Prologue
Ex Special Forces Sergeant Jack Ross’ world spiraled downward immediately after what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in Vermont. He and his wife, Sara were enjoying a wonderful ski trip when Jack awoke one morning at 10 o’clock to discover his wife was nowhere to be found. He looked over at the nightstand on her side of the bed and saw her glasses still there. He went over to the dresser and noticed some of her clothes were missing from the drawers, and her phone gone as well. Jack quickly put on pants and a sweatshirt, grabbed his phone and proceeded to call Sara.
One, two, three rings went by until it disconnected.
That’s funny, thought Jack. Why would she hang up on me? Then a ding went off in his ear. He looked at his phone; it was a text - from Sara. When he opened it, he nearly collapsed. There, on his phone was a picture of Sara. Dead. Blood surrounded her body as she lay in an unnatural position. Jack could feel chills running down his spine as he stood there, staring at the picture of his dead wife, with no way in which he could have helped her. Then Jack noticed he’d received a voicemail earlier. He immediately hit play when he saw it was from Sara, but quickly paused it before any sound came out. He took a deep breath, not sure if he was ready to hear the sound of her voice for the last time, but then resumed it anyway. As soon as the voice began to talk, Jack froze in place, as his past began to catch up with him. The voice playing on his phone was not his wife’s but someone he had encountered during his most dangerous mission in Afghanistan. He recognized the caller as T.F.O. - The Feared One. The one that had ended Jack’s time as Sergeant of his team. The one that caused him to send his team into a death mission, only because Jack’s army had killed half of T.F.O.’s. And now, the one who’d taken his wife and murdered her.

Chapter 1
It’s 9:30 am; 2 days after Jack’s life had spun out of control. Scott Patel, a millionaire who used to work for the government, is deleting old files on his computer that are useless to him. He gets to the file on ex-Special Forces. As Scott is going through the profiles, he sees one that interests him. Jack Ross. Scott decides to do a quick search on Jack and his location. He is also able to tap into Jack’s phone. Scott pulls up Jack’s most current text. When he sees it, Scott is shocked but curious at the same time. He sees a picture of a dead woman surrounded by a pool of blood. Scott decides to investigate. He looks into the most recent voicemail Jack had received. He scans the voice, and finds a match to a contact in the government’s files. The man to which the voice matches is labeled as a top criminal from Afghanistan known as T.F.O. Scott decides to do a little research and see what he can gather on this T.F.O guy. After a few minutes he is only able to confirm a few things. One - his real name is Nku Zelgai.
Figures, thinks Scott, his name means “Sheep Heart”. No wonder he’d chosen a new title. Two - T.F.O trapped and killed half of Jack’s team as retaliation for Jack killing half of his team. After reading a little bit more, Scott becomes determined to help Jack track down this criminal...so he sends Jack an email to meet him.
____________

It’s 5:30 am; 2 days after the incident; Jack is back in his apartment in Manhattan. He has been sitting at his kitchen table for the last 6 hours on his computer. It’s only 5:30 in the morning and the city is already bustling. Already on his 4th cup of coffee, Jack continues to search for any recent details on T.F.O. The last time he slept was the night...of her disappearance. He hasn’t been able to calmly get into bed, even his own, and sleep peacefully for more than 10 minutes. So far, all he could find were things he already knew previous to this moment. Right now he wished he still had access to the files and profile he’d help create on T.F.O during the mission. Just then, Jack receives an email from a name he does not recognize. The name is “Scott Patel”. He clicks open the email. It reads: “Dear Jack, you don’t know who I am, but I know who you are. Meet me at the Corner Cafe at 1pm. I’d like to help you find the man who killed your wife. Scott Patel.”

Chapter 2
It’s noon. Jack is pacing back and forth in front of his computer, trying to make a decision, after reading and re-reading the email. Jack finally comes up with an answer: he’ll go meet with this guy, Scott, and see what he knows and if he can really help him.
An hour later, Jack arrives at the Corner Cafe, but realizes he has no idea what this man looks like. Right before Jack leaves, a waiter comes over to him.
He asks, “Are you Jack Ross?”
“Yes,” Jack answers in a concerned manner.
“The man over in that booth says he’s waiting for you,” responds the waiter, and proceeds to the kitchen. Jack walks over to the booth where a middle-aged man with glasses sits, waiting for Jack to arrive. As he reaches the table, the man stands to greet him. Jack shakes his hand uneasily, then they both sit down on opposite sides of the table. The stranger introduces himself as Scott. Scott Patel: a computer genius who used to work for the government as did he. Scott explains that he was going through some old files when he saw his and became curious. He apologizes for accessing his private life, but insists he could help him catch the criminal who killed his wife. At first, Jack was not sure about trusting this man, but towards the end of their meeting, he decided to team up with Scott in hopes of catching T.F.O.

