41. It's Full of Secrets

They pulled up at the house in the early dawn light. It had never really crossed Mateo’s mind to wonder what the Witch from Hansel and Gretel would build if she won the lottery, but now he knew. It was the most edible looking place he’d ever seen.

There were a lot of smaller buildings around it, not built by crazy people. They kind of reminded him of the building office trailers you saw on construction sites, even though the construction was more like ranch houses than metal containers.

“The huts,” Nigel said, putting the car in park. Compared to the house Mateo guessed they were.

“Do you guys put all your important secret stuff in fancy houses?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Why not?”

“Secret.”

“...makes sense.”

“Just to remind you,” Nigel added, “Your actual means of arriving here are classified at the same level as the Enigma code work. We invented a new level of secrecy just for it, and you’ve joined it, among a few other things. Arguably you’re worse: only Commandant Stephens, Captains Short and Goodacre, and I know that you... arrived like you did.”

“Yikes.”

“Yikes indeed. Just a reminder. Take this very seriously. It may be dusty historical trivia for you: it’s life and death for us.”

His legs were shaking a little when he got out of the car. But it was the good kind, the nerves you got on a first date or a job interview, not the kind from being held at gunpoint. He followed Nigel’s more confident step in.

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