I WASN'T A REGULAR DAILY WORKER but a returning non-official cover officer from overseas who was recalled home every now and then for briefings. Most people here had no clue of what I really did, though I noted a certain distant reverence in their cleanly shaved facial responses to me and my unkempt stubble tonight. My six-numbered security card that carried no visual link to SIS, whenever it was inserted in the box, followed by my four-digit PIN code (that made the green light flash) told them something nice about me on their monitors...or it may have read 'don't f*** with him' in easy-to-understand legalese... The second installment of The NOC Trilogy by Nicholas Anderson.