Incursion: The Rift - Part One

Carter McAllister Phone Home

Someone had paid for that? The full page ad in the Boston Globe must have cost a small fortune. A teaser, perhaps, meant to build anticipation for some upcoming mega-promotion. Or perhaps some poor soul was desperate to find a lost child or a runaway husband.

Tim Strand spent all of ten seconds pondering the cryptic message before turning to the sports page so he could marvel at a win by the Sox. It was the cherry on the top of his morning. Sunshine. Birds singing in the trees. The coffee maker had come on when it was supposed to and the Globe had been waiting on the front step. He actually sang in the shower and whistled while he got dressed for work. When he left the house he barely noticed the black Lincoln Navigator parked across the street.

Tim pulled out of his driveway and turned right. He was just pulling up to the stop sign at the end of the street when, in his rear-view mirror, he noticed the Navigator turning around, heading his way.

He thought nothing of it.

He almost thought nothing of it a few blocks later when he stopped for a light and spotted the same Navigator two cars back.

Three turns later, with the Navigator still behind him, Tim began to think about it. Did any of his neighbors own a black Lincoln Navigator? Not that he could remember. Still, there were only so many ways to get downtown, and this was the most direct route to the Pike. If it was one of his neighbors on their way to work it only made sense they'd take the same route.

There was no reason to think he was being followed and certainly nothing to worry about.

Tim slid into the on-ramp to the Pike and the Navigator slipped in behind him. He veered off at the last moment and the Navigator veered off a second later.

It was then that Tim started to worry.

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