(8) The Plan

The Sleeper Cell prepares for their mission

A van was easy enough to find. There were so many in this part of the city. With all the industrial complexes and warehouses vans were a given. The generator was a little harder. Not to find, but to steal. There were plenty of generators around the place, but they were hard to get to without being noticed besides the fact that they were heavy. And Ulrich was only one man. Eventually he came across an unsupervised tradesman’s truck, complete with a generator on the tray at the back. He brought the van up close behind it and, using the tools he found on the truck itself, unfastened it. Then he slid it off the tray right into the back of the van. He was quite satisfied with himself.

 

            Before he returned to the staging area he made a quick stop at a truck yard and loaded a few fuel cans into the van as well. He was amazed at how little security there was in this part of town. Most of the buildings seemed to be out of operation anyway. The city really was dying.

 

            By the time he made it back to his team Huttner and Heather were geared up and ready to go. Each of them wore thick black pants held tight to their thighs and ankles by numerous leather straps, attached to which were numerous guns, knives and some other more ordinary tools. Their belts were harnessed up their backs and over their shoulders with a full operations kit, though neither of them were wearing body armour or helmets. In the light of the setting sun they stood out like a sore thumb, but soon it would be dark and they would be nothing more than shadows.

 

            Harley had already set off for the extraction zone, where he would continue to monitor their situation with the police and media. Ulrich and Pia loaded her computer gear onto the van. With the large generator wedged against the back doors there wasn’t much space left for Pia, and when they were all set and ready to go it looked to Ulrich like she’d been caught in a landslide of technical debris, half buried and waiting to die. He hoped it didn’t come to that.

 

            Ulrich, Pia, Heather and Huttner gathered by the van for their final briefing before departing for the lab. For the time being they were on schedule, and provided there were no serious hitches they should make it to the boat before it left.

 

            “So we’re all clear on the plan?” Huttner asked, somewhat pointlessly. To Ulrich it was a pretty simple plan. Huttner and Heather would enter the Lab from the front, and he would drive Pia around the neighbouring streets while she accessed the security systems and guided them in. Then when the serum was secured, they would pull up out the front of the lab at the same time as the other two came outside, and make a clean getaway straight to the pier. If all went according to plan, they would be miles from shore and on their way home by their deadline. Not that difficult a concept.

 

            “Alright, lets go!” Huttner called, clapping his hands together and jumping in the front of the van. Heather quickly followed and Ulrich found himself crammed in the drivers seat, greatly disappointed that it was Huttner half on his lap and not Heather. Pia secured herself behind her screens and the four of them were ready to go. Ulrich put his foot on the accelerator.