Colonel Hale entered the room with two armed officers.
His face was calm.
Too calm.
“Step away from the patient,” he ordered.
Ethan stood between the colonel and Noah.
“You kept him here?”
Hale glanced at Noah.
“Your brother was receiving classified medical treatment.”
“For three years?”
“He was unstable.”
Noah tried to speak, but Ethan turned toward him.
“Is that true?”
Noah shook his head.
“They didn’t want me talking.”
Colonel Hale’s expression darkened.
“Sergeant Cole, you are dangerously close to violating military law.”
Ethan looked at the guards.
“Then arrest me.”
Hale motioned toward the door.
The guards stepped forward.
Suddenly, Ryan appeared behind them.
“Stand down.”
The guards stopped.
Hale turned slowly.
“You were ordered to remain in your quarters.”
Ryan ignored him.
He looked at Ethan.
“I tried to get Noah out that night.”
“Then why did you leave him?”
“Because Hale ordered the evacuation.”
The colonel’s voice became sharp.
“Captain Mercer, choose your next words carefully.”
Ryan pulled a small recording device from his pocket.
“I’ve been choosing them for three years.”
He pressed a button.
A crackling radio transmission filled the room.
Ryan’s recorded voice could be heard:
“Second vehicle is damaged. We still have one man trapped inside.”
Then Colonel Hale’s voice answered:
“Leave him. The extraction window is closing.”
Ethan stared at the colonel.
The recording continued.
Ryan had begged for permission to return.
Hale had refused.
Then another voice came through the radio.
Noah.
“Tell my brother I didn’t run.”
The recording ended.
Ethan’s eyes filled with rage.
“You left him because you wanted to protect the operation.”
Hale’s expression remained cold.
“You don’t understand what was inside that vehicle.”
Noah slowly raised his head.
“I do.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Noah reached beneath his hospital blanket and pulled out a small encrypted drive.
“This is what they were trying to recover.”
Ryan stared at it.
Hale took one step forward.
“Give me that.”
Noah tightened his grip.
Ethan moved in front of him.
“What’s on it?”
Noah looked at his brother.
“Proof that the ambush wasn’t an accident.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot echoed somewhere in the corridor.
When the emergency lights came on, the encrypted drive was gone.
And Colonel Hale was missing.