Chapter 3

It’s 11:00 am & Day 1, in the plan to catch T.F.O; Jack would be arriving any minute now. Scott is working vigorously on his new invention when he hears the door.
“That must be Jack,” states Scott, to an empty house.
When Scott answers the door, Jack is standing there, with an emotionless expression draped across his face.

“Umm...did anything happen after we left the cafe?” questions Scott, almost confused.

“After I got back to my house, I just laid on the couch and passed out. I woke up at three in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I just waited until I had to get up and come over here,” responds Jack, sleepily.

“Well you look great,” exclaims Scott, sarcastically. “Anyway, come in, I have something to show you,” dismissing the fact that his new partner, may not be what he expected. Scott began to walk back to where he was working, with Jack strolling behind.

“This is my latest work,” announces Scott, holding up what appeared to be a normal pair of glasses.

“Cool,” responds Jack, sarcastically. “What are you gonna do, sell them to Warby Parker?”, rubbing his eyes and laughing at the same time.

“No, these glasses happen to be very special. When focused on a single person, they can pull up their entire life profile. It can show you their address, contacts, bank records, and criminal records, basically everything that can be recorded,” explains Scott, looking at Jack to see if he understands.

“So what you’ve just created is a way to completely violate people’s privacy simply by looking at them?” questions Jack, surprised at the level of invasion of privacy that’s able to be achieved.

Well when you put it that way...Yes.” answers Scott. “Anyway not the point... what is the point is once we narrow down where this guy is, we can use the glasses to pinpoint him.”
“But first, we need to specify a location.”

“Since you tracked my phone, if I gave you Sara’s number could you track her phone?” asks Jack.

“Yes, I suppose I could,” Scott confirms. Jack gives Scott her number, and he plugs it into his tracker on the computer. Instead of displaying the location of the cell phone at this moment, it reads ERROR OCCURRED: NO CELLULAR SERVICE DETECTED.

“Shoot!” Scott yells, slamming his desk with the palm of his hand.

“Why does it say that?” asks Jack, curiously.

“It means the phone was destroyed,” explains Scott.

“Well, can’t you track it from the last time he called me on her phone?” says Jack, hopefully.
There’s a moment of silence as the idea whizzes through Scott’s intuitive mind.

“Yes, it is possible, but there’s only one place that I know of that’s capable of this.”
If I were to do it, I would need to hack the government….I hope they still have the same password,” states Scott, excitedly. Surprisingly, the password for the government security system is still the same as it was 2 months ago, when Scott left. Scott puts in all of the information Jack has from that day: Sara’s phone number, the time the call was received, where it was received, and the types of phones each of them have, or had.

“While that’s loading,” starts Scott, “would you mind if I listened to the voicemail?”
“I want to see if I can figure a few things out.”

“Umm..sure..I guess.” says Jack, a little uneasy. He hands Scott his phone with the voicemail pulled up. Scott plugs it into another one of his computers, and plays the voicemail. As soon as it starts, Jack winces, but continues to listen for the second time.

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing: the recording of the message took place on the road.” says Scott.

“What do you mean it took place ‘on the road’?” asks Jack, almost irritated by the statement.

“It means it was recorded in a car or other form of transportation, but most likely a car, because the sound of the motor is faintly in the background of the message,” responds Scott, proud of his hi-tech equipment.
When the other computer finishes loading, Scott says to Jack “Ok, the last place the phone was used, or in this case when it was used to contact you was in ….Franklin, Massachusetts.”

“My guess is he sent you the voicemail while on his way to Massachusetts, and then sent you the pictures after he arrived.”

“Then I guess we’re taking a road trip,” replies Jack, patting Scott on the back.

