I stayed for Leo. My grandson. Five years old, with his mother’s eyes and a spirit that was slowly being crushed under the weight of his father’s ego. I had promised my daughter, on her deathbed, that I would watch over them.
I reached inside my jacket, past the lining, to a hidden pocket sewn by hands that knew how to conceal weapons. My fingers brushed the cold, textured plastic of an iridium satellite phone. It was bulky, obsolete to the modern eye, but it had a battery life of three weeks and a direct line to God—or the next best thing.
The party noise died down. The music stopped.
Then, I heard it.
It wasn’t music. It wasn’t laughter.
It was a high-pitched, terrified shriek. A child’s scream. Coming from the kitchen.
Chapter 2: The Rules of Engagement
The scream cut through the garage like a serrated knife. It wasn’t a tantrum. I know the difference. This was pain. This was fear.
I stood up.
The arthritis that usually plagued my knees seemed to evaporate, burned away by a sudden, intense heat in my blood. The “old man shuffle” I had perfected over the last three years vanished. I moved to the door, my stride long and silent.
