We leave Jack’s cubicle, and Morgan ushers us into a small conference room in the security complex. It’s set up not in conference style, but with the table pushed off to one side, two chairs behind it, and three chairs lined up like school desks, facing the table. Morgan takes a seat at the head of the class and holds out a hand, motioning for the three of us to sit in the chairs facing him.

I exchange a look with Lorenzo, but he shakes his head, almost imperceptibly.

And we wait.

After ten minutes of listening to the wall clock tick, a sullen man with a scar on his right cheek and with all the charm of a Special Forces veteran enters through the open door to the conference room. “Morning, Morgan,” he says. “Morning, team,” he says to the rest of us. He doesn’t sit, but stands behind the table, looking down at his audience.

A man of his size should have made at least some noise in the hallway, but this one crept up on us. It takes me exactly five seconds to realize I don’t like him. By the sour look on Lin’s face, she’s spent even less time contemplating his likability.

“I’ll keep this short and to the point, because you all have work to do,” he says. “I’m Mr. Poe, and I’m in charge of project security.” His lips barely move as he speaks; his heavy chest doesn’t seem to rise and fall. I don’t think he’s blinked once since he entered the room. “You have one job to do here. The operative words are ‘one’ and ‘here.’ That means you do your work, you leave, and you come back the next day. I don’t want any discussion of the work with the rest of the lab, or any socializing among you outside office hours. Clear?”

“As crystal,” Lorenzo says, examining one of his own fingernails.

Poe glares at him. “You don’t talk about the project with anyone outside these walls. You don’t bring work home. If you need to work more than eight hours a day, you do it here. Lunch is in the cafeteria on the third floor.” He checks a printed schedule. “You three have the one p.m. slot to yourselves.”

Lin shifts in her chair, uncrosses her legs, then crosses them again. Her foot brushes mine, and I push back on it. Yes, that sounds weird.

I speak first. “Excuse me, Mr. Poe, but what about the lab assistants? We need to set up experiments, and we—”

Poe cuts me off. “Any instructions to the lab staff go through Morgan. Also, you won’t be taking your laptops home. One of my men will set up appointments with you for this afternoon to secure your electronics and set up the intranet for your part of the team.”