At 11:48 p.m., Specialist Tyler Vance was on his knees in the middle of a secure Army operations room, staring down the barrel of Sergeant Evelyn Hayes’s handgun.
His massive shoulders were rigid with fear.
His hands were slowly raised beside his head.
“Sergeant, please.”
Evelyn didn’t answer.
Her dark brown eyes remained fixed on something behind Tyler.
Captain Marcus Reed burst through the locked doorway and immediately froze.
“SERGEANT, PUT THE GUN DOWN!”
Evelyn didn’t move.
“Hayes!”
Tyler swallowed hard.
“I don’t know what I did.”
“You didn’t do anything,” Evelyn finally said.
Her voice was quiet.
That frightened Tyler more than the gun.
Marcus took one careful step forward.
“Then why are you pointing a weapon at him?”
Evelyn’s eyes never left the space behind Tyler.
“Because he’s standing in front of something.”
Tyler slowly glanced over his shoulder.
There was nothing there except a metal storage cabinet, several equipment cases, and a dark corner beneath the tactical table.
“I don’t see anything,” he whispered.
“You aren’t supposed to,” Evelyn replied.
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“Hayes, whatever you think you see, lower the weapon.”
Evelyn finally looked at him.
“If I lower it, someone dies.”
Tyler’s breathing became faster.
“Who?”
Evelyn looked back at him.
“Not you.”
A terrible silence filled the room.
Then Marcus noticed something strange.
There was a thin trail of fresh dust on the floor behind Tyler.
It seemed to lead directly toward the locked equipment cabinet.
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“Tyler, don’t move.”
Tyler froze.
Evelyn’s trigger finger tightened.
“Hayes,” Marcus warned.
“I have one chance.”
“Don’t.”
Evelyn suddenly pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The gunshot exploded through the concrete room.
Tyler flinched violently and squeezed his eyes shut.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Tyler slowly opened his eyes.
He was alive.
He touched his chest.
There was no blood.
He looked at Evelyn in disbelief.
“You missed.”
Evelyn lowered the pistol.
“I didn’t.”
Something metallic rolled across the floor behind him.
Marcus immediately looked down.
A small black device had fallen from beneath the equipment cabinet.
A bullet had smashed through its outer casing.
Tyler turned around.
“What is that?”
Evelyn’s face suddenly changed.
The confidence disappeared from her eyes.
Her lips trembled.
“He was already here.”
Marcus stared at her.
“Who?”
Evelyn didn’t answer.
She walked toward the damaged device.
Marcus followed.
Tyler slowly stood.
The object was small enough to fit inside a palm.
A tiny red indicator was still blinking.
Marcus recognized it.
His expression hardened.
“That’s surveillance equipment.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Military-grade.”
Tyler looked confused.
“Someone was recording us?”
“Not recording,” Marcus said.
He carefully examined the device.
“Transmitting.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
Evelyn looked toward the locked door.
“Which means someone is listening right now.”
Marcus immediately reached for his radio.
There was no response.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Tyler stared at him.
“Captain?”
Marcus looked at his radio.
“The signal’s being jammed.”
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
“From inside the building.”
A metallic click suddenly came from behind them.
All three turned.
The sound had come from the equipment cabinet.
Tyler instinctively stepped backward.
Marcus raised his weapon.
Evelyn raised hers again.
“Open it,” she ordered.
Marcus shook his head.
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Open it.”
He approached the cabinet.
The lock was electronic.
Marcus entered his authorization code.
The keypad flashed red.
“Denied.”
He tried again.
“Denied.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“Someone changed the access permissions.”
Tyler suddenly remembered something.
“Wait.”
Both officers looked at him.
“I saw someone in here earlier.”
Evelyn’s expression sharpened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“About twenty minutes ago.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“What did he look like?”
Tyler hesitated.
“He was wearing a captain’s uniform.”
Marcus went completely still.
“Did you see his face?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because he told me to leave.”
Evelyn looked at Marcus.
“Who had access to this room tonight?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Tyler looked between them.
“Captain?”
Marcus finally spoke.
“Three people.”
“Who?”
Marcus stared at Evelyn.
“Me.”
“Sergeant Hayes.”
“And Colonel Grant.”
Evelyn’s eyes widened.
“Colonel Grant is supposed to be in Washington.”
