Janice McAdams had a broad smile on her face as she left the cacophony of the Mall behind her. Loaded down with holiday presents, she paid little attention to her immediate surroundings. She walked mindlessly toward her car, not noticing the shadowy figure that paralleled her course a row to her left. Chances are she would not have noticed if she had been paying attention anyway, what with her view blocked by the parcels she was supporting with her left arm.
As she approached the Volvo, she reached into her purse and thumbed the autolock. The interior lights of the Volvo obediently came on as the doors unlocked. Janice balanced her packages while she popped open the rear door of the stationwagon. As she transferred her load to the car, she remembered there was one more thing she needed to get. She shut the door, rethumbed the autolock, and headed back toward the Mall. The shadow kept walking.
It was almost closing time when Janice reemerged from the Mall. Again, her left arm supporting another find of treasures. She didn't notice that the parking lot light in front of her car was out, nor had she noticed that it had been on during her last trip to the car. She again thumbed the autolock and the Volvo again responded on queue. Janice added her current collection of bags to those already in the cargo area and slammed the rear door shut. As she moved around to the left to get in the driver's side she didn't notice the shadow slip into the back seat from the right.
During the drive home she ran through the list of presents in her mind. Althought she was more alert now, since it was dark and it had started to rain, she never noticed her secreted passenger. As she pulled into the driveway, she thumbed the garage door opener. Nothing. She thumbed it again, hoping David had replaced the battery like she had requested. Again, nothing. Realizing she had not taken her umbrella that morning, she stopped short of the garage doors so she would have a direct path to the front door of the house. She would just run in and open the garage from the inside. As Janice disappeared through the front door, the shadow slipped out of the back seat and followed her inside, at a discrete distance.
Even though part of her was upset that David had been called out of town, another part of her was glad that she would have time to wrap her treasures at her leisure. She dropped her packages in the family room, relocked the front door, and decided to get out of her wet clothes before grabbing some dinner. She made her way down the dark hallway to the master bedroom and its adjoining bath. As she walked into the dark bedroom, a hand immediately covered her mouth as a powerful arm wrapped itself around her waist from behind.
"Not one word..." a voice whispered. "Nod if you understand."
Janice, her eyes wide and shaking uncontrollably, managed a nod.
"Very good." came the unseen voice. "Are you alone?"
Again, she managed a nod.
"Good. If you do exactly as you are told, no harm will come to you. Do you understand?"