As their borrowed jeep roared back toward their temporary billet, Taylor asked Danny, "So what did Karl tell you about this afternoon's simulation? Any hints?"

Danny shook his head as he pulled into the parking lot. "Other than what you've already heard, not a whisper. I guess the idea is that if we're acting in our normal roles, we don't need any prep before they throw us in the deep end."

Alan chuckled as he flicked some of the water from his hair onto Taylor, to Taylor's annoyance. "Deep end, eh? Been there, done that already today... They don't make 'em much deeper than the ocean!"

Danny sighed in annoyance as he pulled up to their barracks. "Don't forget... they want us in combat dress for this one, but leave your kit. And they also said 'no phones'."

Now it was Taylor and Alan's turn to sigh in annoyance. "What do they think we're going to do, 'phone a friend' if we get stuck a little?" Alan scoffed.

Taylor flicked him with a towel and snarkily said, "That can't be it... They're recon, after all; surely they've sussed out that you don't have any friends, bud!"

Danny stifled a laugh as Alan squawked at Taylor and brandished his towel like a weapon, then forced his face back in crusty sergeant mode. "Stow all that! While we've been sunning ourselves, these other lads have been prepping all morning. Get your head back in the game or they'll run all over us!"

Alan and Taylor looked chastened as the scurried to clean up. For all of his blustering tone, though, Danny was secretly happy to see his team enjoying themselves so thoroughly after all they'd been through together. Danny snapped out of his reverie, suddenly fearing that his woolgathering would ironically be what made the team late.

-----

Alan whispered under his breath, "I've always wanted to tour beautiful Lithuania in Winter!" as Danny shot him a sharp look.

"Shut it, plonker!" Danny growled as Karl made eye contact from the podium, giving an almost imperceptible shake of his head as he plowed forward with his briefing.

"I know you all think you have already trained for the today's simulation, but I can promise you that you haven't. NATO command encouraged us to think outside the box for this game, and I think you'll see we decided to burn the box and dance on its ashes," Karl said, grinning mischievously. "I gave the adversary groups their marching orders earlier this morning, and I think you'll find the red team has something very special in mind today."

Danny noted that Frank and Billy seemed to have found something Karl said particularly amusing, which mildly irritated Danny. After their surprising domination of yesterday's field exercises, he was worried they would confirm everyone's suspicion that they their victory was a fluke. He wanted to show them yesterday was no accident... but couldn't escape the unnerving conclusion that there was something important that he didn't understand about today's simulation. Making matters worse, while he had been busy worrying he had just missed some of what Karl had said.

"...simulation takes place in beautiful downtown Vilnius two days before the joint Russian-Belorussian exercise kicks off across the border... RIGHT across the border, in fact. You'll be set up as a NATO Force Integration Unit under local Lithuanian OPCON, although you'll remain under normal National Command until that FIU has been formally stood up. My assistants are passing out your load sheets: you will be allowed 60kg per person, although teams keeping their kit under 50kg per person will get a bonus intel card later."

Danny took the sheet from Billy and pulled out his pencil, but when he looked more carefully at the sheet, he looked at Alan and Taylor with confusion. Alan called out to Karl in confusion, "OI! They gave us the wrong kit: this is all scandi shite!"

Karl looked like the cat that ate the canary. "Welcome to NATO, my friends! Sometimes you have to go to battle with the kit you have, not the kit you want. I promise you that will not be the last curveball you will face this fine day!"

Danny groaned in annoyance, and muttered, "And I'm guessing this is why they took our phones from us. A translation app would be too helpful. Right, do either of you have a secret Swedish backstory you've never mentioned before?" Alan looked ready to crack a joke, but Danny's withering glance quickly convinced him otherwise. Alan and Taylor both shook their heads. Danny sighed, then perked up.

"Actually, since this is a NATO exercise and we're all Team Blue here, I'm guessing we can just go an ask the Danes if they can read this gibberish. Actually, fan out and see if there's anyone in the other teams who can parse this thing." As Danny headed toward the Danes, he saw members of other teams doing the same and then caught Karl's eye again. Karl was smiling--which should have encouraged Danny--but something about his expression worried him. It seemed less like benevolent happiness and more like he was about to enjoy a tasty morsel.

-------

"What the actual fuck?" Alan said as his team contemplated the updated intel cards they had been handed by the marshals. "They're just letting the fuckers waltz in?"

"Well, they're definitely waltzing in," Danny said grimly. "And this intel says no one is shooting at them. So I guess that qualifies."

Taylor looked confused. "Wait, so are we supposed to break cover or call in airstrikes? Could all these comms be fake and designed to throw off our response?"

Danny shook his head, "Well, this command info card says we were able to authenticate with Brussels AND with London that the Lithuanians have signed a bilateral treaty with the Russians as of an hour ago and are allowing them to base troops in Vilnius. None of the border guards are shooting at them, either, so I guess this is the curveball Karl promised."

Taylor continued to mutter a string of profanity under his breath, then ranted quietly, "Hell of an simulation, Karl. How are we supposed to defend a country if the locals are just going to invite the bastards in and serve them tea? What was the point of all this? Why are we even here?"

Danny shrugged in irritation, but then looked thoughtful. "Wait, something definitely doesn't add up here. According to the scenario Karl described, the Lithuanians were the ones that requested more NATO assets be deployed because they were spooked by an exercise on their border... what changed to make them cozy up to them all of a sudden? Check our kit: do we have any secure way to communicate with London without relying on the local OPCON to relay it?"

As Taylor and Alan flipped through their handwritten notes about their kits, one of the American recon team members suddenly appeared, startling Danny.

"Soooooooo," the American Lieutenant began. "This is a heaping pile of bullshit Karl is serving up. I'm Stuart, by the way."

Danny nodded glumly and glanced over at Taylor and Alan, who were shaking their heads. "I'm Danny. Bullshit, indeed. Looks like our comms gear won't get us in touch with London without relying on the Lithuanians to relay it, and we're worried they've been compromised. Do you guys have anything that lets you communicate directly with the Pentagon?"

