Mitchell nodded and moved toward the door.
Hayes turned to Turner.
“Listen to me carefully. I need you to remember exactly what those men looked like.”
Turner shook his head.
“I only saw them for a few seconds.”
“Uniforms?”
“Air Force.”
“Rank?”
“One was a captain. The other wore no visible rank.”
“Faces?”
Turner closed his eyes, trying to remember.
Then he opened them.
“The captain had a scar.”
“Where?”
“Along his left cheek.”
Hayes went completely still.
“Are you sure?”
Turner nodded.
“Why?”
Hayes didn't answer.
She opened a secure photograph on her phone and showed it to him.
It was a photograph of a man standing beside General Cross at a military ceremony.
Turner stared.
Then his face drained of color.
“That's him.”
Hayes looked at the photograph.
The man was Colonel Andrew Pierce.
The officer who had supposedly been dead for six months.
And the man who had just entered the base under her own authorization.
At 11:47 a.m., Lieutenant Mitchell reached the military housing complex.
Two security vehicles were parked outside.
He stepped out and approached the main gate.
“Who's in charge here?”
A young security officer saluted.
“Captain Lewis, sir.”
“Where are the two civilians who entered this morning?”
The officer checked his tablet.
“Family housing unit 18, sir.”
“Who escorted them?”
“Two officers from Special Security.”
“Names?”
The officer hesitated.
“Sir, the authorization came from Colonel Hayes.”