espial
[ih-spahy-uh l]
1. the act of spying.
2. the act of keeping watch; observation.
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Joe’s eyes darted around nervously. He was being watched, he knew it. He couldn’t find the person watching him, but
he knew there was someone. He had felt
it right from the moment he had woken up.
Someone was observing him.
Watching him from somewhere he couldn’t see. It wasn’t just the normal paranoia bothering
him. This was a much stronger
feeling. The worst [art was, he had no
idea why someone was spying on him.
He wasn’t
married, and didn’t have a girlfriend, so there were no jealous women and PIs
involved. He always kept his nose clean
at work, so there were no problems there.
There was absolutely no reason for someone to be watching him.
As he looked around, he began to
notice something. There were three
people who kept showing up. It was just out of the corners of his eyes that he
noticed them, and it was always for only a second or two, but one of them was
always there. They were the source of
his unease. They were the ones watching
him. He didn’t know if it was just those
three, or if there were more he hadn’t seen yet, but he had to find out.
He
waited until he caught a glimpse of one of the people. This one was a fairly young man that looked
like anyone else. He wore an average
everyday outfit that consisted of a T-shirt and shorts. The only reason to be suspicious of that
particular man was how many times Joe had seen the guy. Joe did his best to look casual as he fell in
line with his observer. He thought for a
moment about how to approach it, but he quickly came to the conclusion that the
direct approach was probably best.
“So,
uh, have, uh, have you been following me or something?” Joe asked.
“What? No.
That’s crazy. Why would you even
think that?” The man replied.
“Well,
it’s just that I’ve seen you a lot today, and you always seem to just be there,
no matter where I am.”
“So? We’re probably just going in the same
direction is all.”
Once he
thought about it like that, it did make sense.
A lot more than some stranger was spying on him at any rate. But then if that was the case, then there
were times when he wasn’t there and someone else was. If they really were just going to the same
places, then the guy would’ve always been there.
“Right,
sorry. I guess I’m just being paranoid.” Joe said, not wanting to seem too suspicious. “So, where are you headed anyway?”
“Oh,
you know, just exploring the city. I’m
just visiting, so just taking in the sights.”
“Oh. Well there is quite a bit to see, so I’m sure
you’ll find something interesting.”
“No
doubt about that. I wouldn’t mind a few
pointers from a local though.”
Joe
gave the supposed tourist a few places to visit that were far removed from his
destination, just in case. The man
thanked him and the two went their separate ways. As soon as that man left, another one of his
tails took his place. This one was a
young woman who was equally generic as the other. She stayed several feet away from him, blending
into the crowd. Joe couldn’t say
anything to this one without looking like a total creep, so he stayed as far
away as he could. That is, until she
sped up and approached him.
“Hello
Mr. Sanderson.” She said. Somehow Joe wasn’t as surprised that she knew
his name as he should have been. “You
surprised us when you ID’d one of our men.
How’d you spot him?”
“I just
kept seeing him is all. Same with you,
and another guy.”
“Hm.” She said.
“It looks like we’ve underestimated you.
You’re better than we thought.”
“Better? Better at what?”
“You
can stop playing dumb, Mr. Sanderson. We’ve
already figured out you’re little secret.
or at least some of it.”
“What
secret?”
“Oh you
are good. You want me to say it so you
don’t spill anything. We know you’re a
spy. It’s the only way you could’ve intercepted
the information and spotted us.”
“Wait,
what? I’m not a spy. And what information are you talking about?”
“Please
don’t play with me. I’m in no mood for
games.” She said. Joe felt a small, round object press up
against his back. He very much hoped it
wasn’t what he thought it was. “Now, who
do you work for, and how did you get into our server?”
“Huh? I-I have no idea what you’re talking
about. I’m a cashier for a game
store. It’s three blocks from here. In fact, it’s where I’m going now. And I have no idea what server you’re talking
about.” The round object pressed harder
into his back. A drop of cold sweat
dripped down his forehead.
“Yes,
yes, I know your cover. But I want to
know who you really work for.”
“That
is who I really work for.” Joe said. His
heart was pounding a mile a minute.
“So am
I really to expect that someone accidentally intercepted a highly classified
document on an encrypted server that nobody outside out agency knows exists?”
“I have
no idea…wait a minute…” Joe thought for a moment. “Is this about that weird email I got
yesterday?”
“So you
admit that you have it? Maybe you’re not
as good as I thought.”
“Look,
lady, I got a weird email yesterday with a bunch of letters and numbers on
it. I have no idea what it is. I figured it was just spam, so I deleted
it. I don’t even know who it’s from.”
“Right. Of course you don’t. And I have a bridge to sell you. Now, unless you want some real problems, you’ll
either come with me or tell me what I want to know now.”
A
sudden thought struck Joe. He knew he
shouldn’t laugh, but the sheer absurdity of his idea forced him to.
“What’s
so funny?” The woman asked.
“Nothing,
nothing. it’s just…well, this situation
is like some over the top spy movie is all.”
“How
so? Because we’re both spies?”
“No
no. you’re a spy, I’m not. See, there’s some movies where the good guy
spy group thinks some random person is an enemy for some reason. So the spy group goes after this normal
person, only to have it revealed later that it was the bad guy spy groups that
set up the normal guy so they could get away with whatever evil thing they have
planned. Of course, usually the random
person somehow ends up saving the day. I
don’t think that’s going to happen here, is it?”
“Okay,
you’re either the best spy in the world, or you’re telling the truth. Which one is it?”
“The
second one. Definitely the second one.”
“I wasn’t
asking you.” She said. Joe risked looking around. She was the only one of his tails that he
could see. He could only assume there
were others hidden somewhere though. “Well
now, it looks like you might actually be telling the truth. The people going through your apartment haven’t
found anything suspicious. They even
found the email on your computer, and it was deleted, just as you said it was.”
“Wait,
you have people going through my apartment?
That’s not…” He somehow couldn’t
find the will to finish his thought. “Uh,
can, uh, can you at least ask them not to go through my search history?”
“Oh
they already have.” She said. Joe felt his face turning red. “Oh don’t worry, we’ve all seen worse. From what they’re telling me it’s all pretty
normal stuff.” Somehow that wasn’t a big
comfort. “Anyway, for now it looks like
there’s no reason to be concerned about you.
However, if you ever get another email like that again, I’d advice you
not to touch it. If you do, I can’t guarantee
your safety. Oh, and I’m sure you’ve
already figured this out, but if you tell anyone that this happened, it won’t
matter if you’re not a spy, understand?”
“Uh
huh.” Joe said.
“Good. Now then, with any luck we’ll never see each
other again. Have a nice day Mr.
Sanderson.”
The
woman pushed passed him and quickly disappeared into a nearby building. Joe looked around him, making sure nobody
else would be following him. He wanted
very much to go back to his apartment to check out what had been done to it,
but he had to go to work. It was going
to be a real challenge not to tell the others there about what had just
happened to him. After all, not everyone
could say that they had met a real spy.
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Usually I'd consider a possible follow up, but with this one I'm not so sure. Spy stories can be pretty complex, and I'm not sure if I'm up for making one, especially in a format like this one. But hey, you never know what the future might bring, so we'll see what happens.
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