Chapter 1: Re-instated

The next morning, she woke up with her alarm clock blaring from the table beside her bed. She was so comfortable from her bed that it took her at least half an hour before she finally got up and get ready. She took a shower instead of taking a bath. She liked her bathroom its black and white with a big oval tub and the shower on the side.

After getting ready, she called a cab to bring her to the nearest car dealership so she could buy her own car. The cab brought her to a car dealership a few blocks away from her house and now she has to decide whether to buy a hot convertible or a practical SUV. In the end she chose a Mercedes M-series SUV in a silver colour. She bought the car right on the spot. After buying the car, she went straight to the mall to have breakfast then to go on shopping. But first she needs to buy a new cell phone; it’s time to get rid of her old one.

The mall was quite big. But she found the food court a few minutes after she entered the mall. While eating, she started playing with her new phone. She should really read the manual but she’s never the one to read the manuals of any devices that she bought. She’s more on the trial and error side. When she was confident with her knowledge of the features of her phone, she programmed the guys’ number and called Justin to give him her new number.

He should be awake by now. She thought after she checked her watch for the time and then dialled his number.

“’lo” Justin answered after three rings.

“Hey it’s Gabby, did I wake you up?” she asked him uncertainly.

“No, I’ve been awake for half an hour” he assured her while getting some bowl to put his cereal in.

“Okay, I just bought my new phone so I thought I’d give you a call so you could save the number afterwards”

“Cool I’ll do that after I talk to you. Where are you anyway? It sounds so noisy” he heard a kid crying from the background and some teenagers laughing as well.

“I’m in the mall, I figured I shouldn’t put off shopping for my furniture and stuff for the house” she laughed.

“I could meet you and help you if you want. I don’t have anything today anyway, I’m just gonna get bored if I stay here the whole day”

“Are you sure? I would gladly accept your help because I don’t know the good stores to go to and I need other people’s opinion as well but if you’re busy that’s okay”

“Nah, I’m not busy. I’ll meet you in half an hour?” he asked for confirmation

“Yes thank you, I’ll wait for you in the food court” after talking to Justin, she started eating her food but she’s not in any hurry since she’ll be waiting in the food court for Justin.

She took her time to look around. The mall is quite busy already with teenagers and toddlers in their strollers pushed by their mother or father considering that it’s only half 10 in the morning. Looking in to the table in front of her sat a family of 5, the parents and their kids. Seeing them eating as a family at this time of the day makes her think of her own family that she had to leave. They’re not my real family. But even though that’s the case I still miss them now.

She just started learning to leave with her family in her life and this happen. She left them with just a letter saying that if she stays with them, they’ll be in danger but if she’s given any chance she’ll contact them and let them know that she’s okay. She’ll make sure that she will find that chance.

She finished eating her food with her thoughts flying away at the same time. Five minutes after she finished her food Justin arrived wearing a black shirt and jeans with his pony hat on pulled low to his face. They received some raised eyebrow look from the other people in the food court when Justin hugged her for a greeting. But they just shrugged it off and Justin they started their shopping.

In the couch store, Gabby couldn’t decide whether to get a black leather couch or a white leather couch. But in the end Justin pointed out that if she has the white one, her guest would have to be extra careful when they sat on it so she finally bought the black one since she’s also clumsy and spill drinks almost all the time. They bought everything that she needed for her living room. Their next stop is buying stuff for her bathrooms. They went in to a store where she could buy everything in there at one go. Gabby was picking up some rugs for the bathroom when she noticed the other staff snickering behind the counter. Confused, she started looking around and that’s when she saw him. Justin was standing on the far side of the store with a peculiar, confused and intent look on his face trying to find out how to work the odd looking toilet in front of him. The next thing that happened, she couldn’t help it. She started laughing so loud and got his attention and the other staff couldn’t hold it any longer so they also laughed with her. Justin shyly retreated from where he is to her side not looking at anyone in the eye.

“That was so embarrassing” he told her when he reached her side.

“I’m so sorry for laughing but that was funny” she giggled.

“Yea, yea. I’m so glad I amused you”

“Come on I’m done here. Not unless you want to buy the toilet” she gestured towards the toilet he was looking earlier.

