Keep out? Ruby thought. “With pleasure,” she mumbled from where she stood beside a brick barracks two hundred feet to the gate’s south. Hell, I didn’t even want to come in here in the first place.

Her decision to leave after seeing the video had been a no-brainer. It was obvious they were all being detained because of the mystery plane. Some upper-echelon ass-coverer had probably gotten word that the plane had something to do with some classified horseshit and had frozen everyone in place until he figured out which was the best ass to kiss next.

Under normal circumstances, she could put up with the government and the navy’s top-down bureaucratic bullshit about things. But these weren’t exactly normal circumstances, were they?

Plane or no plane, she was technically on leave now, and if she didn’t get back to Florida this afternoon, her little sister, Lori, would have to give birth by herself.

What she needed to do now was get on a plane. She’d learned there was a commercial airport that was actually within walking distance of the base, but the question was, would they let her off?

She didn’t know. She certainly wasn’t going to ask anyone. She’d been in the navy long enough to know that if you wanted to get something done, you just went for it. It was far easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Ruby was still squinting at the gate that she needed to get past a minute later when a white Ford Focus drove onto the base. Its driver showed something to the guard. As it came up the road, Ruby smiled and shook her head when she saw the familiar smiling Asian face behind the wheel.

“Hey, sailor. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” said her Naval Safety coworker Mark Thanh with a wink as he rolled down his window.

Ruby grabbed her bag and ran over, beaming.

“Mark! Am I glad to see you,” Ruby said, chucking her bag into the back of his rental. “I thought everybody died. What the heck took you so long?”

“I just got back from leave and wasn’t a minute into the office when El Jefe turned me right around to come down and relieve you. Your sister still hasn’t had that baby yet, right?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Ruby said, glancing at the guard shack. “You need to get me to the civilian airport double time.”

They made the U-turn. As they approached the checkpoint, she stifled a groan as the big sergeant-at-arms at the gate held up a hand for a second.

He peered at Ruby’s face, confused. But then he saw Mark’s face again and realized he’d just seen him, and then he tentatively waved them on.

As they came out onto the base road, Ruby turned around and looked back. The guard hadn’t moved from the spot. He was looking at her again with the same confused look.

Ruby felt weird then, sort of guilty and suddenly and oddly quite afraid.