NIKKI

Mrs. Lauralee Cropple knew everybody important. True, it was a small town in Florida. But, the internet can be a powerful weapon in the hands of a nosy 50 year old woman. So, when he came walking through the doors of the Clewiston Public Library, nobody else recognized him. But Mrs. Cropple did.

She froze the first time she saw his thin frame, dark hair, and perfectly expressionless face.

Mrs. Cropple had been counting books on the second row of the Social Sciences. She had a clear view of whoever walked through the front electric-powered sliding glass door. At first, the sun was behind him, as was always the case with any patron around noon at the Clewiston Library. So, the thin silhouette caught her gaze. But, it was the walk that made Mrs. Cropple pay close attention and loose her count.

He walked in like he owned the place. So, Mrs. Cropple knew that she was dealing with no ordinary book worm. Most visitors to Clewiston Library were either too old to realize that someone had created an Internet, or thought of the library the way a DJ thinks of retro vinyl records- it’s not necessary, but oh so chic.

The thin man was wearing black jeans, black leather loafers- and in juxtaposition to the Florida heat- a thin long-sleeved turtleneck. He carried a small black gym bag. One would have imagined that he was on his way to a funeral, if it wasn’t for the fact that his clothes were clearly from some designer in Italy or New York.

Either way, Mrs. Cropple knew exactly who this was, so she lost count, and froze.

Ms. Diane Lewis on the other hand, just thought of him as a handsome, trendy young man. As he approached the front information desk, she easily admired his chiseled jawline, mysterious eyes, and his... lips. Ms. Lewis could not get over the shape of his mouth. She almost immediately daydreamed about kissing him. But then, being an avid romance novel reader, there probably weren’t many men who the 24 year old Ms. Lewis didn’t dream about tasting.

“May I help you?” asked Ms. Lewis.

“Sure,” said the man in a slightly husky whisper.

“Can you tell me where your computers are?”

“The back of the library near the windows,” Ms. Lewis said pointing behind her.

“Thank you. And you are Miss...”

“Lewis,” Ms. Lewis chimed in quite happily, “you know... like Clewiston without the C and the ton.”

“Right,” responded the man politely.

Ms. Lewis always wore her glasses at the library, but never when clubbing or going to the beach. So, she quickly lifted them off her face to signal to the stranger that she was young and available. He turned and headed towards the computers.

The stranger spent quite some time tapping on the keys of the computer. He chose the computer nearest to the window for more privacy.

There weren’t many patrons in the Clewiston Public Library on a Friday, so he had more than his share of peace and quiet. In fact, the only other visitors he would have that day were Bob, Randall, and Paula, who had just walked in from taking a lunch break at McDonalds.

“Hellooo Diane,” Randall said to Ms. Lewis.

He for some reason thought it spectacularly cute to hold out his vowels when speaking with Diane. She thought it spectacularly stupid.

“Randall,” Diane nonchalantly acknowledged.

“So, did the books have a party while we were gone? And where is everyone?”

“No. And it’s a Friday,” she responded.

“Only one guy here, he’s on the computers.”

“Hahahaaaaa, a new victim,” Randall said in easily his creepiest voice to date.

Diane rolled her eyes.

Randall loved the way Diane rolled her eyes. He loved everything about her. But mainly he loved the fact that a cute woman would somehow be working at a public library. It was quite a striking contrast. Her shapely physique always packed into tight jeans, her ever changing neon hair, her band logo T-shirts. Little did she know that the head librarian, Paula, would never give her the keys to the place, because she always just knew Diane would secretly turn the place into one of those rave parties.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t Diane- who liked how the stranger looked, nor was it Paula- who was suspicious of everyone, nor was it Mrs. Cropple- who recognized the man, or even Randall- who wanted to bother him, that saw his computer was unattended. It was Bob.

Bob was a military vet and retiree. He would always tell stories that sounded more like he was in the Special Forces branch and the C.I.A. than in the military. But then, who was to say he wasn’t. He was a short, grey-haired man with always perfectly pressed beige slacks and a colored plaid shirt. He was a friendly man that the widowers loved. He wasn’t so much a playboy as he was ‘down home.’

