Hood hadn't expected to see employees wandering about at night. But there weren't even cleaning crews afoot. Just the occasional guard, who ignored them.

Despite the addition of lights, alarms, cameras, and modern flooring, the edifice retained its ancient character. That is, until a guard admitted them to the computer room.

The former dining hall had been turned into something which resembled the National Reconnaissance Office. The walls were white and the ceiling lined with recessed fluorescent lights. There were glass tables lined with at least three dozen computer terminals. A vacuum-formed plastic chair was attached to the floor at each station. The only difference between Demain and the NRO was, again, that there were no people. Dominique wasn't taking any chances. The warrant was due to expire in just over an hour. If no one were there to answer questions, it had to slow them down.

"This is some playroom," Stoll said as looked around.

Ballon said to him, "Start playing."

Stoll looked at Hood. Hood, nodded silently. Stoll took a breath and looked at Nancy. "Got a preference?" he asked.

"It doesn't really matter," she said. "They're all hooked to the same master computer."

Nodding, Stoll sat down at the nearest monitor, jacked his portable computer into the back of the computer, and powered up.

"They've probably dropped inhibitors into the system," Nancy said. "How do you plan to get past those to the master system? I can probably help you with a few, but it will take time."

"We don't need a lot of time," Stoll said. He slipped a diskette into his B drive and booted it. "I always carry the Bulldozer program I wrote. It starts with my fast-acting Handshake Locator, which works on finding the mathematical keys to undo encryption. It doesn't have to hit them exactly. If one-through-six and eight-through-ten don't work, it doesn't bother trying seven. Once Handshake learns some of the language, which only takes a few minutes, Bulldozer rolls in and searches for menus. Once I get those, I'm in. And while we look at the data here, I'll be dumping everything into Op-Center's computers."

Ballon squeezed Stoll's shoulder, shook his head, and put a finger to his lips.

Stoll drove his palm into his forehead. "Sorry," he said. "Loose lips sink chips."

Ballon nodded.

As Nancy gave Stoll some passwords to try, Hausen wandered over to Ballon.

"Colonel, what are we going to do about Dominique?"

"We wait."

"For what?" Hausen asked.

Ballon faced the German. He moved close to his ear. "For Dominique to get nervous. As I indicated to M. Stoll, Dominique is certainly observing us. Hopefully, we'll find something in the computer."

"And if we don't?"

Ballon said, "I have you."

"Me?"