The bedroom door opened, and Marco walked in, his face tense.

“The southern fence was cut,” Marco reported. “Two intruders. They saw our patrol and retreated into the woods.”

“They aren’t gone,” Ryker said, standing up. “They’re waiting.”

He held up the metal flash drive so Marco could see it.

Marco’s eyes widened slightly. “Vance’s stolen goods?”

“It was in the boy’s bear,” Ryker said. “Take us to the basement office. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”

We gathered the children, Lily holding my hand while Owen clutched his repaired bear.

We walked down the narrow back stairs, avoiding the main hallways.

The basement office was a concrete room with reinforced steel doors and a bank of computer monitors.

Marco locked the heavy door behind us.

Ryker sat at the main desk, placing the drive on the clean glass surface.

“Can you crack it?” Ryker asked.

“It’s a custom encryption standard,” Marco said, sitting down and pulling a rugged laptop toward him. “It will take time. If I bypass the hardware lock incorrectly, it might wipe itself.”