Jasper launched into an explanation of how the store was changing dates on packaging instead of replacing expired products. Grace thought she was making it up at first, but Jasper pointed out that the wrapper colors were slightly off around the numbers and demonstrated that the right chemicals—Grace wasn’t sure why she happened to be carrying vials of them in her pockets—could take off the fake dates.

Jasper examined the label on a bag of candies. While Grace momentarily had the camera pointed away from her, she shoved them into her coat.

Next was electronics. Jasper gave a brief overview of the store’s scammy credit program—secret number two—followed by a demonstration of their poor quality “better value” electronics—secret number four. Yes, four. The demonstration resulted in smoke pouring out the side of a gaming console.

Jasper also picked up a smartsphere box. Only the box. She abandoned the device on a random shelf. Then, she swiped a candle and some matches.

This was followed by a trip to the pet department.

“Number seven, your local Mota Mart manager doesn’t keep track of their fish,” Jasper said to the camera as the entered the dim aisle, illuminated only by the neon lights in the aquariums. She gestured for Grace to film the fish tanks.

Grace focused on the floating bodies of fish that were dead or close to it, internally grimacing. Maybe instead of shutting down the smuggling operation, she could persuade Jasper to help her rescue the poor things.

Jasper, meanwhile, moved to the other side of the aisle, to the cages that contained a variety of crawlers. “It’s cheaper not to worry about health problems unless someone points them out.” She lifted a cage lid and reached her hand in. Grace’s eyes widened in horror. She was pretty sure some of those were venomous.

When Jasper pulled her arm back out, a fluorescent green armored tarantula was perched on the back of her hand. “What’s this guy a fan of?” she murmured. She examined the tag next to the cage. “Ooh, meat-eater.”

She held up the empty smartsphere box and nudged the arachnid inside. The box went into her coat. Jasper straightened up. “Next stop, the back rooms.”

Grace lowered the camera and turned away from the fish tanks. “What if they catch us?”

Jasper laughed. “I can handle them. All we need is footage of the weapons and then we’ll get out.”

“Also, you skipped some numbers.”

“Doesn’t matter. The whole point of the video is exposing the manager’s smuggling operation. Everything else is a bonus.”

Grace eyed Jasper’s coat as she followed her out of the aisle. The only sign of the stolen merchandise was a couple of slight bulges, and Grace didn’t think she would have noticed if she weren’t looking for them. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what the spider or the candy is for?”

“You’ll see.”

Grace and Jasper walked to the back of the store, through a door marked “Employees Only,” and into the back rooms. Jasper grabbed a clipboard off a table they passed. Holding it up, she waved and smiled to a group of employees standing near the entrance to the break room. A few returned the gesture. None appeared alarmed by her and Grace’s intrusion.

“What was that for?” Grace whispered.

“Act like you belong. Makes people think you do,” Jasper answered under her breath.

The two entered a stockroom filled with shelves that reached the ceiling far above, all packed tight with unopened boxes. Jasper tipped her head back to scan them. “Now we just have to figure out what’s real product, and what’s illegal inventory.” Her gaze stopped on a box to her left, about fifteen feet up. “Here we are.”

“How can you tell?” Grace asked as she lifted the camera.

Jasper tapped the side of her head and started toward a rolling ladder that sat farther down the aisle. “X-ray vision,” she said as she pulled the ladder into position. Once up the ladder, she pulled the box off the shelf, drew a pocketknife from her coat, and sliced the top open in one swift motion. “You filming?”

Grace nodded.

Jasper removed a sleek black blaster from the box and held it up. “Oh, this one’s nice. Lotta firepower. Probably made in a factory on Hatu. See, this would ordinarily never get through a spaceport checkpoint. Illegal all over the star system.”

The barrel on the weapon was longer than on any other blaster Grace had seen. Granted, she hadn’t seen very many in real life—yet—but all the ones she’d seen in broadcasts hadn’t looked like this illegal one, either.

Footsteps sounded in the aisle on the other side of the shelf. Grace struggled to keep the camera steady in her shaking hands. “Are we going now?”

The blaster dropped back into the box with a thud. “Hang on, I want to see if I can find drugs.”

“What if we get caught?”

“Relax.” Jasper pushed the box back onto the shelf and hopped off the ladder. “We may need to go down a few rows.”

Grace followed Jasper to another shelf, where she showed off a box filled with bags of glittering blue powder to the camera. Grace had no idea what it was, but Jasper made it sound like serious stuff.

More footsteps sounded nearby, louder this time, as Jasper closed the box. Seeing the panic on Grace’s face, she said, “Okay, we’re going now. I’ll put the camera in my coat if it’ll make you feel better.”

Grace handed her the camera, but she didn’t feel any sort of relief until they were out of the back rooms.

“See, we’re home free,” Jasper said. “We got everything we needed, and—oh, wait.”

Grace’s heart sank as Jasper grabbed a giant bottle of Nova Cora off a display and shoved it under her arm. “There’s no way someone won’t notice that,” Grace said.

“I’ve done this millions of times. Trust me, no one’s going to stop us from strolling out—”

“Excuse me, miss?” An employee in the store’s red shirt and dark blue pants approached, waving his hand. “Could you come with me?”