"Yep," Stuart said. "We checked with the marshals and they confirmed in this simulation our comms had enough juice to hit one of our BACN jets loitering over the Baltic. The marshals gave us updated intel cards, and whoever is playing as your NatCon folks in London apparently piggy-backed a message for your team, so I wanted to hand-deliver it. All intel updates uniformly report that the spooks were caught completely flat-footed by this move and all of NATO is losing their collective shit right now. Speaking of which, I'll be back in a moment: I'm apparently playing Santa Claus for the French, Danes, and Germans. The Poles and Finns apparently were allowed to establish comms directly, too, and tell me that their NatCon folks have gone ballistic. And another update says the Latvians and Estonians are mobilizing their reserves. It's a fucking tinder box!"

Danny took the message from Stuart and thanked him, asking, "It seems crazy that the Lithuanians would ever welcome the Russians back in. So does anyone have intel on why the Lithuanians folded without a fight?"

Stuart shrugged. "If your NatCon orders are anything like ours, guess who they're asking to figure that out?" Then Stuart walked over to the French team to pass along their orders.

Danny again glanced over at Karl, who was grinning as he conferred with the other exercise marshals. "What is he playing at?" he muttered to himself.

-----

"Our leadership has ordered us to redeploy across the Latvian border to monitor the situation from there," the Finnish Captain said. "They've apparently asked our government to help out since they weren't really expecting to have a Russian army sitting on their southern border."

"Well, you won't be able to see much from there," Stuart said mildly. "Don't they want to know what the Russians are doing here?"

The Finnish Captain shrugged. "I think they're hoping that one of your teams figures it out. If you fail, they'll probably send us back over the border as a last resort."

Danny sighed as the Poles reported they were being ordered to do the same, although it was unclear if their government might choose to react more forcefully to the new Russian threat on their border.

The Polish Lieutenant looked apologetic and irritated. "Apparently we're going to be supporting our forces surrounding Kaliningrad and see if the forces there are also looking to get cozy with any of their neighbors. We are also deploying units on the Lithuanian border, so we might take a more circuitous route as we head south. Sorry that we're not going to be more help here, but send us a message if you need any assistance."

As the marshals isolated the Polish and Finnish teams in separate rooms, the remaining NATO team leaders began to plot their strategy.

"Question number 1," Stuart began, "is whether our hosts are still on team Blue. My vote is that the Russians taking up permanent residence in Vilnius right now gives us our answer. The Pentagon agrees: Lithuania is now hostile territory for us, and we are no longer beholden to their operational control."

The French Captain shrugged, saying, "Our instructions were to continue to honor the Lithuanian OPCON, since they are sovereign. Our experts have examined their treaty and confirmed it is legally valid. As long as they do not renounce their Article 5 obligations, they are still an ally. Until such a time as that happens, there is nothing to be done."

Danny jumped in. "Regardless of the legal niceties, London believes that something is clearly wrong here. Even before the street protests broke out, they believed that the treaty did not represent the will of the Lithuanian people. Lithuania might still be an ally, but there is real concern that their government has somehow been corrupted by Russia. Our orders do not permit us to take any hostile action against our hosts, but we also no longer recognize their OPCON authority, and have been directed by our NatCon to find out exactly what is going on here."

-------

"Right, so we're agreed," Danny said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "The French and German teams will return to Vilnius, check in with the Lithuanian OPCON--reporting back to us regularly to make sure everything is still okay--and then high-tail it to their embassies. Once they're there they can hopefully work with the Chief of Station and whatever assets they can bring to bear to get a better picture of what's going in Vilnius. They can then have their embassies relay messages to the Americans, which will be passed to the BACN comms on our end, now that we've all been set up to use it. Then the British team will redeploy to keep an eye on the Baltic ports, the Americans will move to the northern border to support the Finns and Latvians from our side of the border, and the Danes will deploy to the south to provide advance warning for the Poles. All sorted?"

The teams all nodded as the French and German teams gathered their materials and flagged down a marshal. The remaining units watched them head to their isolation rooms and then Danny swiveled back to the group and asked, "Right, now that they're safely on their way, what is our real plan?"

Stuart laughed and slapped Danny on the back. "Why, go East, young man! Not that I don't trust our Franco-German friends, but until we know what the Russians have pulled in Vilnius to flip the government so quickly, I'm not going to trust anyone they come into contact with. The real action will be seeing exactly who and what the Russians are now bringing across the border."

Danny smiled broadly and nodded. "I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only paranoid one! Until this exercise is over, I don't think we should trust anyone other than our NatCon and the people currently in this room... and I have to say I'm not super trusting of the NatCon folks in London right now."

The team members all nodded approvingly, so Danny continued.

"Speaking of lack of trust, I was going to propose that we send the Danish team to discreetly surveil the French and Germans to see what really happens when they report in. Then we can compare that with what they tell us later. Then we can deploy the other teams to observe the incoming Russian convoys and aircraft. I want to know every single person or thing that crosses that border. Once we know who--and what--they're bringing in, I think we'll have a better idea how they're pulling this off."

The Danish captain nodded and said, "That works. If so, it probably makes sense for us to take on air cargo, since we'll presumably be in Vilnius after we follow the other teams to Lithuanian HQ. We'll set up an observation post near the air base and monitor ATC comms and observe the unloading process from there. Depending on the situation, we could try to infiltrate the base and take a closer look after hours, too."

Stuart stroked his chin and thought carefully. "I'm guessing the ground convoys have such a short hop across the border that they won't be stopping long enough to take a peek. I'll check with the Pentagon and see if there are any good spots on the Belorussian side where they are stopping for gas or loading so we can get a good look at what they're carrying. Actually... let me ask the simulation marshals something," Stuart said as he headed over to the nearest marshal.

Danny thought for a moment, then said, "I think we're going to switch into civvies and liberate a vehicle, and then follow one of the convoys to see what they unload, and where. Sounds good?"

Everyone nodded and Danny continued. "Right, since we're going to be isolated and we still don't know what we're fighting here, let's establish our authentication codes. Taylor, can you get on that and distribute them before we split up? And make sure to include a duress code we can use if compromised." Taylor nodded and began frantically scribbling on three sheets of paper. Danny came up and whispered, "Slow down and make sure they're legible. Not everyone can read your spidery scrawl as well as me." Taylor turned red, but slowed down his writing.

