“Main character, huh?” a large man in a black suit mumbled, settling himself in his seat.

Luca rolled down the car window, spraying out a stream of smoke before answering in Italian. “Put your phone away, Bruno.”

“You have to do this crap,” Bruno frowned, stretching out his muscular arms. “People will kick your ass off their friends list if you’re boring.”

“I’m just not cut out for this kid shit,” Luca said, snuffing his cigarette in the cars ashtray. “What the hell am I supposed to post?” He ran his hand through his slicked back hair and exhaled through his nose.

“Just do it,” Bruno said. “If Marco's theory's right, we can get another one,” he pulled down his sleeve revealing a silver watch. It was the kind that was designed to look higher end, but upon picking it up it was easy to tell that it was cheap from the weight alone. “Not sure how you got one in the first place with your lame ass profile.”

Luca let out a dry laugh.

“You gonna argue with me?” Bruno asked.

“No,” Luca reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small metal case. “You’re right. From Marco’s point of view anyway,” He removed another cigarette, and then grasped at the pockets on his suit. “Lighter, lighter…” he mumbled.

“Just use the car’s lighter again,” Bruno said.

“No,” Luca said. “I need to find the damn thing.”

He hadn’t been able to find it before they went in the bank either. He might have dropped it somewhere. Worse case scenario; he had dropped it somewhere at the scene of the crime. So much had gone wrong that day already, so losing his lighter would be the icing on the cake.

“Those things’ll kill you,” Bruno said, returning his attention to his cell phone.

“That’s fine,” Luca said. He felt something in the inside pocket of his gray suit jacket. Reaching inside, he finally found his lighter. “Someone died because of us today, you know.”

“That shit’s not our fault” Bruno said, his eye fixated on his cellphone.

“She was just a teenager,” Luca said. “Probably about the age of my brother’s youngest.”

“Like I said, we ain’t got nothing to do with that.”

“We have everything to do with it,” Luca looked Bruno straight in the eyes. “If someone died during the stop, then it means someone else has a watch.”

“What?” Bruno wrinkled his brow.

“Someone had to have had a watch to kill the girl, Bruno,” Luca raised his voice. “How the hell would they move otherwise?”

Bruno grunted. “Guess we couldn’t expect to have a monopoly on these,” he placed his hand on Luca’s shoulder with a grin. “We don’t even know where they came from.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Luca said.

Bruno moved in his chair, struggling to get his large frame into as comfortable a position as the small car would allow. “We’re probably lucky this happened, though,” he said, finally settling down.

“Lucky?” Luca frowned. “You have pretty low standards for luck.”

“With a murder happening, robbery suddenly doesn’t seem like a big deal,” Bruno said. “Police’ll probably focus on that.”

“I think you underestimate a bank’s priorities.”

Bruno cracked a smile. “Well I’ll bet they think it was done by the same guy.”

“Maybe,” Luca crossed his arms.

The two sat silently for a moment before Bruno spoke again. “How many do you think are out there?”

“Not many,” Luca sighed. “Too many and there’s no way they would go unnoticed by the cops. Using these without being noticed isn’t exactly easy. Well on the top setting, anyway.”

“That’s true,” Bruno said.

“That’s assuming they don’t already know about them,” Luca took a long drag from his cigarette. “For all we know, they could know exactly what’s going on and are just keeping the information from the public.”

“Doubt it,” Bruno said. “There hasn’t been another story of people freezing until now. Shit like that’s a big deal. My guess is that people have been like us… careful.”

“I wouldn’t call us ‘careful’ after today,” Luca said.

“Someone had to do it sooner or later,” Bruno laughed. “Too much power not to. Freezing rooms can only keep’ya happy for so long when you know you can freeze the whole damn block.”

“You sound like Marco,” Luca leaned back in the car seat. “Like it’s burning a hole in his pocket or something. He’s not even suspicious of how something like this even exists, or why someone would send three to us.”

