Maren Voss did not like sending men to do a first job without him.
That was why he stood in the warehouse yard while the boxes were loaded.
The shipment had arrived before noon in plain crates with false labels. Inside were parts, small weapons, phones, and other things World Zone wanted moved through the black market. Nothing was marked with a real name. Nothing could be tied back easily if the wrong officer opened the wrong box.
Maren watched two men lift a crate into the truck.
"Careful," he said.
One of his men came near. "Boss, are you going with it?"
"This is the first assignment," Maren said. "If it goes wrong, I want to know whose fault it is."
No one argued.
The truck was old but strong. One car would move ahead for a short distance, then fall back. Another would stay behind. The route avoided the main checking points and used a forest road that cut toward the storage side of North Mill.
Tobin Rell sat in the rear car.
