Rick was busy. Not only was he still pretending to be working on his bike, randomly loosening and tightening screws and bolts from time to time just in case Lori should come in. He had also been working on his TE laptop sitting in a crate next to him where he kept the tools too large for his toolbox. The ratty old blanket he used as a dust cover was conveniently hiding the computer from sight for anyone entering the garage.

As the schedule had been pushed forward so much, there hadn't been enough time to prepare a safe way into the compound for whoever was going in - and now it would be Daryl instead of Carol, so even if they had managed to set something up for her, it would have been busted now as all entry permits were personalized. Ever since they had been informed of the new schedule, he had been racking his brain over how to get an agent in, and he had come up with a good solution that had the added advantage of being independent of the person going in. Which was why it had been cleared by all supervisors involved in the blink of an eye.

The screen of his laptop was showing the layout of a building - not one of those that had red dots in or around it, denoting a detonation point. A relatively unimportant building, tucked away in a corner, and far away from the route Daryl would need to take, as outlined by the blue arrows - he didn't want Daryl and the guard to meet, after all. Rick had selected the first floor and his cursor was sitting on the symbol for a smoke detector. He was going to initiate a test alarm by clicking on it, which would force whoever was on watch at the gate at the time to leave their post and call in a temporary replacement before checking that alarm.

What with Glenn only doing short runs with little to no direct involvement with the Feina, Rick had also sporadically cooperated with a second TE operative who worked for the Feina as a limo driver. Andrea had full security clearance and was on standby as a temporary guard whenever she was technically on duty but not actually working. She did most of her missions on her own without a guide, but when she did need one, Rick made himself available. The day before he had already compromised the compound's computer system, accessed the guard rotation schedule and set up Andrea as the only replacement for the time scheduled for the infiltration of the base.

The beauty of it was that she had already been involved in the plan and didn't need a briefing from the ground up. Her part of the plan had already started some time ago, probably while Carol and Daryl had already been working on determining the rotation schedule as such so they'd know when the guards would change. She had used her limo to smuggle explosives into the compound in several small packages and hide them at various locations in or near the buildings after dropping her passengers off or before picking them up. He would have bet anything that her limo was on Daryl's list of cars that came and went without getting searched. Looking at the complete map now which Daryl had sent him before setting out himself, he saw five small purple marks denoting the explosives caches, carefully set up, camouflaged, and reported to Hershel by Andrea, where Daryl would find the material he would need to wire the entire place and blow it to kingdom come.

Just to make sure that she was indeed waiting on location, he opened a link with her and found her on call in the ready room inside the compound. She was logging her latest rides and drinking synthcaf from a mug with a broken handle when she answered his nudge.

"Rick", she greeted him. "Sorry, I can't leave here – I'm on standby for guard duty for the next four hours. After that, I'm game – or right now, for anything going down inside this place."

He shook his head with a soft chuckle. "No, Andrea, that's okay – you're on standby there because I changed the schedules. You're exactly where we need you right now." After waiting for a reaction from her, he continued when all he received was the sensation of another sip of hot caf on his tongue. „Please be ready to replace the guard at the gate any moment now. There will be a fake fire alarm that will need to get checked out. Once you're at your post, you'll need to let one of our people into the compound. He's on his way as we speak."

Her interest peaked immediately, and even though he wasn't good at reading her through their link he nevertheless picked up on her excitement. "Does this have anything to do with my … deliveries … to the compound over the past few weeks?" she asked, observant as always.

"Sorry, I can't say more – but be ready, please. It's a guy, name's Daryl, a little under 6 feet tall, and I'll give him your name so you'll know it's him. He needs full access, so it would be perfect if you could hook him up with Sandra." He knew about Sandra from Ty who was her guide on the rare occasions when he got actively involved. She was only called upon when TE needed someone inside one of the sealed buildings to avoid unnecessary exposure, so Ty and her didn't get to do much – but when they did, their contribution was always essential.

