The Last Coffee Shop

Chapter 10: These Elegant Crimes

No threatening strangers visited the Shop in the following weeks, though Mads was waiting for them. She kept her stun gun close and had trouble not jumping at the sound of the door's bells early in the morning or later at night.

More importantly, Springs Village came together to raise money for the Lasky's, though it was still a mystery what had happened to their farm. Apparently, all leads had come up inconclusive. However, nothing else strange had been seen or heard (at least, stranger than normal). This did give the "science experiment" theory some traction though, as people whispered about it in the corners of shops and restaurants.

A whole month had passed without incident, so when Luc and Graynard had to leave for a "family emergency," presumably involving Luc's aforementioned girl troubles, their three-day absence was felt by all the denizens of the coffee shop and the subject of local conversation and speculations. Needless to say, when Luc finally walked back into the shop, Krill wasn't the only person happy to see him.

The winter tourist season was almost upon them, with the dome's carefully modded climate to thank for keeping the original four Ithirn Seasons alive (29). Mads had her hands full harvesting the later crops and running the shop. By the time the first perfectly engineered snowflake fell, Mads had almost forgotten about intruders and private detectives.

As it turned out, that was a major oversight.

Everything had fallen back into its usual pattern: Mads hoarded Galactics and roasted beans, and gave perfectly personalized drinks. Grandmere graced the shop, gossiped, and browbeat any SVUAC members who dared show up on business. Krill baked pastries and went out to clubs, and was still (unhappily) single. Luc baked, made himself generally useful, escorted Krill to clubs, and somehow managed to seem thinner and more gaunt each week, despite eating more than a boy half his age. Graynard stopped by at regular intervals, but as they were usually a conveniently busy sort of interval, he ended up spending the time taking tea with Grandmere, which suited them both. Alan showed up several times a week, usually alone, and provided all the local gossip Mads never wanted to hear.

It was one of these absolutely ordinary evenings when everyone's life, quite unexpectedly, went to hell.

Grandmere had gone to the store to do the weekly shopping. Krill and Luc were in the Shop's kitchen, and Mads was cleaning the milk steamer when she heard something that sounded like a roaring wind outside (30). 

Mads and two alarmed customers were halfway to the door when the lights winked out. Someone screamed, and a glass shattered. A moment later, the front door exploded, sending glass and wood flying like daggers.

Mads dropped instinctively, rolling under a table as the shards buried themselves in most available surfaces. When Mads looked up, she saw that her arms were covered in sprayed blood, none of which appeared to be hers. At least, she didn't feel any pain.

Silhouetted in the fading evening light were the same three thugs she'd seen before: the two aliens and the human with green tattoos. The tall male alien was holding a giant compressed-air cannon, which explained the door. The other two held stun guns, which were trained on the still breathing customers of The Last Coffee Shop.

Everything was silent. Mads could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She thought she might scream, or faint, or throw up, but then the thugs were coming toward her table refuge.

"Spread out," barked the tall alien. "Kill anyone who gets in the way."

The reptilian female was wearing skin tight black armor, which would make her hardest to hit. She sniffed the air right in front of Mads' table shelter, then scuttled toward the back of the shop with purpose.