"Mr. Duncan, this is Franklin Dobbs, Chairman and CEO of National Pulp. Mr. Dobbs, Mr. Duncan, regional director." She waited for the two men to acknowledge each other before she shut the door behind her. "Mr. Duncan?" Dobbs held his hand out to the huge FBI agent. Duncan accepted and pointed at a vacant chair. Dobbs sat obedi- ently. "How can I help you, Mr. Dobbs?" "I am being blackmailed, and I need help." Dobbs looked straight into Duncan's coal black eyes. The IRS, thought Duncan. "By whom?" he asked casually. "I don't know." Dobbs was firm. "Then how do you know you are being blackmailed?" Duncan wanted to conceal his interest. Keep it low profile. "Let me tell you what happened." Good start, thought Duncan. If only half of us would start in such a logical place. "Two days ago I received a package by messenger. It contained the most sensitive information my company has. Strategic posi- tions, contingency plans, competitive information and so on. There are only a half dozen people in my company that have access to that kind of information. And they all own enough stock to make sure that they aren't the culprits." "So who is?" interjected Tyrone as he made notes. "I don't know. That's the problem." "What did they ask for?" Duncan looked directly into Dobbs' eyes. To both force an answer and look for signs of deceit. All he saw was honesty and real fear. "Nothing. Nothing at all. All I got was the package and a brief message." "What was the message?" Tyrone asked. "We'll be in touch. That's it." "So where's the threat? The blackmail. This hardly seems like a case for the FBI." Tyrone was baiting the hook. See if the fish is real. "None, not yet. But that's not the point. What they sent me were copies, yet they looked more like the originals, of informa- tion that would negatively affect my company. It's the sort of information that we would not want made public. If you know what I mean." Tyrone thought, you bet I know. You're up to and you want us to protect you. Fat chance. "I know what you mean," he agreed. "I need to stop it. Before it's too late?" "Too late?" asked Duncan. "Too late. Before it gets out." "What gets out, Mr. Dobbs?" Duncan stared right into and beyond Dobbs' eyes. "Secrets. Just secrets." Dobbs paused to recompose himself. "Isn't there a law . . .?" "Yes, there is Mr. Dobbs. And if what you say is true, you are entitled to protection." Duncan decided to bait Dobbs a bit more. "Even if the information is illegal in nature." Wait for the fish to bite.