Dani shook her head. “Only some of them are abandoned. And Ashland isn’t a town. It’s a military base.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sam stared at her. “Come again?”

“It’s a military base. This entire area. The stores downtown, the suburb, these farms all around it. It’s all part of the base.”

“Military bases have fences around them. They have guard shacks, patrols—”

“Not this one.”

“Wouldn’t people know? How would all those people in the suburb not know they’re living on military property?”

“They do know,” Dani said. “All those people are in the military. The grownups, anyway. My dad. Your dad, too.”

Sam almost laughed. “My dad’s a lawyer for Kamen and Ross. They’re one of the biggest firms in the country. He moved us out here because they set up some new office to handle companies in the Midwest.”

“I’m sure it all makes sense on paper,” Dani said. “But I promise you, your dad works for the military, at least as of today. They need lawyers too, right?”

“This is ridiculous,” Sam said. He could hear the pitch of his voice rising. He knew it was disbelief—but a faltering disbelief. Because whatever Dani was telling him, clearly it wasn’t just some prank to play on the new kid in town. His eyes kept going back and forth from her face to the stenciled text on the wall. This place was real. Whatever the hell it was, it was real.

“I know it’s hard to accept,” Dani said. “But let me ask you something. Do you believe there are men and women in America doing secret work for the government?”

“Sure. Somewhere.”

“Do you think their kids know about it?”

Sam considered that. The concept had never crossed his mind before. It was such a random notion.

“Probably not,” he said.

He imagined his face must be stone blank. He wanted to ask her how she could know any of this, but the question stopped in his throat. Obviously the how was part of the story she’d brought him here to tell him.

“I know,” she said again, seeing his expression. “It’s hard. And weird. It was the same way for me. Let me show you the rest of this place, and I’ll tell you the whole thing from the beginning. It won’t take long. There’s only so much I really know.”

She nodded to the door at the far end of the corridor, and crossed toward it. Following her, Sam felt dizzy in a way that had nothing to do with his balance. He absently switched on his own flashlight as they reached the second door. Like the first, it had a handle instead of a knob, but there was no keypad above this one. Dani pulled it open and Sam slipped through after her.