I restarted the engine but kept the headlights off, relying on the ambient moonlight.

I drove the vehicle off the main dirt track and parked it behind the shadow of the second concrete bunker.

The air outside was cold, carrying the sharp scent of sagebrush and dry dust.

Eleanor climbed out of the passenger side, her hands shaking as she pulled her coat tightly around herself.

“Are you sure we should be doing this, Natalie?” she asked.

“Gregory’s name is on the deed to this sector,” I said. “If the evidence is anywhere, it’s behind that door.”

Vance pulled a heavy black tool from his tactical bag and approached the keypad on the middle building.

The blue backlight of the lock cast a pale glow over his weathered face.

“This is an older military-grade lock,” Vance said. “Gregory’s firm bought the surplus stock five years ago.”

He attached a small bypass lead to the exposed terminals at the bottom of the housing.

The device hummed, its tiny screen flashing through a sequence of red numbers.

Eleanor kept her back to the wall, watching the dark perimeter of the desert.