Free Zero Sum Game by Cody L. Martin

bed. The man had not wanted her to call the police but had wanted her to have the suit. She would respect his wishes. If the police came, she would answer truthfully; after all, the body would be discovered sooner or later. If his relatives came searching for his belongings and asked to have the suit back, she would give it to them. Until then, she would keep it and remain silent.
    She hated keeping secrets, and the thought of not telling anyone, especially her father, stressed her. She let out a cry of frustration and dropped onto her bed face first, she kicked her feet in the air then lay still. Why me ? she thought. Why is all this happening to me? Her parent's divorce, moving to a new apartment, having her purse stolen, seeing a man die and forced to take care of his strange clothes. Why, why, why?
     

CHAPTER 8
    Shimizu believed that the success of a good covert operation involved getting as close to being a native as possible without becoming one. He was in no danger there, he could never think of these people as anything else than little fish. But he had to look, talk, and act like a human, and that extended to every detail of his persona, including his private residence.
    He stood in the living room, his back to the balcony window that overlooked the cityscape. His apartment occupied half of the top floor in the tallest high-rise in Hiroshima, decorated in modern style with black furniture and metal trimmings. His floors were bare, a rug in the front foyer was the only piece of carpeting. On the smooth white walls hung several framed pictures of his favorite Earth animal: the shark. The largest picture, centered above a shelf opposite his leather couch, showcased a mako. Other pictures of sharks—great whites, hammerheads, tigers, and more—adorned the walls of the living room and bedroom. A shark paperweight sat on a glass and metal table. Sharks were an almost perfect predator, he thought. Noigel had bigger and faster sea animals, but none were so streamlined and efficient. Even what some people might consider a weakness, that sharks sank when they stopped swimming, he considered an interesting aspect of their personality, one that mirrored his: they had to keep moving, to always be on the hunt, always planning and stalking. If they stopped, their prey might pass them by. Shimizu pictured himself a shark circling Earth, striking when he was ready.
    He sat back in his leather couch and crossed his ankle over his knee, running his thumb over a small smudge on a pant cuff. His wardrobe, like his apartment, was top-of-the-line. After he had arrived on Earth and learned how their monetary system worked, it had been easy to steal money from multiple accounts across the country. In a short time he was wealthy, by human standards, and he bought what he needed to maintain that image. After Amano Heavy Industries began making money, he received a percentage of the profits, thus ensuring he would never run out of money. He stopped thieving from bank accounts; even though he believed he would never get caught, it was better not to chance it, in case the little fish got lucky and traced the thefts to him.
    His cell phone rang, and he glanced at the caller's ID. "What is it?" he demanded.
    "You'd better come down to the factory. There's a problem only you can handle," Amano said.
    The little fish knew better than to order Shimizu in the manner he had done. While Amano wasn't completely subservient, he knew to be respectful. Shimizu increased his hearing. He listened to the rapid mutterings of a group of people in the background. Something had happened, and if Amano was telling him to come down to the factory, it had to be a Noigel-related problem. He hoped nothing had happened to delay Project T. He would tear Amano's skin if it had.
    "I'll be right there," he said, and disconnected. He took one last look at the mako shark picture, then grabbed his jacket and briefcase and walked out the door.
     
    — — —
     
    The first