Pierce reached down and felt for the tape at his ankles as he spoke. “These men moved the Rigel units here, and tonight at two in the morning, they’ve got a vehicle coming to transport all of them out of Ashland.”

“How does that help us save Lauren?” Dani asked. “What did Mr. Coleman want us to do?”

“You wouldn’t have had to do anything,” Pierce said. “These guys were never planning to kill her. She wasn’t any threat to them. She didn’t know anything that could be used to track them down later. Coleman and I knew that stuff, but not her. Their plan was just to leave her behind in the barn, at two in the morning. Maybe someone would come and find her, maybe not. They didn’t really care, but they definitely weren’t going to kill her. No need.”

Sam traded a look with Dani.

You’ll see, Mr. Coleman had said.

“We could have just walked in and gotten her,” Sam said.

Pierce nodded. “But with me getting away … all bets are off. When these guys don’t find me in that field, they’re going to assume I’m running for the nearest phone to call base security. There are twelve active stations under Ashland, with more than a hundred armed officers guarding them. I can have half of them surrounding that barn within minutes of making the call.”

The last of the duct tape around his ankles came loose with a rip. He wadded it and dropped it in the weeds.

“Which is exactly what I need to do now,” he said. “It’s time to slam the lid down on all of this.”

Dani looked unsure. “If there are people on the inside who can tip them off—”

Pierce shook his head. “We’re past that now. These guys already know the clock is ticking.”

He gripped the weeds and climbed up until his head was above the ditch, alongside Dani. Sam did the same, and the three of them stared across the pavement at the barnyard.

The four flashlights were far away to the south now, and more spread out, sweeping the vast darkness of the field.

The barn door remained wide open and empty.

“It wouldn’t matter if the last guy did come out,” Pierce said. “The girl isn’t just tied up in there. She’s locked in a room—some kind of storage for tractors or something. It’s got a heavy wooden door with a steel lock. You’d be five minutes with an axe, breaking through it. They’d hear you.”

“But if the Army comes in and surrounds this place,” Dani said, “it’s going to be a standoff with Lauren in the middle of it.”