Chapter 1 - The Green Backpack
The elderly man stood in the quiet hospital room holding a worn canvas bag.
He introduced himself as Arthur Vance and claimed to be Julian's personal attorney.
I stared at the green backpack resting heavily in my trembling hands.
The weight of the bag felt completely wrong for a few personal belongings.
Arthur adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses and looked nervously toward the hallway.
His eyes darted back and forth as if he expected someone to follow him inside.
He whispered that Julian was not the fragile old man I thought he was.
He told me that my brief marriage had triggered a massive chain of dangerous events.
Before I could ask any questions the lawyer turned and walked quickly out the door.
His footsteps echoed down the linoleum corridor until they faded completely away.
I sat alone on the edge of the sterile hospital bed.
The silence in the room was deafening after a week of listening to heart monitors.
My fingers brushed against the soda can pull tab on my left hand.
It was a cheap symbol of a vow I had taken purely out of deep compassion.
I unzipped the main compartment of the heavy green backpack.
The interior was packed tightly with thick stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
There had to be at least a million dollars bundled in neat rubber bands.
I pushed the money aside and found a loaded black handgun at the very bottom.
The cold metal of the weapon sent a sharp shiver down my spine.
Underneath the gun was an old faded Polaroid photograph wrapped in plastic.
I pulled the picture out and felt my stomach drop instantly.
The photograph showed Julian thirty years younger standing next to a beautiful woman.
The woman smiling brightly in the picture was my mother.
She had died in a tragic car accident exactly one year ago today.
My mind raced trying to understand how my dying husband knew my deceased mother.
Suddenly a cheap burner phone buried deep inside the backpack began to ring.
The harsh electronic chime echoed loudly in the silent hospital room.
I hesitated for a moment before answering the unknown call.
I pressed the small plastic phone to my ear and held my breath.
A deep mechanical voice spoke through the receiver with absolute chilling authority.
May you like
The voice stated that they knew Julian was dead and I was completely unprotected.
The man on the phone ordered me to walk outside with the bag or I would not survive the night.
