'Someone's Watching You'

Courtney sat in a café/diner on the verge of collapse. She was wearing sunglasses, in case she would tear up. Courtney knew of the man watching her, but she had to talk with somebody. The man wasn’t exactly hidden, but he was there to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. Her coffee was untouched, and the cigarette in her hand had almost reached the end. She was still shaking from the memory of early that day.Her husband had the other day told her that he is working as the main distributor of methamphetamine for the whole state. He told her of the jobs he had done including sending huge shipments to Europe, selling drugs to minor dealers in the town and hiring hitmen to kill dealers who’s selling in their territory. The word “Kill” triggered something in her. She was frightened of what could happen, if he went to jail or even worse got killed during job. It would affect both her and their children. She didn’t know what to say, but she shouldn’t have done what she did. Her husband had become insane, but she couldn’t do anything about it. He wanted to provide for the family, but Courtney wouldn’t let him pay their rent with blood money.She had told the police that he had beaten her, and that he had molested the kids. She thought that would be enough to get rid of him. The police had taken him in custody, but before that he had said something that frightened her. “From now on someone will be watching you.”Now she was sitting in the café waiting for her sister, who only knew of the false story. But Courtney knew that her sister had a job that was a little bit special. She had told her to come into the café from the back, because of the man outside watching her. He was probably going to confront her afterwards, if he found out, but that was a risk she was willing to take.Courtney recognized her sister coming in from the back, because of her red hair. She went over and sat behind her, so they were sitting almost back to back, and was able to hear each other.“Are you ok?” Courtney’s sister asked her with a shaking voice.“I’m ok, but you don’t know the full story, Cary.”Courtney told her sister Cary the whole story, and Cary started to understand Courtney’s situation. “I’ve made sure you’ll get out of town with the kids, new passports, new addresses and a new name. He won’t be able to track you down.”She pushed a sports bag towards Courtney with her foot, and Courtney picked up the bag.“Don’t open it in here. Go home. Gather your things and the kids, and I’ll get someone to take care of the man watching you,” Cary said, and ordered a coffee. Courtney stood up, and walked out of the café towards her car trying not to look after her follower. When she got in the car, she picked up her phone and called home. “Mom?” she heard in the other end.“Honey, remember the bag I packed and put in the closet? Please take it out and put it in the hall. We are going on a vacation. Nobody will be watching us anymore.” Then she hung up. She got home and went inside, but something was wrong, because the kids would normally be sitting doing homework at this time, but the only thing on the table was their backpacks, and the bag was not in the hall. The door closed behind her, and she didn’t even have time to turn around before shots were fired.