offered – will anyone mind if I take them out?”

“Not at all. It’s all part of the sales package.” Peggy put a hand on her hip. “And if being secretive is the worst thing you have to deal with, you’re going to be just fine. Sister, I could tell you stories you wouldn’t believe. I know I’ve only been here a little longer than you, but working here is nothing compared to where I used to work.”

Stefanie didn’t need Joey to tell her to dig. Peggy was ready to talk. She sat down in Peggy’s guest chair and Waffle rested his chin on her leg. “Okay, story time will definitely help my stress. Where’d you use to work?”

“A nuclear research facility. Not too soon after the OEG was started, there was some talk about nuclear waste disposal in the deep ocean, but the executives killed that idea. I’ve heard that it was suggested to the CEO here exactly once. She has very publicly said the OEG is only in the business of exploration. I know all of our company’s official stances – I’m also in charge of writing press releases.”

“Awesome. How did you get into that?”

Peggy tapped a neat fingernail on her desk. “I do a little writing as my side hustle. I can whip up a corporate-approved email quicker than just about anyone else. I corrected some errors on Cole’s paperwork once, and he sniffed out my ability to write. The rest is history.”

Stefanie tilted her head. “What kind of writing do you do?” She spied a paperback peeking out of Peggy’s purse, but couldn’t make it out.

“Oh, nothing you’ve probably read.” Peggy blushed. “Just a little story or two. Pays for my vacations and makes writing reports quite a lot easier for me.”

Stefanie grinned. “That’s awesome. You’re full of secrets, Peggy.”

“I try to be an open book, so to speak, but I do keep a few things private.” Peggy gave a bashful shrug.

For a moment, Stefanie had forgotten that she was gathering information from Peggy. And while she had definitely gathered information, it wasn’t quite the kind she expected. Or that would be useful for the operation. Joey’s voice snapped her back to the task at hand. “Stef, I scanned the box. There aren’t any listening devices in it.”

Stefanie leaned in. “Well, thanks for letting me in on a few of your secrets, Peggy. And I love books. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them.”

Peggy smiled. “That’s nice of you to say. I do write under a pen name, just to keep it under my hat, you understand.”

Stefanie heard Nash’s voice, distant, through her earpiece. “Hey Joey, I was wondering where you’d gone.”

Despite now being even more curious about what kind of stories would make Peggy blush, Stefanie made her apologies and stood. She walked Waffle back to save Joey from Nash’s curiosity. When she returned to the conference room, Nash was chatting up Joey, and they were both leaning over the small box their new clients had given them.

Nash turned his head almost fully sideways while he examined it. “I’m assuming the thick case and coating is to make it waterproof. They dipped the whole assembly in the rubbery material.” He gave it a poke for effect and Stefanie winced. “Hard to take it apart and see what’s inside.”

Joey shrugged. “Wouldn’t do us much good anyway. Tony said it was just an example of what the box would look like. They wanted to make sure that whatever system we used to lock it down would work with their waterproof coating.”

Nash pulled out his phone and dug in a drawer until he found a little attachment that he connected to his cell phone camera. Stefanie held her breath. It was starting to feel like he was on their investigation, and according to the FBI, he was definitely still a suspect. She snickered when she saw the display. “Do you have a thermal camera attachment for your cell phone?”

“You don’t?” Nash looked up from the device to grin at her. “They’re not nearly as expensive as you think. And a whole lot of fun.” He pointed the camera at the box, but the display stubbornly stayed one color. “Okay, nothing is popping. Probably no active components in their demo device, but what can we figure out…?” Before Joey could stop him, he hefted the box. “It’s heavier than most of our components, and the walls are made of metal instead of plastic. Interesting choice, considering it’s expensive to do it this way.”

Stefanie shot a look at Joey. Nash put the box back on the table but didn’t make any effort to leave the room. If Nash was going to help, they shouldn’t stop him. “Wouldn’t metal make it harder for a sensor to detect anything outside of it?”

“Oh yeah.” Nash continued to stare at the box. “Considering how thick it is, with no outlets to the outside, it’s more like a treasure chest than scientific equipment. Oh! That’s it. We’ve been having some trouble with the seismometer when the equipment gets jolted on the ocean floor. I bet they want to do some geological work but need more precise measurements. The weight of the metal might help too, especially if they scale up to the size on the drawing.”

Joey crossed his arms and his question was remarkably casual. “Why do you need that level of precision with a seismometer for mining?”

“If they want to drill, I’ve got to assume too much seismic activity could wreck equipment if it’s delicate enough. They want to go into less geologically active places. But…you make a good point.” Nash looked at them conspiratorially. “Wait. Where did they want to drop this?”

“They said whatever was close, just off the coastline to test it.”

Nash crossed his arms smugly. “Hm. They want to make sure it will work without letting anyone know where they want to do the actual work yet. They test it in California because they aren’t actually going to do the

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