Making Things Disappear: A collection of short stories

He could only allow himself two mistakes with the four-digit code, and given there are 10 000 potential combinations of 0 to 9, he knew what to do. Before daybreak and by torchlight, he dug up his tree, reopened the box, partially exhumed the body and cut off the right index finger. He washed the thankfully undecomposed "tool" and once it had dried, he placed it carefully upon the circle at the foot of the screen. BEEP! The phone came alive. He would keep the appendage in his pocket for when it was needed again.