The GoBox executive didn’t even try to hide his anger as Burke headed for the bathroom and the video began to play. On the screen, Loria, wearing the same kind of tailored suit but a smile instead of his current scowl, said, “Hello, and welcome to the future. Welcome to GoBox.”

Carter rolled his eyes as Loria went on to explain a bit about the GoBox concept, all of which he’d heard before. His ears didn’t perk up until Loria said, “But, as an investor or VIP client, we want to give you a peek behind the curtain in order to demonstrate how seriously we take security here at GoBox. Let’s take a look at how our revolutionary vault system works. Forget Fort Knox, for everything from important documents to precious metals and rare antiquities, GoBox is the most secure storage system on the planet.”

Carter noticed that Loria had stepped away and was tapping furiously on his phone. Probably an angry text to his IT department or lawyer regarding the company’s private video being posted on a very public site.

The digital Loria continued, “Our vault is completely inaccessible, even by us. In order to show you what I mean by that, we’ve set up a special demonstration model, which you can see behind me.”

Carter leaned closer to the iPad’s screen, his eyes not as sharp as they had once been. Once upon a time, he had been top of his class at Quantico in marksmanship and could shoot the center out of a quarter. Now, he damn near needed his glasses to hit the toilet when he took a piss, which he seemed to feel the need to do more frequently and with increasing difficulty. Probably an issue with his prostate, which he had been ignoring because a prostate exam required his doctor inserting two fingers into an area of his body that he considered to be exit-only.

It sucked getting old.

Nic Juliano—who was young, confident, and probably had the eyes of a hawk—must have noticed his squinting because he said, “Do you want me to hold it up closer, sir?”

“I thought Taz was the smartass.”

“Just trying to be helpful.”

The video showed a massive vault that had been cut in half so that they could see the inner workings. Loria gestured to the demo vault and said, “Every GoBox vault is encased in eight feet of concrete and steel and buried one hundred feet below the ground. And once the vault is placed, it is never again seen or accessed by any person directly. How do we accomplish that? Through cutting-edge robotic technology.”

With those words, the video changed to a massive machine inside the vault. It looked like the front part of a forklift had been fitted with hydraulics and mounted to a track that ran along the ceiling and floor. The large contraption rotated 180 degrees and slid its prongs beneath one of the large metal boxes, the massive type used to hold gold bullion and the like. It then effortlessly pulled out the large GoBox and placed it atop a conveyer belt.