"Bob," Heffer said, as Pope entered the room, trailing his aide, Dave Phipps. "Dropping by on your way back to the Pentagon?"

"You might say that," Pope said, and then glanced over at Soram. "I see you've got the brain trust here already."

"Missed you this weekend, Bob," Soram said.

"Ted, you know I wouldn't be caught dead at one of your parties," Pope said, "so let's not pretend I would be. I understand you hit a little roadblock in today's negotiations."

"Jim was just catching me up on that," Soram said.

"Well," Pope said. "Nice to see someone's minding the shop over there at Trade. Even if it is the State Department. Strange that two chief negotiators should die within seconds of each other, don't you think."

"The universe is filled with disturbing coincidences, Bob," Heffer said.

"And you think coincidence is what this was."

"At the moment, that's the official line," Heffer said. "Although of course we'll let you know if anything comes out. We're hoping to catch this while it's still a minor diplomatic issue, Bob. Nothing you folks at Defense need to worry about."

"That's reassuring to hear, Jim," Pope said. "Except that it may already be a little late for that." Pope nodded to Phipps, who pulled papers from a folder he was bearing and handed them to Heffer.

"What are these?" Heffer asked, taking the papers and reaching for his glasses.

"Intercepts from the Nidu Naval Attache's office, dated thirty-six minutes after our respective trade representatives hit the floor," Pope said. "About two hours after that, we know two Nidu Glar-class destroyers got new orders."

"Do you know what the orders are?" Heffer asked.

"They were encrypted," Pope said.

"So they could be anything, including something entirely unrelated to our little problem," Heffer said.

"They could be," Pope said. "There is the minor matter that these new orders came directly from the Nidu Supreme Commander rather than through the admiralty."

"What does that mean?" Soram asked.

"It means that orders aren't going through the chain of command, Ted," Heffer said. "It means that whatever the Nidu have going, they want to start working on it fast." Heffer turned to Javna. "Are the Nidu having any other extracurricular squabbles that would warrant new orders to those destroyers?"

"I can't think of anything offhand," Javna said. "They have that low-grade border war going with the Andde, but they've been in a detente phase for a few months now. It's not likely they'd ratchet back up without the Andde doing something stupid first. Let me check on that, though."

"In the meantime, I have to work on the assumption that what happened today at Trade is a proximate cause," Pope said. "And that the Nidu may be in the initial stages of something more than a diplomatic response."

"Have you shared this with the president?" Heffer asked.

"He's in St. Louis, reading to kindergarteners," Pope said. "I spoke to Roger. He suggested that on the way back to the Pentagon, I stop by and give you a heads-up. He said this is something that warranted a personal social call."

Heffer nodded. Roger probably also suggested to Pope that he'd be following up with Heffer shortly thereafter, which was undoubtedly the only reason Pope was actually in his office. This is one of the nice things about having your brother-in-law as the president's chief of staff; if Roger let Heffer get sandbagged, he'd never hear the end of it from the missus. The Heffers were a loyal clan.

"Can I see those intercepts?" Soram asked.

"Later, Ted," Heffer said. "Bob, what are you planning to do with that information?"

"Well, that depends," Pope said. "I can't just do nothing, of course. If we have two Nidu destroyers on their way, we need to be prepared to respond."

"The Nidu are our allies, you know," Heffer said. "Have been for decades, despite attempts in recent years to have it otherwise."

"Jim, I don't give a shit about the politics of the situation," Pope said, and Heffer caught Javna performing another subtle eyeroll. "I care about where those destroyers are heading and why. If you know something I don't, then by all means enlighten me. But from where I'm standing, two dead trade representatives plus two Nidu destroyers equals the Nidu doing something I need to worry about."

Heffer's intercom piped up again. "Sir, the Nidu ambassador is here. He says it's—"

"—Urgent, yes, I know," Heffer said. "Tell him I'll be right with him." He nipped off the intercom, and stood up. "Gentlemen, I need the room. All things considered, you should probably exit out through the conference room. It might make the ambassador nervous if he saw the secretaries of Trade and Defense coming out the door."

"Jim," Pope said. "If you know something, I need to know it. Sooner than later."

"I understand, Bob. Give me a little time to work this. If the Nidu see us gearing up for something, it's going to complicate matters. A little time, Bob."

Pope glanced over at Soram, and then at Javna before looking back to Heffer. "A little time, Jim. But don't make me have to explain to the president why we've got two Nidu destroyers parked in orbit and nothing to counter them with. You won't like the explanation I'll give him. Gentlemen." Pope and Phipps exited out through the conference room.

Soram stood up. "What should I be doing now?" he asked. Soram was normally the picture of clueless confidence, but even he was aware he was in over his head at the moment

'Ted, I need to you to keep quiet on what I've told you today," Heffer said. Soram nodded. "The longer we keep this thing officially a coincidence, the longer we've got to make this turn out all right. I'm going to have some people come around and take a look through Moeller's office. Make sure no one touches anything until they get there. I mean no one, Ted. Ben here will make the arrangements and give you the names so you can be sure. Until then, stay calm, appear unconcerned, and don't overthink this."

"Just be yourself, Mr. Secretary," Javna said. Soram smiled wanly and let himself out.

"Just be yourself," Heffer said, to Javna. "Nice."

"Will all due respect, Mr. Secretary," Javna Said. "The last thing you want at this point is Soram trying to grow a brain. You've already got Pope to deal with."

"That son of a bitch Heffer," Pope said, settling into his limo. "He's got something he's not telling us."

Phipps was reading his mail on his communicator. "There's nothing new on the State Department comm bugs," he said. "There's the one call to Javna right after it happened, but it was from a wireless comm with standard encryption. We're still working on that. Then there's Heffer's office to Soram, telling him to get over to State. After that, nothing."

"Have we figured out where Javna went yet?" Pope asked.

"No," Phipps said. "His car's got a locator, but he took the Metro. He used anonymous credit, so we can't trace him through his card."

"You don't have anything from the security cameras?"

"Our Metro Police camera guy got fired a week ago." Pope looked up for this; Phipps put up his hand. "Not because of us. He was doing a little freelance fundraising for the Police Retirement Fund and sending the contributions to his own account. Until we cultivate someone else, we'd have to get a warrant."

"Where are those destroyers?" Pope asked.

"Still docked, one at Dreaden, one at Inspir," Phipps said. "Both are taking on supplies. It'll be two or three days at least before either is underway."

Pope tapped his armrest and glanced back toward the State Department. "Heffer's meeting with the Nidu ambassador right now."

"Yes, sir," Phipps said.

"So where did you put the bug?" Pope asked.

"You'll love this," Phipps said. He opened his folder and handed his boss a copy of one of the intercepts he gave to Heffer.