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The central locking snapped open. Just as well, because if he’d decided to try to lock her in, she’d have broken the trunk from the inside and gone to find him.

But he unlocked it. Then he got out, slamming the door, and she heard his footsteps striding away.

She was on her own now, and she'd need to be very careful when exiting her hiding place.

The base was eerily quiet at this hour. She couldn't hear a thing outside. She eased the trunk open an inch or two. Muted light filtered in, as well as fresh air. She gasped appreciatively. She wasn't a claustrophobic person, but being in the trunk hadn't been much fun. It wasn't her favorite way of gaining access. Going in guns blazing was more her style.

Cora listened hard but couldn't hear anything, not even the footsteps that told her guards were approaching.

She lifted the trunk lid higher and took a look around. The car was parked at the back of a parking lot with around twenty or thirty other vehicles. There was a paved, covered walkway beyond the parking lot and this led into the main buildings.

Where in this maze of buildings would Officer Garrett be? Time to find out.

Cora climbed out of the trunk as silently as she could, scanning the area for any signs of movement.

She spotted a security camera mounted on a nearby pole and her heart leapt into her throat. Had they seen her? Was she already caught? She held her breath, waiting to see if an alarm was triggered or a guard was alerted, but nothing happened. The camera was turned in the direction of the exit. Probably, that camera was there to pick up on anyone stealing a car and leaving, rather than someone illegitimately arriving on base.

Feeling more confident, Cora crept towards the walkway, hugging the walls as she went. She could hear muffled voices coming from one of the nearby buildings, but they were too far away to make out any words.Where would he be? She knew the logic of base layout. Officers slept in their own quarters. They had individual rooms. More privacy. So, over there were the general dormitories, the barracks where the lower ranks slept. And there, to the right, were the officers' quarters. There would probably be a list of names somewhere, or so she hoped. Maybe on the doors themselves. If an officer was required, late at night, they needed to be able to identify his whereabouts.

There. There was the list of names, posted on the wall.

Garrett was in room twelve. That was to the right, the last door down. Cora headed that way on silent feet. She picked up noises as she passed the rooms. A muffled laugh, the sound of voices. The beeping of an incoming phone message. A loud rattling snore. It was after nine p.m. now. People who’d had an early start were tired.

But she heard nothing at all from outside the door of number twelve. Either Garrett was a very sound sleeper, or he was still out and not yet back from wherever he was partying tonight.

Cora pressed her ear to the door, but all she could hear was silence.

She walked around to the window. That was closed - not surprisingly, because the night was frigidly cold. The blinds were drawn, but not all the way down. There was a gap at the bottom and through it she could just see the bed. Empty. Nobody there. So, she'd need to wait for him, and the only place to do that would be inside. Outside would be far too risky, and it would mean unwanted noise when he did get back.

Was the window locked?

No, it wasn't. It moved when she pushed it. That gave her a way in. Working very slowly, because the window frame made noise, she eased it open, inch by inch, taking care to keep the exercise as quiet as possible, even though she knew that time was bleeding away, and she had no idea how much of it she had.

After what felt like an hour, but was probably five minutes, she'd managed to get a big enough gap that she could wriggle quietly through. She pushed up, eased her leg in, and then climbed through carefully. There was a chair underneath the window and it gave a loud scrape against the floor when her leg landed on it, causing her heart to stop for a moment. She froze, waited, and then continued, avoiding the chair as she threaded herself through.

She was inside.

As quietly as she'd opened it, she closed the window again. Now, she was in Officer Garrett's darkened room.

There was a double bed, an armchair, a writing desk, and a separate door leading to a small toilet and shower. The room was messy - socks on the floor, the bedcovers untidy. Definitely a 'do as I say, not as I do' type of officer, Cora thought, remembering the standards of neatness that they'd had to adhere to in the SEALs. She breathed in the faint smell of his deodorant, and an undertone of cigarette smoke.

Was there anything in here that could help her? Any information here that might be waiting to be uncovered?

But as she turned on her phone's flashlight, ready to search, she heard a noise outside.

Footsteps were approaching the room.

It was time to hide, and plan her strategy, because what happened next would be critical, and this was one of the most dangerous moments for discovery.

She listened as the footsteps approached.

They were definitely coming this way. And as they drew closer, she realized something else.

It wasn't just one set. It was two.

A key rattled in the lock, and Cora leaped toward the bathroom, flattening herself against the wall inside, as the door swung open.

CHAPTER NINE

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