Behind Enemy Lines
Prolouge
Estimated reading time: 6 min
Author's note: 2 min
MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 7 DAYS! (sorry)
I WATCHED as the man stood up from his seat and made his way down the street. The girl next to me was, by no coincidence, called away and we said our goodbyes. I made sure to follow him at a leisurely pace, not looking at all suspicious as I entered into the Starbucks. Before finding a seat, I sent a quick message to my partners on this assignment telling them that the package was on the move.
The 32 year old brown-haired man I was currently stalking had something of great importance. Something that wasn't his. And I was going to help get it back.
I took out my pink Pentax K50 and stole a few quick shots of him as he sat down. Of course, only taking pictures of him would be too suspicious, so I ordered a cinnamon melt and walked around.
"Um, hi." I stopped in front of a group of three people. A man, a woman, and a six year old boy. This is just a guess, but they're probably a family. "I'm, uh, doing a project fo- for school, so do you mind if I maybe take a few pictures?" I asked shyly, looking down at my feet as I tugged on the cord attaching the camera to my neck.
"Well of course it's alright sweetie. You go right on ahead." The woman gave me a kind smile and I gratefully mirrored her action. If everybody was as nice as her, this assignment would be a cakewalk.
While walking around the restaurant taking pictures, I noticed that the target had begun texting, and I stood behind him in clear view of the screen, talking to a young couple.
As I spoke, I began to seemingly fiddle with my camera, when in reality I was zooming in on his phone to take pictures. He seemed to be about ready to leave, so I knew it was time to make my move.
"Excuse me. Sir?" I asked timidly after gently tapping him on the shoulder, tears brimming in my eyes. He glanced up at me curiously. Something in his eyes akin to pity. "M-my brother took me here with his friends so I could do my project. But now I can't find them anywhere and I don't know how to get home."
The first tear slipped from my eye as he glanced nervously towards the doorway.
"Please sir. Please help me please." I could tell he was torn between wanting to help and knowing he couldn't. Not because there was no solution to the situation I was in. No. That wasn't it at all. The problem was that there wasn't enough time to get where he needed to be and take me home. "I'm scared."
And that was all it took to make the cookie crumble. The point where he broke his resolve was obvious. We would've been good even if I hadn't started crying.
He was a good man, who just got chained to some bad people. I hope they go easy on him when deciding his fate.
I watched intently with a curious gaze as he grabbed his bag and threw away whatever was left of the coffee, and followed him as he walked towards the door. "So are you sure you can't find him?"
I nodded as he led me through the parking lot. It made sense that he would try to get out of it in whatever way possible, and would actually have been more suspicious if he didn't.
"Yeah. We were in Target. Over there." I pointed towards the store across the street. "And I got distracted because I was taking pictures of things I wanted instead of the stuff for my project. . ." I let out a nervous giggle at this point. "Um. Yeah." Insert the sheepish smile. "So anyways, when I turned around they were gone.
"So then I went to Starbucks because that's where they go sometimes, but they weren't there either. So what's your name?" I finished, summing it all up with an abrupt subject change.
