Free Drifter's War by William C. Dietz

while easing the stick forward. Down, down, bump. The smuggler hurried to secure the platform's systems and kill power.
    Then, with everything shut down, Lando motioned Melissa out of her hidey-hole. Both took a look around. Outside of the PCV and the boxes they were alone. The smuggler shifted his weight to the right as the robo-hauler accelerated into a well-banked curve.
    "Flyer Three, Flyer Three, this is Roller One. Where the hell are you, over?"
    Careful not to activate the mike, Lando removed the commo helmet and peeked out the door. The nearest car was a mile back. A bridge came up and Lando tossed the helmet out and over the side. A locator beacon seemed unlikely. After all, why ask Flyer Three for positions if they knew where he was? Still, it pays to be careful.
    Lando ducked back inside the trailer, looked for the door, and pulled it down. It banged into place. The darkness was complete.
    "I don't like this." Melissa's voice had a slight quaver to it.
    "Me either," Lando agreed. "Hold on for a second."
    It actually took a couple of minutes to fumble his way across the trailer, fall down as the robo-hauler took an unexpected curve, and find the PCV.
    After that it was a relatively simple matter to activate the antigrav platform's running lights. The aircraft's power pak would eventually run down, but so what? They couldn't use it again. Within the next hour or two a description of the PCV would appear on every terminal in the land.
    And that raised an interesting question: Where was the robo-hauler headed anyway? And how did that match his plans?
    Maybe the cargo would provide some sort of hint. Lando went forward to inspect the boxes. They were tan and looked almost white in the glare of the PCV's single headlight. The smuggler's shadow arrived before he did and obscured the view. He moved sideways to get out of the way.
    The boxes were rectangular in shape and extremely straightforward. Each one had the name "Mobar Industries" stenciled across its side.
    Each container had a computer-generated invoice pasted to its side as well, and while most of the pertinent information was safeguarded by indecipherable bar codes, the addresses were printed in standard.
    The first one Lando examined was addressed to: "Solano Plastics, Grid 54, Cross Street G, Brisco City."
    A quick survey followed during which the smuggler learned that while the boxes were addressed to a wide variety of companies each and every one of them was located somewhere in Brisco City.
    It was a major break. All they had to do was stay in the trailer, wait for it to arrive in Brisco City, and hot foot it to the spaceport. The tender would be covered… but he'd find something.
    Lando turned toward the rear of the truck. "Hey, Mel. Good news."
    No answer.
    The smuggler frowned, walked toward the back, and found Melissa curled up against a wall. She was sound asleep. He smiled, tucked his jacket around her, and sat down. The news could wait. Lando leaned against the wall, yawned, yawned again, and fell asleep.

7
    Lando was thrown sideways as the robo-hauler came to a sudden halt.
    Melissa sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Pik? Where are we? What's going on?"
    The PCV's power pak was nearly drained by now, but the lights still produced a feeble glow. The smuggler rolled to his knees, stood up, and checked the blast rifle. The indicator showed a full charge. He slipped the safety off and moved toward the door. A glance toward his watch told him it was night outside.
    "I don't know, honey… but be ready to move."
    The handle made a clacking sound as someone turned it. The door rattled upward and disappeared into darkness. A flashlight pinned Lando in its glare.
    "Hold it right there." The voice was hard, full of authority, and distinctly female. There was something familiar about that voice but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
    The light was bright. Lando blinked but couldn't see a damned thing. Cop? Bounty hunter? Military? There was no way to