Prichard put his phone down.? He was used to spending money to make his plant the showpiece in the industry.? For the last several years he'd done just that in his tenure as the leader of this technological marvel.? Now he was sure he'd just hired the best protection services available.? He didn't know exactly what would be done or how, but he knew a bit more about Nick than perhaps Nick knew.? When he was in Washington, he'd attended a confidential meeting in which NeXus was discussed.? For all intents and purposes, NeXus was a private firm.? But he'd found out that the government fully supported its efforts with intelligence and equipment.? The real skinny always comes out during one-on-one meetings over dinner or drinks with high-ranking government officials.? It seemed Nick was something of an anomaly in military circles.?Seems that Nick had been awarded the Medal of Honor and was currently one of only a handful of living recipients of that honor.? He was also the only one still in the service of his country.? All the other living recipients were in their sixties or seventies. But even more interesting to Prichard was that Nick's earning the military's highest award was classified information, which, despite his connections, he was not able to find out much about.? He could only speculate about what Nick had done to earn it, and polite inquiries were immediately rebuffed.? Prichard knew it would be unwise to continue to ask.? But he also knew enough to know that Nick was something special.? And right now, he was very glad to have had Nick's assurance that he would do his best.