And that’s when I noticed it.
His phone was missing.
“Where’s your phone?” I asked quietly.
His eyes widened.
“I—what?”
“Your phone, Derek.”
The deputy looked at him sharply now.
Derek backed away.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Daniel moved instantly.
One second Derek stood near the picnic table. The next, Daniel had him pinned against the fence with military precision.
The entire family screamed.
“Federal investigation,” Daniel barked. “Nobody move.”
The deputy finally stepped in.
“What the hell is happening?”
Daniel pulled a second phone from Derek’s back pocket. A burner device.
Not local.
Not personal.
Operational.
My stomach dropped.
Daniel handed it to me.
I opened the messages.
And the world tilted sideways.
Because the outgoing thread contained photographs. Coordinates. Movement schedules.
Athena intel.
Classified material.
Derek had been feeding information to someone.
My cousin. The same man who spent years mocking me at family cookouts. The same idiot who barely passed community college.
No.
Not an idiot.
That had been the mistake.
I looked deeper into the messages.
Encrypted communications. Foreign routing. Payment transfers.
This wasn’t random.
Derek had been recruited.
The realization hit hard.
Someone had used my family to get close to me.
And suddenly memories rearranged themselves in my head.
The strange questions during holidays. The pressure to attend gatherings. The repeated jokes about my military work. The subtle attempts to learn where I traveled.
Derek had never been curious.
He had been collecting.
My mother stared at him in horror.
“Derek…”
He stopped struggling.
Then something changed in his expression.
Fear disappeared.
And calm replaced it.
That terrified me more.
“You really think I’m the problem?” he asked softly.
Daniel tightened his grip.
“Don’t.”
But Derek smiled.
A strange smile. Almost relieved.
“You’re already too late.”
Every instinct in my body ignited.
“Move everybody inside,” I ordered.
Daniel reacted instantly.
The soldiers spread across the yard.
“Inside now!”
Confusion exploded. Children crying. Relatives shouting. Chairs scraping across concrete.
Then I heard it.
A faint metallic click beneath the picnic table.
My blood froze.
“Bomb,” I whispered.
Daniel’s eyes locked onto mine.
And then the timer started counting down.
00:45
People screamed.
The deputy grabbed Derek violently.
“Where is it?”
Derek laughed. Actually laughed.
Years of resentment poured out through that sound.
“You all thought I was the screw-up,” he said. “At least somebody finally saw my value.”
Daniel overturned the picnic table.
A black device sat taped beneath it. Military-grade. Compact. Professional.
Not homemade.
This operation was far bigger than Derek.
00:37
“Evacuate the property!” Daniel shouted.
I dropped beside the device immediately.
The wiring configuration told me everything.
Pressure trigger. Secondary detonation system. Encrypted lockout.
Whoever built it knew military protocols.
“Can you stop it?” Daniel demanded.
“Yes.”
“Can?”
“Maybe.”
00:30
My family rushed toward the street. My grandmother stumbled. My uncle carried her. Children cried hysterically.
And through all of it, Derek watched me with cold satisfaction.
“You spent your whole life acting superior,” he said quietly. “Now let’s see what your secrets are worth.”
I ignored him.
Focus narrowed. Breathing slowed.
Bomb disposal training returned automatically.
Red wire? No. Too obvious.
The trigger wasn’t mechanical. It was signal-based.
I traced the receiver. Found the bypass.
00:18
Daniel crouched beside me.
“You don’t have enough time.”
“I know.”
His voice lowered.
“Then we run.”
“No.”
“Harper.”
“If this detonates, the secondary fuel line under the grill ignites.”
His expression darkened. He understood instantly.
Half the family wouldn’t survive.
00:12
I reached deeper into the housing. My fingers found the transmission chip.
There.
But before I could disconnect it, Derek shouted:
“She doesn’t know about the second trigger!”
I looked up sharply.
Too late.
A second timer illuminated.
00:08
Daniel grabbed me.
“Move!”
I tore free.
There was no time.
No safe option.
Only probability.
I ripped the transmission chip loose.
00:05
Nothing happened.
For half a heartbeat, hope appeared.
Then the second trigger activated.
00:03
Derek smiled.
