The moment the call ended, Adam slipped out of the telephone booth.
He was in his real face now, so he did not stay there even a second longer than necessary.
Bruno and his men were in a car. That meant they had to follow the proper roads, loop around traffic, and take the longer route laid by the city. Adam did not.
He cut into a narrow lane at once, then another, then a crooked back alley between old buildings where no car could enter. He ran fast, keeping the booth and the main road behind him, using every shortcut he remembered from the city map in his head.
'I have to reach first.' Adam thought.
By the time he reached the cafe, his breathing was fast, but he still forced his face to look normal before stepping inside.
He took a seat and lowered his head like any ordinary college student killing time.
A little later, Bruno arrived with a large bag in one hand and several men around him.
He looked at his people and jerked his chin toward the cafe.
"Go in and find that old man."
He followed behind them a few steps later.
The moment Bruno entered, his eyes swept from table to table.
Many customers were sitting inside. But none of them was the old man.
His head began to throb with anger.
'He knows. That bastard definitely figured out what I was planning.' Bruno thought.
He called one of his men closer while the others spread around the tables and started checking faces one by one.
One of them even stopped near Adam.
"Hey, you. Who are you?"
Adam looked up with a harmless, annoyed student face.
"A college student," he said. "What does it look like?"
The man stared at him for a second, then moved on.
Bruno was just about to leave when the cafe door opened again.
Bobula walked in.
For a second, Bruno's expression brightened.
Bobula had come after all.
Then another man entered behind Bobula.
Then more men.
The last one to step inside was Gonda.
The moment Bruno saw his boss's face, that brief relief died.
Gonda's expression was dark with anger.
Bruno understood at once that something was terribly wrong.
The rest of Bruno's men did not understand anything yet. They only looked tense and confused, probably thinking the boss had arrived because this job was bigger than expected.
They were wrong.
A short while earlier, after Adam's first call to Bruno, Adam had called Bobula first.
"Small change in the plan," Adam had told him. "Give your boss that letter now."
At that time, Bobula had not understood why the old man suddenly wanted the timing changed. But when Bruno later described an old man he wanted caught, Bobula connected the two pieces enough to see one thing clearly.
Bruno and that old man were linked somehow.
Bruno wanted to capture him.
The old man wanted Bruno destroyed.
And that meant Bobula could profit from both sides.
If he helped the old man, Bruno would fall. Later, he could still let Gonda erase the old man too, if needed. Bobula did not know Adam was hiding behind a fake identity and presenting himself like a representative of some larger force. He also did not know that the jewelry Bruno had been selling came from Adam himself.
To Bobula, this simply looked like one enemy against another.
And if two enemies were tearing each other apart, why should he hesitate to climb over the body left behind?
So he had gone straight to Gonda.
Now, in the present, Gonda stared at Bruno.
That stare alone made Bruno's mind race in panic.
'What do I say? What excuse works here?' Bruno thought.
The two friends near Bruno still had no idea what was happening.
Gonda lifted one finger.
Several of his men moved forward at once.
Bruno's own people stiffened in shock.
The large bag slipped from Bruno's hand and hit the floor.
Bruno took one shaky step forward.
"Boss, I was just about to come to you-"
Two of Gonda's men moved toward him to grab his arms.
The rest began forcing customers out of the cafe, barking at them to leave.
Adam watched all of it from his seat, but his eyes were not on Bruno.
They were on the bag.
His earlier plan had mostly failed. Bruno had too many men and too much local reach. There was no clean way to keep using him after this, and Adam did not want to ask Bobula to secure the bag either. That would only create another loose end.
So he chose the only opening in front of him.
As people rushed to leave, Adam stood too fast, twisted his foot on purpose, and fell toward the floor.
His hand slapped onto the fallen bag.
'Copy.' Adam thought.
In the next instant, the entire bag was stored in his inventory.
A random thug grabbed Adam by the arm and hauled him up.
"What are you doing? Get out!"
He shoved Adam toward the exit, and Adam let himself be pushed out with the crowd.
No one paid attention to the bag.
Everyone was focused on Bruno and Gonda.
Outside, one worry immediately hit Adam.
'I copied the bag, but did the money inside get copied too?' Adam thought.
If the contents had copied with it, then he had sixteen million dollars.
And even if both versions existed, the first one to be used would become the one that mattered in practice.
That meant Adam had to move those funds first.
He left very quickly.
Behind him, inside the cafe, three men seized Bruno.
Bruno's friends stared in disbelief as he was dragged forward.
"Boss, it's not like that! Someone gave you the wrong story! Listen to me!" Bruno shouted.
Gonda extended one hand sideways without looking away.
One of his men placed a gun in his palm.
"No, boss, listen-"
Gonda raised the gun at Bruno.