Steel shook his head. “Can’t say that I’ve had the pleasure. Been too busy.”

“It’s an island not too far from Seattle. It doesn’t get touched by wildfires, at least not yet.”

“That’s lucky,” Steel said, taking a sip of his drink.

“We get smoke sometimes, though. Days where you can’t go outside, where the sun is blocked out. If you crack the window, the air burns in your throat.”

Steel let out a sigh and shook his head. “Terrible, isn’t it?”

“It is, but it’s the rest of the state that really gets destroyed.”

“Hey man, I’m right there with you. I agree that we gotta do something about this. We gotta help.”

Chip wasn’t going to fall for that. He knew Steel. The only person Steel ever dreamt of helping was himself. “I heard about SureFired in a roundabout way, and I think it sounds great.”

“Thank you.”

“Which is why I’m sorry to tell you this, but it’s going to ruin you.” Chip let the words hang in the air for a moment.

The smile faded from Steel’s face. “You know, Chip, we still talk about you sometimes.”

There was a change in his posture; the teeth were coming out. “I’m not in the game anymore, Steel. Trust me.”

He stood. “We talk about how you couldn’t hack it. Some guys can’t hack it, and that’s what we tell the new recruits. That’s why your name comes up. You’re a warning, Chip. Not me.”

“You’re right, I couldn’t hack it. I’m not trying to.”

“Yet you come to my office and start making declarations about my ruin?”

He shrugged. “I had to get your attention.”

Steel set his empty glass down. “I thank you for your concern, but I’ve got a lot going on today.”

He sure did – the lobster was just rolling in on a cloth-draped cart. Steel waved the server off without looking at him.

Chip wasn’t going to budge. He knew he was getting somewhere, especially with Steel’s angry reaction. “They sold you a lie. The program isn’t ready. It can’t predict anything. Not yet. It might in a year or two, but not yet.”

Steel shrugged. “That’s not for you to decide.”

“It hasn’t been applied to a single fire season,” Chip continued. “Don’t you want to be fully developed before you deploy it?”

Steel sat down. “I consider myself an early adopter.”

“I’m all for early adopting,” Chip said, leaning forward. “The problem is that the alerts don’t work. There are going to be headlines all across the country: Steel and Steal Causes Hundreds of Deaths.”