“He said the search request would be finished by around seven or eight,” Ben said, looking at his watch. “Maybe it’s just running a little late.”

“Maybe he was captured by Rick and his band of rogue clerks,” Ober suggested as he clipped his toenails. “Now we’ll have to go rescue them using makeshift weapons made from common kitchen appliances.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Ben asked, looking at his roommate.

“It’s just a thought,” Ober said.

Lisa tried to change the subject. “I still don’t understand how you all managed to wind up in Washington. All of my friends are scattered around the country.”

“It’s actually pretty simple,” Ben explained. “Nathan, Eric, and I are all interested in politics, so Washington seemed like the right choice. Ober came because he didn’t want to be left out.”

“That’s not true,” Ober said, looking up from his feet. “I came here because I believe in Senator Stevens.”

“That can’t possibly be true,” Lisa said. “You don’t know squat about Stevens.”

“I know plenty about Stevens.”

“Name one thing you know about him,” Lisa challenged. “Pick any platform and explain it.”

After a long pause, Ober laughed. “He’s against crime and he’s prochildren.”

“That’s a revolutionary thought,” Lisa said. “And here I thought Stevens ran on the always popular pro-crime, anti-children platform.”

“Leave him alone,” Ben added. “Ober is a man of unusual knowledge. He knows more than he lets on.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Lisa said.

“Believe it,” Ober said. “For example, I know how to tell if a set of dice is balanced correctly.”

“Dice?”

“Yeah, dice. Like the dice you use in a board game.”

“Over the past few years, Ober has been the most-shall we say-entrepreneurial of the four of us,” Ben explained. “Right after college, he and his father invented a board game that they thought would sweep the nation. Hence, the dice knowledge.”

“You invented a board game?” Lisa asked.

“Actually, my dad came up with idea. It was called-”

“Speculation-The Game of Cunning and Guile,” Ben and Ober said simultaneously.

“That was it,” Ober said. “It was this super-intense strategy game. It had everything: pawns, bluffing, power moves, everything a good game should have.”

“And what happened?”

“Everyone hated it,” Ober said. “They said it was too boring. After a year and a half, we were out of business, and I went through an illustrious sampling of the lower-tier job market. In three years, I was everything from a house painter to a marketing aide to a public relations assistant.”

“If you’re such a failure, how’d you get the job in the Senate?”

“That was all Ben,” Ober said. “When he heard there was an opening in Senator Stevens’s office, he wrote me a cover letter, put together my résumé so it sounded super-political, and prepped me for the interview. A week later, I got the job. And the rest is congressional history.”

“So how do you tell if dice are fixed?” Lisa asked.

“I’m not telling you,” Ober said. “Start your own game company.”

Rolling her eyes, Lisa turned back to Ben. “So you went to law school, Eric went to grad school, and bizarro here played with his dice. What’d Nathan do before he joined the public sector?”

“He was a Fulbright scholar, so after college, he spent two years at Tokyo University studying international trade. After that, he worked for a Japanese high-tech company in their foreign markets department. Then he came back to the States and started working his way up the State Department ladder. My guess is he’ll-” Ben broke off as Nathan came in.

“Speak of the devil,” Lisa said. “It’s Nathan-san himself.”

“Well?” Ben asked anxiously as soon as Nathan walked in the door.

“Nothing,” Nathan said, throwing a thick file folder to Ben. “They found four hundred fifty-seven Richard Fagens. Only twelve matched the age and physical description, and only two had criminal records. Neither of them had any type of legal background, and both were still incarcerated. I called the research center, and they said that Rick was probably using an alias. Until we find his real name, we’ll never find him.”

“Shit,” Ben said, flipping through the useless documents.

“By the way,” Nathan said to Ober, “they ran a check on Senator Stevens’s signature, and it cleared as genuine. I thought you used the signature machine.”

“I did,” Ober said proudly. “I just bumped my butt against it while it was signing. It’s the best way to make the signature look real.”

“Good show,” Nathan said, impressed.

“I have my moments,” Ober said, looking back at his feet.

Watching Ben nervously look through the documents, Lisa turned to him. “Don’t get yourself crazy. That doesn’t mean we’re done.”

“We still haven’t heard from Eric,” Nathan added. “Hopefully, he’ll have some information on the building.”

At a quarter after ten, Eric returned home. Ben, Lisa, Nathan, and Ober were all watching television, trying to pass the time. “What took you so long?” Ben asked, pointing the remote and shutting off the TV.

“I’m only fifteen minutes late. I had to finish editing a story,” Eric explained. “Do we have anything to eat?”

“Did you find anything on the building?” Nathan asked as Eric headed toward the kitchen.

“Oh, yeah,” Eric said, turning back toward the living room. “I almost forgot. Seventeen eighty Rhode Island is not a good place. I asked some of the beat guys what the story was, and they said it’s pretty sleazy.”

“It smelled pretty sleazy,” Nathan said.

“It’s owned by a guy named Mickey Strauss,” Eric explained. “Mickey is slime. Two years ago, they found two guys shot dead in there. Last year, there was this huge drug ring operating out of the place, but Mickey said he never knew anything about it. The guys at the office said that if a Mack truck came barreling through his office and straight across his desk, Mickey would swear he never saw it. Rick’s smart as shit for picking that place-he obviously knows Mickey won’t rat on him.”

“We have to get in there,” Ben said, standing up. “Maybe the leases have Rick’s real name on them.”

“Why would they?” Lisa asked. “If this place is so high security, why would there even be leases?”

All four roommates stared at Lisa. “She’s got a point,” Nathan finally said.

“That doesn’t mean the leases don’t exist,” Ben said, walking to the door. “And that’s all we have to go on at this point.”

“Where are you going?” Eric asked as he turned toward the kitchen. “They’re not going to let you waltz right in.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Ben said, his hand on the doorknob. “All they have is some stupid doorman guarding the place.”

“And one security camera,” Nathan added.

Ben turned back toward the living room. “There was a camera?”

“It was one of those old ones,” Nathan explained. “Right above the office door. But that’s hardly an impossible obstacle.”

“What if we deliver a pizza to the building?” Ober asked. “That’ll get us in.”

“No, it won’t,” Ben said. “The office is probably empty, so there’s no one to receive the pizza.”

“But at least that’ll get us past the doorman and into the building,” Ober said. “Then all we have to do is pick the lock to the office.”

“It’ll never work,” Ben said. “Unless you’re an expert locksmith, we don’t have a chance of picking the lock on our own. We have to somehow get the doorman to let us into the office.”

“Excuse me,” Lisa interrupted. “I hate to burst your bubble, but have you guys realized that what you’re planning is illegal?”

“I told you you shouldn’t have invited her,” Ober said. “She’s ruining everything.”

Ignoring Ober, Lisa shot Ben a cold stare. “This isn’t make-believe. You break into that building, and you’re breaking the law. You of all people should realize that.”