The Contract

Annie pulled her hand back quickly. She nearly let out an expletive but had made it a new years resolution to clean up her rough tongue, something she had learned from her coal mining father. The water heater in the house was the original when the house was built in the 1930's. It worked extremely well, too well in moments like this when warm water would be preferable over scalding hot water. Annie rinsed her hands for a minute in the cold water and then dried them on the front of her apron. She looked out the window above the sink and could see the lighthouse in the distance.

Being a girl from North Dakota, she often wondered how she had ended up in Maine. Sometimes she felt like a stranger here in New England, despite having left North Dakota over 18 years ago. It wasn't that she held a particular fondness for that flat and uninspiring state, it was simply "home". Her parents along with 2 of her 3 brother still lived on the family property near Mercer. She glanced at the clock. It was 7:18 and David should have been home by now. He usually called when he was passing the Sinclair but tonight he hadn't phoned. The Shepherd's Pie was just about done, the cheese turning a golden brown around the edges. It smelled comforting and she was proud of herself for not allowing their recent wealth to make her lazy and order out every night. David had begun work 3 years previous on a device that would allow voice encryption over cell towers at an impressive 512k. The government was informed and took interest in the chip. This led to a formal invitation to present in D.C. and after 2 weeks of negotiations, David sold the technology to the Department of Defense for 12 million dollars. The contract required David to stay involved in the transition and implementation of the technology for the ensuing 18 months. After which, David would be free and had promised to take her to Europe for the summer.

She had dreamed of floating down the canals of Venice and watching a firework show at the Eiffel Tower. It would be very unique to vacation together, just the two of them, and not have a single worry about money. She had always been so frugal, mostly a result of her low income upbringing, and now she didn't have to worry. She heard the old automatic garage door open and was relieved that David was home. She started toward the stairs to the garage when she heard her cell phone ringing from the counter. She headed back to answer it when the home phone rang. Almost instantaneously the door bell rang and a knock came at the back door. Then the sound from the garage door opening suddenly stopped. Annie froze and chills shot up her spine. Something very wrong was happening at 2564 White Pine Drive. She reached for her cell phone and as soon as she did everything went silent.