A Botched Dealing

Blake was staring at his reflection in the window of a shop. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw a clock which showed him the time. 

"Hey!"

Lena's voice called out to him. Blake looked back to see her rapidly approaching. She looked a little annoyed.

"You can't just keep wandering off on your own."

Before Blake could respond, the intercom cut through the entire mall.

"Attention shoppers. Certain stores will be closing earlier due to unfortunate circumstances. We apologize for the inconvenience."

*Kchk*
The intercom turned off, leaving Blake and Lena with only the white noise filling the rest of the space.

"Listen, I... I didn't mean to yell at you like that.", Lena apologized.

A brief silence.

"Sorry Lena, we should leave soon. I need to get back now."

"O-Oh, sure okay..."

With that, their trip to the mall was over. They walked over to the escalators in total silence. 

However, the awkward tension between them was soon replaced by another feeling once Blake turned away from the exit most people were funneling out of. 

In fact, he seemed to be going in the completely opposite direction. Lena followed him, wondering if he would correct course soon. But he never did.

They found themselves at a door off to the side, which was marked as another exit by the sign above it. Opening the doors revealed a long hallway. 

"Um, why are we going this way?"

"Just to make sure..."

"Make sure of what?"

Blake held the door open as he waited for Lena to follow. She hesitated for a bit but ultimately decided to join him. 

"I want to make sure that they're actually following us."

As soon as he said it, the doors behind them opened again. Lena's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Luckily, they were coming up on a corner so they could get out of the line of sights of their pursuers for a bit.

Lena suddenly stopped walking once they turned. Noticing this, Blake glanced back at her, curious as to what she would do. 

She seemed to be waiting for their stalkers to catch up to them as she leaned against the wall.

The footsteps were getting louder and louder, reverberating throughout the hallways to an almost deafening effect. 

They were right around the corner now, which meant it was time for Lena to spring into action. She jumped out and kicked as hard as she could and her strike landed squarely on her target.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!! WHAT THE HELL!?"

The younger of the two men was squealing on the floor. He clutched his crotch delicately as he yelled in pain.

"Oh god. I'm so sorry!", Lena exclaimed.

"Why'd you have to kick me there!?"

"I didn't mean to. I was aiming for your leg! 

As she spoke, she seemed to remember why she'd even kicked him in the first place. It took no time at all for her to switch to a more indignant tone. 

"Wait, why am I apologizing? It's your fault for following us everywhere!"

Lena pulled Blake towards her protectively and then dragged him towards the doors. 

Ethan never took his eyes off the two of them as they left. Lucky, he did, because he noticed Blake dropping a crumpled-up piece of paper before exiting the hallway the way he came in.

Lena pulled her cousin by the arm as she rushed through the mall. Blake didn't seem to be in as much of a rush as she was, but he showed no resistance to her leading him around. At least, he didn't until he noticed a food stand out of the corner of his eye.

He immediately stopped in his tracks, forcing Lena to recoil back in response. She took one look at him and then at what he was looking at before speaking. 

"We should leave now."

"But... I'm kind of hungry."

"Why are you acting like nothing's wrong here? Especially after what just happened."

"Well, it's not like they did anything to us. And we're in a much more populated area now. There's no way they'd try anything here."

Lena rubbed the back of her neck. She was too much of a pushover. 

After ordering something, the two sat down.

"They're still following us...", Lena sighed.

Blake didn't even bother to check. He did look around the vicinity, however. While there were a lot of people passing by, very few seats nearby were taken. 

There was only one person seated a table away from them. From the look on their face though, it seemed like this was the last place he wanted to be. Out of nowhere, Blake spoke in a grim voice.

"Listen Lena..."

"Hmm?"

"No matter what happens, don't panic. I promise it'll be okay."

"What are you talking about?"

Before he could answer, Blake spotted someone entering the area. He was carrying a paper bag and just from a glance, it was clear he was a shady character. 

Despite that though, he was confident in his stride, only pausing to briefly scan the tables. He walked right past the nervous man sitting alone, threw the bag onto another table, himself into an empty chair, and spoke without concern. 

"The money and instructions are inside..."

Lena didn't seem to realize what exactly was happening at first. The shady man immediately noticed this. He looked between her and Blake. His gaze turned cold as he gauged both of their expressions before tilting his head upwards and sighing heavily.

*Click*
It was a sound anyone could recognize with ease. Under the table, the man was holding something. It was a pistol, and it was aimed directly at the two opposite him. 

"Don't move. Either of you. If you do anything that looks suspicious, you both die..."

Lena had a look of pure terror on her face now. She trembled from head to toe as she tried to better the situation. 

"We- We swear we won't tell anyone-"

"Quiet. I need to figure this out.", the shady man snarled.

Blake bit the inside of his mouth. His heart was starting to beat faster and faster. The white noise from the rest of the mall was loud, but it paled in comparison to his own breathing.

Suddenly he felt Lena's hand grabbing his arm. Her grip was shaky. Whether she'd done this for Blake or just to calm herself down was unclear, but Blake did find a tiny bit of calm as a result of it. However temporary that feeling would soon be. 

"...No other choice."

*Bang*

The shot echoed throughout the entire mall and the white noise had completely died down as screams filled the void. It took a moment for Lena to realize she could still hear all this. She opened her eyes slowly to see the shady man gone from his seat. She looked down and saw him writhing in pain.

As the blood dripped endlessly from his shoulder, she looked around and saw the two suited men standing there, still watching over her.

She looked back in time to see Blake lean forward to grab the paper bag still sitting nicely atop the table.

"W-Wait!"

She grabbed his arm weakly. 

"Not a good idea.", she said.

"Why?"

Lena's eyes tilted upwards as she thought of how to respond.

"Umm, you... your fingerprints! You could get your fingerprints on it."

Blake looked back at the bag for a bit actually considering the consequences of this possibility. Ultimately though, he pushed onward.

"It shouldn't be a problem as long as we lift it from the scene."

He said it so casually that Lena couldn't help but be left utterly speechless. 

He peered into the bag and found a portable voice recorder as well as a stack of dollar bills bound together inside. What caught his attention the most however, was something nobody else would've even given a second glance.