People loved his stories. They did. And they loved the way he told them. He had the strangest way of telling the most gruesome details, but then making you laugh at the end. He always made you laugh at the end.

Bob hadn’t heard the conversation between Diane and Randall that included the stranger. Nor had he asked why Mrs. Cropple was nervous and pale, but never said a word when they said hello to her. So, when he headed to the back of the library to commandeer a computer to check his email, he saw that one was already on. That was odd, because there were hand-written signs beside each of the six computers that specifically stated to never leave the computer unattended, and to turn it off after you’re done. For some reason, the library patrons of Clewiston always obeyed these signs.

Bob thought it strange that the computer was still on, but he figured, someone simply forgot to turn it off. There’s a first for everything.

But rather than switching the computer off, and waiting for it to reboot, Bob moved the mouse to take it off screen saver mode.

At first, Bob thought that someone who had been using the computer was a medical doctor. There was a spreadsheet that had a column that read ‘X-rays.’ He double clicked on the folder in the first row. It brought up an image of an X-ray and some medical notes beside it.

“What have we here?” Bob whispered to himself.

He clicked on more X-rays on different rows. Then he realized that if he scrolled to the left, he could see the name attached to those X-rays. At first, he thought maybe he shouldn’t do that. He was used to keeping secrets. But then, this was a public library on a public computer, so what the heck- why not.

The first name he noticed was Lauralee Cropple. He thought to himself that this person has the same name as Lauralee. Then, he thought maybe Lauralee had been using the computer. Then he quickly scanned the other names. They were Randall Cummins, Diane Lewis, Paula Reece, and...Bob Zeger!

Bob immediately stood up and his face grew pale. He scratched the top of his head. He just could not imagine any reason that anyone would have access to his medical records. In fact, with his former position at the military, no one was supposed to have access to his medical records... ever.

He sat back down again and thought to himself maybe this was all a joke. He quickly scrolled over to his name and double clicked the folder with the X-rays. If this was really his medical records, it would show a steel pin in his left leg, and a steel plate in his head. Sure enough, the steel pin and the plate were on the X-rays.

Bob stood back up again as if the computer had been possessed by some evil force. He nervously scratched his head. It was theoretically impossible for someone to get a hold of top secret medical records, and yet, here they were- on a public library computer.

Bob picked up the mouse, but then cast it away as if it had turned into a live serpent. He paced around in a small circle. He had to think. He scratched his head once more and then did what any self-respecting military veteran would do... put the place on lockdown.

Bob went to the front door, pulled out his door key and locked the electronic sliding glass door. Then he went immediately to the front information desk.

“Diane. Do you know anything about the computer back there?”

“What do you mean?”

“It was on, and there was certain information on there that should not have been on there.”

“You mean that cute guy was looking at girls and stuff?”

“No no no. It wasn’t... do you know who he is?”

Suddenly, Paula walked up.

“Hey guys, you’re not gonna believe this. There is some weird stuff going on here. Very weird. Somebody using the computer back there has all of our medical records. They’re on the computer!”

“What!?” exclaimed Diane, “our medical records?”

“Shh shh shh keep your voice down Diane,” whispered Bob.

“Yeah, our medical records. Us. Only us,” said Paula.

“Why would anyone want librarian’s medical records? And how do they have our medical records?” asked Diane frustrated.

“I don’t know, but no one goes in or out until we figure out what’s going on here,” said Bob, “I locked the front door. “

“You locked the front... why did you lock the front door Bob?” asked Paula.

“The guy seems totally ok, why don’t you just ask him?” said Diane.

“I’m not going to ask him, are you nuts!” said Bob.

“Keep your voice down,” said Paula, “I think that’s a great idea. Aren’t medical records public information these days. So, maybe it’s creepy. But we can’t arrest him over that can we?”

“No. But private medical records are private, and he definitely shouldn’t have access to mine,” retorted Bob.

“Why? They’re from before the computer age?” chuckled Diane.

