Chapter 3 - Two Blocks Away
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The moment the front door closed, the mask slipped from my face.
I walked down the driveway to the black town car waiting at the curb. I tossed my suitcase into the back seat and slid in beside it.
“Airport, sir?” the driver asked, checking his rearview mirror.
“Drive two blocks down, pull over to the curb, and stop,” I ordered, my voice tight.
The driver looked surprised but complied without question. As the car rolled down our quiet Phoenix street, I pulled out my phone and canceled my flight to Minneapolis, along with my hotel reservations and client meetings. Business no longer mattered.
Once the car pulled over near the corner park, I dialed a number I hadn't called in three years.
Lincoln answered on the third ring. “Gregory? It’s been a while.”
Lincoln was a former federal contractor who specialized in private security and digital forensics. He had helped my firm secure our digital infrastructure after a corporate break-in years ago.
“Lincoln, I need you right now,” I said, my voice shaking slightly. “I need a full digital audit of my home system immediately. I’m standing two blocks away from my house.”
“What’s going on?” Lincoln’s tone shifted instantly from casual to sharp alertness.
“I suspect my wife is drugging my daughter and recording her to fabricate a mental illness,” I said, stating the horrifying sentence aloud for the first time. “My daughter says she’s putting something in her drinks whenever I’m out of town.”
There was a brief pause on the line before Lincoln responded. “Are you still using the smart-home camera ecosystem I set up for you after the burglary?”
“Yes, but Pamela has the user credentials. I assumed she turned off the interior cameras in the living areas.”
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“She might think she turned them off,” Lincoln said calmly. “When I installed that system, I configured a secondary local backup server hidden in your basement utility rack. It records a continuous buffer on a closed loop, regardless of what the user interface shows. Where are you now?”
“Two blocks away. Meet me at the neighborhood park in ten minutes.”
