Chapter 14: Orders

None of It Was a Lie · A Serialized Noir Sci-Fi Thriller

This is Chapter 14 of None of It Was a Lie, the noir sci-fi thriller I’m sharing here in installments. Follow the title link for all available chapters in reading order, beginning with the prologue, “Into the Night.” Last time, Griff brought Sarah a report that raised new questions about her husband’s death. Outside, the white van was gone. But someone was still watching, and Raines has been waiting for instructions.

The black sedan sat midway down a side street near the Kane house, its engine cold. From behind the windshield, Raines could see across the intersection to the front lawn and porch. Anyone looking back from the house would have to look past a parked SUV and through the reflection of the morning sky.

He had chosen the space before the neighborhood woke up.

His orders had come through at dawn. The attorney was on the move, unusually early, heading out of Chicago. Raines had been waiting for over an hour when Griff’s car appeared.

The waiting didn’t bother him. People tended to think of his work in terms of what happened at the end. Most of it was this: sitting somewhere uncomfortable, learning which movements belonged and which deserved attention. He preferred the quiet portions. They left fewer things to…