Stuart walked back up and said, "The simulation marshals have confirmed that we have a full satellite package in place now and have a 48-hour rewind and preliminary AI pattern analysis. They're putting together summary data of what it would show and will pass it out to us before we split into our isolation rooms. Speaking of separating, what should we use as our rally point and extraction if we somehow lose comms? I'd suggest the gas station closest to the Polish border on E67 in 72 hours, if there are no objections?"

"Agreed, but let's hope we resolve things before that," the Danish captain said ruefully.

-------

"This can't be right," Danny exclaimed as he leafed through the satellite run-down provided by the marshals. "This is entirely too much traffic. No one can move this much cargo that quickly... especially not the Russians. Even if they'd been planning this for weeks, I don't think they could actually execute like this with conscript drivers and their shitty breadvans."

Stuart made a sour face and shook his head. "Maybe they actually learned something from their epic traffic jam north of Kyiv? But agreed, I pressed the marshals on whether that was a typo and they insisted we should treat this as accurate data. This isn't a convoy: it's like a 75-mile-long snake moving at 60 miles per hour. And I don't understand the mix: if these numbers hold up, only about 15% of the cargo seems to be heavy military vehicles, and basically no tanks or motorized artillery. Maybe they're playing games with drones concealed in shipping containers or such, but this doesn't look anything like what I was expecting."

The Danish captain looked grim as he brandished the data from the radar tracks. "They canceled all commercial flights at Vilnius international for the next 24 hours and have been running a steady stream of heavy transports and chartered flights in all day. Looks like they topped out a couple hours after the announcement with 20 flights in a single hour. That's insane. I pressed the marshals on that since that would be crazy for a single runway in combat operations, and they insisted the Russians were managing it and the stats were fine. I have no idea what artisanal variety of mind-altering substances Karl and his team are imbibing, but that would be considered unsafe at a military airfield under combat conditions, much less a repurposed second-tier civilian facility."

Danny looked thoughtful as he looked up from the data. "So we know they're shipping a huge amount of something on the double, and we know what they are not shipping. Even though I'm sure our friends in Poland and Latvia will be delighted to hear they're not going to get the old 'armoured fist' treatment," Danny paused to glare as Alan stifled a giggle, then continued, "I don't think any of us will get any sleep until we determine exactly what they are shipping, and why. So let's get to it. Let's do regular simulated radio check-ins every 30 minutes--sooner if you have any big developments. Good luck, everyone, and keep your heads on a swivel."

"And don't get caught," Stuart concluded, waving one of the marshals over to tell him they were dispersing to their isolated work spaces. "See you gents when we win this thing!" he said, as a marshal led his team to their isolation.

"Godspeed, gents!" Danny exclaimed, as he, Taylor, and Alan headed to their own workspace. "First one to figure out what the Russkis are doing gets a free round on me later!" he yelled. The resulting cheers from the other teams were then silenced when the heavy door closed behind them. "Once again, we're on our own, boys," he said to Alan and Taylor.

---------

Alan quickly scanned the printed update the simulation marshal handed to him and called out, "Guys! They're saying the French and German teams reported in to Lithuanian HQ and were almost immediately loaded into a van. The Danish team followed them to the University Hospital, but didn't go inside. Get this: they say that the hospital was crawling with Lithuanian and Russian security forces, and there were dozens of Russian-badged trucks and buses unloading there."

Danny looked up from the summary he had received from the Americans regarding the convoy's disposition. "They're not alone! The satellite boffins are saying that in addition to army bases and government warehouses, the bulk of the convoy seems to be splitting up and sending multiple trucks and buses to every hospital in the country. They're setting up security cordons around each one and unloading a huge number of personnel and supplies."

Alan nodded and said, "The Danish team said security around the hospital was too crazy to try to infiltrate and tail the other teams so they decided to follow the emptied vehicles. It looks like they're heading to the army bases and Vilnius airport, not back to the border."

Danny was about to respond when both marshals' phones pinged. One of the simulation marshals cleared his throat and moved to the projector screen at the front of the room. "This is a global update: All teams will receive this info. The Lithuanian government and Belorussian and Russian Ambassador have held a joint press conference to announce a joint effort to deal with a major health crisis. Russian scientists have detected and diagnosed an engineered bioweapon that was released by terrorists in Belorussia. The weapon is not airborne or aerosolized, but spreads by touch or contaminated surfaces. Lithuanian scientists and medical personnel have detected the presence of the disease in areas bordering Belorussia and now in Vilnius. Russian scientists have developed an inoculation for the disease, which was apparently based on the Ebola virus and has a 70% mortality rate among those infected, even with standard-of-care treatment. Their inoculation apparently cuts that to 1% if they catch it before the wet stage. The Lithuanian government has signed a bilateral agreement and emergency declaration to enable Russian assistance in inoculating key personnel and the general population as quickly as possible. Details of the disease and its treatment will be shared with the CDC and WHO. All reservists and medical personnel should report to duty immediately for screening and inoculation. All ports and borders are officially closed, other than authorized medical relief efforts. Full details about the disease and vaccine are posted in a variety of languages on the Lithuanian government site. Further updates will be issued soon."

Alan gave a low whistle and shook his head. "Well, that explains a lot. I'm glad this is just a simulation: Ebola is scary as Hell, even without some crazy person modifying it to make it worse."

Danny nodded. "It does fit things pretty well, like why the Lithuanians cosied up to the Russians and why they've been rushing so many medical supplies and personnel to all of the hospitals. And also why the French and German squads went to the hospitals. I'm sending messages to the other teams and also to NatCon in London to see what they say we should do now. Taylor: check the website to see what the symptoms and incubation period are: I'm guessing we haven't been in-country long enough to be symptomatic, but let's find out our risk. Since the French and German teams have seen the inside of a hospital where the Russians are deployed, Alan-- send them a message to ask what they saw inside. Marshals: please let us know if any of our team members start to experience any symptoms."

As his team sprang into action, Danny muttered to himself, "Ebola, my ass. Pull the other one, Karl...it's got bells on."

