Chapter 1 - The Wet Bench
The freezing rain poured mercilessly from the dark evening sky.
Noah pulled his thin waterproof jacket tighter around his shivering body.
He had been delivering food for twelve exhausting hours straight.
His legs ached with every push of the heavy bicycle pedals.
At sixteen years old, he was entirely responsible for paying his mother's massive medical bills.
He finally arrived back at the glowing neon sign of the small city deli.
His stomach cramped violently, reminding him he had not eaten a single thing all day.
He reached into his damp delivery bag and pulled out a crushed turkey sandwich.
It was his legally earned shift meal, carefully saved for this exact moment.
As he unwrapped the foil, he heard a ragged cough from the nearby shadows.
An elderly man was sitting completely alone on a wet park bench just outside the alleyway.
The man wore an entirely ruined gray coat that offered absolutely no protection from the freezing storm.
He was shivering so violently that his teeth were audibly chattering in the cold.
Noah looked down at his only source of food for the entire night.
He thought deeply about his own desperate situation and his completely empty bank account.
But looking at the freezing stranger, his heavy conscience simply would not let him walk away.
He stepped forward carefully and gently held out the warm foil package.
"Please take this," Noah said softly with a kind and gentle smile.
"You look like you need a hot meal much more than I do right now."
The old man looked up slowly, revealing sharp and intensely intelligent piercing blue eyes.
He reached out with a severely trembling hand and gracefully accepted the sandwich.
Before Noah could even turn around, the heavy glass door of the deli violently smashed open.
Mr. Vance, the red-faced store manager, stomped angrily out onto the wet sidewalk.
"What do you think you are doing out here?" Vance screamed furiously over the pouring rain.
"You are giving away my expensive inventory to a worthless street beggar."
Noah calmly tried to explain that the sandwich was his legally earned meal for the day.
Vance stepped aggressively into Noah's personal space and pointed a stubby finger directly at his face.
"Do it again, and you are permanently fired without your final paycheck," Vance threatened darkly.
The angry manager quickly turned around and slammed the door loud enough to violently rattle the glass.
Noah let out a long sigh and turned back to check on the freezing old man.
He fully expected the beggar to quickly eat the food and disappear silently into the night.
Instead, the old man slowly reached deep inside his ruined, soaking wet coat.
He pulled out an incredibly expensive, highly encrypted modern smartphone.
The glowing device looked entirely out of place in his filthy, shaking hands.
He dialed a single number and pressed the digital screen against his ear.
"Send the cars to my current location," the man commanded in a terrifyingly powerful voice.
"Bring absolutely everyone here right this second."
Noah stumbled backward, his exhausted mind completely failing to process what was currently happening.
The old man hung up the phone and casually tossed his ruined coat onto the muddy ground.
Beneath the filthy rags, he was wearing an immaculately tailored, thousand-dollar Italian suit.
Exactly two minutes later, the terrifying roar of heavy engines echoed loudly through the narrow street.
Six massive black armored SUVs aggressively jumped the curb and surrounded Noah completely.
The old man stepped forward and smoothly brushed a drop of rain from his expensive lapel.
"Thank you for the delicious meal, Noah," the powerful stranger said with a calm smile.
Noah froze in absolute terror because he had never told this mysterious man his name.
"My name is Harold Bennett, and I have spent six agonizing months trying to find you."
Harold reached into his tailored pocket and pulled out a highly familiar silver pocket watch.
Noah instantly recognized it as his late father's absolute most prized possession.
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"Your father did not die in a random tragic car accident," Harold whispered darkly.
"He was brutally murdered, and the people who killed him are coming for you tonight."
