"What kind of problem?"

"Tennant put putty over the mikes. And there was a video camera set up on a tripod in there. No tape in it." She let that sink in. "Either he wanted to say something on tape that he didn't want us to hear, or he wanted to talk to Dr. Weiss without us hearing. Either way, it's bad."

She listened to Skow breathe for a while.

"It's all right," he said finally. "We're going to be okay on this."

"You must know something I don't, sir."

Skow chuckled at the contempt with which she said "sir." The NSA man was tough in his own way. He had the detached coldness of mathematical intelligence. "The perks of leadership, Geli. You did well this morning, by the way. I was amazed."

Geli flashed back to Fielding's corpse. The termination had gone smoothly enough, but it was a stupid move. They should have taken out Tennant as well. She could easily have manipulated both men into the same vehicle, and after that… simple logistics. A car accident. And the project wouldn't be in the jeopardy it was in now. "Has Tennant actually talked to the president, sir?"

"I don't know. So keep your distance. Monitor the situation, but nothing more."

"He also took a delivery from FedEx. A letter. Whatever it was, he took it with him. We need to see that."

"If you can get a look at it without him knowing, fine. Otherwise, talk to FedEx and find out who sent it."

"We're doing that."

"Good. Just don't-"

Geli heard Skow's wife calling his name.

"Just keep me informed," he said, and rang off.

Geli closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply. She had made the case to Godin for taking out Tennant along with Fielding, but the old man had resisted. Yes, Godin conceded, Tennant had broken regulations and spent time with Fielding outside the facility. Yes, Tennant had sup¬ported Fielding's effort to suspend the project. And it was Tennant's tie to the president that had made that suspen¬sion a reality.