It was a derelict pumping station, its windows boarded up with plywood.

A wide concrete awning jutted out from the side of the structure, designed for loading trucks.

I guided the car under the shelter and killed the engine.

The sudden silence was heavy, broken only by the steady drum of rain on the concrete roof above us.

“Did they see us turn?” I asked.

“They saw,” Aaron said. “But they don’t know the layout of this facility.”

He unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the leather satchel.

“We have maybe five minutes before they walk down this road on foot,” he said.

“Can we decrypt the drive?” I asked, looking at the black plastic casing of the hard drive peeking out of the bag.

“I have my field laptop,” Aaron said. “It’s air-gapped. No wireless card, no Bluetooth.”

He pulled a heavy, military-grade laptop from his pack and set it on his knees.

He connected the external drive using a thick grey cable.

The drive’s small LED light began to blink a steady blue.