I was bleary-eyed and staggering when Chaise came in the afternoon of the next day.

“Tomorrow is R day,” he said.

“R for robbery. Don’t worry about it. The equipment is ready and I’ll get it into place after dark tonight.”

“What about the truck?”

“The same.”

“Let me see it.”

We went out to the garage and called out to Igor to turn off the lights before we opened the door. I didn’t want any chance passersby to see what was going on inside. I closed it behind me before I turned the lights back on.

“Great isn’t it,” I said, proud of my construction.

“It wouldn’t fool a three-year-old,” Chaise grouched. Igor went back to work spreading silver paint on the plywood body. I was tired; anger flared.

“Put your brains into gear, Chaise. It is not supposed to fool anything other than a camera in space. The paint has the same albedo as the paint on the armored truck. It also has the same shape and size. If it casts a shadow it will be the same shadow as the truck. If you both follow my careful and precise instructions it will work.”

“I don’t like driving this thing,” Igor said, echoing the doubts of his employer. “Not with all that stuff packed in around me.”

“Shut up!” I suggested. “Follow orders and try not to think. It is wasted effort.” I looked at my watch and tried to cool down. “You have an hour to finish painting the thing. Then you have to paint your own truck-and it has to be done exactly as I told you. Success or failure depend upon it. Nowwork! “

I had mixed the timer catalyst in the paint myself. If this were not done correctly it could jeopardize the entire operation. And end us all in jail.

Chaise left then, being personally opposed to hard labor of any kind. Other than making money, that is. He had memorized my instructions on where and when he was to be and managed to get it word perfect without any effort. I had some rest then, waiting until the dark hours after midnight to get our gear into place. It was a pleasure to kick Igor awake, then push him, groggy with sleep, to our dummy armored van. I led the way, driving his truck with all our gear.

Dawn was just breaking when we got back. R day was here.

It was also T day or telephone day. I called again at noon but heard only the same recorded message. Concerned as I was, I knew that events of the day would soon drive any ongoing fears from my mind.

Chaise came out of the office and looked at me just as I was putting the phone back into my pocket. Had he seen it? Attack was the best defense.

“You are supposed to be in lovely Sunkist-by-the-Sea not here.”

“There is no rush. And I didn’t want to be seen spending too much time there, staying in the same place. People might remember. Is your installation finished?”

“All in place. We leave in ten minutes.”

“Don’t make any mistakes. You know the penalty.”

Then he went out. Luckily for him. I was bone-tired and really not myself. My fingers had a life of their own as they tried to reach out and snap his neck. I kicked a few robots and cursed Igor out and felt a little bit better.

We drove Igor’s now yellow-painted truck out to the site of the operation and backed it under the shelter of the trees. I then led him back along the road to the spot where I had painted a red X on the grass. I pointed.

“Stand there. Do not move.” I looked again at my watch. “In a few minutes the armored van will come over the top of the hill there. That’s it, use the binoculars, sight along the arrow painted on the ground. Good. And what do you do when you see the van?”

“Press button like this!” He squeezed the toggle as I was sure he would. And nothing happened because I hadn’t connected it yet.

“Nothing happened!” he said with amazement.

“Nothing was supposed to happen since you haven’t seen the target yet.” I was right-the brainless robots were smarter. “Stand. Wait. Look. See. Press. Run.”

I hurried back to my position. Checked that all the controls were to hand. Checked my watch one more time. If the armored car were on time-and Chaise had assured me that it always was-it should be within sight in two minutes. I took a chance and armed Igor’s button. Rolled my eyes heavenward in a silent prayer that he could get this simple job right.

Then reality shifted as the holoprojectors came on. I jumped because my arm seemed embedded in a large tree. I pulled it out of the image and admired my handiwork. Lovely! I heard running footsteps go by me. At least Igor had remembered his second instruction. After pressing the button, drop it. And get to the fake armored van hidden under the trees nearby.

The real armored van would have been seen briefly through a gap in the trees. Before it went around a bend in the road. One of the many bends in this picturesque winding road that led from one garden suburb to another. A road the van always took.

But what driver ever remembers every single bend in every single road? I was counting upon the fact that most drivers drove familiar bits of road on autopilot. This driver would now be rounding the bend. Normally proceeding on a bit farther, before turning round the bend to the right.

Only not now. The holoprojectors had created a different image for him, where the road appeared to turn slowly to the left. He would drive that way.

Or would he catch on and brake? My heart did the old hammering-loudly bit until I heard the sound of an enginegrowing louder. Then it appeared right beside me trundling along happily. Until the brakes slammed on hard, the wheels locked and it skidded by me.

Any driver would have done the same. One moment he would be driving down the tree-shaded rural road. The next instant a rock wall would appear just in front of the van. No time to think just hit the brakes by reflex.

I thumbed the actuator and two things happened. The holoprojectors changed their images. The road now ran through the trees as it had always done before. Anyone driving by now would only see trees and forest on both sides. That there were extra trees mixed in among the real ones, masking our truck and the armored van, would not be noticed.

At the same moment that the projectors changed images, the hinged screen dropped down from the trees above and slammed into position. The other walls of the radiation-proof cage were already there, boxing in the armored vehicle. Hidden from sight by the holo projections. As the gate closed the gauss bomb exploded below the money van. I shivered as the magnetic wave surged through me, plucking at the hemoglobin in my blood no doubt. A magnetic surge, even one this strong, wouldn’t hurt a human being.

But, oh what it would do to any electric or electronic circuitry!

Sizzle them, melt them, short them out and wipe them. The van’s engine would be dead. As well as all the electronic and communication equipment that they had in there with them. The lights would have blown and the electric door locks would have been fused shut; the three men inside were trapped in the darkness. Even if they had tried to get out a radio message before the bomb went off, the metal screening of the cage would have stopped it.

The trapped men would be frightened-but not for long. There were loud explosions as my makeshift mortars just lengths of pipe buried in the ground-blasted shaped charges up into the belly of the van, punching holes in it. But jetting in sleepgas rather than explosives or flying metal.

I pulled on the gas mask with the darkened lenses. Turned on the brilliant flame of the thermal lance and began to burn a circle in the bottom of the van. But I was listening as well, and smiled when I heard the disguised van engine start, then move away.

In outer space, thousands of miles above our heads, the never-sleeping eye of the observation satellite would be recording events below. It would see the armored van drive down the road and under the trees. Then see it emerge again and peacefully trundle towards its destination at the next bank.