The Last Coffee Shop

Chapter 8: Smooth Criminals

Mads was on the holocom with a customer when the next stranger stalked into The Last Coffee Shop. She heard the doors bang open and the bells jangle with too much force, so she looked up from the notes she was making on "dear little Henry's advancement party."

The man was bald except for a shock of bright green hair sprouting from the base of his pasty, white head. His hair was braided into a rattail, and hung with shiny bits of metal and other charms. A long green mustache dangled from his upper lip, forming similar tails. He was large, but not overly tall, and built like a Siterian rhino (24). He even had rhino eyes: round, small and wide set in his thin face. He paused in the shop's doorway, looking around, his nostrils flared as if he were scenting the air.

Mads straightened, "Can I get your number and call you back with a quote?" she said into the com, where "dear little Henry's" mother had been droning on ignored for about thirty seconds.

"I suppose so," squawked the com, audible though it wasn't on speaker mode.

Mads saved the number and then closed the channel, opening another to security instead. She waited to patch it through, her finger hovering over the call button, but the newcomer didn't make any violent moves.

He stood in the doorway for a moment, as if scenting the air, continuing to scan the occupants of the shop.

The customers had hushed a little the moment he had entered, and Mads could feel the fear start to blossom in the room as the man continued to survey them from the doorway. Danger and violence practically rolled off of him like a fog. Mads could almost see it in the air.

The man ignored the customers and headed for the counter. He was dressed in some sort of hide, greenish and ill-fitting. He had four belts slung about his middle, all which looked like they were meant to carry weapons. Weapons, which were thankfully absent. He looked like a merc or a bounty hunter, and that sort of person wasn't welcome in Springs Village. They tended to scare away business.

Mads forced herself to stare down the man as he approached, like she might have stared down a wild boar of ancient Ithir.

Black, black, black coffee her brain supplied, unbidden.

"Hello sir, you must be new in town," she said, and it sounded too sweet to her ears. Still Mads plowed on. "Would you like some strong black coffee?"

The man stopped at the counter and stared down at Mads, his colorless face void of any expression or emotion. "Yes." His accent was thick, hard for Mads to place, but he seemed to be human, although his eyes were an inhuman shade of orange.

Mads had the sneaking suspicion he was one of the mod-humans (25) that populated other planets. She often saw them with the tourist crowds, but she hadn't seen this man before.

He sat down at the bar, causing the stool to groan in protest.

Mads poured him the dregs of the dark roast and slid him the mug. He inhaled, then took a sip before speaking again. "Just how I like it." He indicated the coffee with a finger. He leaned on the counter, slouching into his stool and watching the shop from the corners of his orange eyes.

Around them, the volume of conversation gradually intensified as the rest of the store settled back down to business. Mads returned to her inventory and cleaning, and tried to ignore the silent man at the bar. She didn't want to call back about Henry's advancement party until the man was long gone.

"Girly," he growled, making her jump. "You have any newcomers around here?"

Mads blinked at her cleaning rag. Why would he want to know that? Her gut said he wanted trouble. She pasted on her best smile before turning to reply, "There always are, this is a tourist destination. Is there someone in particular you're looking for?"