Shane made his way down the dimly lit corridor of the storage facility to number 14. He glanced up the hall to make sure he was alone and quickly keyed in the combination: 18090212. Shane had many birthdays memorized, and he couldn’t help but smile at the appropriateness of this choice. Darwin, evolution, survival of the fittest.

The latch clicked open, and Shane stepped into the unit. It was almost completely empty, with a single incandescent bulb hanging from the ceiling. On the floor in the center of the room was a single black briefcase. He grabbed it and made his way down the hall to his car.

Back in his hotel room, Shane dialed in the code for the briefcase, sorting the digits of the password used before: 00112289. It was a good system, cutting the number of passwords he had to memorize in half. He pressed the buttons on the case, and the latches flipped open. Inside was a large manila envelope with WILLIAM BLEDSOE scrawled across the front in black marker. He tore it open and got to work.