“That’s just for you” Helen explained. “These procedures are for this area—it’s different. There is another set of security procedures once we actually get to the specific project—they won’t be as difficult as those were, but you will have to submit to them as well, each and every time. The procedures change depending on which area we’re going to and which projects are active, so they might be easier or harder next time—”

“Harder?”

“This isn’t even the worst of it,” Jon added. “Hangar Seven-Alpha’s classification is only Secret. If you want to go to the Top Secret areas, it’ll be an extra hour. Heck, we’ve gone through three hours of in-processing just to pick up a can of soda because the ice chest was in the wrong lab.”

“How do you get any work done?”

“You get used to it,” Helen said. “You just budget your time accordingly. You learn not to come out here unless you’ve lined up an entire day or more of work, and you stay until the work gets done. We sleep out here all the time. You ask why we invest in the best computers, why we buy two or three systems when we only need one, and don’t use leased equipment—this is part of the reason. Getting a service tech to come out here would be impossible, and it takes even longer to get clearance for a piece of electronic equipment to come in here than it does a person—every diode, microchip, and printed circuit board has to be checked for bugs before it comes in here.”

“This is insane,” Cheryl muttered. “We’ve been involved with many classified projects before, and I’ve never seen security procedures this tight.”

“Getting a briefing or giving a talk on a classified program is one thing,” Jon said. “Actually building a weapon system that won’t officially exist for another five years is another.”

“This is like going to Disneyland,” Kelsey exclaimed happily.

“I love your attitude, kiddo,” Jon said. Her excitement and glee, Jon had to admit, was infectious.

The partnership deal between Jon, Helen, the shareholders of Sky Masters Inc., and Sierra Vistas Partners went through quickly and without any major glitches, once Jon was convinced it was the best for all—thanks to Kelsey. Jon and Helen Masters instantly became multimillionaires, not just on paper but in reality. The price for that newfound liquidity was twofold—having a lot of strange people working around the administration areas, and dealing with a whole new attitude from the board of directors, who overnight went from having virtually no power in the company to having the critical swing vote in every decision in the entire company. They didn’t ask for information anymore—they demanded it. Memos flew, phone calls followed, and the staff was kept hopping keeping up with requests for updates from directors and their attorneys and accountants.