In an attempt to snap herself out of her ennui, she wandered down the corridor to Dan Summers' office, who had become the lead man working the Sandy Clark case. She found him pouring over the contents of the graduate student's office.

While he had the luxury of not being restricted to a simple cubicle like a junior agent, Dan's office was not much bigger than Sandy's office at GW. She was close enough to him that his old nostrils picked up the faint scent of her perfume.

Aha, the boss does have her feminine side after all! Then he felt guilty. He respected Caitlin Murphy, thought she was a good agent, and gave her no slack because she was a woman. Her feminine side was really none of his business, especially at his age.

But I'm not dead yet. Damn it, she's a lot prettier and a lot more intelligent than my third wife. Although he was still friendly with all his ex-wives, none of his marriages had been all that successful. It was an occupational hazard - many agents had a difficult time nurturing both a career and marriage.

"Asako and her crew already went through this," Caitlin told him. "You're probably wasting your time. The reports are all here." She waved her PDA.

Dan studied his boss. She was tall for a woman and strong - he had seen her in hand-to-hand combat exercises. She was also very sharp. Still, she lacked his experience.