He glanced at Thompson and felt an icy chill prickle the hairs of his neck. Thompson stared back at him, little expression in his cold, watery gray eyes, except perhaps the slightest hint of—what? Anger? Hatred? In the full glare of his hard, unfaltering gaze, David felt himself tighten, his own anger come to the surface. This man definitely did not like him, and at the moment, the feeling was mutual.

One of Flint’s associates whispered in his ear. He nodded. “I appreciate your offer,” he said. “As long as it’s full access. FERC is a large organization, but it’s not a blind one. Anything going on in that plant that violates federal code must end, period.”

“At the moment, there’s nothing going on at that plant at all,” Thompson said. “Mr. Pierce here has been hired to help reevaluate the site, but until we have more information, all development has ceased.”

“I’d like to see what you have at this point beyond the filed permits and public documents. I’d also like to set up a meeting with you at a later date, to review your plan of action.”

“Fine. I’ll have my secretary make some copies for you of anything relevant, and you can call my office next week.”

“I guess that’s it then.” Flint offered his hand to Thompson over the table. “Let’s keep this meeting short. We all have plenty to do.”

David watched the four men carefully as they picked up their files and left the room, feeling pretty good about himself for helping diffuse a tense situation. But as soon as the door closed, Thompson stood up, Stevens bobbing from his chair beside him like a shadow.

“Mr. Pierce.” Thompson was visibly shaking now. “You have been a part of this team for less than a week, and are not in any sort of position to be making promises to the FERC. You have no idea what’s going on. I’m in control of this situation, not you.”

“I’m sorry,” David said as calmly as possible. “It didn’t look like you had things in control when I walked in.”

Ouch. He winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but it was too late to pull them back. Way to go, hotshot.

Thompson’s face went bright red. “We don’t tolerate insubordination here, Mr. Pierce. The next time you speak out of turn, it’ll be your job. Mr. Olmstead has obviously neglected to tell you that I’m your superior, and you are to check all of your decisions with me. As for this meeting, you were supposed to be an advisor on the lower reservoir construction, not our representa- tive.”