I reached out and picked up his red Captain Comet backpack to hand it to him. But as my fingers curled around the fabric, I stopped.
I had packed this bag this morning. It had a coloring book, a small box of crayons, and a juice box inside. It should have weighed practically nothing.
Now, it was heavy.
I frowned. I unzipped the main compartment. The coloring book was there, but pushed to the bottom was something wrapped in thick black electrical tape. I pulled it out.
It was a heavy, industrial-grade burner phone. A small red indicator light on the top edge was blinking rhythmically. The screen was on, displaying an active voice-recording app. The counter was ticking forward.
My blood ran cold.
Rick Vance hadn't targeted my son for a random prank. Rick Vance had been looking for this phone. And he had been terrifyingly desperate to get it back.
CHAPTER 2
I stared at the blinking red light on the burner phone.
The wind whipped around us on the roof, but a sudden, unnatural silence seemed to settle in my mind. The tactical instincts I had relied on in war zones took complete control.
This wasn’t a bullying incident. This was an active security threat.
"Dad?" Leo asked, looking at the black, taped object in my hand. "Is that a bomb?"
"No, buddy," I said, forcing a calm, reassuring smile. I reached out and stroked his hair. "It's just some junk the big kids left behind. Come on. Let's get out of here."
I shoved the burner phone deep into my own cargo pocket. I zipped up Leo's backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and took his hand. We didn't take the elevator. We walked quickly down the five flights of stairs. I kept Leo slightly behind me, my eyes scanning the shadows of every landing, analyzing the sightlines and choke points of the stairwell.
The hallways were still empty when we reached the ground floor. We exited through the rear utility doors, emerging into the sprawling staff parking lot. My beat-up heavy-duty Ford truck was parked near the loading dock.
As I unlocked the truck and buckled Leo into the back seat, I noticed something that made my stomach tighten.
Parked at the far end of the visitor lot, idling with its headlights off, was a matte-black luxury SUV. On the front door panel, just barely visible in the fading afternoon light, was a subtle blue logo: Vance Construction.
It hadn't been there when I arrived three hours ago.
I didn't stare. I walked calmly to the driver’s side, climbed in, and started the engine. I pulled out of the lot, taking the long route through the winding, tree-lined suburban roads to make sure the black SUV wasn't following us. I kept checking my rearview mirror, but the road behind me remained empty.
Once I was sure we were clear, I pulled into a small, empty rest stop near the highway on-ramp.
"I need to check my work messages real quick, Leo," I said, putting the truck in park. "Do you want to play a game on my phone for a minute?"
"Yeah!" he said, eagerly taking my personal smartphone.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the black burner phone. I peeled away a strip of the electrical tape covering the power button and stopped the active audio recording. The screen went dark, then instantly lit up again.
A text message notification hovered on the lock screen. It was from an unsaved number, labeled only as "M.V."
Did you get it from the kid? Call me the second you have it.
Marcus Vance.
Rick’s father.
I stared at the glowing words, my mind connecting the dots with cold precision. Marcus Vance wasn't just the wealthiest man in town; he was the primary contractor for the school's new fifty-million-dollar athletic center, which was currently under construction. He basically owned the town council and the local police department.
"Leo," I asked quietly, looking back at my son in the rearview mirror. "Where did you find this black phone? Was it in your backpack?"
Leo didn't look up from the game on my phone. "No, I found it in the hallway outside the gym when I was going to get the juice. It was just sitting on the floor under a bench. I thought it was a secret spy communicator, so I put it in my bag."
It was a complete coincidence. Rick must have dropped it near the gym. When he realized it was missing, he must have panicked, retraced his steps, and seen Leo walking away. He cornered Leo on the roof to terrorize him into handing it over, probably assuming Leo had stolen it on purpose.
But what was on this phone that would make a seventeen-year-old kid panic enough to risk killing a child over it?