CHAPTER 2: THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The red digits beneath the birthday cake flashed like the eyes of a predator.
02:58
Nobody breathed.
Nobody moved.
Then chaos exploded.
"GET OFF THE YACHT!"
Richard's roar echoed across the marina.
The guests trampled over one another. Crystal glasses shattered beneath expensive shoes. Children screamed as adults pushed toward the exit.
Marina clutched Ethan against her chest.
"Richard!"
He didn't answer.
His eyes never left the blinking light hidden beneath the cake.
Something wasn't right.
Professional bombs were usually concealed.
Invisible.
But this one...
It wanted to be seen.
Almost as if someone wanted everyone staring at it.
Richard's instincts screamed.
It's a trap.
"Nobody touch that cake!" he shouted.
One of the crew members ignored him.
"It's only three minutes!"
The man rushed toward the dining table.
He grabbed the edge of the white cloth...
And yanked.
The birthday cake crashed onto the polished deck.
Cream exploded across the floor.
Candles rolled away.
The black device slid free.
Everyone flinched.
Nothing happened.
No explosion.
The countdown kept running.
02:11
Richard narrowed his eyes.
It wasn't connected to the cake.
The cake had only been hiding it.
The device was sitting loose on the floor...
Almost carelessly.
Then he noticed something impossible.
No wires.
No detonator.
No explosive residue.
Just a blinking screen.
His stomach tightened.
"It's fake..."
The words barely left his mouth.
A heartbeat later...
The real explosion came.
Not from the yacht.
BOOOOOOM!
A deafening blast ripped through Warehouse 12 nearly three hundred yards away.
A massive fireball climbed into the night sky.
Windows across the marina shattered instantly.
A shockwave slammed everyone onto the deck.
People screamed.
Flames swallowed stacks of fuel barrels as black smoke mushroomed above the harbor.
The yacht had never been the target.
It had only been the distraction.
Sirens erupted from every direction.
Richard stared at the inferno in disbelief.
"Warehouse 12..."
One of the dock workers whispered in horror.
"The fuel depot..."
Secondary explosions erupted one after another.
Containers flew through the air like toys.
Burning debris rained into the harbor.
The marina transformed into hell within seconds.
Meanwhile...
Luna wasn't watching the fire.
She was staring toward the opposite pier.
Toward a man standing perfectly still among hundreds of people running for their lives.
Everyone else fled.
He didn't.
He simply watched.
Tall.
Black coat.
Hands inside his pockets.
His face hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Then...
He smiled.
Only for a second.
Before disappearing into the smoke.
Luna's tiny body began trembling.
"I know him..."
Richard looked down.
"What?"
"I've seen him before."
"Where?"
The little girl swallowed hard.
"He gives money to children."
Richard frowned.
"What children?"
"The ones nobody looks for."
A chill ran through him.
"What are you talking about?"
Luna hesitated.
As though speaking the truth might summon something terrible.
"Children who disappear."
Richard's heartbeat slowed.
"What do you mean... disappear?"
Before Luna could answer...
A police SUV screeched to a halt.
Officers poured onto the dock.
Behind them came firefighters and bomb technicians.
Within seconds the entire marina became a crime scene.
One detective walked straight toward Richard.
"Mr. Sterling?"
"Yes."
"I'm Detective Daniel Hayes."
He glanced briefly at Luna.
"She's the one who warned you?"
Richard nodded.
Hayes crouched before the child.
"Sweetheart..."
"Can you tell me how you knew about the bomb?"
Luna looked down.
Silence.
"It's okay."
No response.
Richard knelt beside her.
"Luna."
She finally whispered.
"They'll kill me."
Detective Hayes exchanged a glance with Richard.
"Who?"
The girl's lips trembled.
"The Bird Men."
A strange name.
Richard had never heard it before.
"The ones with blue tattoos."
She slowly raised one shaking hand...
Pointing toward the burning warehouse.
"They said tonight..."
"...was only the beginning."
At that exact moment...
A firefighter came sprinting across the dock.
"DETECTIVE!"
Hayes turned.
"What is it?"
"We found a body inside the warehouse."
"So?"
The firefighter's face had gone completely pale.
"You need to see this."
Minutes later...
Richard followed the detective into the smoking ruins.
The heat was unbearable.
Steel beams twisted overhead.
Everything smelled of burning fuel.
In the center of the warehouse lay a single corpse.
Not burned.
Not crushed.
Executed.
One clean bullet hole between the eyes.
Whoever the victim was...
The killers had wanted the body found.
Detective Hayes carefully opened the dead man's wallet.
His expression changed instantly.
"What?"
Richard asked.
Hayes slowly held up the identification card.
The name printed on it made Richard's blood run cold.
SAMUEL ORTIZ
Chief mechanic of Richard Sterling's yacht.
The very man who had personally certified...
That the yacht was completely safe just six hours earlier.
And taped to Samuel's chest...
Was a small white envelope.
May you like
On the front, written in black ink, were only six words.
"THE LITTLE GIRL COMES NEXT."
