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hours in here making money, you let me know. I’ll show you the ropes anytime, brother.”
    “I might take you up on that offer,” Jimmy said.
    “It’s no different than what you do for me, letting me hang out at your shop and fix engines.”
    “Well, maybe we’ll give that a shot sometime,” Jimmy said.

IX
    T HE ELEVATOR DINGED AS THEY reached the top floor. Jimmy followed Holden out and he was even more amazed on this level than he had been back in the lobby. The lobby was built of solid, century old stonework but up here it was pure, twenty-first century glass and steel. This section of the building had been built above the original stone structure and was like a glass cube that floated above it. It was amazing.
    Holden walked up to a long desk and spoke to his executive assistant, Megan, who was sitting behind it.
    “Good morning, Megan.”
    “Mr. West.”
    “You remember Jimmy?”
    “Jimmy,” Megan said.
    Jimmy nodded at her. He never knew how to act in this place.
    “There’s a suit in your office,” Megan said.
    “Carter won’t mind,” Holden said, looking down at his overalls. “He knows me well enough by now, doesn’t he?”
    Megan shrugged. “As you say,” she said. She handed Holden a printed meeting agenda.
    “So, you let me and Jimmy know as soon as our lunch arrives, won’t you?” Holden said to her as he took the printout.
    “Certainly, Mr. West,” Megan said.
    Holden turned to Jimmy. “Come on, buddy,” he said. “If you want to know how business is done, you might as well sit in on this meeting.”
    Jimmy followed Holden into a glass-walled board room. The view over the financial district was stunning. They could see right over the Stock Exchange and the surrounding buildings and down toward the site of the new World Trade Center, Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty.
    Holden’s legal team was waiting at the board table, bundles of documents spread out in front of them.
    “Mr. West,” they all said as Jimmy and Holden entered.
    “Gentlemen,” Holden said. “This is my associate, Jimmy Fox. He’ll be sitting in on the meeting, observing.”
    The lawyers, seven of them, all nodded at Jimmy as if he was the most important person they’d seen all day. Jimmy felt slightly silly in his grease covered overalls but Holden was dressed the same way so it mustn’t have mattered much.
    Carter was the head of the legal team and the other six lawyers looked like they could be his brothers. They were all clean-cut, older gentlemen in their sixties. They had tanned, intelligent faces, double-breasted suits, and rimless glasses. They looked like they were used to arranging deals that were worth a lot of money.
    “So what have you got for me, Carter?” Holden said.
    “Exactly what you asked for, Holden. Nothing less.”
    Holden raised his eyebrows. “Have a seat, Jimmy,” he said as he sat down himself.
    The lawyers pulled out their paperwork and spread it on the table. As they did, a man in a white shirt and black vest brought in a tray of coffee and tea.
    “Let’s have a look” Holden said as he took the bundle of papers Carter was passing him.
    “It’s just a small company,” Carter said.
    “Very small,” one of the other lawyers said.
    “But they filed patents exactly like the ones you asked for,” Carter continued. He passed Holden some technical drawings that had been taken from the patent application.
    “How did you find them?” Holden said.
    “The old fashioned way.”
    “What’s that?”
    “We had some interns sift through every application in the category.”
    Holden raised his eyebrows. “Jesus. That must have been a lot of patents.”
    “It was,” Carter said. “We could have put out a tender or something but then we’d have alerted the market to what you were looking for.”
    “Plus we’d have received thousands of applications matching whatever we asked for,” one of the other lawyers said.
    “And we’d have had no way of knowing which was