----

Danny put down the update he was reading and launched right into his briefing. "Right, so this intel card says the CIA has confirmed the bioweapon signature precisely matches a Russian-engineered virus. They speculate this explains both their eagerness to help and their rapid development of the vaccine: they made the thing in the first place and their poor security allowed the terrorists to get their hands on it. Alan, what did we hear from the French and German squads?"

Alan looked up at Taylor and Danny, saying "Pretty much what you'd expect. Their message says they were told about the virus and vaccine, although they were asked not to communicate that before the public was notified. When they got to the hospital they were given priority vaccination. Apparently the hospital was testing and moving out less severe patients to outpatient facilities and setting up entire floors for isolation. The teams say they already had about a dozen patients that seemed symptomatic and were being isolated. Oh, and they reported that the streets had emptied out almost completely by the time they hit the road for their embassies. Apparently Ebola really puts a damper on crowded protests!"

Taylor grunted in agreement. "No, even regular Ebola is a bad 'un, but this thing is an absolute piece of goods. The early 'dry' symptoms are enough like the flu that no one takes them seriously, but the 'wet' symptoms hit like a freight train. Apparently the Russians tweaked their version to hit the kidney and liver a lot harder than base Ebola, and the bleeding is next level. Regular antivirals can't touch it, and managing symptoms is basically impossible, even with healthy adults. We haven't even been in-country long enough for the dry symptoms to start showing up, but the wet stuff can hit as soon as four days after the first dry symptoms. The CDC analysis of the vaccine concluded it was custom-made to knock down this specific variant--almost like a bioweapon that they wanted to be able to control, funny enough--and they say they are working with pharmaceutical companies to start mass-producing it worldwide. They're worried about genetic drift and mutation if it spreads to too many people, so they argue that it's vital to try to isolate and control this while it's regional."

Danny nodded. "I've heard from the other teams, including the Finns and Poles: They both got the update before they reached the borders, which have now been sealed from both sides. They've been ordered by their NatCon to report to the nearest hospitals for inoculation ASAP, as have the Danes."

Alan nodded, but then cocked his head. "Umm, are you leaving out a couple of key countries there, mate? Did the Americans not get updated orders? And what did London say?"

Danny nodded. "London noted that it would be prudent for us to get the inoculation should any symptoms appear. And the Americans told Stuart's folks something similar. But..." Danny trailed off.

"But, what?" Taylor asked impatiently. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Stuart and I both argued that we should do a little more due diligence before we head in. We think there's still something odd about all this, and our governments agree. The timeline still seems fishy to us, and the CDC, in particular, concluded it's very unlikely that the Russians could have prepared this many doses of the vaccine this quickly without anyone noticing. They also got their hackles up about Lithuania not notifying them the moment they first heard about the infections. Signing a treaty with the Russians without even breathing a word of all this to NATO still rubs London and DC wrong, too." Danny continued.

Alan looked confused and shook his head. "I mean if it was their bioweapon, wouldn't they have built up stockpiles of the vaccine?"

Danny nodded. "Yes, it's surprising that they had built up such a stockpile, but on the other hand they've had decades to prepare, so it's unclear. It's also possible that the Russians were doing damage control to try to hide their involvement, and the Lithuanians probably had to agree to their terms to get quick access to the vaccine. I can see how the politicians might agree that this was the best way to handle it, especially if the Lithuanians help keep obscure the Russians' role in creating this monster."

Taylor looked at Danny skeptically, saying, "Chum, I recognize your 'I don't believe you' voice. What's got your knickers in a twist?"

Danny looked thoughtful for a moment. "Honestly, part of it is how they've been treating NATO. The Russians were ideally prepared to help out here, but the briefing cards say the Lithuanians aren't allowing any other country to send any support teams or personnel. Especially after COVID, there are a ton of specialized teams and portable equipment to help set up isolation and treatment of high-risk cases, but they only seem to be letting in the Russian equivalents. And then there's the question of why we are even here? If the Lithuanian government knew the real reason why the Russians were deploying so many troops and moving so much equipment near the border, why did they invite us in? I know one hand sometimes doesn't know what the other hand is doing, but this is a small country with a competent leadership. Something just doesn't add up."

Alan laughed quietly. "Plus, I doubt Karl would wind us up so much about this being 'outside the box' if it was just COVID again in drag."

Danny looked nervously at the simulation marshals, whose ears had perked up when Alan mentioned Karl's name. "Shut it. We can only talk about evidence that's in-simulation, Alan... but you are probably right. Something about this explanation is ropey. Now the question is what are we going to do about it?"

-------

As Danny pored over the schematic of the warehouse they were monitoring, Taylor asked him, "What are the other teams reporting now?"

Danny looked distracted for a moment, then turned to Taylor and quickly answered, "The Poles and Finns report that they have been vaccinated and were tasked by Lithuanian OPCON to help with security at those hospitals. The French and Germans report they are helping transport the vaccine to their embassies. I haven't heard any updates from the Danes, and the Americans are apparently having a hard time crossing the border because of the increased security and the absence of civilian traffic to use as cover. They're trying to find a better place to cross, but so far things have been locked tighter than a drum. Stuart reports they might to bail and rejoin us soon. Oh, and Lithuanians OPCON is starting to question the explanations our NatCons have given for the delay in our inoculations. Apparently they're pressing on the subject and are not amused."

Alan laughed. "There's 3 million Lithuanians to inoculate and God knows how many Russians tromping around, but they're worried about the six of us? Priorities!"

Danny laughed, too, but then turned serious. "I can sympathize with not wanting a bunch of foreign soldiers interfering with their crisis response. Which is why we need to keep under their radar for as long as possible... at least until we figure out what's wrong with this picture," Danny said, gesturing to the warehouse floorplan.

Taylor sidled up next to Danny, briefly resting his head on Danny's shoulder as he stared at the plans before suddenly straightening up. "Wait, can you flip to the version showing the HVAC system?"

Danny flipped through the pages until Taylor said "Stop!" and studied the page carefully. "That doesn't make sense. Where is the electrical diagram?"

Danny flipped to that page and was surprised when Taylor snorted. "Can you get a message to the Pentagon to ask them to have their birds do an infrared scan of all of the warehouses and convoys ASAP?"

