He was waiting in line at the metal detector gates, and just about when he felt his knees trembling and almost collapsing, he got there. The morose border guard glanced at his passport and waved him forward. Many other checkpoints were in sight, like his was about to run the gauntlet.
And there it was. A multilingual sign, in black Arial letters on stark white vinyl.

BITTE LASSEN SIE IHREN WERTGEGENSTANDEN BEI DEM ERSTEN PULT
KÉRJÜK, HAGYJÁK ÉRTÉKEIKET AZ ELSŐ PULTNÁL
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR VALUES AT THE FRONT DESK

Leave your values at the front desk? He shook his head, thinking of a clumsy translator, who needed the money so badly but had so little time or training. But he couldn’t shake the eerie feeling off.

He felt a little prick on his neck, like a mosquito bite. Next thing he knew, he was an employee of Artisjus, and had blood on his hands. But he didn’t care anymore.