"Hello Wiktor." Alice held the phone out from her body as if it were a snake that might bite her.

"Greetings Alice. May I please talk to Robert?" Wiktor's spoke with a thick slavic accent.

"You'll talk to me. Why are you spying on us?"

"I need to know if you are bad guys."

"Fine. We're not bad guys. Stop spying on us."

"Trust, but verify. Though now I agree. You are not bad guys. I wish to help."

"I'm having a hard time trusting you right now Wiktor. Your first 'help' tried to kill us, and now this covert espionage. It's a bad look." Alice frowned at the handset.

"You do not have a choice. Petbe will fire again tomorrow, unless you stop it."

Alice grimaced. "How would you know that?"

"It is my job to know things. The Americans will try to stop Lynch. They will fail. But they do not know about the missing base station, Alice." Damn. Guess he did catch them talking.

"I need to discuss this with Robert."

"Of course. I will wait."

"Privately," Alice reprimanded, then dropped the phone on the seat. She pulled Robert into the garage and shut the door.

"Do you still trust him?" Alice watched Robert intently.

"Yes, I think so. I don't like the deception, but in his shoes, I might do the same. Like you said Alice, we're too close to this thing to not be suspects."

"Hmm. I think he's hiding something." Alice pulled at her lip.

"Does it matter? He already knows our plan, and if we was going to kill us he'd have done it already. At this point we risk more by walking away than seeing it through. Especially if he's right about the next strike."

Alice shrugged. "I don't like it, but I guess we're stuck with him."

Robert nodded his agreement. Alice led the way back to the car and picked up the phone.

"So happy we will be a team Alice."

"Wiktor! You need to reign it in."

"It is like breathing to me." Wiktor sounded wounded. "Ask a fish not to swim."

"If we're working together the eavesdropping needs to stop. Please Wiktor. Robert says you two have history. Do it for him."

"Yes, yes. I will do this for Robert."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Now, time to leave. I have a new transport for you."

"What's wrong with the Skoda?"

"Too visible. I saw you on three cameras yesterday. So Lynch saw you on three cameras yesterday. Your ride is here."

"He wants us to change cars," Alice relayed to Robert.

A gray cube on wheels trundled up the street and came to a halt in front of the driveway. The nearest wall retracted, revealing a featureless interior. A pre-recorded message played through a cheap speaker: "Ready for transport. Please load goods now."

Alice raised one eyebrow. "A cargo pod Wiktor?"

"It is the nearest opaque transport available. I advise using bathroom first, the drive is long."

Alice sighed and handed the phone to Robert. "I'll grab our stuff. Fill Wiktor in on the rest of our plan I guess. In for a penny, in for a pound."

She hurried back to the house and scooped up the bags of supplies and the blankets. On the way out the door she snagged an empty water jug. Just in case.

When she got back Robert had already hung up and was sitting on the edge of the transport, feet dangling. The cargo pod was getting impatient: "Delay surcharge eminent. Please load goods now. "

"Alright, let's do this." The floor was the height of a loading dock; Alice handed up the bags and clambered in.

"Cargo detected. Loading complete? Please say 'yes' or 'no.'"

"Yes," said Alice and Robert, in unison.

"Jinx, you owe me a Coke." Robert smiled. Alice groaned.

The wall slid into place, plunging them into darkness. "Thank you for choosing EuroHaul. Please stand clear."

"Wiktor couldn't have at least got us a cow carrier or something? I can't see my own hands in here. You got a light source Robert? I forgot to pull out the flashlight" Alice started groping through the bags in the dark.

"One sec." Robert's laptop screen powered up, providing enough illumination for Alice to find the flashlight. She clicked it on and propped it at an angle to light up the room.

"What's with the blankets? Thinking of taking a nap?" Robert held up one of the moth eaten quilts with a look of distaste.

"I don't fancy spending all day sitting with my butt on a steel floor. If you don't want yours I'll take it." Alice situated hers as a cushion, then pulled out some more bread and Nutella. She liked to hit the gym when she was anxious. Today she'd settle for stress-eating.

"What did Wiktor say?" Alice asked between bites of sugary bread.

"He thinks your plan is probably doomed."

"Well what's his idea then?"

"Didn't have one. He says we'll do it your way." Robert frowned. "Even if we get the thing running and somehow shut Petbe down, I don't see how we get out of there."

"I don't think we do Robert. But we're responsible for this mess, as much as Lynch is. There's blood on our hands. Getting cold feet?"

Robert hesitated. "No. No, you're right. I'm still furious as Lynch, but I'm just as mad at myself. How could I have been so stupid? The warning signs were always there. I keep expecting I'll wake up and the whole thing was just a bad dream."

"Lynch fooled a lot of people. Don't beat yourself up too much about it. Just focus on stopping him. Did Wik say where we're going?"

"Straight to Hungary. We're going to hook up to one of his regular shipments on the way down. A connection in Hungarian customs will divert our transport to the examination station. Wik says there's a seized goods warehouse on the same lot, and our base station is inside."

Alice's pulse sped up. There were still so many things that could go wrong, but they were close. A chance to shut it all down, undo some of the harm.

The road noise changed as the pod accelerated onto the highway. Moments later there was a kachunk as it linked up with a convoy, now just one more white box in a grid of thousands hurtling down the freeway. The sound of rushing air diminished as they drafted the other pods in the train.

Alice spread her comforter out on the floor. "Actually I am going to try for more sleep. I want to be fresh for the big event."

Robert nodded. "I'll review the satellite communications protocols, have a plan for when we get in."

Alice slept fitfully. Every time a neighboring pod attached or detached she'd stir and roll over, muttering nonsense.

Then Robert was shaking her shoulder. "Alice, wake up!" he whispered fiercely. "Something's happening." Above the road noise Alice heard muffled voices arguing in some slavic language.

Intense orange light filled the room, accompanied by deafening hissing. A blinding flare had sprouted from the far wall, level with the floor. Alice clamped her eyes shut. She hazarded a peak through squinted lids. The flame was moving upward. Cutting through the wall.