Prologue:

A full moon shined brightly that night and William Ross knew he should be disappointed about no cloud cover, but a small surge of excitement bubbled past his guard. He waited patiently in the shadows for the little girl to slip out of the house. Every night her routine was to sneak into the backyard and play under stars until she could no longer keep her eyelids open. He never really understood why she did it but it definitely said something about her character. She was never afraid of the dark nor did she fret about Lori, her foster mother, possibly discovering her. She had a confidence and assurance that amazed him.

Ross glanced at his silver steel watch. 8:30. It would be another two hours before she made an appearance.

To call her a little girl was really an understatement, Ross mused. Her tenth birthday had just passed and she didn't act like an ordinary girl to him. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he was paid to watch her. There was something special about her but he had yet to put a finger on it.

His thoughts were broken as the slider glass door creaked open and the girl he was thinking about poked her head out. Ross was so startled he almost stumbled back a step. He had watched her daily for five years and she had never once come before ten. Something on her face told him she wasn't just getting a breath of fresh air early. Her chocolate brown eyes looked worried and she cautiously gazed around the fairly large yard. Ross pressed up against the fence, hopping the brushes and small trees would provide enough cover.

She stared for a long time in his direction. The seconds ticked as his heart pounded in his ears. Then without notice, she smile brightly and turned back into the house. Ross let out a sigh of relief. With the men he was dealing with, he knew he would lose a lot more than a job if he failed.

Now that the fright was over, he began to wonder about her odd behavior. There had almost been a knowing look at her face. She acted like she knew he was there and was relieved that he hadn't left. But of course it couldn't be so. Having a thirty year old man with ugly tattoos covering his arms watching her as she played in the dark wouldn't be something that pleased her, would it? She was a strange child.

Ross mentally shook his head. He wasn't going to fuss over it. She hadn't seen him and that was that. He should worry about more important things, like how she probably wouldn't come out later. Then he would be forced to sit in the dark for hours without anything to entertain him. He rather liked watching the girl with her fantasies.

But he had worried about nothing. Right on time the girl literally pranced out of her house. Tonight she was wearing a bright blue summer dress with a white sash. Her light brown hair as usual spilled out of a single French braid as she twirled around in her bare feet on the perfectly green yard. She looked like a fairy, twisting and turning in the moonlight.

A soft giggle escaped her lips, but not because she was trying to be quiet. Everything she did was soft spoken. Ross knew that from the few conversations he had heard between her and Lori or Lori's husband, Brent. He also knew that while she was acting quite childish now, it was just a silly game for her. Ross had seen plenty of times where she was utterly serious and grown up. It was like she was ready to be an adult but still hadn't forgotten how to have fun. It was one of the many things that Ross had come to adore about her.

When she had finally finished dancing, she flopped onto her back in the middle of the lawn. She stared at the sky for some time before quietly rattling off the names of different constellations, many that Ross had never heard of. Eventually she exhausted her knowledge of stars, the moon and the planets. Ross watched as she drifted off to sleep, something that happened time to time. She'd slept from anywhere from five minutes tell dawn before.

She had no more than nodded off, or perhaps she hadn't fallen asleep at all, before she jumped to her feet and moved for the backdoor. Pulling open the slider, she turned back and looked right where he was hiding. He knew there was no way she could see him in this light, but still he held his breath.

"Goodnight, mister, you'll see me tomorrow."

Ross nearly choked on his spit as she disappeared into the house. She knew he was there! How was that possible?

Panicking, he ran along the fence line until he reached the back of the yard. Without looking back, he hoisted himself over the wooden wall and nearly fell into the ditch that lay behind it. He had no more than jumped across it and was running through the empty lots when a sniper fired and Ross collapsed, drowning in a pool of his own blood.