Page 46 of The Santa Claus Con

With her joke, she’s defused the tension. My rigid stance softens.

“If you hear a boom, you know what to do,” I say.

“Right, I run.” She hesitates. “For the record, I don’t like this.”

“For the record, me neither. But you’ve already dealt with enough explosions this month. We need to know what’s in here. It’s either a bomb now or an even bigger one later.”

Scarlett takes a step back. “I’m only listening because we don’t have time to argue.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll secure the perimeter.” She turns to go, glancing back at me one last time before closing the front door.

After making sure no one else is in here, I slowly untape the package. I gently set it on the counter and then peel off the bow. I unwrap the paper, revealing…

A gourmet popcorn advent calendar.

What the fuck?

It’s designed to look like a snow-covered bucket of popcorn. Each kernel spilling out of the bucket is a little “door” with a number on it.

Time to see what’s behind these kernels. A bead of sweat rolls down my temple as my ears pound with my heartbeat. I reach for the fifteen first—

Then the front door opens. Scarlett pokes her head in. “I didn’t hear a boom.”

I grunt. “Stay there.”

“What is it?”

I tell her.

“Sadistic Santa and I have very different ideas of what gifts are,” she says.

I check my watch. We have to be back in fifteen minutes.

I pull open the first door in the advent calendar. I don’t think the order’s going to matter—

Pop!

A spark shoots out toward me.

What the hell?

“Nathan!”

“I’m okay. Stay back,” I direct.

“Okay, well, it’s not dangerous but it is symbolic,” she says as I reach for the ten, where another spark springs out. “I was really hoping it’d be the corn that was popping.”

“I’m just going to do this fast. We need to see what’s under all of them.” I go for two popcorn doors at a time.

Crack! Pew! Snap!

I dodge sparks left and right until each number has been opened. Where there wasn’t a spark is snowflake glitter.

“Pretty. Very celebratory,” Scarlett says, coming up behind me and looking at our gift. “Numbers two, four, five, seven, and twenty-five have the glitter. It’s a code. Arranged in order? Reverse? Or added up, maybe?”

2-4-5-7-25.