A Valentine's Algorithm
Copyright© 2026 by Tantrayaan
Chapter 6
The bell above the bookstore door jingled as they walked in. It felt too cheerful for what they were doing.
Vikram surged inside first, his movements were sharp and twitchy. His head felt like it was on a swivel, ready to snap.
“Easy.” Inna murmured and placed a steadying hand on the small of his back for just a second. It felt grounding. “You look like you’re about to rob the place Vikram. Breathe. Just be a person browsing for a book. You’ve been here before right?”
He shot her a wild-eyed glance but nodded. He shoved his hands in his pockets but his shoulders stayed up around his ears.
They moved past the towering shelves toward the back. Vikram navigated with eerie precision, his mind glued to the mental map from the photo. He stopped in front of a floor-to-ceiling unit crammed with history texts.
“Here.” He whispered, voice strained. “The book in the photo was on the third shelf from the bottom. The focus in the photo was on the spine of a book about the Hanseatic League.”
Inna crouched and scanned the shelf for the book that Vikram mentioned. However, it was not there. The space where the book should have been was empty. A dark gap between two weathered volumes. Her heart sank. She reached out and ran a finger along the vacant spot. It was thick with undisturbed dust.
“It’s gone, Vikram.” She said quietly. Looked up at him. “It’s been gone a long time. Someone bought it or it was reshelved. Finding something placed here eight months ago...” She didn’t finish. The fear that his hope was built on sand sat heavy in her chest.
Vikram didn’t move. He stared at the empty space like he could will the book back. “No. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t hide something in a place that could be taken away. I’m sure what she kept here would not have been in the book. The book must have been an anchor - to identify the shelf. The location is the shelf ... or maybe this bookcase itself. It has to be somewhere on it.”
Before Inna could process that he was on his knees, gripping the sides of the heavy oak bookcase. He braced his shoulder against it and heaved.
“Vikram!” Inna hissed. Glanced around. “Are you insane? You’ll bring the whole store down! That thing weighs a ton. There’s no way Elara moved it by herself.”
“She wouldn’t have to move it.” He grunted, straining. A vein throbbed in his temple. “She just ... would have ... needed to access it ... somehow.” He let go panting and sat back on his heels. Then his eyes dropped to the narrow crack of shadow beneath the shelf’s baseboard.
“Light.” He demanded. Held out his hand.
Inna fished her phone from her pocket, switched on the flashlight and slapped it into his palm. He flattened himself onto the grimy floor and shone the beam into the darkness.
Inna stood guard as she pretended to examine a book while her senses tracked the shop owner at the front counter and the street sounds outside.
“Inna! There’s something here ... I can see it!” His voice came muffled. Thick with excitement. “Taped to the underside. I can’t reach it.”
Of course there was. Inna closed her eyes briefly. Of course she was that clever.
“Can you hook it?”
“I need a tool. A letter opener, a knife...”
“I’m not stabbing a bookshelf, Vikram. Create a distraction. Now. I’ll use my multi-took to grab it.”
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