Marcus nodded.
“That’s what I was told.”
A sudden vibration came from the damaged surveillance device.
The tiny red light turned green.
A voice emerged from it.
“You’re too late.”
Tyler stepped backward.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Identify yourself.”
The voice laughed softly.
“You already know who I am.”
Evelyn’s face went pale.
She recognized the voice.
“Colonel Grant.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
“I served under him for fourteen years.”
The voice continued.
“Sergeant Hayes, you were always the one who noticed things other people missed.”
Evelyn stared at the device.
“Where is Tyler’s brother?”
Silence.
Tyler suddenly looked at her.
“My brother?”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
Marcus looked at Tyler.
“You didn’t tell him?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Not yet.”
Tyler stepped forward.
“Tell me what?”
The voice interrupted.
“Your brother discovered the same thing I did.”
Tyler’s face tightened.
“What thing?”
“The Army wasn’t protecting the facility.”
“It was protecting what was hidden beneath it.”
A loud metallic sound came from underneath the floor.
The three soldiers froze.
The concrete beneath the equipment cabinet shifted slightly.
Tyler stared down.
“There’s something underneath us.”
Marcus immediately grabbed the cabinet.
Together, he and Evelyn pulled it away from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow metal hatch embedded in the floor.
Tyler stared at it.
“How long has that been there?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Since before I was assigned here.”
Marcus crouched beside it.
There was a keypad beside the hatch.
The screen displayed one word.
VANCE.
Tyler stared at his name.
“Why does it know me?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Because your brother programmed it.”
Tyler stepped backward.
“My brother has been dead for three years.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with grief.
“That’s what we were told.”
Tyler stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
Marcus slowly looked toward the surveillance device.
The voice came through again.
“Your brother isn’t dead.”
Tyler stopped breathing.
“That’s impossible.”
“He has been inside this facility for three years.”
Tyler shook his head.
“No.”
“He discovered the underground archive.”
“He discovered the names.”
“He discovered the experiments.”
“And when he tried to expose them, they buried him here.”
Tyler’s eyes filled with disbelief.
“Who?”
The voice answered.
“Everyone you’ve been ordered to trust.”
Suddenly, the lights went out.
The room plunged into darkness.
Tyler heard Evelyn shout.
“Stay together!”
A red emergency light flickered on.
The hatch beneath them was now open.
A narrow staircase disappeared into darkness.
Then someone spoke from below.
“Tyler.”
Tyler froze.
He knew that voice.
His face collapsed.
“Jake?”
A man slowly stepped into the red emergency light.
He was thin, exhausted, and covered in dust.
But he was alive.
Tyler stared at his brother.
“You’ve been alive this whole time.”
Jake looked at him.
“I couldn’t get out.”
Tyler rushed toward him.
They embraced.
For the first time that night, Evelyn lowered her weapon.
Marcus stared down the staircase.
“How many people are down there?”
Jake looked at him.
“None.”
“Then who was running the operation?”
Jake’s expression darkened.
“The person who ordered me buried alive.”
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
Evelyn slowly understood.
“Colonel Grant.”
Jake nodded.
“But there’s something you need to know.”
“What?”
Jake looked at Tyler.
“Grant isn’t working alone.”
Suddenly, every screen in the operations room switched on.
A live video appeared.
Colonel Grant was standing inside the Pentagon.
Behind him stood several senior officers.
He looked directly into the camera.
“You should have left the room, Sergeant.”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
Grant smiled.
“But you always had a problem following orders.”
The screen went black.
Then every locked door in the facility slammed shut.
Marcus checked his weapon.
“We’re trapped.”
Evelyn looked at Jake.
“Is there another exit?”
Jake nodded.
“There is.”
“Where?”
Jake pointed toward the underground tunnel.
“But once we go down there, we can’t come back.”
Tyler looked at his brother.
“Then we don’t come back.”
Evelyn looked at Marcus.
Marcus nodded.
The four of them disappeared into the darkness beneath the military facility.
Behind them, the operations room remained empty.
The broken surveillance device continued blinking.
Then the voice of Colonel Grant quietly returned through the speaker.
“You still don’t understand.”
A pause followed.
“The person who pulled the trigger wasn’t the target.”
“The person behind Tyler was.”
The device finally went dark.
And for the first time that night, the real operation had begun.