He rested in the bushes in obscurity, waiting, almost tasting the vacuous
air. For so long now his aspiration had been to find and arrest the diamond smuggler. He stared languidly at the entrance to the unremarkable building. In fact, it looked so ordinary next to the lavish and immaculate buildings; he wouldn't have suspected the culprit was inside unless he had seen him go in. Across the street, a musician was extemporizing, his melody resonating sweetly back to the waiting man. Jaunty mothers strolled by pushing their florid babies close enough to the bush the man could touch the wheels of the carriage. Down the road, street actors implored for money and people threw them money with prodigality while women in kiosks sold blankets stacked in stratified layers. Men in suits and top hats sauntered past with a certain aura of levity about them and whistled at the women dressed in meretricious clothing. Complacency seemed to hang over the whole town. No one had any idea of the trouble that was about to happen.

Without warning, the front door of the building opened and a man carrying a colossal bag stepped into the morning light. The man himself was corpulent with strong arms and legs the size of large tree trunks that seemed to scream the man was fractious. He had tousled brown hair sticking out from under a white ball cap. He was so large the man in the bushes immediately marked him as a giant; almost like those he had seen at a circus side show. The man in the bush wiped his sweaty brow and wondered what he had got himself into.

Finally he wrenched himself to his feet and heard several joints pop. He distracted himself for a moment by wondering how long he had been crouched in that uncomfortable position. By the time he remembered why he was hidden, the giant was walking down the street with a supercilious expression, almost as if he wanted to elude someone. The man reached with punctilious care into his jacket for his gun and sprinted down the street to the giant. Almost on instinct, the giant dropped the bag to the ground and his hand shot out to smack the man's thoracic region. The man momentarily saw white stars cloud his vision.

"Where is it?" the man grunted.

"What?" the giant rumble back.

"The diamonds you put on consignment. I know you have them."

"Don't know what you're talking about." The giant struck again but the man was faster - he feigned to the right and made a grab for the bag. The giant realized what he was going to do and reached for the bag as well. The opposing forces tore the bag asunder. Without thinking, the man held up his gun and pulled the trigger. The giant collapsed to the ground. The shaking man turned around to examine the contents that were spilled all over the ground. What he saw shocked him to the core. It was nothing but linen; nothing but sheets and pillowcases. He looked back at the dead man, his blood seeping onto the pavement.

Unseen, a man in a trench coat carrying a brief case slipped around the corner and out of sight.