Page 46 of Hunter's Hidden Camera
Oscar holds up my brother’s laptop. “I got this.”
“Good job, dude.”
“But I can never come on this campus again. People know what I look like. Sorry I messed it up.”
“Nah, man, it’s all good,” I say.
I look around the corner again. The coast is still clear.
Oscar keeps shaking his head, disappointed in himself.
I don’t want him to feel bad about being seen breaking in, so I gently swat his arm. “You did great, Oscar. You got us in. You got the laptop. This is a lot. You saved me, dude.”
Of course, I don’t feel saved. My brother might have seen us. And if he did, that means he’s now on to me, on to what I’m trying to do, on to the fact that I’m actively attempting to do something to mess up whatever his plans are. Hopefully, though, he was too groggy or the light was too bright or we were fast enough to be such a blur that he still doesn’t know it was me and Oscar who broke into his room.
“You think he saw us? I don’t think he saw us,” Oscar says. “Now what?”
“We’ve got to get to my car, get far away from here, and see what we can find on Nash’s laptop.”
I check around the corner again, and—damn it!—I spot the police officer. He makes eye contact with me.
“Shit,” I say. “We gotta move.”
I run along the side of the complex, and Oscar follows.
Through a locked gate we see, inside the complex, a big outdoor swimming pool, with bleachers on both sides of it. Nobody’s in there. I guess it’s closed to students on Saturdays, and there isn’t some kind of aquatic event today.
I jostle the thick padlock. We’re not getting in, so we move on. We run until we’re at the back of the structure and see another gate. This one is slightly open.
I look inside. On the far end of the swimming pool are the restrooms for guests who are attending a sporting event here. There’s a large janitorial cart parked in front of that building.
A janitor, an older man with a thick beard like Santa Claus, emerges from the men’s restroom with a mop and a bucket on wheels, having just cleaned the place. He then shuffles into the women’s restroom to continue cleaning.
I scan the area again to make sure no one else is in here. We’re good.
I wave Oscar to come with me through the gate. Once we’re in, Oscar points to the other side of the complex. On the left is a building that’s marked “LOCKER ROOMS.”
But before we even start moving, we hear footsteps behind us, running, getting closer. It’s the cop. And by the sound of the footsteps, there’s no way we can run the length of the pool and hide out in the locker rooms way on the other side, and they also might be locked.
I look around for another place to hide. The bleachers are totally exposed, especially since there isn’t a crowd sitting on them, so they’re no good.
At the same time, Oscar and I look at the swimming pool. The footsteps get even closer.
“How long can you hold your breath?” I whisper.
“He’ll see us through the water.”
“Not if we position ourselves underneath those two low diving boards.”
I know it’s kind of insane what we’re going to do, but it’s the only way.
Oscar and I quickly move to the edge of the pool.
I suddenly notice the laptop in Oscar’s hand.
“Laptop,” I say.
Oscar looks like a deer in headlights, not knowing what to do with it.
