[ WP ] A drive by shooting takes place in front of you and you , being a quick thinker , take a picture of the cars lisense plate . You 're about to help the shot man when you hear the car turning around : its inhabitants saw you take the picture and did n't want you getting away with it .

So I think I just witnessed a murder. 
 
 I got a picture of them. The killers. Actually, more than just a picture, the dash cam recorded all of it. 
 
 Unfortunately for me, they also took a picture of me as well. 
 
 I was about to help whoever was inside. I got out of my car and all, but I saw the man inside. He was beyond helping, bullet holes all over his body. That was when I saw a flash. 
 
 They took a picture of me. Me, next to my car. Then I heard gunshots, and the next thing I did was to get the hell out of that place. There might be gunshot marks on my car as well. 
 
 Shit, why did this have to happen to me? 
 
 I was on a vacation in Jakarta. Night life usually quite decent here, since the traffic is much better than on daytime, and everything is cheap. 
 
 Sure, the air is much worse than in Bali, but it ’ s not too bad. There ’ s too many Aussies in Bali anyway, and I ’ ve found myself a lot more into the locals lately. 
 
 I ’ m not exactly rich, but a google employee ’ s salary for a year would be enough to let you live like a king for a few years here. Hookers, booze, all that jazz, for cheap. No drugs though, death penalties and all here. 
 
 But that ’ s okay, I ’ m mostly about pretty local girls and enjoying a night out with them. Really easy to pick them up when you have a good car too, although it ’ s just a rental car. They were going to give me a chauffeur as well, but that would really hamper my efforts on picking these girls up. 
 
 Which was why the rental company insisted on installing a dash cam on the car. I suppose with the kind of drivers they have over here, it ’ d make sense, since they wouldn ’ t trust a foreigner ’ s driving skills in the chaotic streets of Jakarta. I told them I was only going to drive at night when the traffic is much emptier, but they wouldn ’ t have any of it. 
 
 This dash cam is now an actual forensic evidence. I wouldn ’ t have thought that their insistence on attaching it there would mean I ’ ll be playing a part on catching these killers. These fuckers who tried to shoot me, even. 
 
 I drove myself the fuck out of there, as fast as I could. At least, I tried to get myself into a busy road, but that ’ s a tough ask even for the streets of Jakarta, when it ’ s 1am in the morning. 
 
 It didn ’ t seem like they followed me, at any rate. The streets were kinda empty, so they probably wouldn ’ t have had much trouble chasing me, but I guess I got lucky? 
 
 I stopped by an empty road, took out my cell phone and used it as a torch. It doesn ’ t look like any or their shots hit the car. At least the car didn ’ t explode like they usually do in the movies, when they get hit at the tank. And I didn ’ t have to pay for car repairs, although it probably would have been covered by insurance. 
 
 I took a deep breath and got back inside the car. Was any of this real? It ’ s got ta be, I only took booze, not drugs. And that was many hours ago. Drink driving is a crime, and a bad one too. 
 
 Well, that ruined my plans for the night. Or did it? I was going to go to hook up with this hot local girl after some late night texting. Yes, it was a booty call from someone I just met at a bar a few days before. Or I could go to the police to report this. 
 
 Then again, I was a foreigner in a foreign land. I didn ’ t want any trouble. The dash cam that they supplied me was an old model, one with removable SD card slots, so I guess I could just erase the data myself before returning the loan car. Hell, it would probably erase itself after 24 hours, they don ’ t really have much storage on this thing. 
 
 The thing I was worried about was that the murderers have a photo of me and the car. I suppose they could somehow track me through the car plate, but that ’ s not something criminals have access to, right? There ’ s probably no need for me to worry about this too much. I ’ m flying out of Indonesia in a week to spend the rest of my sabbatical in Pattaya anyway. I heard it ’ s pretty crazy there. 
 
 I decided to just count myself lucky that none of the gunshots hit me. 
 
 Suddenly, a strange voice out of nowhere. “ I got a pen, I got an apple, ugh, apple pen! ” 
 
 Oh right, that was my custom Whatsapp ringtone. They sure do like to monetize weird memes these days. The girl I was going to hook up with was calling. 
 
 I decided to put this all behind me for now. I ’ m tired, I didn ’ t sign up for any of this bullshit. Car fuel is actually running low. Hell, my phone battery is quite low too. But if anything is going to happen tonight, it ’ s me getting laid. 
 
 And I went to the girl ’ s apartment. Things might just be alright in the end. 
 
 The next morning, I woke up before the girl. My phone was dead, so I couldn ’ t check the news, so I turned on the television. 
 
 I almost shat myself when I saw a picture of me on the morning news. They even had my name on. “ Jacob Briggs, 26 ”. 
 
 I couldn ’ t understand whatever they were saying. Shit. 
 
 I quickly turned off the television, and searched around for a phone battery charger. Good thing I had an android phone, since most people here have android phones too, and that meant a usb-c charger. 
 
 I waited anxiously for the phone to boot up. These phones man, it ’ s they always run out of battery when you really need them. 
 
 Suddenly, rows of notifications popped up, missed calls and messages. Crap, this is not good. I tried to skim through some of the messages. 
 
 “ dude wtf did you really kill that guy ” 
 
 “ Jacob, please tell me you are alright. Where are you? Please call me back -mom ” 
 
 Shit. I had to check the news quickly, but from somehow I could understand. I guess a google search can work. 
 
 “ Jacob Briggs, 26 has been suspected of murder late last night. Police have issued arrest warrants.. ” 
 
 Fuck. 
 
 I turned off the cellular connection from my phone. They probably know I ’ m here now. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? 
 
 Just before I turned off my phone though, I decided to look at my list of unread messages. There were many, from concerned friends and more from my families, but one caught my eye. 
 
 It was from Boris, a coworker from google. The message was sent using an app he was developing, that touted super secure, encrypted communication channels. Never thought this would have been useful until today. 
 
 “ Jacob, if you can read this, run away. The police are after you. Don ’ t go to the American embassy either, you ’ ll never make it inside. Just run away from now. I ’ ve sent more instructions on what to do on your email ”. 
 
 Fuuuuuck. What did I do to deserve this? 
 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- 
 
 Continued in part 2 
 I ’ m just learning to write and this is quite fun 
 

