoot flipped the safety off, echoed through the corridors. “The colonel has her orders,” Lightfoot stated in a low voice that put one in mind of the rumblings of an earthquake.

For a moment the two parties eyed each other. Though they outnumbered Nancy and her NCO, the militiamen could not discount the pair’s determination or unpredictability. After a moment, the militia captain stepped aside. He said nothing as Nancy passed.

Once in the governor’s outer office, Nancy allowed herself to relax. “What is going on here?” she inquired of an aide to the governor whom she recognized.

Noting the vicious stares that the militiamen were giving her through the open door, the aide shook his head. “If it wasn’t clear who was running this operation before, it should be now. We’ve not only become prisoners in matters of policy, but I am afraid,” the aide whispered, “we’re captives in our own office.”

“When did this take place?”

After nervously glancing around, the aide drew closer. “Right after it became known that the Guard was pulling back from Twin Falls without a fight. The Attorney General came storming in here and told the governor in no uncertain terms that consequences be damned. The Guard was going to fight. While that argument was going on, they came,” the aide said, lowering his voice as he tilted his head toward the militiamen outside. “Within fifteen minutes, the ‘stand fast’ order was issued in the name of the governor.”

Having read General Saunders’s letter, she now understood everything. Just to make sure that she wasn’t mistaken, he asked whose idea it had been to issue that order. “Was it Thomas or the Attorney General?”

The aide’s reaction was just as telling as his answer. Pulling away, a look of horror lit his face. “The governor was on the verge of calling the President when Osborn arrived. If the governor had his way, this whole nightmare would have been over by now.”

Without changing expressions Nancy reached into her map case, pulled out the items she was responsible for delivering, and handed them over to the aide. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll be on our way.”

While the aide was checking the correspondence he had been handed, Nancy pivoted about and left the office. The militiamen at the barricade in the corridor didn’t do anything to hinder her exit. They did, however, watch her every move.

When they reached the outside and were sure that there was no one within earshot, Lightfoot came up next to his colonel. “Are we going to drive by Gowen Field and draw more rations before we head up into the hills?”