Adam contemplated to look at the note. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching him as the waitress had mentioned. But no one was looking at him. Not in the way he thought they would..

He opened the folded note. There was only one word scribbled on it.

RUN!

He stood up quickly, stumbled his way among the crowd and made his move towards the door. He paused when he reached the door as he glanced towards his car. Not a good idea to get into his car. But why the hell should he be running? And who from?

Nope, he would stay there and wait for whoever was coming to grab him.

Not sure what to expect he walked back to his seat, relievedt hat no one took over.

He waited a few more minutes. Nobody came to serve his hot latte. He was getting worried. The crowd was quite noisy so he wasn’t feeling watched at all. If anybody was prying at him he wouldn’t have noticed.

Feeling uncomfortable he rose from his seat. Only to hear a commotion from the staff area. He felt it wasn’t his problem so he walked past them and moved quickly among the patrons. He quickly ran towards his car and started the engine.

The siren of police car approaching the café seemed louder and clearer each passing second. What the heck? He thought. From his car he could see the police car screeching to a halt and stopped at the front entrance. A few policemen could be seen running into the café.

“Hey I m on my way home.” He texted Milia.

A smiling emoji appeared,

“Something happened in Our Café café …police are all over this place,” he reported.

“Take a vid and be a famous iger..” replied Milia cheekily.

“Yeah get one million likes for once” He texted back.

“Just come home. I m worried abt you. Farhan is seeing you at Mamak aftr dinner.”

“Be back in 20” he replied.

“K”

He drove passed Ozir’s car. It wasn’t the same feeling he had earlier. Nothing scary. No one was chasing him. He was just getting paranoid. So..what was the message about? His brain kept trying to connect the dots. Or, the girl was just trying to be funny. His latte never came.

As he drove back he didn't forget to check if someone was following him again. He could hear the ambulance wailing. Was it heading towards the café too? He wondered for awhile.

He went home driving using different route, stopping at pump station checking if anyone was following. Just in case.

“I really don’t want to continue with this deal,” said Milia.

“Why not?” he asked frantically. This was the best deal they have secured after one lousy job from a small firm. Now, one of the largest computer software provider was hiring them to do a really challenging job. And he was bored to death not having enough money to buy all the gadgets he was drooling at. And one of his bucket lists would be to buy an Apple Mac Book.

“I think these people are scammers. They are just using us,” she wailed.

“How could it be? We have been to their office and met everyone in this job?”

“I have a bad feeling about all of this set up..” she frowned.

“You are just exhausted. Have a rest. I am having a shower and we will go out later and meet Farhan.”

“What happened at the Café?” she asked suddenly.

“Not sure..some police cars came after I went out..” he replied lazily. “And this is all I get from the waitress after I gave my order..”He showed her the note. She took it. Blinked momentarily as if she was thinking hard.

“Did you see the car driver?” she tried to analyse the situation.

“Nope. I went away passed the car and no one in there..”

“Strange. Ozir lives in a different suburb I think” said Milia. “Atikah one of his colleague told me they are mostly living around The Old Town which is in the southern region.”

“..and we are headed towards the northern..hmm. well.. this is a small world really. Maybe they have relatives to visit..eh?”

“I just want to know who wrote the note..and why the waitress passed it to you,” Milia replied. “Why RUN? But nothing happens?”

“Yeah..Running from what?”

“Maybe something really happened.. otherwise why the police came?” She spoke almost entirely to herself.