“My last trip to the Smithsonian. I was wondering where that drive was. Thanks for finding it.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to keep the drive here. You can pick it up when you leave.”

Paul shrugged. “Okay, sure.”

Lian asked the guard a question in Mandarin. The guard shook his head as if to say “No problem.”

Lian pointed the way out. “All right, gentlemen. Please follow me.”

She led them toward the far end of the room, where there was yet another glass security wall, shut and secured by a card reader as well. They passed a steel emergency exit door leading to the stairwell, which was next to a large kitchen and dining area where someone was making coffee.

Lian showed them the rest of the floor beyond the security glass and pointed out the offices along both walls for the senior analysts following global markets and related research. Junior analysts sat at workstations on the floor.

At the far end of the room Jack saw another glass partition wall, but on the right side of the room leading up to it was a large glass-walled conference room. A dozen people were seated around a long table.

Lian motioned toward the door. “Gentlemen.”

When Jack and Paul entered, everyone else stood, all smiles. They were mostly in their thirties and forties, men and women, from East and South Asia, intense and earnest but friendly, like tech executives Jack had met all over the world.

Lian introduced them to several department heads and their assistants from around the company, including production, marketing, sales, and accounting. She further instructed her employees to answer any and all questions that the Hendley Associates auditors might have. “And they insist you call them by their Christian names, Jack and Paul.”

The brief meeting ended with more handshakes and smiles, and Lian led them to the next security door. She flashed her key card and they passed into the last section of the floor. Across the room along the far wall opposite the glass partition was Dr. Fairchild’s expansive office, spanning the entirety of the outer wall. On the left side of the inner wall were two offices—Yong’s and Lian’s. On the opposite wall were two more offices, both empty. Lian pointed at them. “Those are yours for the duration.”

Jack and Paul stepped over to one of them. They were spartan accommodations. Each office just had a desk and computer terminal with a landline phone, a small laser jet printer, and a single storage cabinet full of office supplies.

“Your laptops can’t be connected to the mainframe without the installation of proprietary software, so any work you need to do will have to be done on one of our terminals.”

“Can we download data from your system to our laptops so we can do work off-site?” Paul asked.