“No you... you generation Z’er, X’er or whatever they’re calling you these days,” said Bob.

“Oh sh sh here he comes,” whispered Paula.

“Is that him?” Bob asked Diane.

Diane shook her head yes.

“Ok nobody mention a word of this, let’s just see how this plays out. I put everything back like it was. Paula did you?”

Paula kind of looked off into the distance and shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh great,” whispered Bob, “here he comes.”

The young man with black jeans sauntered up calmly to the front desk where the three were standing there without saying a word. Bob and Paula moved out of the way so that he could talk to Diane.

“Excuse me Miss, I just went to the bathroom around the back near the computers- just for a little. And when I came back, the mouse was moved and what I was working on had changed. Do you know if anyone here touched that computer? And could you possibly point them out to me? I don’t want a confrontation, just ask them about some lost information.”

Bob feared for Diane because he didn’t know if a civilian could withstand the rigors of interrogation. But Bob did not know Diane very well. After years of going to clubs, turning guys down for stupid excuses, and pretending to need money to support her partying lifestyle, she had gotten good at lying. Really good.

“No, no one has gone back there. But... oh wait. There was this one little boy who was trying to look up paper planes, but he took off.”

The man with the black jeans stared intensely into Diane’s eyes to see if there was even the slightest flinch or hint of a lie. He saw... nothing. He turned slightly, then quickly turned back to her to see if that would shake her. Nothing. He nodded his head slowly, and returned to his computer.

As soon as he left, Randall walked up.

“Hey Diane, you might have to make an announcement, I was in the restroom, and someone left a black gym bag in one of the stalls.”

“Don’t ... touch it!” said Bob.

“Why not?” asked Randall.

“Because we know who the guy is, and it’s not good,” said Bob.

“Oh yeah? Who is he?” asked Randall.

“I don’t know,” said Bob.

It was at this moment that Mrs. Lauralee Cropple realized that everyone was pooling at the front desk. She just knew it had to do with the man in black. So, she hurriedly approached the desk.

“Is this about Nikki?” she asked.

“Who?” they said in an odd unison.

“His name is Nikki?” questioned Bob.

“Well, don’t you know who he is?” whispered Lauralee.

“No,” they all said at varying intervals.

“He’s the son of THE biggest crime lord from here to New York! His family has their dirty little paws in everything, from government to cocaine.”

They all stood there staring at Lauralee clearly stunned.

“I thought that’s what you were talking about,” said Lauralee.

“Oh my god! He has our names, addresses, and medical records,” said Paula nervously.

“What!?” replied Lauralee.

“Shhhh,” they whispered.

“What do you mean? How do you know this?” asked Lauralee.

“I saw his computer,” replied Bob.

“Now Bob, you know you thought the Internet was the reincarnation of the yellow pages,” said Lauralee.

“I saw it too. He’s got all our personal information. Just ours,” said Paula.

“My dear,” said Lauralee grabbing her chest, “what do we do?”

“Well, I locked the door.”

“Maybe you’d better unlock it,” said Paula.

“Yeah, let’s not make him mad. He’s got us by the koalas,” said Lauralee.

“Right right right,” said Bob as he rushed over to the door and unlocked it.

“Someone take a peek back there to see what he’s doing,” said Bob, “It’s got to be a swallow.”

“Swallow what?” asked Paula.

“It’s got to be a chick, a dame, a looker.”

“Is that like... caveman talk for a woman?” asked Diane.

“Just someone that doesn’t arouse his suspicions.”

“I’ll do it,” volunteered Lauralee.

“Well you’re not exactly...” started Bob.

“Not exactly what dear?” deflected Lauralee.

Now, Lauralee was cute, but rotund. She always wore her hair in a bun because she thought it made her look smart. However, paired with the cats-eye glasses, she looked very librarian-esque.

“...not exactly ready for this?” sheepishly replied Bob.

“I know about these people. I know how they think, how they move. I’m the only one for this assignment.”

Just the usage of the word assignment hurled Bob back into his days on Special Forces. That got his juices flowing. If there were any doubts in his mind that Lauralee was perfect for recon, those doubts were erased.

