Shattered Reflections

Chapter Two.

Sitting in my blue 1993 Chevrolet C/K Pickup 1500 Silverado pickup truck that was rust-free in a dorm building's parking lot in broad daylight, I was sure that the person I was protecting would see that I was out of place.

I mean by sitting in an old car compared to these new cars parked in their respective parking bays in the parking lot and by wearing a white tee shirt with blue colored u shaped collar along with the ends of the short-sleeved shirt being colored in blue with the writing of 'Bud Light' and wearing blue washed out baggy jeans and black with white and red stripes on my sneakers and a baseball cap that was blue and white and red with the American flag on the front of it.

I was pretty sure that I was very noticeable in the almost empty parking lot with no human activity at this time in the morning.

Anyway, I reached over into the backseat of my car pulled a small red duffel bag out from underneath the passenger seat, and placed it on the passenger seat I brought it over to the front of the car and scanned the parking lot once again as I unzipped the small bag and took out something to get a boot of a car open without having to have access to the car's control and I also pulled out a card that is specialized and customized to magnetically unlock a car's door without having to smash a window to a car or become a criminal using unlawful behavior, I'm not a type of person to stalk someone whether it be a family member of mine or a girl I like, but if my job as a witness protection US Marine officer requires it then I'll have to do it.

Pulling the front of my American baseball cap down a bit, I unlocked my car from the interior and opened my car door thankful that there was no one around my car and no cars around my car, I got out of my car and closed my car door before locking it and walking over to the yellow colored 2024 Toyota Prius Prime that was surely locked and accurately parked in the parking bay.

Once again I scanned the parking lot making sure that no one saw me and suspected me of being a stalker or a robber, after making sure that no one was around on the property, I got down on the graveled paved ground and fell the bottom of the car before smiling to myself and then changing my position to lie on my back underneath the car and I peeled off the cap to the spot under the car that can open the car boot without unlocking the car or having the car keys to the car.

Then I took the long silver metal equipment piece that I took out from the small duffel bag stuck it up the hole and wiggled it around finding the spot that could automatically open the boot.

After hearing the boot pop open I smiled and then took the equipment piece and put it back into my front jean pocket placed the cap back on the spot that I jammed the silver metal piece in slid out from underneath the car and stood up looking around the parking lot once again and then walked over to the boot of the yellow car and lifted it open and I searched through everything and touching everything, as I looked at the blue duffel country road bag I grabbed it and pulled it into the center of the boot and unzipped the bag and went through it.

All that was in the bag was a change of clothes, a copy of some personal identification along with some spare keys to different houses which I don't know where they are, and then some women's stuff like period pads and painkillers and nail polish and extra underwear and makeup things and bathroom things and strangely enough a bathroom towel that was white and was indeed fluffy and some hair products.

Finding nothing useful or suspicious I then zipped the bag back up and left it in the spot that I found it which was on the right side of the boot's interior I then began to feel around the rest of the boot and pushed hard on the center of the boot once again revealing a secret compartment and a blue silver suitcase and I looked around once again and took it out of the compartment and then unlocked it and opened it up and my eyes widened when I saw that there were stacks of money on top of one another when the false and unused change of clothes and women things were thrown out next to the suitcase.

"What has your mom been up to, darling?" I whispered my thoughts out loud and I then placed the discarded items back into the suitcase before closing it and placing it back into the secret compartment in the boot then closed the boot and took out the customized witness protection card from my back pocket and I then placed it over the lock of the boot and heard a click sound and I checked if the boot was locked and it was indeed locked.

Then I pulled the baseball cap down once again and I then walked around the passenger side of the car took the same card out and placed it over the lock of the front passenger's car door and heard it unlock so I pushed the car door open and was careful in not scratching the yellow car with the next to hers so I got in through the tight space and I sat in the passenger seat and closed the car door.

I sighed while looking around the car and then began searching everything in the car and pressing on things and patting things down then returned my attention to the compartment by the passenger's seat and I opened it up and searched around the inside of it and I touched something that was covered in a cream colored silk cloth and I carefully took it out and held it in my hands and then slowly pulled back the silk covering the object in my hand, preparing myself for an element of surprise, once I pulled the silk back and revealed an AMT Hardballer manufactured by Arcadia Machine & Tool and stopped being produced in 2002 - which makes me wonder who gave this gun to her but not questioning why she even has this gun in the first place - and I stared at it not wanting to put my fingerprints anywhere on the weapon.

After admiring the beauty of a 2002 handgun I pulled the silk cloth back over it to cover it. I then gently placed it back where I found it and then closed the compartment above my legs and then opened the car door, got out of the car, shut the door again, placed the customized card over the lock of the car door, and heard it clicked then I made sure it was closed before walking away from the yellow car while pulling the front of my baseball cap down making sure that I was still undetected by anyone who did enter the parking lot of the dorm's building on the college campus and walked back to my out-of-place pickup truck.

I unlocked it, opened the driver's door got into the comfort of my car then closed my car door once again, I locked my car from the inside and I then put everything that I took out of the small duffel bag lying unzipped on my passenger's seat. I zipped it back up and put it back under the back end of the seat of the passenger from the backseat and when I returned back to staring straight ahead having a clear view of the yellow car and the entrance of the dorm building. I saw the young freshman-year female student in the foyer of the building with a phone pressed against her right ear as she put something in her maroon-colored handbag.

After a few seconds worth waiting for her to move, she finally did by walking out of the building and talking to someone on the phone which didn't bother me that much, then what intrigued my interest was when I scanned the parking lot as she started walking towards her yellow owned car and she did this consecutively but with a minute in between.

Luckily she didn't spot me right away but she knew that someone was keeping a close eye on her and I don't blame her for being a bit on edge since anything can appear here in America, especially in a small suburb like Gambier.

Watching her with intent, she unlocked her car and opened her boot grabbing her country road duffel bag and then closing the boot and locking it before walking to the driver's side of the car unlocking her car, and opening her car door before hanging up the phone call with whoever she was talking to and got into the car and closing the car door a split second after she comfortably got into the car and supposedly locked it.

I heard a beep coming from my phone lying upright in the cubby holder next to me and I picked it up seeing a glowing red electronic dot pop up on my phone's screen with a various blue hue colored map that belonged to the US Witness Protection Program and it showed that she had indeed started her car but hasn't moved.

Then as soon as I looked up she started reversing her car out of the parking bay where it was parked and positioned the car to face the exit of the parking lot which would signal to me that she would drive past me but it was still a high possibility that she doesn't know who is keeping an eye on her nor following her upon her mom's request for various reasons.

Once she drove past me, not looking towards my car nor in my general direction but vibing to whatever song she was playing in her car as she exited the parking lot, I waited a few seconds to not make anything too obvious, and once she started driving on the road behind me before stopping at an intersection with four different options to chose from I edged my car forward and turned a sharp right exiting the parking lot and following the red dot that was tracking her car but being sure as not to be too obvious as that I'm following her.