Falls Church, Virginia, March, 2078, Friday…

"He'll see you now, agents," said Pennestri's administrative assistant.

Caitlin smiled at Dan.

The bluff with Pennestri had worked.

At least he has an assistant who is a real person. I hate dealing with robot receptionists. Only real high ranking VIPs had real assistants anymore. As acting National Intelligence Director, aka Secretary of Homeland Security, Pennestri qualified as high ranking. Both posts were cabinet level.

Pennestri offered them seats.

"Mr. Secretary -"

"Call me Bill." He offered a hand to Dan Summers. "Bill Pennestri. I presume you're Summers. And you I know of course." Instead of offering a hand to Caitlin, he got up from his chair and came around in back of them. She began to feel uncomfortable. "Caitlin, don't think your bluff worked. I knew you wouldn't go to the press. But because you were willing to make the bluff and because you're here in person, I agreed to see you." He put his left hand on her shoulder, the right on Dan's. "This had better be damn good." He walked back behind his desk and sat down. "Now, spill it."

They tried to make it brief, but Pennestri kept plying them with questions, jotting down the answers in an old fashioned notebook as if he were sitting in a class at Harvard.

"You think these people know you've got Padraig O'Neil?"