„I'll be waiting for him", she answered, swirling her caf around her mouth with her tongue. Whlie she knew that the taste was nothing like the original, organic product, she nevertheless enjoyed it whenever she found the time to have a mug of it during one of her breaks.

A distant alarm sounded.

Break was over.

.-.

Fighting to overcome his disgust, Daryl finally linked up with Rick when he was within shouting distance from the gate through which Carol had entered the Feina compound on the very first day of their mission. Superimposed on his own current view, he remembered her perspective when striding up to the guard and confidently presenting him with the letter asking her to outline her company's fake proposal. Hershel had informed him that he wouldn't need to worry about getting in - they had a solution for this that didn't involve him actively doing anything. All he would have to do was walk in.

Reaching out, he found Rick waiting for him. He was not making any attempt at contacting Daryl from his side, but was attentive and noticed at once when Daryl opened up to him. „How do I get in?" Daryl growled, not even trying to gloss over the fact that he intensely disliked working with Rick. „Anything I need to do or say at the gate, or do I just walk through?"

„There'll be a female guard at the gate", Rick explained, attempting to get visual input from Daryl but only getting a vague impression of walking down a street. Was he holding back on purpose, maybe? From what he'd been told, there were guides who could actually receive sensory input as if they were walking themselves, tasting the food of their agents, or touching the objects they were picking up, but he had never reached that level of perfection. „Her name's Andrea, and she knows that you're Daryl. Greet her by name, and tell her who you are. She'll let you pass and pair you with an inside operative who has access to all buildings and will accompany you so you will get where you need to go." He got an impression of Daryl nodding and fell silent again.

Approaching the gate, Daryl gave the blonde woman in the guard house a piercing look and came to a halt in front of her. „Name's Daryl", he mumbled. „I'm told that Andrea's waiting for me." He thought she looked vaguely familiar, but couldn't remember where he'd seen her. From the pinprick link he was still maintaining with Carol he felt slight pressure as he looked at the woman. Maybe she'd be able to help him out here once they were done - if he managed to get out in time.

Meeting his eyes, she gave him a brief nod. „I'm Andrea, and if you continue in that direction -„ she pointed with one hand - „you'll meet Sandra. She's going to show you around if you tell her where you need to go. Her prints are coded for all doors." Handing him a programmed key card, she saw recognition flashing across his face, there and gone again in an instant, when she mentioned Sandra's name.

Taking a deep breath, he argued with himself for a moment before giving her another hard look. „Once the guard is back, you get out", he said quietly. „You need to be gone in an hour's time at the latest. Don't look back. Get as far away as you can. Good luck!" He turned in the direction where she had pointed, and took off.

Andrea watched him walking away. He was limping ever so slightly, but that didn't seem to be holding him back - he kept walking at a brisk pace, never looking back. There was something about his voice and the look he had given her that told her that he was serious - this guy meant business.

She decided to take his advice.

.-.

Sandra saw him coming in the fading light. He was roughly her own height, with shortish dark blond hair and ratty bangs. When he reached her, he gave her a quick nod, all but glaring at her. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he was mad at her. „You're Sandra", he stated matter-of-factly as his eyes unfocused for a second. „I know you have access to every building here, every room. Is that correct?" She nodded. Satisfied, he went on. „We need to cover a lot of ground in very little time, and then make it out before …" He trailed off, but went on after a moment's silence. „When I tell you to, you get out. No questions." Clearly a weirdo, she thought, with an exaggerated sense of his own importance.

He looked around himself for a moment as if to get his bearings or trying to remember something. Then he pointed seemingly at random. „Admin building?" he asked. She nodded. More looking, more pointing. „Sleeping quarters, tactical HQ?" She nodded again. He bit his lower lip for a few moments, squinting, then nodded to himself. Obviously, he had arrived at some sort of decision.

.-.