He just rolled her eyes at her smiling at the same time. They proceeded to the counter and paid for the stuff they bought. Afterwards they decided to put some of the items in the car before they could go to lunch. When they reached the car park they find out that they’re both parked side by side without even realising it. Approaching their vehicle, Justin gave a low whistle when he saw her car.

“Did you rent that?” he asked looking the car over.

“No, I bought it this morning. I was actually second guessing myself on whether to buy my dream car which is this or be piratical and buy an SUV. As you can see I chose to be practical.”

He laughed at the sheepish smile that he was giving her. They started putting the items away when they both heard a car screeching near them. Without thinking, Gabby took a crouch position pulling Justin with her. She was about to reach in to her ankle for her weapon but the car sped away before she could pull it out. Good thing too because it wouldn’t do her any good if Justin saw it. The car disappeared in the corner and she gave sigh of relief. Justin on the other hand is giving her an odd look.

She saw this and she gave a light laugh covering her nervousness. “Sorry, reflex. I watched too much action movie” she lied. She was thankful though when Justin seem to accept her reason. They decided to have lunch in a Chinese restaurant inside the mall. They didn’t go to the food court since the mall is now crowded with people especially teenagers which is not good for Justin. They were waiting for their food when she decided to make a call on her phone. When someone answered on the other line she didn’t waste any time and give out a bunch of numbers and then hung up.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Oh I was activating a voicemail service”

“So how do you like Florida so far?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t really been out except for today but the weather’s good” she laughed.

“What about your family? Are they moving here?” he asked nonchalantly but he didn’t fail to notice the sadness that crossed her eyes.

“No they’re in Italy. They have a good life there so they’re not moving anywhere anytime soon” she didn’t volunteer any other information hoping that he’ll get the hint and drop the subject of her family but unfortunately he didn’t get it.

“Do you have a brother?” he continued.

“No, not anymore” she was getting upset over their conversation and it looks like he’s not gonna stop asking until he found out everything about her. “Can we please talk about something else? I don’t like talking about my family” she finally said. She figured she might as well be direct towards him.

Justin could see that she’s getting uncomfortable so he nodded to answer her request. But before he could start a new topic, the waiter brought their food over and when he left, she started a new topic to talk about.

“So are you on vacation or what?”

“Yea, thank god. I’m so tired I need it or else I might just drop dead” he answered with a laugh.

“I know what you mean. Even though you love what you do because it’s a dream come true, you still gotta rest once in a while”

“Exactly! I have three months to unwind. What do you wanna see in Florida?” he asked her out of nowhere.

“Oh, don’t mind me. Don’t waste your holiday on me”

“If it’s fun, it won’t be wasted trust me” he assured her.

“Ok in that case, can you please show me Disney world? It’s been my dream to go there since I was a kid and watching Mickey Mouse on television” she admitted shyly.

“You got it. But first we gotta introduce you to people so that you could have new friends here. Now you’ve met Chris and JC so you will meet the rest. I’m having a cook out the day after tomorrow with my friends coming. Do you wanna go?”

“Sure, thank you. Do you want me to come early and help you out? I mean I could cook something” she offered.

“Okay that would be great”

They took their time eating their lunch at the same time continuing with their light conversation. They went to a technology store afterwards. Justin noticed Gabby’s expression and laughed a little from her eagerness like a kid in Toys ‘R Us’ store. She went straight to the entertainment centre of the shop where the television and other technologies with Justin following behind.

“What do you need to buy here?” Justin was looking around the equipment displayed when he asked her.

“Everything”

“EVRYTHING?” he ask astonished.

“What? I just moved in you know. Besides, I’d rather buy it now than later. Now help me choose which one is good” she motioned for him to follow her. She bought a Samsung 72 inch screen television, a DVD player and some DVD movies. Then they went to the part of the store where Justin loved… the gaming part. She was thinking if she should buy an x-box or a play station 3 but then Justin told her that both of them are completely different so she bought both of them and a few games such as Tomb raider and Tekken. Of course Justin bought a lot more games than her, and to think that he told her that she’s buying a lot.

He was still looking at different games when she wandered to the computer section of the shop. She was deciding what colour to get for her laptop when Justin walked over to her.

“Excuse me” she called over to the staff. “Hi I was wondering if someone could show me the internal of this computer”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll get someone right over” the store clerk said before leaving her alone by the computer she was eyeing. Justin came over to her side wondering what she’s doing.

