It was close to four in the afternoon when Max’s email server dinged to let him know he had mail. He opened it, expecting to find something from the client he’d sent specs to for their new ad campaign. Instead, there was an email from an address he didn’t know. All it said, in the subject line, was, I’m back-T. NT. Despite the NT, meaning ‘No text,’ Max opened it anyway. The message area was blank.
“And so it begins,” he said under his breath, his hands shaking as he saved the email in a new file he created, labeled ‘Tony.’ He knew, at that point, he wouldn’t be able to get any more work done so he shut down everything, turned the computers off, and went into the main part of the house, barely remembering to arm the alarm box for the office.
Even though it was still light out, he closed