“Marco’s a nutcase,” Bruno smiled. “But he’s got the right outlook on things. Best to live life doing what you want when you want. Mai guardare a caval donato in bocca! My papà used to say that all the time.”

“Idiot,” Luca mumbled. “So what were you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“Earlier,” Luca made sure his irritation came through in his voice. “You said something about a ‘main character’.”

“Oh,” Bruno said tapping the screen of his phone with his meaty fingers. “It’s something one of the guys on my friends list posted.”

“You sound like a kid,” Luca sighed.

“You sound like a dead man.”

Another stream of smoke bellowed from Luca’s mouth. “Anyway, who?”

“The guy uses a fake name. Well, probably fake, anyway,” Bruno said. “John Doe.”

“I’m so boring that even a guy named John Doe is beating me, huh?”

“That ain’t hard when you don’t post shit.”

Luca looked down at the black watch around his wrist. Similar to Bruno’s, it was obviously something you could get at a gift shop. 5:03 pm. “What did he say?” he said, knowing he was forcing the conversation. The two of them still had time to burn.

“I only noticed the post because it has a lot of replies,” Bruno said. “S’just a dumb question, really. The guy says: ‘Are you the main character of your life?’”

“Main character of my life?” Luca took in another breath of smoke. “This guy live here?”

Bruno sat silently for a moment. “Yeah, actually,” he laughed. “Figures. This city’s full’a freaks like that.”

“Full of rain too,” Luca looked out the window at the dark clouds that had moved overhead. “Don’t get to see the sun half the year.”

“Can’t wait to get out of this whole damn state,” Bruno said.

“I hear it’s drier in central Oregon.”

“Don’t care. I should be enjoying California weather right now.”

“I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” Luca said. “No California to go back to.”

Bruno shut off his phones screen. “California lives on in my heart. Don’t fucking forget it.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Only thing this place has going for it is money.”

“True,” Bruno said. “We got a couple million in the trunk.”

Luca sighed. “If you ask me, it wasn’t worth the 8 minutes,” he checked his watch again. Still a little early.

“This was just supposed to be a test, remember?” Bruno grunted. “We can get a lot more next time. The money’s really just a bonus to seeing these things in action.”

Luca ignored him. “Whoever killed the girl got a free ride off my watch.” The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Luca spoke again. “So are you the main character of your life or what?”

“Damn right I am,” Bruno’s face was stoic. “I’m in every scene, too.”

“Makes sense,” Luca said. “I’m not so sure though.”

Bruno raised an eyebrow. “What’s with you?”

“Think about someone like Watson,” he said. “He’s in every scene Sherlock is, but he’s not the main character, capire?”

“I don’t read that shit.”

“It’s not that I’m disagreeing with what you’re saying. I’m just saying I’m probably not the main character of mine,” Luca said. “Maybe there’s none at all.”

“Yeah?” Bruno turned his attention back to his phone again. Being ignored like this only served to piss Luca off.

“It’s this city messing with my head,” he said. “The people run around like they always have somewhere to be.”

“Hate to say it, but there were plenty of places like that in Cali,” Bruno said. “And plenty’a those same people are here now, too.”

“Sure, but this city changed them. Everyone here’s swarming all over each other like a bunch of ants. Problem is, there’s no queen to bring food to, no nest to take care of. No fucking point.”

“Put up with it,” Bruno said. “Easy as that.”

“It’s fine,” Luca snuffed out his cigarette. “I’ve probably ended up the same. Just another ant.”

Bruno burst out laughing. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Forget it,” Luca glanced down at his watch again. 5:20. “Let’s get this over with.”

Bruno opened up the glove box, taking out plastic bags and two pairs of latex gloves. Since it was bound to start raining, it was especially important that they cover their shoes. The last thing they wanted to leave were identifiable footprints.

Leaving the car nearby, the two of them went on foot to the warehouse. Here on the outskirts of the city, running into anyone would be unlikely.

