Free Shell Shocked by Eric Walters

guess.”
    â€œAre you managing to stay awake in class?” he asked.
    â€œYeah, I’m really trying hard to … how do you know about that?” I looked at my mother.
    She shook her head. “I didn’t tell him.”
    â€œThen how does he …?” I let the sentence trail away. I knew what he was going to say.
    â€œWe have certain connections,” Little Bill said. “And you know that we have a fondness for your family and try to make sure you are all doing well.”
    I had no problem with them keeping an eye on us. It made me feel safer.
    â€œSo, who would like to start?” Little Bill asked.
    â€œDon’t look at me,” Jack said. “I don’t know nothing.”
    â€œâ€˜Anything,’” Little Bill said. “One would properly say, ‘I don’t know anything .’ Good grammar is a sign of good breeding.”
    Jack shrugged. “Yes, sir. I don’t know anything.” He pointed to me. “But somehow I think this is all his fault.”
    â€œNo,” Little Bill said, “I believe it is my fault.”
    We gave him a questioning look.
    â€œBut let us begin closer to the beginning. George, how long have you suspected that something was, shall we say, amiss?”
    â€œA couple of weeks, but mostly the last week.”
    â€œSo you decided to follow your mother this evening.”
    I shrugged.
    â€œI checked to make sure they were asleep,” my mother said, “and I left as quietly as I could.”
    â€œI assume you were not, in fact, asleep, correct?” Little Bill asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHe’s having problems getting to sleep,” Jack said.
    â€œThat doesn’t surprise me,” Little Bill said. “That is what I assumed when I was informed that you were falling asleep in school.”
    â€œIt was?” I asked.
    He nodded his head. “We’ll discuss that later. But first, getting back to the events of this evening, you followed your mother.”
    â€œI had to make sure she was okay. It’s not safe to be out alone at night.”
    â€œYou would know better than anybody of the dangers that lurk in the dark. You do worry about your mother, especially since the episode in which she was kidnapped.”
    â€œWouldn’t you?” Jack asked.
    â€œOf course. Human nature. So you followed her because you wanted to make sure she was safe. Is that the only reason?”
    â€œWell … I was also pretty curious. I couldn’t think of any good reason why she’d go out in the middle of the night.”
    â€œPerhaps she was just going for a walk?” Little Bill suggested.
    â€œThat’s what I said!” Jack exclaimed.
    â€œYes, that is the logical explanation. But, of course, not the correct one.”
    Jack went from looking cocky to being crushed in a few brief seconds.
    â€œSo you kept your mother under surveillance as she walked.”
    â€œI was keeping an eye on her,” I said.
    â€œI didn’t see him there at all,” my mother said.
    â€œAnd neither did our surveillance team. At least, not at first,” Bill said.
    â€œYou didn’t see our surveillance team either, did you?” Little Bill asked me.
    â€œI didn’t see them until the guy had a gun against my head and a knee pressed down on my temple.”
    Little Bill looked at Bill. “It sounds as though they executed their role very effectively.”
    â€œQuite so. Very professional. Top marks for both agents.”
    â€œGeorge,” said Little Bill, “it’s important to remember when you’re watching a subject that most often there will be another team assigned to watch for people watching them. You always have to have one eye on the target and a second scanning the surroundings.”
    â€œI’ll try and remember that.”
    â€œI wish there had been no need for you ever to know it. So, as I understand it, you saw your mother