Danny nodded and began to compose the message. Alan put down the sheets he was studying as Danny passed the messages to the simulation marshals and stared at Taylor intently. "All right. Sing," he said simply.

Taylor took a moment to bask in their attention, then launched into his explanation. "The message packet we got from the CDC used the vaccine specs the Russians provided to generate a rough estimate of what it would take to set up the factories and distribution for America. In that, they noted in that was that the vaccine--like most MRNA vaccines--would require extreme refrigeration. They specced it at -60C degrees for storage, although they could go to 5C for a couple weeks before use. So based on that, why are they storing tons of vaccines in a warehouse that..."

"...has no refrigeration," Danny finished. "Oy, how did I miss that? And I take it the vaccine goes bad if refrigeration isn't maintained?"

Taylor nodded. "CDC said room temps would render it ineffective in less than an hour."

Danny waved one of the simulation marshals over as he composed another message for Stuart's team briefing them on the update. "Assuming this checks out, we're going to need to break into this warehouse and see exactly what our Russian friends have been bringing in."

------

Karl looked around the room at the Red team with disappointment. "You all saw the specs on the vaccine you were supposedly delivering. Didn't anyone think about specifying the appropriate storage for that?"

The leader of the Canadian team raised his hand meekly. "Out with it, Bob." Karl barked.

Bob replied, "We did consider using refrigerated trucks and storage units, but we couldn't scale rapidly enough to fulfill the target date you gave us for 75% sociopolitical subversion. We did check the recommended specs for the control modules we were secretly shipping and they were nowhere near the vaccine's: Temperatures that cold would have damaged..."

Karl gave Bob a sharp look and he immediately trailed off.

"Actually," Karl announced. Since we're going to be in a bit of a lull and the French, German, Polish, and Finnish teams will just be relaying comms at this point and would just be twiddling their thumbs, this would actually be a good time for those team members to step out and get their mandatory Zika screening instead of doing it this evening as scheduled. They've set up a trailer outside and it should just take a few minutes, and then you all could have more time this evening to hit the town or relax. Frank, could you lead the way? We'll make sure to let you know anything new the remaining Blue team members come up with when you get back. The base commander appreciates your help with this!"

Once Frank and the teams being screened had left, Karl turned to the remaining red team members with his eyes blazing bright blue and launched into them. "I'm grateful this is just a simulation. If we had been executing like this in real life, this kind of screw-up could have led to our annihilation by the humans. If we all don't learn to manage our human hosts better, this invasion will fail. I know that some of you are new hatchlings learning to manage your first hosts, but a lot of you are veterans of multiple invasions. You need to motivate and guide your host to use their brain to serve your ends, not suppress all of their independent thoughts or try to do all their thinking for them. Bob, your host apparently understood the issue with the refrigeration, but you didn't think to prompt your host to help come up with a solution or even share the issue with the rest of the red team and try to find a better solution?"

Bob's own eyes flared blue as he stammered defensively, "But you ordered us to match the specifications of our storage and transport to match what we would be using if we were transporting broodmates. The specifications we were provided for the fake vaccine would kill our brethren!"

Karl nodded curtly, but then continued hammering away at Bob. "That's correct. We would never want to transport our brethren at fatal temperatures. But can anyone else think of a better solution?"

The group sat silently for a moment as Karl glared at them, before he continued. "I know firsthand how creative and resourceful this group of humans has been. If your grip on their thinking is so tight that you are not harnessing their creativity to answer this question, you are harming the Brood's chances of enslaving humanity. Make their minds work for you!"

At the back of the room, a hand was tentatively raised. "Umm," a member of the simulation's intel team said quietly. "My host suggests that we should have considered doctoring the vaccine specs we released so that they matched the specs for optimum Brood transport."

Karl slowly clapped and nodded at the French team as they returned. "Good job, Calvin. That would work, at least for a few days, and our British friends would presumably have been getting their vital shots right now instead of breaking into a warehouse filled with clear evidence of our plot. But that horse is out of the barn and we need to talk about how to contain the situation. We only know about their actions because of our simulation marshals keeping me informed. But if you knew you had lost track of them and realized you were vulnerable to discovery, how would you handle it?"

One of the newly-returned French team members raised his hand as his eyes began to glow blue. "It doesn't matter what they learn if no one ever finds out about it. If we cut off their connection to the outside world, we can make them rely on us to relay their comms."

Karl nodded enthusiastically. "Great idea, newbie! So how would you suggest doing that?"

Bob raised his hand assertively and called out, "Send some jets from Chkalovsk in Kaliningrad to scare off the BACN jet. Or if that fails, jam the channel: the scandi comms gear they are using is pretty old and vulnerable to basic countermeasures."

Karl nodded approvingly. "Great! Now you're using both your brains!"

-----

"So what the fuck are these?" Alan said, referring to the pictures the marshal had provided of the warehouse crate contents. The light gray electronic devices had adhesive patches and electrical contacts running up their centers, with joints at regular intervals up the length of the device. The device spread out at the top into a soft-edged organic T shape. In another picture, the reverse side of the unit was smooth and featureless, but echoing the general shape of the opposite side.

"Sure as fuck isn't a frozen vaccine!" Taylor said with irritation. "The Lithuanians have been lying to us!"

Danny was composing a terse message to pass off to the marshals, but paused for a moment. "Oh balls," he said shaking his head. "If there's no vaccine, then why did our French and German friends message us they'd received it?"

Alan thought for a second, then said, "Well, it's not like you could actually tell the difference if they filled up a syringe with sea water. Maybe they just believed the Russians who told them they had?"

Danny shook his head, deep in thought. "But what purpose would that serve? The Russians aren't sending literal tons of these things into Lithuania just for their amusement. In fact, assuming all the warehouses are filled with these things, it's looking like the entire terrorist attack and outbreak might be fake. And for them to be pulling this off, they need to have the cooperation of the Lithuanian government and all of the doctors and staff at those hospitals. There isn't enough money in the world to make that many people cooperate with the Russians on something like this. They would never go for that!" Danny said emphatically.

Alan continued silently staring at the pictures of the devices, then quietly asked, "Do you know what these remind me of?"

