Away From Prying Eyes

Chapter 8

PRAN

Pran shifted slightly in his seat and slowly scanned the surrounding area while he waited for his next cue.

There were several floor-to-ceiling windows, white heavy curtains (or were they called drapes – he always forgot the difference between the two) hung on opposite sides of each one, and hanging crystal light fixtures that were, by his standards, borderline gaudy. His eyes traveled along the crown molding and slid down to the modern artwork carefully placed on slate gray walls. Combinations of gray, white, and wood furniture and décor, which he was sure were meticulously picked out, were dispersed throughout the room. He refocused his attention on the appearance of everyone sitting in front of him at the table then looked down at his clothing, inwardly cringing at their differences. To others, they might look like an odd group of friends who were getting together, but Pran knew otherwise.

He was there to help them rob a jewelry store.

Well, technically he wasn't helping since, whether he was involved or not, they were going to rob it anyway. His role in all of this was to tell them if they would be successful or not.

Pran sensed that a pair of eyes were looking at him and realized it was time for his next line, "The manager will be out that day. There will be exactly three employees. Thankfully, none of them have worked there for long."

"How do you know it's only three? And they haven't worked there for long?" Sitting directly across from him was the sole reason that he was there, Ames Martin.

"The employee at the counter will mention to you, once she realizes that you guys aren't 'just browsing', that there are two other employees; a man along with another woman. Then she will – "

"Wait! If there are three of them working, then why is she at the counter by herself?" A different voice to the left of Ames interrupted him.

Pran slightly turned his head to the right to look directly into the eyes of who he guessed was Ames' bodyguard, "She will blurt out that the other female employee is sick, maybe with food poisoning, so she sent the male employee to check on her."

He looked back at Ames to finish answering his second question, "When she's spilling her guts to you, she will also say that she and her coworkers have only worked there for 4 and a half months."

"So," Ames paused for a second, "she'll think that talking will stop it from happening. But that doesn't slow us down, right? "

Pran nodded, "That's correct. After she's done with her useless babbling, you'll tell her to start opening the cases. Starting with the rings and bracelets that are simple and plain but still more expensive than –"

The bodyguard interrupted him again, "Boss, that doesn't even make sense! We have always grabbed the big and most expensive stuff first. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about."

Pran internally rolled his eyes and held back an irritated sigh. Even though he had seen all the details of this meeting ahead of time, it was still hard for him to control his annoyance. This bodyguard, whose name he refused to acknowledge, will continue to interrupt them; and unfortunately, he had to let it happen.

"Any deviation will cause the future to change. And before you ask, yes that includes your actions as well. Time is a finicky thing, my boy. Even the most minute change can cause catastrophic results." Uncle Mek's words sprung to mind.

He swallowed down the sarcastic reply and said his next line, "I understand that is usually the case, but on this particular day, this is what happens. I'm only relaying what I saw."

Ames turned to his bodyguard, "Let him finish first. We can ask questions later." He turned his attention back to Pran, gesturing with his hand for him to continue.