“Alright soldier, just be careful out there, and report back immediately,” said Bob.

“Soldier?” said Diane rolling her eyes.

Lauralee swiped a random book from the shelf as she neared the computer stations. She stayed right out of the line of sight of Nikki as he was clicking furiously on the mouse. She couldn’t make out anything on the screen from that distance no matter how hard she squinted.

Suddenly, Nikki stopped. He looked around. He paused for a few seconds, then stood up and left.

Lauralee rushed back to the front desk frantic.

“He left, he left!” she whispered, “I don’t know where, but it looks like he went to the bathroom.”

“Again?” pondered Randall.

“He must be going to get his gym bag,” said Bob, “quick let’s get to that computer to find out what he’s up to. Our lives may be at stake.”

They all rushed over to the computer and stood around it in a half circle.

“Randall, you go to the entrance of the bathroom, find out how close he is and give us the signal when he starts heading back,” said Bob.

Randall took off and headed to the bathroom.

“Ok, nobody touch a thing. I know how to put this back exactly how I found it, so I’ll do it,” said Bob sitting down.

Bob immediately started to move the mouse and scroll up and down the screen, but it didn’t take long for them to figure out what they were looking at.

“Is that right?” asked Paula.

“Oh that is very right,” replied Diane, “347 million dollars. That is...”

Diane smiled and started to play with her hair.

“Don’t get any ideas honey. Remember, he probably wants to kill us, not write us a check,” said Bob.

“Actually, that’s probably right,” chimed in Lauralee, “they are notorious for getting rid of people that look at them wrong. And Nikki is no better than his dad in that arena. So if he’s got our records, you can be sure it’s for a good reason.”

“Bad reason,” corrected Paula.

“Bad reason,” repeated Lauralee.

Randall had been standing halfway inside the bathroom and halfway outside the bathroom. There were only four stalls, so he could tell which one Nikki was in. Suddenly he heard a flush. Randall stepped outside the door and let the bathroom door close softly. He rushed back to the computer stations just in case Nikki wasn’t a hand washer.

“He’s coming, he’s coming!” said Randall.

“Everyone go, I’ll take care of this,” said Bob clicking away.

Everyone rushed back to the front desk and pretended to do various librarian chores. Paula started scanning books, Lauralee dusted off covers, Diane did receptionist things, and Randall pretended to repair an old metal shelf that sat in the corner of the information area. Within a minute Bob joined them and pretended to help Randall fix the shelf.

When Nikki returned to his computer, he looked it over carefully. He paused. He looked at the mouse. He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, so he closed the websites he had opened, erased the cache and history, then uninstalled the browser just in case. He logged out and waited an unusually long time for Windows to shut down. Security Update.

When the computer shut down, he grabbed his black gym bag and headed for the door.

When Nikki got to the front desk, it was likely the biggest shock any one of the employees at the Clewiston Public Library had ever had- in their entire lives. They all turned around with mouths wide open as Nikki approached. Diane was chewing gum, which promptly fell from her mouth onto the keyboard.

Nikki was no longer wearing black jeans and a black turtleneck. Nikki was now wearing a tight red dress- sleeveless. He had a long-haired black wig situated properly on his head. Because his features were chiseled, he almost could be mistaken for a woman... almost.

Everyone just stood there staring.

“Thank you for the computer. What do I owe ya?” he asked Diane.

“Oh nothing,” she said, “it’s free.”

“Thank you,” he respectfully replied.

Diane decided to take one more shot at getting in tight with a wealthy family.

“You look cute!” she said smiling.

“Go to...” he trailed off turning around and walking towards the door.

It was quite clear that this wasn’t a typical thing for him to wear red dresses and matching pumps. He made absolutely no attempt to walk properly in heels.

Bob headed for the door when Nikki exited the library.

As Nikki got into his black Bugatti Veyron, Bob just stood there dumbfounded watching him start the beast of a car. Everyone else was in such shock that they couldn’t say a word. As Nikki drove off, the only words that Bob could utter was, “what the...”