On their immediate left as they entered the suite was the security office, another glass-walled room but without a door. A serious young man, maybe fresh out of college, stood behind a desk with a computer workstation off to the side.

Lian gestured toward him. “Gentlemen, please.”

“What’s this?”

“We have strict security protocols beyond this point. We must check your bags for contraband items and inspect your electronic devices if you want to be able to bring them inside.”

“I’m not comfortable with that,” Jack said.

Paul shook his head. “Me neither.”

Lian shrugged. “Then you have the option of leaving your bags with us and using only our equipment, or you cannot go in at all.”

“If we don’t go in, we don’t do the audit,” Jack insisted. “Your father won’t be pleased.”

“He’ll be even less pleased if I allowed two strangers to smuggle in equipment that hacked or stole our most important data. There is no Wi-Fi in this facility. Every computer is air-gapped and hardwired to our mainframe, which has a secure Internet connection.”

“Is corporate espionage that big of a problem?” Paul asked.

“It has been in the past. Not anymore.”

Paul and Jack set their bags on the table along with their smartphones.

“Please, do you mind opening them?” the security guard asked. “And power up your devices and enter your passcodes.”

Jack and Paul complied as the security guard snapped on a pair of surgical gloves—computer keyboards were dirtier than toilet seats, collecting bacteria, fecal matter, and other unsanitary deposits. The first thing he did was to swab each device with a cotton trace detector.

“You’re checking for explosives?” Jack asked.

“Standard operating procedure,” Lian said.

The security guard tossed the swabs, then did a quick check of the applications folders on their laptops and phones. Seeing nothing obvious, he returned the items to them.

“Thank you.” The guard tossed his gloves in a garbage can and began inspecting their bags. He frowned when he rifled through Paul’s opened clamshell bag. His finger touched an object tucked beneath the material lining the fold, and with some effort, he finally managed to extricate a USB drive.

“Sir? Is this yours?”

Paul felt the floor fall out from under his feet. He swallowed hard. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

Jack saw Lian glowering at his partner. What was Paul trying to hide?

Paul shrugged. “It must have fallen down there. Sorry about that.”

The friendly security guard suddenly wasn’t as friendly. He took the drive and slipped it into the USB port on his computer.

Paul watched him tap a few keys, studying the contents intently.

Jack glanced at Paul. Shot him a look. Something you want to tell me?

Paul shrugged again and shook his head.

The guard’s computer beeped and he ejected the drive. “Nice photos, sir. Washington, D.C., isn’t it?”