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by you or Northstar,
     I got ways of digging my heels in. If somebody did break in here last night and did make off with the thing, and the policy
     is valid and they can show that our policy covers what was stolen and that it was really worth $75,000—they’ll get a certified
     check from us pretty fast. But we have a responsibility to our shareholders.”
    “I’m getting the picture. Within the bounds of national security, I’d like to feed you what we get that will speed up the
     claim. Deal?”
    “National security? What’s that?”
    “I won’t tell you anything that one of this country’s enemies could use against us.”
    “You’ve got a deal. What do you have?”
    “What you got?” Manners asked back.
    Lockwood didn’t trust Manners but not for any reason he could easily explain. It had something to do with the smooth official
     face, the nondescript suit, and his blustering way. Lockwood figured Manners to be a guy who would buddy-buddy you along and
     then knife you in the back. Still, he had no reason to hold back so he gave Manners a full account of his day and at the end
     asked if he could have back his .38 and shells. Manners looked pained.
    “You have to have them?”
    “These guys don’t sound like schoolkids at a picnic.”
    Grudgingly, Manners said, “All right.”
    “And what have
you
got, Manners?”
    “Make it Guy. Can I call you Bill?”
    Lockwood nodded and offered him a cigarette. Lockwood lit Manners’ and then his own and sat back on one of the workbenches
     after he had made sure there was no oil to get on his gray worsted suit. He felt satisfied with how it was going with the
     T-man. Lockwood knew as long as he didn’t agree to pay out any money he couldn’t get into any trouble with Mr. Gray or Tom
     Gordon.
    “I got a lot of negatives, Bill,” Manners said. “We haven’t found that panel truck, even though we’ve got every cop on Long
     Island and half the cops in New York City on the lookout for it, not to speak of the guys at the border.”
    “In how many states?” Lockwood asked.
    “We got a desk man in Washington who takes care of that. Depends on the hour, Bill. Every hour he moves his circle out another
     fifty miles. It’s 4:00 now—fourteen hours since the theft at 2:00 last night—so the highway patrol in states within 700 miles
     of here have been alerted.”
    Somehow Lockwood didn’t see this gang of thieves as clumsy enough to get picked up by the stolid Pennsylvania Highway Patrol,
     but he only said, “Sounds thorough.”
    His hint of sarcasm seemed to leak through, for Manners grimaced as he said, “If I don’t find this thing, my boss in D.C.
     told me to apply for a job out here on one of these jerkwater police forces.” He shook his head in a puzzled way. “I’ve never
     seen the brass so intent on finding something before—not in the six years I’ve been at the Treasury.”
    “What else you got?” Lockwood asked.
    “The way I see it,” Manners said, “somebody who knew this place pretty well was in on this. That call to the guard at the
     gate in imitation of Greer was cute.”
    “If Greer was imitated.”
    Frowning, Manners said, “He’s a pretty important scientist.”
    “And he had a key,” Lockwood said. “Have you found any other way to get into Area C without going up the elevator?”
    Manners sighed. “No, that’s the hell of it. All the circuits are intact too. The elevator company recommended sealing the
     circuits when they installed it, and none have been broken.”
    “Maybe somebody stole a key to the elevator?” Lockwood suggested.
    “Have you seen one?” Manners asked.
    “No.”
    From his jacket pocket Manners took a metal object six inches long that looked more like a can opener than an ordinary house
     key.
    “Well,” Lockwood said. “You couldn’t just take that to the local hardware store and make a copy.”
    “Exactly,” Manners said. “It’s one of Rabson’s special locks, and the key has