Daily Snippet, 1-3-12

Outside my room, I could hear the small noises of someone fumbling in the dark room while trying to be quiet. Sure enough, after a minute, the warning light in the corner of my room started to flash red. That meant whoever had come in had not entered the security code in the panel by the door. The hidden security camera would take the person’s picture and send it to Nelly’s system to check against facial recognition databases. A report would be generated and sent to city police. I didn’t have to do a thing.

Except. Except I’d been so tired I had left most of the case paperwork out on my desk, rather than take the time to place them in the locked cabinet. My tablet was out there, along with my main computer. Damn it. I had been careless. I eased open the drawer on my bedside table and took out my Lightning Bug. The only weapon I ever used, its black plastic head fit in my palm and, when I flicked on the switch, its bulbous body glowed yellow. It would give a target an incapacitating, usually nonlethal, electric shock. Pressing close to the wall, I prepared myself for a blitz attack.

from Incognito: the Vertical Street, scene 3