“You met the guy before?” Bruno asked.

“Yeah,” Luca grimaced as he looked up at the gray sky. “His name’s Zack Selby. Old friend of Marco. Seems like a nice guy. Not the kind you’d think would want to rob the bank he worked at.”

“You think he came alone?” Bruno asked.

“For our sake, let’s hope so,” Luca said. “We don’t need this to get messier than it already has.”

“I’ll do it,” Bruno said.

“You have a knife on you?” Luca asked.

“No,” Bruno said. “I’ll just shoot him.”

Luca sighed. “The watch is just going to stop the bullet midair.”

“That’s fine,” Bruno said. “I’ll turn it off afterward. The bullet’ll end up in his head all the same.”

“Use this,” Luca said, reaching into his suit pocket and pulled out a switchblade. The handle was colored gold, embroidered with a design of ivy. “The last thing we need is cops getting ballistics off the bullet.”

Bruno looked down at the knife. “Alright.”

After a few more minutes of walking, the warehouse came into sight. It was completely windowless, and covered in rust. Despite this, there weren’t any visible holes. Its front door looked like it was shut tight.

“Wait a minute,” Luca said. “I want to check things out first.”

They kept their distance, crouching behind the trees and bushes that surrounded the area.

“That his?” Bruno pointed at the side of the warehouse where an expensive black luxury car was resting.

“The model’s right,” Luca said. “But I can’t see the plates from here.”

Bruno looked uncomfortable. Concealing his large body was no easy feat. “So what do we do?”

Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance. “I don’t like it,” Luca said. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Yeah,” Bruno said. “Turn it on.”

“Keep an eye out for me,” Luca moved his sleeve up and placed his fingers on the side of his wristwatch. “Medium should be enough to get to the car,” without hesitating, he pressed the button marked ‘2’.

It went silent. It was so quiet that he could hear his own heart beating. Good. It was working.

He sprinted to the car. The license plate matched. The front seats were empty. Backseats were empty.

Luca pressed himself up against the warehouse and motioned to Bruno. Deactivating the watch, he was pleased to see that he hadn’t used up much time.

“He’s inside waiting then,” Bruno whispered.

“I’m not taking any chances,” Luca said. “I’ll use the next setting, we go in, and we kill him. Then we get the hell out.”

Bruno cracked a smile. “You’re really serious about this.”

“Don’t fuck with me,” he pressed the button marked ‘3’, and everything was quiet again. His heart was pounding furiously, like it was beating out his ears.

The two of them burst through the front door. The walls of the warehouse were lined with large crates. A well-groomed man in his thirties stood wearing a black suit near the center of the room. He was as stuck in a pose like a mannequin, bending slightly forward.

Bruno pulled Luca’s switchblade from his pocket and lunged at Zack, stabbing him in the throat. With ease, he pulled the knife back, revealing a completely clean blade. Next, he forced it into his stomach, creating a long cut from his left side to his right. “Done,” Bruno yelled. “Confirm he’s dead and let’s go.”

Luca hit the button again.

The cuts on Zack’s neck suddenly oozed with blood. The cut on his stomach opened up, releasing his insides onto the ground. He let out a horrible gurgling sound, then buckled over and collapsed in a bloody heap.

“He’s dead all right,” Bruno said. “Might have over done it.”

“Whatever,” Luca said. “I don’t care. Let’s get out of here.”

“I need some coffee.”

Outside, rain was finally starting to fall. They made their way back to the car, their suits covered in wet spots.

“We better call Marco,” Bruno said.

“You do it,” Luca said. “I need a cigarette.”

Bruno took out his phone and started dialing. “Those things’ll kill ya.”

Ignoring him, Luca pulled his case and lighter from his inner jacket pocket. His hands were shaking.

It didn’t matter how he tried to frame it in his mind. They had the money and a girl was dead for it.