"So what do we do now?"     "Isn't it obvious?" the commandant replied, not hiding the edge of sarcasm that he should probably not direct at the president. He was furious at losing Dmitri.     "And what, mayhap, is so obvious?" the president asked, leaning forward in his burgundy leather chair.     "Well, sir," he returned politely, feeling the danger of upsetting the highest authority in his land, "we need to coordinate a capture operation with the Belgian government. We know that he is after their time machine. We should move to secure it."     "I've already put in a request with the Belgian authority. They do not want our help," the president said almost casually as he sat back. "Besides, they say that the machine doesn't work, that it will kill him if he tries to use it. Frankly, you know what I think?"     "Probably that the Belgians want to capture Dmitri on their own to show the world that they did what Russia and the Washingtons could not."     The president nodded. "I can't blame them. It is exactly what we would do, and you know it."     "If you would please, sir," the commandant begged, "put me through to the Belgian Minister of National Security."     The president nodded again. "Very well," he said, eager to see the results. After all, he listened to this man because they were distant cousins. He wondered how well he would fare when talking to a leader to whom he wasn't related.     After connecting, Minister Briques appeared in the viewscreen. "Ah, Mr. President. How good of you to call… again."     "I have someone who wishes to talk with you," the president said, gesturing almost dramatically to the commandant.     Minister Briques looked over at the newcomer, assessing him with all the arrogance allowed to such a high-standing officer of a superpower. "Oh? And what have you to say to me?" he asked.     "I want to get Dmitri Novykh," he answered.     The man on the other side of the screen put up his hands, palm facing towards them. "Now, now, I've already been through this with your president. We Belgians neither require nor wish Russian involvement in this matter," he said. "We are of course grateful for being appraised of the situation, but…"     "I am not suggesting Russian involvement," the commandant interrupted.     The man's left eyebrow raised. "Then what exactly were you suggesting?"     "I think it is possible that I could obtain permission for a few weeks' leave. I might even take a small vacation to Belgium. While there I don't believe I could find a better way of spending my time than capturing Dmitri."     The Minister was skeptical.     "One man on vacation would not be considered a Russian presence."     The Minister was still doubtful.     The commandant slammed his hand down on the nearby desktop and swore loudly. "I don't care about your publicity or glory or politics! I need to catch Dmitri! I need to! You can keep your headlines, but God help us all if this man succeeds because of your unwillingness to accept even a little help."     Minister Briques rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, fine. No need to be so melodramatic. Come by and we'll help you out. God forbid that we should deny all avenues open to us-as long as there is no official presence, you understand."     "Fine, I understand. I'll be on the next flight over." *         *         *     The light of morning shone meekly through the venetian blinds in Dmitri's hotel room-one of the finest hotels in Belgium. He sat in a plush chair, facing the closed window and reflecting on what to do. Dmitri rested his slightly bearded chin on his folded hands. His glance fell to the bed where his newly recharged Spook Suit waited for him. He mulled over his plans; he wasn't as confident of it as he had been when he originally drew it up. He had one theft to make inside the Department of the Interior before grabbing the time machine, and he now wondered if his plan was sufficient.     No, the original plan would not work now. Since the commandant had managed to determine his target, the Belgians would be on guard for a thief with a Spook Suit. However, he would still have to snatch that one item, but now he was figuring a way he could work to his advantage. After all, it would still throw them off, forcing them to defend an area that they didn't count on having to defend and diverting resources away from their main defense. On the other hand, it might provide them with the necessary time to prevent his theft attempt. He stood and readied his disguise and his tools-it was time to enact phase one.     Dmitri's best chance was to sneak in with one of the tour groups. Between the artsy shades, a new beret, and his small goatee, Dmitri looked more like a Frenchman now instead of a Russian. His weaponry and the Spook Suit were safely stored on the storage device that he now kept concealed beneath his beige coat. The most important part of maintaining a disguise was to have the necessary confidence that he was in exactly the place he was supposed to be. He noticed the presence of government troopers, who were usually not stationed on the first level. They were comparing the people walking in with a picture on an electronic pad. His disguise passed their casual attention, and he soon left with the tour group.     Dmitri patiently bided his time as the tour guide gave his canned presentation to the group. "The Belgian Department of the Interior is widely considered to be the most impenetrable building in the entire world. It has housed several important artifacts from Belgian history, and never once has a theft attempt succeeded," the guide said.     They went on like that. Soon, the guide was talking about his first target. "A very powerful supercomputer is stored on the fourteenth floor. It marks a new paradigm shift in the evolution of computer design. Computers began as bulky devices that utilized vacuum tubes. The first paradigm shift in computers came from transistors; the next from etching many transistors on microchips. The third paradigm shift came when quantum technology was applied to computing technology, and the fourth from nanotechnology. The QNX-01 computer was the prototype built to combine the advances from quantum and nanotechnology-something that was previously thought impossible. It was the most powerful computer of its time, and ten years later it remains more powerful than anything you can buy on the market!"     