Chapter 13 - The Black Box
Two minutes later, Marco entered the medical suite carrying a heavy, unmarked cardboard box wrapped in industrial tape. He placed it carefully on the mahogany desk, keeping his hand resting near the holster beneath his suit jacket.
"It's ticking, Boss," Marco warned, his eyes darting toward Vera before returning to Vance. "Well, not a bomb. A mechanism. Mechanical timer."
Vance stepped up to the desk, pulled a silver pocket knife from his trousers, and sliced through the thick tape with a single fluid motion. He lifted the flaps.
Inside sat a small, bloodstained leather collar—the exact collar the terrier mix had been wearing when Vera pulled him from the drainage ditch. Attached to it was a small, high-frequency digital receiver blinking a steady, mocking amber light, alongside a folded sheet of heavy cardstock paper.
Vance unfolded the paper. His eyes scanned the typed lines. As he read, the temperature in the room seemed to plummet, the quiet confidence of the mafia boss hardening into something ancient and terrifying.
"What does it say?" Vera whispered, stepping forward despite Marco's silent warning gesture.
May you like
Vance didn't answer immediately. He turned the paper around so she could see it. Typed in stark, block letters were words that turned her blood to ice:
THE DOG WAS A GIFT, ENZO. THE GIRL WAS A TEST. NEXT TIME, SHE COMES BACK IN PIECES. LEAVE THE NORTH HARBOR BY MIDNIGHT.
