His eyebrows rise—I’ve committed a major breech of etiquette, but I honestly don’t give a frag. It takes him only a split-second to compensate, though, and a warm smile—precisely as insincere as the one the other functionary just gave me—spreads across his face. "That’s true, Lieutenant Larson," he says smoothly, using the official rank I haven’t bothered with since I first went deep-cover. "But you’ll understand, of course, that Governor Schultz is an incredibly busy woman, and various ... urn, exigencies ... arise from time to time that require her immediate attention. I thought that we might be able to achieve the goals of this meeting without her presence, just you, me, and Mr. Loudon here."