“I didn’t know you could ask them that” he said looking at the computer as well.

“In buying a computer, you have to be really careful. You could either ask someone who knows a computer to come with you to check what you’re buying or search it in the internet for the specific specification” she shrugged.

“How do you know all this stuff?” he was amazed to say the least with the knowledge she have.

“I have a degree in Computing. I had to learn all this stuff to graduate” before she could continue more another stare clerk came over and he ask them to follow him in to the far corner of the office where a small office is located so they could open the machine. The clerk opened the lid and showed it to her. Without touching anything she looked over it and she asked some questions where Justin couldn’t understand a single word.

Damn this woman has some brains on her was the only thing he could think while listening to both of them talk.

They both left the shop with a new computer, new laptop, new gaming devices and their games and a lot more.

“Wow! I really went all out today” she was looking at the bags in her hands and thinking of the stuff she bought earlier today. It’s not like money is a problem to her. She have a lot of that and even if she makes shopping spree like this everyday she would never run out, thanks to her grand mother.

“Don’t worry about it, at least it’s not going to waste or-“he was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She told him to hold on and reached for her phone to answer it although she couldn’t guess who’s calling her in her new phone.

“Hello?”

“I’m assuming this line is secured?” the caller on the line said without saying hello.

“Yes” she’s not lying when she said that and she would get in to trouble if she lied to this specific caller. So in the beginning, she made sure that she set an untraceable phone line when she bought the phone, the number can’t be trace or her location can’t be revealed.

“Before anything else, I just had to ask. Are you sure you want to come back? There are bigger risks if you come back” it took Gabby a full minute to answer that question but she promised herself she’s not gonna run anymore and she’s gonna take her life back. If they find her this time she’ll be ready. “Yes I understand that and my decision is not going to change”

“Very well. You are now officially re-instated. You are to meet with your new partner-“

“With all due respect sir, I don’t want one” she cut off the man on the other line before he could continue.

“I know it would be hard for you to manoeuvre with a partner but it’s a protocol that we have to follow. Don’t worry he knows your situation and he’s good at keeping secret. You’re both going to be based in Florida and everything you need to report save it in a USB drive and give it to your partner but only the ones you do together. Is there any question?”

“Yes uhm, about the thing I asked to you about if I could handle it?” she said hesitantly checking if Justin is paying attention to her when she saw that he’s looking around she continued. “It’s the only thing that keeps me going. Knowing that I’ll be able to do something about it and catch them myself”

“Yes and I can tell you now officially that you could handle the case. I just want to clarify that you’ll be dealing with people who are more evil than the devil himself. And we don’t have any lead so you know that you’ll have your work cut out for you” he stressed making sure that she understand. She’s a good agent and an asset not to mention a good girl. But a girl that has seen the cruelest thing the world could offer and yet she’s still standing trying to do the right thing.

“I understand sir” she heard the man from the other line give a big sigh but she’s not going to change her mind.

“Okay you’ll meet Mr Brendan Lyle on Monday in the Apollo hotel in Florida; you’ll see him by the bar. Your badge is in the system again so you can use it. But you’re a secret agent; emphasis on the word secret, do you understand me?”

"Now if that is all I’ll let you go, contact me if you need anything” he continued without waiting for her answer.

“Thank you sir” she hung up the phone and looked at Justin. He noticed that she’s finished talking on her phone.

“Who was that?” he asked her she seemed secretive about the phone call by the way she talked on the phone quietly so he busied himself by looking around while they walk to the parking lot.

“Oh that was my boss, well used to be my boss anyway. He was just asking about some documents that I left”

“I am beat. I thought I’d never find someone who could shop more than me” he commented with a laugh.

“This is nothing. Anyway, come over to my place and I’ll cook you dinner as thank you for accompanying and helping me today. That is if you don’t have plans later on. That reminds me we need to buy kitchen utensils and cutlery” she saw him looked at her with a shock look on his face and she laughed it off. “Sorry. It’s the last stop I promised. It’s just that it’s going to be hard to cook and eat without equipment not unless you know a way” she teased and he just laughed. They made a detour towards the kitchen to buy some pots, pans, cutlery etc. that she’ll need in her kitchen. By this time, there are other two mall attendants helping them with their purchases. At one point Gabby tripped before they could reach their vehicle which Justin laughed off hysterically before he struggled to help her up.