Chapter 4
It’s 8 am & Day 2 of the mission; Scott & Jack have decided to drive to Franklin, Massachusetts.
“I’m on my way to pick you up outside of your apartment, we should be arriving any minute now,” says Scott to Jack over the phone.
“It’s a black limousine, and the license plate is G4S-7CP.”
“Right, I think your pulling up now,” responds Jack, as he grabs his duffel and heads towards the curb. As Jack opens the backseat door, he is greeted by the driver who kindly takes his bag and puts it in the trunk. Then he comes back to close the door behind Mr. Ross, gets back in the driver’s seat, and begins their journey to Massachusetts.
“This is nice,” Jack states, gesturing to the limo.
“Yes, well, I had to buy something, with all of the money I have, being I’m not quite the socialite.” answers Scott, and then continues.
“I’ve booked us a double suite at one of the nicer hotels in Franklin. It has a nice view of a beautiful lake and mountains. We only have the room for 2 days at the moment, so we’ll see how this investigation goes.”
“Sounds great,” says Jack, casually just wanting this entire thing to be over. He wants the criminal in jail, for his wife to have a proper funeral, and to then forget about it, even though he knows he never will.

Chapter 5
3 hours later, Scott and Jack arrive at their hotel. After they get to their room, and settle in, they decide to go for lunch in the hotel restaurant.

Once they’d ordered Scott implies, “After we finish this meal, I say we go to the police or sheriff, whoever runs this place, and see if we can find out anyone who recently arrived, or a place that was just recently rented.”
“Okay, so what about the glasses?” asks Jack, almost secretly as so that nobody else in the restaurant would hear him.
“Right, the glasses,” says Scott, remembering a major part of the plan and reaching into his bag to get them. “I suggest you start wearing them now,” handing the glasses to Jack, and luckily they fit perfectly.

After Scott paid the bill, they head out to find the police station, and ask for their records on new arrivals in town. The police station is just a block away from the hotel, so Scott and Jack walk, while observing what seemed to be a deserted town - and a perfect hideout for a murderer. When they get to the doors of the police station, Scott asks Jack if he has his old Special Forces ID. Jack says yes and the two of them stroll in and head towards the desk where a middle-aged woman is working intently at a computer. She glances up when two men cast shadows over her desk.

“What can I help you two with?” she asks, politely looking up at them.

“We need to know if there are any people who have just arrived here, and possibly rented a small place most likely isolated from the rest of the town,” Jack answers, flashing back to when he would read out descriptions and assignments to his troops.

“Well...I don’t” she begins to say.
“This is crucial for an important investigation,” Scott interrupts, gesturing to Jack, who has his ID visible for her to see.
“Ok, then,” she mutters, taken aback by his tone, but then begins to search for their information on her computer.
“It says here a man named Sam Wiri arrived here just a few days ago,” states the woman, as Scott and Jack exchange glances.
“He seems to have rented a place on the outskirts of town,” she continues, “which would be just near the woods,” she finishes and looks up at the two men, hoping that helped them. Suddenly Jack thinks about what T.F.O could’ve done with his wife’s body.
What if he just throws her body in the woods, he thinks, like, like a piece of garbage? This just angered Jack even more. While he is thinking about the worst situations, Scott is acquiring the information from lady.
“Let’s go,” Scott says to Jack, snapping him out of his monstrous fantasies.


Chapter 6
On their way out of the station and back to their hotel, Scott begins to explain to Jack what they need to do.
“I brought along some of my equipment, and I was thinking I would set up in the hotel room, and guide you to the building, being that I can connect to the glasses and see what you’re seeing on my computer.”
“Okay,” replies Jack, trying to visualize the scenario.
“Once you get to the building,” Scott continues, you pretty much have to handle that on your own, being that I’ll be in the hotel and you’ll be the one with gun.” Scott pauses. “You brought a gun, right?”
“Yes, I brought a gun,” answering to Scott’s checklist.

“Okay, then I suggest we get started,” Scott exclaims, almost excited as if it were a game. When they get to their hotel room, Scott pulls out his computer and begins to plug in the information provided by the desk lady, whose name he learned is Barbara.

“T.F.O’s current location seems to be…,” Scott begins waiting for his computer to load, “exactly where his rented house should be. Are you ready?” asks Scott turning to look at Jack, who now seemed uneasy. Then he shook it off and replied with a firm yes.

