The false bottom of the center desk drawer had popped open by exactly three inches.
The drawer rested on precision steel ball bearings, held in place by an oiled brass stop.
Inside the recessed cavity, nestled into a form-fitting indentation lined with dark blue velvet, lay a second seven-inch aluminum tape reel.
Julian lifted the chained seven-inch reel off the Nagra IV-S spindle and set it on the leather desk blotter beside the drawer reel.
Sitting side by side, the two seven-inch aluminum reels looked completely identical, both wound full with quarter-inch magnetic recording tape.
Both reels featured the standard three-hole NAB aluminum flanges, buffed to a dull industrial luster.
Pasted across the aluminum center hub of each reel was a typed paper label, printed on an old mechanical strike typewriter.
THOMAS VANCE -- 1996 COUNTER-SEAL. MASTER BROADCAST MATRIX. TRANSMIT AT 02:14 AM ONLY.
