The Watcher

Part 4

      Tracy sat bolt upright in her bed. She was covered in sweat and gasping for breath. It was the worst nightmare she had ever had. As she calmed her breathing she thought about the dream. The kidnappers had been in a white van. She had seen a white van driving past her house several times recently. She was worried. Maybe this wasn't just a nightmare.

She had trouble sleeping for the rest of the night and was sitting in the kitchen having an early breakfast at six thirty when her father walked through the door. He looked at her puzzled. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," she answered slowly, "Dad, let me tell you about the nightmare I had."

Her father sat down and listened as Tracy recounted the dream. When she finished he reached over the table and took her hand. "I am sure that was a premonition, your first one. Now that your psychic abilities are developing you'll get them every so often at irregular intervals."
"So do these premonitions always come true?" Tracy asked worriedly, "I am going to be abducted and killed?"

"No, they don't always come true. They are often a warning of what is likely to happen and you can often change the outcome. This dream of yours is a warning that someone is planning to kidnap you. It could happen any time. It also seems that your friend The Watcher is here to warn you about it."

"So what do we do?"

"I'm going to assign two company security staff to pick you up from school every afternoon starting today. They will drive you home and remain at the house until I get home. Do not leave the school grounds until they arrive to collect you, and once you are home do not go out. Okay?"

Tracy spent the day at school feeling on edge. The thought of being kidnapped and molested made it hard for her to concentrate on her classes. Finally it was three thirty. She walked with dozens of other students to the front gate. The area just outside the gate was reserved for buses only. Her father had told her not to leave the school grounds, so she waited. A minute later a man and a woman approached her. Tracy recognised the woman as one of the Silver Star company security officers. 

"Hi Tracy," she said, "Remember me? I'm Janine and this is Liam. Your father made sure you knew at least one of us. We didn't want to look obvious, so we wore regular clothing instead of our uniforms. The car is this way." 

Two minutes later they were driving up the highway in an unmarked silver SUV. They turned onto the residential street but as they approached Tracy's house, she noticed the parked white van up ahead. It was the van from her dream, the van she had seen driving past her house several times. But what also got her attention was The Watcher. He was standing alongside the van pointing at it. He was warning her!

"Janine, Liam," she said urgently, "See that white van? I'm positive the bad guys are in that van waiting for me to walk past."

Her protectors didn't waste time asking her questions. "We'll do a slow drive by," said Janine, who was behind the wheel, "Tracy, duck down so they can't see you."

Tracy flattened herself on the back seat.

They passed the van and kept going. "Side windows are tinted," Liam announced, "But through the front windscreen I could see two males in the front seat."
Janine kept driving until they were out of sight of the van, then did a quick U-turn and drove slowly back up the street until the van came in to view in the distance. She stopped the SUV by the side of the road. While she was doing this Liam had been on the company radio. Back-up was on the way.

"You can sit up, Tracy," Janine said, "They can't see you from this distance, and my guess is they'll be too busy watching in their mirrors for you to come walking up behind them. They won't be looking in this direction."