“Then let’s get going,” Scott states, gesturing his hand towards the door, and indicating for Jack to begin the mission.

Chapter 7
Jack exits the hotel, gun tucked towards the back of his gray suit pants, covered by his gray suit jacket. He adjusts his glasses, and makes sure his earpiece is in. As he makes his way towards the edge of town, Jack begins to think about the say she was taken. Questions begin to float in his mind.
Why were clothes missing from her drawer? How did she vanish without him knowing? He continues to wonder until Scott’s voice brushes away his thoughts.
“There should be a dirt path coming up on your right, behind a red brick building,” informs Scott. Jack begins to look around until his eyes lock on the dirt path.
“Okay, I’m at the end of the path, now what?” answers Jack, his heart beginning to beat faster.
“Then there should be a sharp turn to your left, and a small house on the right side.” continues Scott, glad to be the one behind the computer instead of the gun. Jack arrives at the house, and notices a forest slightly surrounding to the house, with a small lake to look out on. He pulls out his gun, and holds it down, remembering his first day of gun training. He stealthily strides towards a small grayish color house, with 2 floors. It looks old - pieces are falling off the sides - a perfect hideout.
Before he’s about to kick in the paint-chipped red door, he hears voices.
“I just want to know when we can move out of here..I mean look at this place its….gross.” complains a woman.
“I know, I know we just need to wait until I can secure a place for us in New Mexi-” replies the man. This is all Jack hears before he finally kicks the door open.
“Sara!” yells Jack, pulling off his glasses to confirm her appearance, while letting his guard down completely.
“Oh...hello, Jack, she replies a smirky grin creeping across her face. Jack doesn’t know what to do, or what to say, still not sure if this is reality.

Chapter 8
Finally he stutters , “I-I thought yo-you were dead,” barely making that short sentence understandable.
“Yeah, well you thought wrong,” she spits back, starting to walk across the room, towards the man.
“Oh, I haven’t properly introduced you to my...partner,” as she puts a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“This is Nku Zelgai, or I guess you would know him as T.F.O, she continues, knowing all of this is crushing Jack inside. A smirk now appears across Nku’s face, as he stares straight into Jack’s eyes.
“How?” is all Jack is able to get out.
“Well, you see Nku was never really the head of all of his destruction, I was.” she states, pausing to let these words sting Jack for as long as possible. Then she continues.
“You see, I have always had a strong opinion about America. My parents only gave birth to me here, so that I would be an American citizen. As soon as I was old enough to understand the world, we flew back to my home-country, Afghanistan. There I realized the terrible things America had brought to our country. So I found Nku, and we formed an army of people who felt the same way. But, in order to hide my big secret, I flew back to America to try to live a normal life. Obviously it worked, because I fooled you, and you fell in love with me,” she paused for a moment to let out a cynical giggle.
“Anyway, when I found out you were a Special Forces Sergeant, I thought you would be the perfect man, mainly to get information from.” Jack is feeling as if a fire was set inside him, and all he can do is feel the burn until it goes out, if it ever goes out. Lastly she says, “Well, now that you know I am the one that’s really T.F.O, and Nku was just my cover, I guess he’s just dead weight.” Nku looks at Sara with a worried and surprised face, but before he can say a word, she pulls out a gun from behind her back and shoots Nku in the side of the head. He falls to the ground, a look of shock still spread across his face, as he lays there, blood rushing into a pool around him. His unnatural position sparks something in Jack’s mind.
“Who was the girl in the photo Nku sent me that was supposed to be you?” Jack asks, as if nothing had happened.
“Oh, that was just some homeless girl we picked up on the way here,” she says as if it was no big deal. “She was bound to die anyway...just like you.” she finishes, raising the gun to point straight at Jack. “Any last words?” she asks, knowing that to be Jack’s favorite line out of a classic crime movie.
“Actually yes,” he begins, “I’m sorry,” he states as he raises his own gun and shoots his wife through the heart. Jack turns to exit the house, before she even makes it to the ground, not wanting to be there a moment more.
As Jack walks out of the house he pauses in front of the forest and lake. Then he hears Scott’s voice in his earpiece. Scott asks, “Are you alright?” but Jack doesn’t have an answer right away. So...he puts on his glasses---looks out over the lake, and his life is never the same again.