"Rat" is a science fiction short story by James Patrick Kelly.
Rat has been given the mission to smuggle a large amount of drugs, but decides that he wants to cut out the middle man and keep the entire haul for himself.
Rat tries to sneak out of sight from the spook that was hired to watch him and the fed who was also put onto his tail.
The way the story is set up seduces us into rooting for Rat to get home, to outwit his pursuers, to make his score.
Once we get a sense of his appearance-furry, twenty-six inches high—he takes on something of the disarming quality of Mickey Mouse or the animals in The Wind in the Willows.