Reuben

 The green digital display turned to 6:47.

The stranger slowly scanned the room again. They were wary of being spotted and hunched their back slightly to present a smaller target.

"Hon, your food'll be out soon. Sorry for the wait but as you  an see we're pretty full tonight." The waitress, Janet, probably not her real name, startled the stranger again. She had stopped by three times with similar updates. Each time she seemed to come out of nowhere. The stranger was not usually taken by surprise. It was not an experience they enjoyed. 

Janet disappeared as silently as she had appeared. The stranger went back to surveying the room for any threats. Their left arm still ached from Spencer's lucky cut a few days ago. They were still upset with themself for missing that he was holding a scalpel. 

"Ok, here's your sandwich and Fred was able to get your fries nice and crispy. Anything else I can get for you hon?" The stranger was able to stifle a jump this time. They shook their head and Janet disappeared once more.

The sandwich was gone far too quickly but it had been a long day and the stranger had skipped both lunch and breakfast. Again. As they sat watching the room and more slowly enjoying the crisp french fries there were headlights outside. 

That was not a parking spot, they remembered the hydrant was there. The stranger hoped for a tow truck to come by before the car was moved but knew it wasn't likely to happen. 

Their attention was drawn to the reporter at the window. He was on his phone shaking his head and typing with one hand. The confirmation of his scoop must have finally come in. Good for him.

The stranger heard a muffled sound that didn't make any sense.

The window shattered and everything went black for the stranger.  

Stuart

 The green digital display read 6:18.

Stuart's fingers ached as he gripped the steering wheel. His wrists had a different kind of ache from the chains that held him to the steering column. There was just enough slack for him to freely turn the wheel. He kept an even speed and tried not to look at his passenger in the backseat. 

The passenger had a gun poking into the back of the Stuart's seat. He couldn't see it but the passenger had shown it when Stuart woke up chained to the wheel. It was a nightmare. After his initial panic the passenger hit him with the gun and gave him instructions to drive at a normal speed without pulling any stunts. When they got to their destination the passenger would leave the car and the key for the chains on the front seat. Stuart would wait five minutes before he could use the key and exit the car himself.

It all seemed very reasonable to Stuart, for being chained up at gunpoint. 

The passenger would utter "turn right here" or "the next left up there" occasionally. Stuart tried not to think of his wife and son as he dutifully followed directions. 

But the thoughts kept creeping in. He could not keep from remembering how he tampered with his wife's car. He was no master mechanic but he found out various things he could do to make the car unsafe to drive. She had no concept of anything to do with the car aside from getting from here to there.

It only took a week or so for his effort to succeed. When the police came to inform him of the fatal crash he put on a good show for them. It was all- "stop right here." The passenger didn't mean at the fire hydrant. 

"I said stop!" There was no argument to be had. Stuart stopped where he was told. 

The passenger went over the instructions again and set the key on the front passenger seat as close to the door as was possible. "Remember, five minutes. I'll be watching. If you try anything before then you'll get a bullet."

Stuart watched in the side mirror as the passenger went down the street away from the car. After a short time clenching his eyes shut to try to make the whole ordeal go away, he opened his eyes and looked around. 

It was mostly little shops on the ground floors around him with presumably apartments upstairs in the older buildings. He looked to the right and saw he was parked in front of a little cafe. He reconsidered. Perhaps it was more of a diner, he would really need to see the inside to tell for sure.

There was still two minutes left before he could grab the key and get out of this predicament. Stuart felt the heatwave and had the sensation of floating off the seat as the detonation engulfed the car.

Jasper

 The green digital display read 6:40.

Jasper tried to ignore the din of the nearly full diner. He liked to come here to work on his articles as he nursed the bottomless cup of coffee that wasn't bad. He'd order some food off and on throughout his time at one of the little tables by the window. He could spend time thinking of the words to use and turning the leads he'd uncovered over in his mind as he stared blankly into the street. 

The deadline for this article was quickly approaching and Jasper still needed a final confirmation from another source before he could send it to his editor. The old desk sergeant from downtown always had trouble with the simple cellphone Jasper had gotten for him to keep in contact more discreetly. It was always down to the wire with that guy but he was the most solid source Jasper ever dealt with. 

He fidgeted with the keyboard. Moving a word here and there and deleting a comma he knew his editor would add back in later. But it helped to pass the time as he waited.

Jasper was drawn out of his focus by the half-heard conversation from the next table. He shook his head as he assessed the situation at that table. That poor bastard was about to get dumped and he was totally unaware that was even a possibility. Poor bastard. 

The phone buzzed and Jasper impatiently let it ring three times before answering. He tried to get to the point quickly but knew the old sergeant needed a moderate amount of coaxing before giving a definitive answer. 

Jasper clicked the send button on his screen and sat back with a sigh. He saw the flash but never heard the shattering glass.

Ralph

 The green digital display read 6:28.

Ralph followed her up the narrow steep and winding staircase. There were only two floors in the building and it seemed as if they should have reached the top floor already. 

"So this place has some... charm." He was almost out of breath but managed to get the words out without sounding too feeble. 

She looked over her shoulder as she reached the landing, "it was built back in the early 1900s but they've kept it up pretty well." She smiled. She could tell he was trying to hide how worn out the stairs made him. It was cute. 

She tapped on the door and waited a moment before trying the knob. "Hello? I've brought my friend I told you about." There was a muffled voice from somewhere deep in the room and she turned to Ralph. "He said we should take off our shoes."

Ralph admired the eclectic decor of the apartment. It was several rooms each more eclectic than the last. From tribal art to old machinery to nicely framed landscape paintings, he was almost overwhelmed by it all.

They found the resident in what was obviously his gallery. The old man was naked and seated on a tall stool in front of a blank canvas. He stood and shook hands before positioning his guests on the bench in front of the canvas. 

It was a short visit to prepare the pose for the portrait she had talked Ralph into sitting for with her. The trip down the stairs was almost as precarious as the trip up. She had an early morning so they parted ways on the street leaving Ralph to his thoughts as he strolled back to his apartment. 

As he passed that old diner he considered going in for a quick bite. No it was almost full. As Ralph turned back to his route there was a flash and that was it.