Danny and Taylor shook their heads and Alan continued. "The center spine of this thing reminds me of... well, a spine. And the device overall... did either of you ever watch a cheesy movie called The Puppet Masters?" Again, Danny and Taylor shook their heads, so Alan continued. "In that movie, parasitic alien invaders landed in Iowa and started an invasion. The aliens would mount onto the human's back and then took over their body through their nervous system. And these devices look a lot like that."

"That's crazy. There's no way..." Danny trailed off. "Hmmm," he said quietly. "I guess it doesn't matter if it really exists. It just matters whether Karl might assume it exists for the purposes of this simulation. He did warn us he was going to be thinking outside the box on this one, and having the Russians invent and deploy mind control technology would be, uh, mind-blowing, I guess!"

Taylor rolled his eyes skeptically. "So you think the Russians deploying secret mind control tech is more likely than them just incompetently losing containment on a bioweapon they built? You need to take that old advice about 'hearing hoofbeats and not thinking zebras!'"

Danny knitted his brow as he continued to ruminate. "I can't imagine the Russians pulling this off in real life, either, but when you step back and assume it might be possible for the simulation we're in, it actually makes some sense. It explains why the Lithuanian government might flip so quickly, and how they could get their doctors and hospital staff to cooperate with a pretty clear lie about the vaccines and bioweapon. They seized control of the hospitals first, and now their mind-controlled staff are going to use the devices on anyone coming in for their vaccination. In fact... oh."

"What?" Taylor asked with alarm.

Danny squeezed his eyes shut in annoyance and burst out, "Goddammit! The other recon teams... they've all reported for vaccination now, other than the Danish and American groups. If I'm right..."

"Then they're now working for the enemy in this simulation, too. Christ, we've got to warn the others and let the rest of NATO know what they're dealing with!" Alan said with alarm.

Danny nodded and finished editing his first message and gestured for the simulation marshal to pick it up as he worked on the next one.

The marshal looked at the message and then at his phone. "Delivery failure for the London message," he said calmly and handed it back to Danny.

"What do you mean delivery failure? Our comms gear has been working fine!" Danny exclaimed.

"Not anymore," the marshal responded blandly. "Your relay has gone offline."

"Fuck!" Danny said, as he banged his head on the table. "And if they've turned the French and German teams and sent them to their embassies, we can't trust them to relay to London, either."

Taylor looked distressed, then said, "They probably have eyes on the internet cafes, but how about we just buy a burner phone or pay someone to borrow theirs?"

Danny pulled up a load sheet and handed it to Taylor. "Remember we left our wallets, IDs, and credit cards back at HQ and didn't pack any cash. If you want to try that strategy, we'll need to steal it not buy it, and that carries its own set of risks. Maybe we should just head straight to the Polish border and cross there so..."

The marshal walked up and said, "Delivery success. Reply received," and handed it to Danny, who looked confused. "Ah!" he said joyfully. "Our message to Stuart's team made it. They couldn't make it through the border, so they were heading back to Vilnius and are nearby. Apparently they didn't understand our message, though. Here, send this to them ASAP," Danny said, handing the marshal an updated message.

A few minutes later, the simulation marshal returned with another reply. "He replied 'RU nuts?' He spelled it that way. He also asked 'Meet?'"

Danny thought for a minute. Then he began composing another reply as the marshal looked at his watch and sighed.

-------

As Stuart and his team boisterously re-entered the conference room, he called out "'Ello, loves! What's all this about then, guvnah!" and chortled to himself.

Danny rolled his eyes and called out, "Don't make us regret calling you guys! We're in the shite for sure!"

Stuart sighed and sat down next to Danny, saying, "Just slow your roll, sci-fi boy. Why don't you walk me through this coked-up fantasy you've concocted. Make sure you provide sufficient ironclad evidence that I won't be given a mandatory psych consult the moment I mention any of this to the higher ups. Start from where we split up and tell me everything you've done since then. Then we can pass along a sane, well-supported, definitely not career-ending version of the story to the American embassy, who can then relay it to your employers and the rest of NATO."

Taylor looked pained as he made eye contact with Danny. Danny shook his head and muttered, "Can't be helped. FINE!" he continued. "The warehouse and the devices we stole are the strongest evidence, but I will give you the two-minute version of the grand saga that preceded that so you can help me make all this sound more sane when you report it to DC."

Taylor interrupted, "You don't really need me for this... can I make a quick trip to the loo?"

"Good idea," Stuart said, gesturing to his teammates. "Let's have the adults work out the grand strategy, while our underlings take care of basic needs like food, shelter, and waste disposal. Having a cast-iron bladder is not the only qualification for advancement in this man's army, but it does rank pretty highly for us."

Taylor gave a quick, apologetic dance and scurried off to the bathroom as Stuart's team talked with the simulation marshal.

"Can you guys check with Karl to see if he can rustle up some genuine Lithuanian delicacies for us in the meantime? This thing has been dragging on forever and I'm starving," Stuart yelled to the marshals. The bored-looking marshal managed to look even more tired of life as he started typing in his phone.

"Actually," Danny interjected. "It's 1600. That sounds like a proper time for tea and biscuits, if we're going to be asking Karl to indulge us."

One of the simulation marshals nodded and left the room as the bored marshal continued flipping through items on his phone.

---------

Some time later, the helpful marshal returned along with Taylor and Stuart's men. Taylor was using a pair of oven mitts to carry an elaborately-styled samovar, while Stuart's men were carrying soda cans and a grocery bag full of various cookies.

"Never let it be said that Karl is not resourceful. And if anyone sees an angry admiral looking for pilfered equipment or food, just avoid eye contact," Taylor said with a twinkle in his eye. "I didn't trust these guys to manage a proper brew, so I did it myself!"

"Thanks!" Danny said as he and Alan helped themselves using the surprisingly delicate porcelain cups Taylor handed them from the depths of the grocery bag. "That's actually quite good--I don't think I've had a proper cuppa since we arrived on these tea-forsaken shores! Stuart, you should indulge in a bit of culture instead of rotting your teeth on that soda!"

Stuart made a bleargh face as he popped open his Coke can. "You can keep your reedy weed water. I'd rather drink bong residue. Coca cola has won more than one war for us yanks!"

