At 9:47 on a Saturday morning, Marcus Reed was floating on his back when the water above him suddenly turned dark.
At first, he thought a storm cloud had passed over the sun.
He opened his eyes.
The sky was bright blue.
Then something thick struck the water less than six feet from his face.
A second splash followed.
Then a third.
Marcus sat upright.
A rope of black liquid was pouring into his swimming pool from the other side of the privacy fence.
“What the—?”
He swam toward the shallow end.
The smell reached him before he reached the steps.
It was sharp, metallic, and strangely sweet, like burned rubber mixed with wet earth.
Marcus climbed out of the pool and grabbed the towel hanging over a chair.
“Stop!”
The pouring stopped.
A woman stood beside the fence holding a heavy gray container.
She was dressed in a cream-colored jacket, white trousers, and expensive sunglasses.
Her name was Evelyn Mercer.
She was the president of the Silver Pines Homeowners Association.
And she looked completely calm.
Marcus stared at her.
Evelyn stared at the pool.
Then she looked at him.
“You should not have been swimming.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“My pool?”
“Yes.”
“My backyard?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you standing behind my fence?”
Evelyn adjusted her sunglasses.
“I was conducting an emergency inspection.”
Marcus looked at the black liquid spreading across the surface.
“By poisoning my pool?”
“It isn't poison.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don't know.”
That answer stunned him.
Marcus wiped water from his face.
“You don't know what you just poured into my pool?”
“I was told it was a testing compound.”
“By whom?”
Evelyn hesitated.
That hesitation was the first thing that made Marcus afraid.
He had lived in Silver Pines for eight years.
He knew Evelyn well.
She loved rules.
She loved paperwork.
She loved sending violation notices because someone left a trash can visible for twenty minutes after collection.
But Evelyn did not normally break into people's yards.
She did not normally wear protective gloves.
And she certainly did not normally carry unidentified black chemicals.
Marcus grabbed his phone.
Evelyn immediately said, “Don't.”
“Don't what?”
“Call the police.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You just trespassed onto my property and contaminated my pool.”
“I did not trespass.”
“The gate was locked.”
“I had authorization.”
“From whom?”
Evelyn said nothing.
Marcus started recording.
The camera captured the pool.
It captured Evelyn.
It captured the container.
Most importantly, it captured the black substance moving slowly across the water.
Evelyn's expression tightened.
“You're making a serious mistake.”
“No,” Marcus said. “I think the mistake happened when you poured that into my pool.”
“You've been warned.”
“About what?”
“Your property.”
Marcus frowned.
“My property?”
“Your drainage system.”
“My drainage system is fine.”
“That is what you think.”
She turned away.
Marcus followed her with his phone.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
“Tell me who gave you that substance.”
Evelyn looked over her shoulder.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't know.”
“That makes no sense.”
She walked toward the gate.
Marcus noticed something.
Her container was not empty.
There was still a thick layer of black material inside.
“Leave it,” Marcus said.
Evelyn stopped.
“What?”
“The container.”
“It belongs to the association.”
“Then the association can explain why it was in my yard.”
She looked at him for several seconds.
Then she smiled.
It was not a friendly smile.
“You really should have let this go.”
Marcus felt something cold move through him.
“What exactly is going on?”
Evelyn opened the gate.
“You'll find out.”
Then she walked away.
Marcus stood beside the pool.
For several seconds, he simply watched the black substance spread.
His wife, Sarah, called from the kitchen.
“Marcus? Everything okay?”
He looked toward the house.
“No.”
Sarah stepped outside.
Their fourteen-year-old son, Jordan, followed her.
Sarah froze when she saw the pool.
“What happened?”
Marcus lowered his phone.
“Evelyn Mercer.”
Sarah's face changed.
“Again?”
Marcus nodded.
But this time was different.
Because beneath the black film, something metallic had appeared near the pool drain.
Jordan noticed it first.
“Dad.”
Marcus turned.
“There.”
At the bottom of the pool was a small rectangular object.
It had been hidden beneath the water.
Now the black liquid was pushing away from it.
Marcus crouched beside the pool.
“What is that?”
Jordan zoomed in with his phone.
The object had a faded orange label.
Only three letters were visible.
R.M.I.
Sarah whispered, “What does that mean?”
Marcus didn't answer.