As they descended, the lights began flashing red.
A warning sounded through the speakers.
UNKNOWN SYSTEM VOICE: "Unauthorized personnel detected."
The team stopped.
UNKNOWN SYSTEM VOICE: "Return to the entrance immediately."
Brooks approached the nearest microphone.
DAVID BROOKS: "This is Secretary of Defense David Brooks. Identify the facility administrator."
There was no response.
The warning repeated.
UNKNOWN SYSTEM VOICE: "Restricted access violation. Security lockdown initiated."
Major Price signaled the team to continue.
At the bottom of the stairs, a heavy door opened.
A man stepped into the corridor.
He wore a military uniform, but his identification badge had been removed. He appeared to be in his late fifties, with short gray hair and a stern expression.
He raised both hands.
MAJOR PRICE: "Stop where you are."
The man remained still.
UNKNOWN MAN: "I have been expecting you."
Marcus stared at him.
He recognized the face from the old mission records.
Colonel Thomas Vance.
The officer who had supervised the original Silent Horizon operation.
According to the official personnel archive, Vance had retired several years earlier.
Yet he was standing in an allegedly inactive military facility.
MARCUS REED: "Colonel Vance."
Vance looked toward him.
COLONEL VANCE: "Captain Reed. You should have stayed in the tribunal."
MARCUS REED: "I was told to leave the people inside this facility behind. I don't intend to make that mistake again."
Vance glanced at the glove.
COLONEL VANCE: "You kept it."
MARCUS REED: "You know what it contains."
COLONEL VANCE: "I know what it can unlock."
David Brooks stepped forward.
DAVID BROOKS: "Colonel Vance, you will explain why this facility is active and why military personnel have been held here."
Vance looked at the Secretary.
COLONEL VANCE: "Mr. Secretary, I was hoping you would come alone."
DAVID BROOKS: "That was never going to happen."
COLONEL VANCE: "Then you have made this more difficult."
Major Price moved closer.
MAJOR PRICE: "Step away from the control panel."
Vance glanced toward the wall.
A red indicator began flashing.
COLONEL VANCE: "If you take another step, the archive will be destroyed."
The technician immediately examined the security panel.
TECHNICIAN: "Sir, he is connected to the emergency purge system."
DAVID BROOKS: "Can you stop it?"
TECHNICIAN: "Not without reaching the central console."
Vance looked at Marcus.
COLONEL VANCE: "You have no idea what you are holding."
MARCUS REED: "I know it is the reason you are still standing here."
COLONEL VANCE: "You think this is about a few missing soldiers? You think it is about a failed rescue mission?"
MARCUS REED: "I think it is about people who were abandoned because someone wanted to protect a secret."
Vance's expression hardened.
COLONEL VANCE: "The facility contained intelligence assets. Information that could have destabilized several operations. Your team was never supposed to enter the lower section."
MARCUS REED: "Then why was the mission route sent through it?"
COLONEL VANCE: "The objective changed."
MARCUS REED: "After we arrived?"
COLONEL VANCE: "Before you arrived."
Marcus stared at him.
The admission confirmed what he had suspected.
The mission had not gone wrong unexpectedly.
Someone had planned it.
MARCUS REED: "You knew the extraction would be canceled."
Vance did not answer.
DAVID BROOKS: "Colonel, did you issue the cancellation order?"
COLONEL VANCE: "I transmitted the order."
DAVID BROOKS: "Under whose authority?"
Vance looked toward the ceiling camera.
COLONEL VANCE: "I was following instructions."
DAVID BROOKS: "From whom?"
Vance remained silent.
Marcus stepped forward.
MARCUS REED: "You knew we were inside."
COLONEL VANCE: "Yes."
MARCUS REED: "You knew there were wounded soldiers."
COLONEL VANCE: "Yes."
MARCUS REED: "You knew there were civilians."
COLONEL VANCE: "I knew what was inside that facility."
MARCUS REED: "And you still canceled the extraction."
Vance looked at him.
COLONEL VANCE: "I did what I was ordered to do."
MARCUS REED: "You could have refused."
COLONEL VANCE: "You think it is that simple?"
MARCUS REED: "It was simple for the people trapped in that building. They needed help. You refused to send it."
Vance lowered his hands slightly.
Major Price raised his weapon.
MAJOR PRICE: "Keep your hands where I can see them."
Vance stopped.
Then another door opened behind him.
A familiar voice came from the corridor.
SERGEANT FOSTER: "Captain Reed."
Marcus turned.
Sergeant Daniel Foster stepped into view.
His uniform was dirty and worn. His face was thinner, and a healing wound marked his temple.
But he was alive.
Marcus stared at him.
MARCUS REED: "Foster."
Foster gave a tired smile.
SERGEANT FOSTER: "Took you long enough."