Danny shook his head as he continued to make edits to the message they were going to send to the embassy. "Some people just don't seem to be able to use their whole brain," he said disparagingly. "Now stop babbling about your brown sugar water and help me finish editing this message. Who knows how long it will take the red team to find us, and I don't want to contemplate how we'll handle it if someone starts shooting at us."

"Actually," Karl said placatingly from the doorway to the conference room, "that won't be a problem."

Danny and Alan's heads whipped toward the door in surprise. "Wait, what do you mean," Danny asked.

Karl didn't answer, but turned to stare at Taylor, who sheepishly walked over to Danny and handed him a note that had been passed to the simulation marshal earlier.

Danny's face fell as he read the first note, which said, We will follow the smaller British soldier to the bathroom, surprise and subdue him, and place a mind control device on him without alerting his teammates.

Taylor then apologetically handed over a second marshal note--this time written in his own spidery handwriting--that said, I will prepare drugged tea for my teammates so that they will be subdued and have mind control devices placed on them.

As Danny and Alan continued to look shocked, Karl walked over to the table and beamed at them. "If it's any consolation, even though this was a complete victory for the red team, your team lasted the longest of any of the blue team members. So even though you lost, you were the best of the losers!"

"But wait," Danny said in confusion, "How did they get Stuart's team?"

"Ugh," Stuart said with annoyance. "The Danish team...they ran into the German team in Vilnius and got flipped. Then they contacted us and brought along the Germans to get the jump on us. If you hadn't reached out to us, we were planning on doing the same to you."

"So that's it? Lithuania will now be controlled by Russian-loving zombies and NATO won't intervene?" Alan asked, his disappointment clear on his face.

Karl nodded amiably. "That's right. The Russians will use their devices to consolidate their control of Lithuania, using the pretext of the bioweapon to spread their 'treatment' more widely. In the meantime, you will help undo all the damage and suspicion you cast as you provide iron-clad evidence that the Russians were acting out of virtue most pure."

Danny groaned and held his head in his hands. "I guess the positive spin on all this is that we were on the winning team after all. It just wasn't the team you assigned us to!"

Karl laughed, "That's the kind of clever logic that I'd expect from someone who lost less badly than most. Kudos to you! You should eat more cookies and savor your defea-tory!"

Danny sighed heavily and gently thumped his head repeatedly on the table top.

Taylor grabbed Danny by the shoulder and whispered quietly, "Sorry for betraying you. But I'll try to find a way to make it up to you later," and scurried off for more cookies. Danny rolled his head so he could watch Taylor as he laughed and grabbed another cookie.

"Well," he thought to himself as he glumly pushed a chocolate chip cookie into his mouth, "All's fair in love and war...I guess there are definitely worse consolation prizes!"

-------

Several hours later, Danny sighed as he re-read Gary's most recent text and looked at the stone wall again. "It's just courteous for the dead drop stone to be at least a little distinctive, Gary," he muttered to himself.

Finally, one of the stones came loose and Danny pulled out a tightly-rolled paper before replacing the stone. He unrolled it and used his phone to illuminate it. "Five blocks south; talk to the blue dog." Danny rolled his eyes and walked back to his jeep. "Goddamn Gary is funnin' with me," he muttered.

-------

As Danny stood on the sidewalk, passers-by stared as he continued his conversation with the cartoonish blue mascot outside the restaurant. "Seriously, Gary. You're off your nut. You're the one who wanted to meet with me, as you might recall. It's been a long day, so enough with the games."

Gary's voice squawked out of the mascot. "Yes, I did want to meet with you, but only you. The games are just to make sure that you are alone. And then later on we'll make sure that you're still you. Okay, everyone agreed that he's not being tailed?" Danny could hear indistinct voices through the speaker and then. "Danny, head to 6th and Park to the Parkade lot. Park in level B2 in space 314. Leave all electronics in the glovebox. Your next instructions will be under the windshield wiper of the blue Honda Accord parked to your right."

"Gary..." Danny said wearily. "You definitely owe me a pint for this."

------

Nearly 30 minutes later, Danny walked down the deserted hallway of a nondescript apartment complex and knocked on the door of the specified apartment. To his surprise, Gary quickly whipped open the door across the hall and pulled Danny inside the foil-encased entryway, then immediately pointed a camera and a gun in his face.

Danny tried to suppress the impulse to disarm Gary as he growled, "What the fuck are you doing, Gary? You're acting bonkers, and acting bonkers while holding a gun at me is not a good move."

Gary carefully put the camera down on a table and pulled out a mushroom-shaped wand from his front pocket. "Patience, Danny. This will just take a minute. We just need to make sure you're you. So can you be helpful one last time and please pull up your shirt?"

Danny's eyes bugged out at the request and he was about to protest, but Gary insistently flicked the barrel of the pistol up. Danny sighed and slowly pulled up his shirt. "Just in back," Gary clarified.

As Danny turned away, he could hear Gary approaching and felt him slide the device up and down his spine several times and said, "Okay, you can turn around and tuck in your shirt while we wait for the analysis."

After another moment, a tinny voice on Gary's phone called out "He looks clean" and Gary put away his pistol.

Danny was taken aback as Gary suddenly embraced him in a forceful hug. "It's great to see you again, Danny! It's been too long."

Danny still struggled to understand what was going on, and looked around the apartment in confusion. "It's good to see you again, too, Gary. Now would you please tell me what the bloody hell is going on?"

---------

As Gary and his online co-conspirators continued their bizarre tale, Danny paused to consider that only a couple days earlier he would have dismissed the whole thing. But as he listened further, he grudgingly admitted that Gary seemed lucid, and his fellow conspirators seemed surprisingly rational.

Danny had to admit that the documents and patterns they had observed were strange at best, and ominous when added together. Something odd definitely seemed to be going on, even if Danny couldn't accept their explanation.

"We realize how crazy all this sounds," Gary said, "and we've been trying our best to get evidence that will prove what's going on, but the proof keeps slipping between our fingers. And every time we have tried to trust someone with authority or real power, we've been burned. So when we heard your team was coming to town, we wanted to warn you... and recruit you."

"Wait, why me?" Danny asked. "I'm just a sergeant and don't really have any real power or authority. Even if I were convinced, what do you think I could do to help your cause?"

