“Well, I used to. But my project got ‘roomed,’ which means no details of my project are allowed to leave the site. So I stopped working from home.”

“Roomed. That’s a new term for me.”

The doctor shrugged. “I think they call it ‘roomed’ because it’s supposed to convey the idea that you’re taken into a room and sworn to secrecy about what you’re working on above and beyond the normal NDAs. However, there is no ‘room’ per se. It’s just what AgriMed calls special projects that have registered special access and different rules for security.”

“Ah. That’s kind of like what we call a compartmented classification, in government parlance. Interesting.” Nate drummed his fingers on the table, wracking his brain for another angle of questions that might provide useful information. “Can you think of anything else from that night that might help me with my investigation? Anything you didn’t already cover with the police?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Dr. Gutierrez cleared his throat. “May I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why would the FBI have been at my place? And—was it the FBI?”

Nate kept his expression neutral. “I’m afraid I can’t answer either of those questions. Let’s just say that I’ll be following up on both of those counts.”

The doctor looked worried. “Am I in danger? Is there anything else I should do?”

Feeling sympathy for the man, Nate said, “No, I don’t think so. But I’ll talk to the Arlington PD and see if I can get them to patrol your area a bit more often.”

He shook hands with the doctor and handed him his card. “If you remember anything else or have a need, call me.”

“Thank you.” Gutierrez peered at the card and his demeanor brightened a touch. “And please let me know if I can answer any other questions.”

“Actually…” Nate smiled. “Can you point me to the main parking lot? I think I got lost after the fourth or fifth turn in this building.”

###

Back in his office at Quantico, Nate scrounged through his files, looking for his notes on that other AgriMed case—the girl rescued from the island in the Pacific.

There was no reason to suspect the two incidents were related, but neither of them sat well with him, and he couldn’t help but wonder.

He looked through his notes. The girl, Katherine O’Reilly, she’d signed an NDA with AgriMed—and yet she also smuggled some files from that island lab. Clearly the place had valuable secrets. The kind of secrets worth stealing.

And then there was the possible involvement of German intelligence. Could it be mere coincidence that Dr. Gutierrez heard those men speaking German?

It was time to look into those stolen files again.

###