Now that he knew where everything was, he could finally put it in relation to the map he had memorized. He briefly looked around one last time for orientation, then set out in the direction of the first blue arrow pointing toward the first cache. He was hyper aware of his surroundings, paying attention to every small sound, to the fading light in the sky, the buildings around them, the bright windows in case someone stepped up to one of them to look out, to the fluorescent street lights being switched on. Unconsciously, falling back into his agent's routine, he adapted his own expectations about shadows that would announce a guard or a Feina approaching around a corner, preparing himself.

The idea of maybe encountering a Feina again, himself, directly, inside their compound, on their own ground, nearly sent him over the edge, but he managed to keep walking while controlling his panic by remembering Carol's calm demeanor in the face of their oppressive „guests". He would definitely want to take a page from her book about this, but didn't know if he would be able to be as controlled as she had been if he should run into one of them. He did notice, however, that just thinking about her helped him calm down. His heart was no longer a raging caged animal in his chest, and his vision wasn't tunnelling as it had when he had abandoned her during her chance encounter with Esnik.

In the back of his mind he could sense Rick more or less riding along and watching the proceedings. Every time he focused on him he felt a renewed deep sense of betrayal, and was digusted all over again at having to work with him. Sucking in his cheeks and biting down hard on his lower lip, he reached out to him. „Comin' up on the first cache, as you'd know if you were payin' attention and checkin' your map", he growled. „There are security cameras at that crossing up ahead. Need you to check there's nobody there and then switch them off while I'm getting my stuff." He withdrew again as soon as he sensed him tapping into the security feed, consciously minimizing his exposure to the traitor who had betrayed and abandoned him.

Once Rick confirmed that the path ahead was clear, Daryl gave him a prompt to take out the cameras for a moment, stepped around the corner and disappeared behind the small utility shack. Leaning down, he found the small pouch of tools, unscrewed the latch on the gray and brown box hidden behind it and removed small, compact packages wrapped in tough plastic sheets, several tight coils of wire and a remote-controlled detonator.

Now his heart was racing not with fear but with excitement.

When he straightened again, stuffing the plastic explosives and the wires and detonator into the deep pockets of his jacket, Sandra noticed a small, feral smile on his face and a dangerous glint in his eyes, and when they set out again he even walked differently. Even though he was still limping, and the limp was worse than before, there was a feline grace to his movements now.

Maybe he wasn't a weirdo after all.

Maybe she should take his advice.

.-.

Carol could still sense him walking about, and now he seemed to be concentrating on something other than keeping her out - she was getting more input from him again. From the visual that she was getting she knew that he was inside the compound already, and once when he turned his head she recognized Sandra walking next to him. He was also definitely excited, and in a good way - he enjoyed doing this again. When working with him she had always gotten the impression that he was more of a doer than a passive watcher, so this didn't really surprise her. She enjoyed the second-hand adrenaline that she was getting from him.

Nevertheless, she was worried. She could feel his leg hurting already, and he had only been out for about three quarters of an hour, with an hour still to go until their deadline. Doing her best not to alert him to her presence in his mind - not least because she didn't want to distract him from his surroundings and from what he was doing - she continued watching through his eyes.

Looking around to make sure they were alone, three blocks away from the Feina compound now, she turned to face Glenn. The open concern in his eyes warmed her heart as she bravely smiled at him. Her heart was racing, while her stomach was clenching with fear.

He was her guide. And he had become a guide for a reason.

Now he was out there on his own, and while he knew his way around from their own scouting mission, probably already knew the full map by heart, and was mentally and emotionally more than up to this task, he still wasn't prepared for this physically. She had sensed his excitement for this mission and knew that he couldn't have been more dedicated to it if he had tried - he definitely had the skills, desire and knowledge to do this. She just hoped his body would not betray him.

He would give everything to complete this mission. She was well aware that he had hated risking her.

But she knew that he would not hesitate to risk himself.

She had to hurry.

„Let's go."