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Bjorn hurried back to the barracks, a little shaken by Thomas' matter of fact observation that anyone sitting in the glass cage during a raid would almost certainly be dead before they knew what was happening. However, Thomas followed up his observation by asserting that no one in the village was planning any such raid. Thomas could think of no one who would be even remotely interested in attacking the checkpoint. And this assertion, although only based on Thomas' limited experience with the village, went a long way to neutralize his initial remark. The truth of the matter remained, though. If anyone got the idea that they should target the checkpoint, killing whoever was sitting in the glass cage would be an almost risk free enterprise. Wiping out the entire checkpoint on the other hand, would require more risk taking and more fire power.

The implications of Thomas' observation were disturbing, not least because of its general nature. Guards and police officers could easily be killed, and the only reason this was not happening more often was the fact that most people do not see guards and police officers as a threat or a problem. The best way to stay safe was in other words to stay friendly and polite with whomever one was set to guard.

Bjorn entered the barracks with his thoughts still circling around Thomas' uncomfortable observation, making him feel mildly paranoid. So when he passed the door to the common room, he was distracted by the sound of the TV. Bjorn peeked into the room, and when he did not see anyone, he figured he might as well go in and turn off the TV set.

Bjorn headed towards the easy chairs in front of the TV, looking for the remote control. And having convinced himself that the room was empty, he got quite a start when he suddenly became aware of someone sitting in one of the big padded chairs. It was Geir watching TV, something that should have have come as no surprise at all. But Bjorn could not help jumping back the moment the man turned idly towards him to see who was sneaking up on him.

"Oh! It's you," Bjorn said for lack of anything better to say.
Geir looked puzzled. "Yeah?" he asked.
"You gave me a start."
"I did?"
"I didn't expect to find you here," Bjorn continued. "We're having dinner."
"I know. I'm fine though," Geir replied with a friendly smile. Geir pointed to a plate full of bread crumbs on the little table next to him. "I've just eaten," he explained.

Bjorn felt suddenly embarrassed by the whole situation. He excused himself for sneaking up on Geir, as if Geir was the one who had been startled. Geir on the other hand, simply gave him a friendly but indifferent smile as Bjorn retreated to the hallway.

Bjorn's embarrassment turned to irritation even before he entered the kitchen where he sat down in silence, next to Frank. He proceeded to scoop up rice and curry for himself from the pots put out on the table, glad to note for himself that his colleagues were fully occupied, listening to Ante who was recounting the episode when Pedro entered his apartment and everybody tried to leave through the back door.

Frank and Espen were taking great delight in Ante's colorful rendition of what happened, and Bjorn could not help feeling better by just listening to the man. The way Ante put it, it was pretty much all a farce, a lighthearted comedy with plenty of lame excuses and silly anecdotes. John too was being amused by the story, but he looked skeptical. His impatience with what Ante was saying was growing, and finally he blurted out what was on his mind.

"You know, that wasn't Pedro you were talking to," John said with conviction. "Pedro does not exist."
"Really?" Ante asked, thrown off track by John's sudden interruption. "So who was it?"
"I don't know, but it wasn't Pedro, that's for sure?"

Everyone looked at John in puzzlement.

"Pedro is just a made up guy," John continued. "He's a fiction."
"But we just had a conversation with the guy down in Lundby," Bjorn protested.
"And what did he look like?" John asked.
"Ah... Like your average Portuguese guy, I guess."
"So you don't actually know who you were talking to, do you?" John continued. "It could have been anyone."
"Sure, but..."

There was a silence in the room as everybody tried to digest John's unexpected and rather startling assertion.

"But he presented himself as Pedro, right?" Espen ventured, looking over at Ante.
"Yeah."
"And he had the keys to the apartment?"
"Sure."

Espen took a sip of his beer. "So it does not really matter who he was, does it? For all practical purposes, the man you were talking to was Pedro, no matter who he actually was."
"What you mean?" John asked, clearly irritated. "Of course it matters who he was."
"How?"

John was speechless. He had no answer.

"And that plane you saw last night," Frank said, turning to Bjorn. "I got confirmation from Oslo that it must have been Pedro."
"So there we are," Espen continued calmly. "There is a Pedro, real or not, flying in to Lundby and behaving like Pedro. Why shouldn't we simply assume that he is indeed the man he claims to be?"
"Because he is a fiction," John protested.
"And how do you know that?"
"There's nothing on him anywhere. There's only a few mentions here and there, vague references. And this idiotic claim that he is somehow responsible for all sorts of stuff."
"Like the corruption scandal in Portugal?" Bjorn suggested.
"Yeah... Like that. You see, he is a convenient fiction."

Espen scratched his ear. He was clearly not convinced by John's argument. "But don't you see that it does not really matter who the man actually is. As long as he does all the things that we expect Pedro to do, he is Pedro. regardless. Your little theory has no value. Even if you are right, and the man is simply an actor, he still has all the attributes of Pedro, and for practical purposes, that's all we need to know."

There was another silence. Espen's assertion seemed right. Yet Bjorn could not quite free himself from thinking that there was something to John's view too, and that it did indeed matter if his theory was right or wrong. But Frank broke into the silence before Bjorn could make up his mind.

"You know. I never met the man. I never talked to him" Frank said thoughtfully. "And I think Espen is right. It does not matter one bit whether he is the actual Pedro or not. As long as he does all the Pedro things, he's Pedro as far as I'm concerned."

And with this, Ante was free to resume his story. Things were settled, as it were. And even though John was far from convinced by Espen's assertion, John did not push his theory any further. Bjorn did not know what to think, but Espen's practical approach to the whole thing made a lot of sense. However, what really caught Bjorn's attention was Frank's insistence that he had not had any contact with Pedro. If true, that would mean that Frank was not necessarily corrupted by Pedro, and that Bjorn's schedule for the coming week was somehow leaked to Pedro from somebody else.