Cam swelled inside me, and I felt the last of my inner gates opened, the last barrier between me and the immense pleasure of my climax penetrated like it was nothing. I cried out, the hot joy exploding through me and filling my body with energy. Cam's body clenched beneath me, and I wailed in ecstasy as I let myself go, joining with him in the completion of this most meaningful of acts.
When I finally came down, I leaned over, Cam's skin sweaty from our exertions. We'd forgotten to turn the air conditioner on that day, and the room was tropical with the effects of our lovemaking. “Perfect.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Cam said, kissing my lips tenderly.
Chapter 24
Cam
I should’ve been doing last minute preparations for the start of school the next day. I should’ve been pressing my best khakis and making sure my bag was ready to go, since I invariably forget something in the morning of rushing out the door.
I should’ve been doing any of a hundred different things. Instead, I was sitting in front of Albertine, watching as every three or four seconds, another file was scanned, compared, and dismissed.
"No luck yet?" Melina asked, coming in from the other bedroom. She'd spent the morning rearranging the spare bedroom, stripping it of the furniture and propping the mattress against the wall. Since eleven, she'd been working with my socket wrench set, putting together the two spin bikes we'd brought back from Las Cruces. She looked cute with a streak of grease under her right eye and across her fine cheekbone.
"Not yet. You look like you're having fun," I commented, turning away from Albertine. "Any problems?"
"Honey, I may not be Bob Vila, but I've done a few home repairs in my time," Melina answered with a chuckle. "As to your question, things are fine. We don't have the tools quite like what the instructions say, but I’m making it work.”
I laughed. "You want any help?"
"Maybe in about an hour or so, I was thinking you and I could break in the cycles together," Melina said. "And then afterward, you can start my education."
"I doubt you need me to teach you the finer points of avoiding the run-on sentence," I joked. "What are you talking about anyway?”
"About what to look for to keep my ass safe," Melina said. "I mean, I’m not looking to be like Angelina Jolie, but I’d like to learn a few things, you know? Tell me Cam, those guns you have, are you a good shot with them?"
"I can hit pretty well," I answered. "I'm better with the rifle than I am with the pistols, though."
"And you’re good with your hands? I know you’re good with your hands, but you know what I mean,” she said with a wink.
I grinned and nodded, thinking of some of the training I'd been through. Sometimes, when I was sitting in English class while trying to stay awake through another one of the mandatory standardized tests I had to give the students, I’d count the ways that I could use what was in the room to kill someone. I’d tried to put it out of my mind given that I wasn’t in the game anymore, but it was a hard habit to break. I normally could get up to about twenty different items. It provided a strange comfort at times, and at least it kept me awake.
“You could say that. There are talents that I have that you're right, you don't want to know. Hell, I hoped I’d never have to use them again, and I still do. But, I’ll see what we can do to help keep you safe."
Melina gave me a kiss on the cheek and ruffled my hair. "I look forward to it. Well then, back to work for me if we're going to actually have bikes to ride. Enjoy your work, and I'll call you when it's ready."
The computer search had been going on for nearly twelve hours already, working its way through the CIA, the FBI, and the NSA. I’d set it to go through the minor federal agencies first before tackling the big cheese, the Department of Defense. Their personnel list was massive, and most of it male.
I pondered trying to pack my bag for tomorrow when Albertine beeped, telling me it had a potential match. I sat up, opening the file. "Well, we have a name."
"What's that?" Melina called from the other room. "What did you say?"
"I said we have a name," I called back. "Want to check?"
Melina was next to me in five seconds, looking over the picture on the screen. "Yeah, that's him. The short one with the angry eyes."
"Short one is Victor Pinzetti, originally from, oh get this, your neck of the woods. Cleveland."
"No wonder he works for the government. Cleveland's nearly as bad as Lima."
"Oh, I don't know," I replied. "It does have LeBron. And Drew Carey."
Melina rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the screen. "It says he belongs to the Environmental Protection Agency."
"That's probably who signs his paycheck, for sure," I said. "However, I can guarantee you that he isn't getting forty thousand dollars a year like this file says. Give Albertine a bit more time to track Pinzetti down, and we’ll know more.”
"Is that the next step?" Melina asked. "Turn Albertine loose on him?"
"Not exactly, but track him, yes. Now that we have something to go on, we can really go much faster. By dinner time we should have every bit of financial and electronic information on him, and we can make our plans for what to do next. In the meantime, let's see how those bikes are coming along."
* * *