The nicest thing I could say about it is that it's "fortresslike." Inside, it's even worse. The Bureau is library quiet and warehouse grim. The long halls glow in medicinal white. As soon as I stepped onto the director's floor, I was met by his executive assistant, a very efficient man named Tony Woods, whom I liked quite a bit already. "How is he this morning, Tony?" I asked. "He likes what happened down in Baltimore," Tony answered. "His Highness is in a pretty good mood. For a change." "Was Baltimore a test?" I asked, not sure how far I could go with the assistant. "Oh, it was your final exam. But remember, everything's a test." I was led into the director's relatively small conference room. Burns was already sitting there waiting for me. He raised a glass of orange juice in mock salute. "Here he is!" He smiled. "I'm making sure that everybody knows you did a bang-up job in Bal'more. Just the way I wanted to see you start out." "Nobody got shot," I said. "You got the job done, Alex. HRT was very impressed. So was I." I sat down and poured myself coffee. I knew it was "help yourself" and no formalities with Burns. "You're spreading the word... because you have such big plans for me?" I asked. Burns laughed in his usual conspiratorial way. "Absolutely, Alex. I want you to take my job." Now it was my turn to laugh. "No, thank you." I sipped the coffee, which was dark brown, a little bitter, but delicious - almost as good as Nana Mama's. Well, maybe half as good as the best in Washington. "You care to share any of your more immediate plans with me?" I asked. Burns laughed again. He was in a good mood this morning. "I just want the Bureau to operate simply and effectively, that's all. It's the way it was when I ran the New York office. I'll tell you what I don't believe in: bureaucrats, and cowboys. There are too many of both in the Bureau. Especially the former. I want street smarts on the street, Alex. Or maybe I just want smarts. You took a chance yesterday, only you probably didn't see it that way.