MY FBI SON CALLED AT MIDNIGHT... THEN MY SON-IN-LAW LED STRANGERS STRAIGHT TO MY ATTIC
Part 1 – My FBI Son Called at Midnight... "Hide in the Attic. Don't Tell Your Son-in-Law."
My phone rang at 12:04 a.m.
Only one person would ever call me that late.
My oldest son.
Dominic.
He works for the FBI.
The moment I answered, he didn't say hello.
"Don't talk."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Listen carefully."
"Turn off every light in the house."
"Don't touch your computer."
"Don't touch the Wi-Fi."
"Go to the attic."
"Lock the door."
Then he paused.
When he spoke again, his voice sounded different.
"And whatever you do..."
"Don't tell Tristan."
A chill ran through me.
Tristan was my son-in-law.
He'd been sleeping in my guest room for four nights while his condo was supposedly being renovated.
I'd cooked dinner for him.
Shared my favorite bourbon with him.
Trusted him.
"Dominic..." I whispered.
"You're scaring me."
"Good."
His answer came instantly.
"Be scared."
"Now go."
The line went dead.
I didn't hesitate.
At sixty-three years old, I'd learned something about fear.
Sometimes the smartest thing you can do...
Is borrow someone else's.
I moved through the dark house without making a sound.
Every light stayed off.
Every floorboard felt louder than a gunshot.
I climbed the attic stairs.
Locked the hatch behind me.
Then sat in complete darkness, trying to slow my breathing.
The attic was filled with old furniture.
Christmas decorations.
Boxes my late wife, Marsha, never had the chance to sort before cancer took her.
She had always wanted to turn this place into a reading room.
Instead...
It had become a storage room for memories.
At first, all I could hear was my own heartbeat.
Then...
A floorboard creaked below me.
Another.
Someone was awake.
I crawled toward a narrow crack between the old wooden boards.
Held my breath.
And looked down into the hallway beneath me.
What I saw turned every drop of blood in my body cold.
Tristan wasn't alone.
He was standing in my living room with two strangers dressed in black.
One of them unfolded a blueprint of my house across the dining table.
May you like
The other pointed directly...
At the attic.
