My eyes escaped the gravitational pull of the doorstop. Only to find an elderly proprietor staring at me through two sets of glasses – as though he read my half-hearted intention to steal. It simply wasn’t worth it. I knew who this place belonged to.

The cramped shop started feeling even smaller somehow.

“Buying. That,” my voice box announced as I pointed.

The shopkeeper leaned back, displaying no intention to get up.

“Are you sure? Look around, there are plenty of better wares.”

This was why I absolutely hated dealing with people. This asshole was trying to rob me!

“I need that,” I insisted and tapped the glass.

“Please. Don’t touch the cases.”

I grit teeth. It would be so much simpler to just come back at night and take what I need.

I couldn’t antagonise these people. My disguises were good, but not omnipotent.

As if witnessing my mental capitulation, old man began droning on about the components I had no use for. As my patience finally broke and I turned towards the door, I found the passage barred by the immovable security system. Turned back to glare, and found the proprietor’s smug expression finally falling. He sighed with a rattle in the chest and pointed somewhere to the side.

“Well, alright. How about something to accompany it? We have matching parts from the very same computer.”

Music insistently thrummed on the radio, but it failed to mask the hastened breathing of both men. The heartbeat of the big guy overtook the drums.

This could mean many things. Most of them – unpleasant. Paranoia whispered that this was not an aggressive marketing. These fine gentlemen have been trying to buy time. I’ve been expected.

I should play along. Didn’t want them pulling out guns.

Scratching a leg, I went where indicated. What I really did, was pull out a little jar with a beetle in it. The bugger has packed its urn tight with sleeping gas. In reality, I’d need several of these. Because of glass cabinets, the shop was cramped, but it was still sizeable. Inconvenient. Time was of the essence.

I could, of course, kill these two – but not before they’d alert people in the backrooms.

How did I even get on these people’s shitlist? I was so careful not to wrong anyone in my backyard. Might not be a personal affair. They were clearly waiting for someone to arrive.

“Okay,” I typed out with the other hand. “Show me how they stack up. I need particular dimensions.”

The grouch wanted to stay put, but decided that being amenable would waste more time. At an excruciatingly slow pace, the elder fumbled for the keys. One shelving unlocked, he went back to rummage for another set.

I had to fight the impulse to fidget. Imagined my doom thundering down the street, closer and closer by the second.

Once the man was close enough, I uncorked the bottle and waved it in front of his nose to indicate some inexistent flaw of the component. Before he could succumb, I took the computer part out of his lax hands and went to the lumbering doorstop.

“Here-h, s-hee?” hands busy, I spoke with my real voice, pointing at nothing with my fist.

The rippling doorstop automatically glanced down, then remembered himself and shook his many necks. The fact he hadn’t been startled by my croak convinced me they’ve been on a lookout for a vocal oddness.

“Nah, man, it’s all premium stuff,” he insisted, just as the elder fell over with a dull thud. Wanting to keep an eye on me but also to check, the mountain went cross-eyed. “Pops? What happen?”

I couldn’t keep on not breathing for much longer, but humpty-dumpty just refused to tumble. Started to suspect that all this body mass would be able to tolerate even the pure poison from my other pocket.

I stepped aside to also gape and typed out, “Call the doctor.”

My attempt in misdirection was too obvious, or this guard – not as obtuse as he appeared. As hulking mass reached for me; I leapt away from the sausage fingers. The momentum didn’t cease. He staggered forward.

“What you do…” he wheezed out before succumbing with a foundation-rocking splat.

Voices in the other room fell silent.

I’d have loved nothing more than loot this unsupervised establishment, but the time has run out. As well as the oxygen in my lungs.

Thanks to a minor miracle, the blob man sprawled away from my gateway to freedom. Pushing the monstrous legs aside, I slid out through a crack. There was no pursuit within hearing distance. Yet. I ran into the alley directly ahead and placed small camera on the window ledge in passing.

I had to know who was due to arrive.

Could it be – their boss? Did I mess up a job interview? No way. The behaviour was all wrong, and I’ve learned a long time ago to trust my intuition.

Who, then? Shop’s newly acquired allies put a hit out? Or was it a far-reaching hand of the government? How on earth would anyone know to look for me there?

Annoyingly, a bald head popped up in my mind.

That arrogant maniac could suspect. After all, it took a particular kind of fool to stick both feet into snake nest for a lost property. That insufferable ass! Can’t even call him a snitch – the darned lordling was the government. Or would be. Someday. And, apparently, this new regime will be holding grudges.

Not that I expected all the slights to be forgotten, but it has been months. People usually tired of chasing long shadows.

Was this whole operation spearheaded by an insanely bored noble brat? Impossible. Raktkalis’s rank wouldn’t permit such a widespread authority. The brat was likely locked up in the classroom and told to stop dropping bodies around himself like confetti.

Nevertheless, I was struck by a desire to foil any sort of endeavour he might have a vested interest in.