4338.209 · July 28, 2018 AD
The Call Nial Couldn't Ignore
July 28, 2018. Pre-dawn. Nial Triffett's phone rings in the bathroom. Luke Smith calling with an urgent job offer—one hundred thousand dollars in cash, materials on top, work needed in days. Nial's business is drowning. His family is suffering. Every instinct screams danger. But when you're desperate, even anchors look like lifelines. One phone call. One impossible decision. Everything changes.
QUEST BRIEFING:
July 28, 2018. Pre-dawn. Hobart.
Nial Triffett steps out of the shower when his phone rings. Luke Smith. A client from a fencing job years ago—the one with the small Shih Tzu that followed Nial everywhere.
Luke has a job. Urgent. Needs doing within days. The timeline is impossible for proper work, but Luke insists: you'll be well compensated.
One hundred thousand dollars in cash. Materials on top.
Nial's business has been drowning for twelve months. An accounting error that snowballed. Suppliers won't return calls. Jenny pretends everything's fine while checking the bank balance every morning. Sammy's daycare fees get juggled across maxed credit cards.
This money would save everything.
But nothing about this makes sense. Nobody pays that amount for fencing. Cash payments mean questions you don't ask. The job isn't even at Luke's place—it's in Collinsvale, remote hills west of Hobart, for a friend Luke is helping.
Every red flag is waving. Every instinct says walk away.
Thirty minutes later, Nial's in his truck with an address, driving into the hills toward a meeting that will change everything.