Gary laughed. "Don't sell yourself short, Danny. You might not have much in terms of rank or privilege, but you do have influence. You have served with a lot of people who know and trust your judgment. They will be a lot more likely to believe our story if you vouch for it. And as far as we can tell, the threat has really been concentrated on the U.S. so far, so foreign governments might be our best bet to really get some traction for the resistance."

Danny shook his head vigorously. "But you have similar credibility, Gary. Can't you have Karl and your team help back you up on..."

Gary tersely interrupted, saying quietly, "Karl is working for them now. So are Frank and Billy. I was the only one to get away in time."

Danny's face registered his shock. "Karl is working with them? That's insane! He's the one who flew us in for this exercise. My team has been cheek-and-jowl with him for two days and he hasn't done a single thing that I can think of that seems weird or out of the ordinary--for Karl, at least. And if you really think they are using these fake disease screenings to spread their control, why did Karl back my team when we refused to be screened?"

One of the online participants yelled angrily, "We know he's working for them because he lied to us and gave us misinformation! Don't trust him!"

Gary motioned for the yelling man to calm down, and continued, "My anonymous friend is right. Not only is Karl helping them, based on documents we've acquired he seems to be one of their leaders. I've gotten footage of him ordering generals around like they were raw recruits, and his name is on a lot of the mysterious redeployments we've seen. Actually, didn't it seem odd to you that Karl would have enough sway to put together this huge, big-budget conference himself? He's only a captain, but was totally running a massive, expensive multi-nation exercise stretching across four military facilities with basically no oversight?"

Danny paused to consider what they'd said. "Yeahhh. Now that you mention it, it is pretty odd that Karl seems to be running the entire show. But why? What's his game? What sense does it make to drag us across literal oceans and continents to get here and then not infect us?"

Gary shrugged. "We honestly don't know. Thanks to access we have acquired to their data systems, we do know that almost all of the other visiting squads have now undergone their 'screening' and are presumably infected. We were hoping that you might have some insight into that, in fact. At least one member of this fine group concluded it was because they were going to use you as bait to get to us and roll up our little resistance cell. I'm hoping it wasn't that."

Danny said wryly, "Well, you'd certainly be the first to know if that was it. I'm not sure what might explain it. Other than our performance in the conference, I don't think there's been anything especially noteworthy about..."

Gary interrupted, "What do you mean? Was something different about your performance in the exercises or simulations?"

Danny paused to consider, saying, "Possibly? We did really well in the initial field exercise, and after that Karl changed our assignment. We had been scheduled for a morning briefing for the red team the second day and he reassigned us to the blue team and sent us to the beach, instead."

One of the online participants chimed in, "Based on the assignments and records we accessed, it looks like every squad that attended that briefing was infected immediately after, so presumably you would have been, too?"

"I don't know. Karl knew that we refused the screening once already this trip... maybe he didn't want us causing trouble?" Danny asked.

Gary shook his head. "I think there's more to it than that. We checked and it looks like all of the red team squads were infected before the exercise started, but none of the blue team members were."

Danny looked thoughtful. "How much were you able to find out about the content of this afternoon's exercise?"

Gary shook his head. "Karl kept the exercise details really close to his vest. We couldn't find any of it online and think he might have prepared stuff using old-school analog formats. We could only tell who was participating and when they'd send any orders out from the exercise, including the screening orders for teams mid-game. They sent the German and French teams in one wave, then the Polish and Finnish ones, then the Danish and American team. Oh, and apparently someone ordered tea and cookies at one point?"

Danny smiled grimly. "Karl was playing for keeps, apparently. He set it up so we were defending against a secret invasion of mind-controllers, and the mind-controlling Russians took control of each of the teams in the order in which they were screened. Karl said it was a science fiction premise, but I think it was all too real: he wanted to understand how uncontrolled humans might try to fight the real invasion."

Gary whistled, but then said suspiciously, "But wait, didn't your team also lose?"

Danny nodded. "We were the last to fall, so the exercise ended immediately after that. So that means by that time, we were the only people in that entire building who weren't infected? That's so creepy."

Gary looked pained, then continued. "Believe me when I say I know exactly how you feel. They took my entire team from me, and now they want to take my planet. Well, we're not going to make it easy for them."

Danny looked somber, but asked, "Let's say I believe you. Tell me what I might be able to do to help."

-------

As Danny wearily trudged through the nearly-empty parking garage, he contemplated what he would do next. First off, he'd have to discreetly warn Alan and Taylor. Then they could hopefully watch each others' backs until they were safely home again. Danny shuddered as he thought about what possible version of this story he could tell and to whom... without getting himself sectioned.

"They would diagnose me as paranoid... and they'd be right!" Danny thought as he nervously scanned the parking garage for any sign of life. "Even paranoid people sometimes have people--or aliens, I guess--out to get them!" he thought to himself.

Danny felt relief as his borrowed jeep finally came into view. As he approached it, he slowly arced around to make sure no one was anywhere near it. As he hurriedly unlocked and entered the car, he had a momentary fear that someone was concealed in the back seat, but confirmed it was empty as he reached around to fasten his seat belt.

As Danny adjusted his mirror and prepared to leave the parking garage, he heard a suspicious rustling noise. Before he could react, though, he felt a sudden stinging sensation on the back of his neck and felt his body seize up and become completely rigid and disconnected.

Danny struggled to regain control of his body, but felt more and more of his thoughts being walled off and suppressed by an electric presence that encircled his mind and began spreading throughout his body. He could barely feel the slimy texture of the alien as it languidly extended itself down his spine and rooted itself more firmly. As a bright light began to burn and glow brighter and brighter in Danny's mind, he dimly thought, "Bollocks. Twice in one day!" before his remaining free will was blasted away by the light.

Danny then relaxed and stretched as his new master began to explore his host's body. When a face suddenly appeared in the rear-view mirror, Danny smiled.

"I hope you don't mind that Karl gave me a spare key to his jeep!" Invisitor said cheerfully from the back seat.

Danny smiled at the now-visible superhero and nodded. "Karl is thoughtful and generous to a fault! I'm just glad I will get a chance share his generosity with my friends and colleagues very soon!"