That computer was the one-it would suit Dmitri's needs just fine. As soon as he could, he slipped away from the rest of the tour group and casually entered the restroom. He hid himself in one of the stalls, donning his special clothing and removing his weapons. Then, activating the cloaking device, he invisibly crept into the ductwork. The ducts had motion sensors embedded at periodic intervals, but he would move slowly enough that his invisibility would not set them off. The upper levels of the building, which no tour group would ever see, contained sensors that could detect even his nearly imperceptible state. Dmitri would still have to be careful.     Making his way to the fourteenth floor, Dmitri soon arrived at the air vent above the room that housed the amazing Belgian supercomputer. Cycling through the vision modes on his helmet again, he inspected the computer. It was genuine, which was fortunate. He had been concerned that the commandant might have learned this was one of his targets and passed that information on to the Belgians, who would have replaced it with a hologram or something. He then located all of the sensors in the room. There was no way to prevent an alarm. Stepping into the room even while cloaked would set them off; deactivating the sensors would also sound the alarm. Of course, by the time anyone responded to the alarm, he planned on being long gone. He didn't like the prospect of letting them know he was in the building, but he had no way around it.     Dmitri took note that, beneath its display case, the computer was resting on a pressure plate. If it should be removed, a containment field would trap the thief. Belgians used a containment field that measure ten feet by ten feet since that was the most energy efficient size that would still trap a human-sized target. He dropped into the room and broke the display case. He then locked on the acquisition beam as he backed away to a safe distance. The alarm was already sounding as he dematerialized the supercomputer onto his storage device. The containment field snapped into place, but Dmitri was already climbing back into the ductwork. By the time he made it to about the twentieth floor, the Belgians had flooded the upper level ducts with knockout gas. Of course, that wouldn't make it through his Spook Suit's helmet.     Now that they were alerted to his presence, the game became much more interesting. To further complicate things, the time machine was being kept on the thirtieth floor, which had its own system of air ducts that did not connect to the ones in the floors above or below. He had only a few options of how to even reach the machine, and he already knew that the Belgians had thought of them all. Phase two was beginning now. It was time for the bait and switch. *         *         *     The commandant was quite unhappy. Dmitri was in the building and had already stolen a computer. Without a doubt, his next target had to be that time machine. He wished that the Belgians had just moved it out of the building, but they insisted there was no safer place than the Department of the Interior. After all, no theft attempt had ever succeeded. When he heard the reports that someone had snapped the elevator cords, he got together several guards and staked out the elevator doors, convinced that Dmitri would try to climb up through the shaft. The moments were tense. Finally, the elevator doors whooshed open. Just in case Dmitri was fool enough to charge out everyone opened fire under orders to terminate with extreme prejudice. After everyone had calmed down, it was easy to notice that no one had come through the doors yet-not even a cloaked person.     The commandant paused as they staked out the open shaft. It was taking too long. Dmitri would not wait this long. Besides he must know the elevator shaft would still be covered-impossible to get through. "To the machine!" he ordered. "Everyone get to the machine!"     On the way to the machine, they passed a hole in the wall that opened to the outside of the building. It hadn't been there previously, and no one had heard the explosion over the din of weapon's fire. The commandant ran down the hallway ahead of the Belgian troops. Rounding the corner, they saw Dmitri sprinting to the time machine's room. He had already shot dead the guards in the hallway and doorway and he was almost inside when everyone opened fire with their lasers. From that range no one managed to get a good shot at him, and as soon as Dmitri was inside, he pulled the manual closing lever, causing the heavy metal door to the time machine's room to slowly begin creaking closed. Summoning all the energy he could put in his legs, the commandant sprinted as fast as he was able. *         *         *     The door closed with a resounding clang. "So good of you to make it," Dmitri said.     The commandant raised his rifle, but Dmitri kicked it from his hands. "I see that you want so much to witness my triumph. I think I'll let you," Dmitri said as he picked up the time machine and inspected it. How glorious. It was no longer an equation-it was a real object to be utilized for his gain.     "It doesn't work, you know," he reminded the assassin. "It will kill you."     "Then why are you so concerned?" Dmitri asked.     The commandant charged him, but Dmitri swiftly kicked him in the solar plexus. The commandant dropped to the ground like a stone, clutching his sore lungs. "Do not engage me in hand-to-hand combat," Dmitri said. "You don't have what it takes. Now, let's see…"     Dmitri fiddled around with the dial on the silvery spherical device. He wasn't sure what that might have accomplished. He then pressed a large, important-looking button. In a white flash of light, the victorious Russian disappeared. He didn't know what he was supposed to expect, but what happened he could never have predicted. He felt an intense heat, yet he remained undamaged. All he could see was the color red-a wonderful color, and perhaps it boded well. It seemed to be receding to a point behind him, but when he tried to turn his head to look, Dmitri found that he could not will his muscles to respond. As he wondered about what these things meant, he noticed that the heat was passing, but as the temperature kept dropping. It dropped to below freezing and kept plummeting. Even he considered it cold-and he had been through the infamous Russian winters! However, like the heat, the cold did not damage him. In a flash of light, Dmitri was forcefully thrown back into reality.