The response was urgent but measured. The coordinator confirmed that agents had been dispatched and advised them to avoid direct confrontation while remaining available to direct responders to the correct entrance. Another unit was assigned to the abduction at the clubhouse. Rhett agreed, but as he ended the call, he saw two people break away from the loading group and move toward the roadway, where they were stopped by security personnel. He and Mara exchanged a glance that required no explanation.
What followed was not the kind of clean rescue Rhett had imagined in the angry hours after reading Caleb's file. It was confused, hurried, and shaped by frightened people who had no reason to trust strangers approaching from the darkness. Rhett and Mara moved toward the public edge of the property while Coyle stayed on the phone with federal responders, providing continuous information. When a service door opened and several people emerged seeking escape, Rhett guided them away from traffic and toward a visible, sheltered area where they could wait for help without being forced into another vehicle.
A security guard rushed toward the group and tried to push one of the escaping people back inside. Rhett stepped between them and ordered him to stop, his voice firm enough to cut through the noise of the loading area. The man struck him, and Rhett went down against a railing before managing to get back to his feet. Mara called again for immediate help, while Coyle stayed with the frightened people and refused to let the confrontation pull him away from them.
Rhett received a cut above his eyebrow and a sharp blow to the ribs before the guard backed off toward the building. The injuries made breathing uncomfortable, but the more immediate concern was the people still inside and the possibility that they might be moved through another exit. Mara found an employee willing to speak, a terrified young worker who told her which office Norah had been taken to and which corridor led toward the holding area. She passed the details directly to the approaching federal team.
A second guard appeared near the loading bay and tried to redirect several people toward a truck. His authority broke when emergency vehicles began appearing at the far end of the access road, lights reflecting against the warehouse windows. He hesitated, looked back at the building, and stepped away instead of continuing. The first arriving officers began securing the public approach and instructing everyone to move toward an area where they could be identified and protected.
Rhett did not wait for a congratulation that nobody had time to offer. He directed the responders toward the people he had seen inside, then described the location of Norah's office as Mara had learned it. The agents moved into the building under their own procedures, careful to distinguish employees, captives, and security personnel rather than assuming everyone standing near a locked door was part of the same operation. Mara accompanied a medic to the sheltered group and helped explain that no one would be forced to return to the trucks.