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an old professor who can’t work his e-mail. We’re talking about the federal government.”
    “Yes,” said Jamie, “exactly.”
    “You can’t keep your own secrets,” Olaf said, “but you want us to believe you’ll do a better job with ours?”
    The colonel’s jaw shifted.
    Reggie cleared his throat and the athletic woman glanced over at him. “Mr. Magnus?”
    “I understand this seems highly irregular,” he said, “but it really isn’t any different than the numerous high-security programs DARPA hascarried out for your branches and departments in the past. On and off the books.”
    The senator muttered something at her file, and then turned her attention to Reggie. “So DARPA expects us to just funnel an extra three hundred million into this project based on…what? No explanations, no status reports, nothing.”
    “Based on the fact that it works,” said Olaf. Arthur hushed him with a wave. Olaf threw himself back into his chair and crossed his arms.
    Reggie pointed a finger at Olaf. “The man has a point,” he said. “In fact, it’s the only point that matters. The Albuquerque Door works. I’ve seen it work with my own eyes. We’re not talking about another year to see if they can get results, we’re talking about another year so they can finish testing and have ironclad documentation that no one will question.”
    “But without knowing what they’re doing—”
    “We know what they’re doing,” Reggie said, cutting off the senator. “They’ve built a system that lets you go from New York to London with one step. That’s exactly what they said they were going to do.”
    The man with the glasses tapped his pen against the file folder. “Even though none of us knows how it works.”
    “None of
you
know how it works,” said Arthur.
    Reggie raised two fingers and the athletic woman said his name again. “When we hire the best chef in the world to cater a dinner,” he said, “we don’t expect him to share his recipes. He’s just supposed to serve the food we ask for and make sure that it’s exactly what we want. That’s what Dr. Cross and his team have done. They’re giving us a taste of some great food with the understanding that we’ll get even more—and the recipe, too—somewhere down the line, when it’s perfect.”
    The athletic woman leaned over and whispered to the Asian man. He nodded and glanced over at the senator. The Air Force colonel was still glaring at Olaf.
    “In addition,” said Reggie, leaning forward again, “I’m sending one of my top men to do a full on-site evaluation. He’ll be bringing back a detailed report of the project for your examination.”
    He gestured across his body to Mike.
    Everyone in the room followed the gesture. The board members. The scientists. The seven people taking notes. Mike could feel their stareson his skin. Arthur Cross straightened up. Jamie’s eyes narrowed. Olaf scowled.
    “I haven’t agreed to anything,” he whispered.
    “Too late now,” murmured Reggie.
    “Well,” said the athletic woman, “under the circumstances it seems like the question and answer session we had scheduled for this afternoon is a bit pointless.” She closed her file and exchanged a few glances with the other board members. “I think that’s that, then. Many thanks to you and your team for coming out this morning, Dr. Cross. You’ve given us a bit to think about.”
    He bowed his head.
    “Mr. Magnus,” she continued, “I think we’ll still want a few words with you after lunch.”
    “I thought you might.”
    She nodded. “Let’s be back here at one-thirty then.”
    The board members rose, were joined by aides, and broke off into pairs and trios. The scientists huddled together and spoke in low whispers. Their gazes flicked between Reggie and Mike.
    “That,” said Mike, “was very uncool.”
    “You’ve been hanging around teenagers too long.”

SIX
    “You tricked me,” said Mike.
    “I didn’t trick you,” Reggie said,