Chapter 1 - The Burner Phone
Liam looked up from his half-eaten pancake with eyes that mirrored Jason perfectly.
"Her name is Maya," the little boy whispered softly into the quiet room.
"Maya Hayes."
Jason felt as if all the oxygen had been instantly vacuumed out of his massive corner office.
Maya Hayes had been his leading financial analyst and the absolute only woman Jason had ever truly loved.
Exactly five years ago, she had vanished without a single word of explanation or goodbye.
He had spent millions on private investigators to find her, only to be fed a lie that she had moved to Europe.
Now, her biological children were sitting at his conference table, wearing cheap clothes and carrying a filthy backpack.
Jason slowly reached across the highly polished mahogany desk with a shaking hand.
"May I please look inside your bag, Liam?" he asked as gently as he possibly could.
Liam hesitated for a moment before slowly pushing the worn canvas backpack across the sleek table.
Jason unzipped the main compartment with trembling fingers while maintaining eye contact with the twins.
Inside the small bag, he found a crumpled map of Manhattan and a heavily bloodstained towel.
Beneath the stiff fabric lay a solid gold digital flash drive.
It was a highly encrypted access drive used exclusively by international arms dealers.
Maya had absolutely no logical reason to possess something connected to global criminal syndicates.
Before Jason could fully process this impossible discovery, a cheap burner phone at the bottom of the bag began to vibrate loudly.
The harsh buzzing sound echoed terrifyingly against the glass walls of the corporate office.
Jason pulled the ringing phone out and stared at the unknown blocked number flashing on the cracked screen.
He pressed the green acceptance button and slowly brought the small device up to his ear.
"I see the little rats found their way to your desk, Mr. Miller," a distorted voice hissed over the secure line.
Jason gripped the edge of his wooden desk so hard that his knuckles turned completely white.
"Who exactly is this and where is Maya?" Jason demanded with a cold corporate ruthlessness.
The mysterious voice laughed with a terrifying sound that made Jason's blood run cold.
"Maya is currently still breathing, but that status can change very quickly."
Jason looked over at the two innocent boys who were now watching him with wide, terrified eyes.
"If you ever want to see her alive again, you will bring us the gold drive by midnight tonight."
The caller paused deliberately to let the heavy, violent threat sink deeply into the quiet room.
"If you involve the police or attempt to hide those twins, we will slowly burn her alive."
The phone line went completely dead with a sharp click.
Jason stared blindly at the dark screen, deeply realizing his perfectly ordered corporate life was officially over forever.
He needed to get the boys out of the highly visible glass building immediately.
May you like
Suddenly, the heavy glass doors of his office violently shattered inward in a massive shower of sharp crystals.
Three massive men wearing entirely black tactical gear heavily stormed into the luxurious room with suppressed assault rifles raised directly at Jason's chest.
