"Well, I should hope so. It's not like I plan on ever giving one of these out again."
I laughed and leaned over, giving him a quick kiss. "I know, but I was thinking, instead of just the ring, I want something else for an engagement gift."
"What's that?"
"I want to feel safe."
Chapter 26
Cam
I knew I was grinning, I'd had a grin on my face for the past two hours. Since hearing Melina's request, I was filled with a new purpose and felt a bit like my old self.
But I don't regret walking away from the intelligence community. And while I chose the gig to keep a low profile, I enjoyed being a basketball coach and English teacher. It was a lot more meaningful to me than what I had been doing. I got to guide kids and to help them make more of themselves. In the intelligence community, most of the time was about damage. Damaging your enemies, decreasing their financial or military might, and taking things away from them.
Still, there was a certain primal thrill to being able to use all of my skills and intelligence again. I'd picked up a lot more than just what my degrees said I knew, and a lot of those skills had sat in my brain for years, dust and rust gathering in those shut off mental rooms.
But now, though, Melina's words filled me with an energy and motivation I hadn't felt in a very long time. It was even sweeter this time because not only was I getting to use my abilities again, but I was doing it with the full knowledge and blessing of the most important woman in the world to me. It added a certain electric edge to my work.
I sat in front of Albertine, typing away furiously as I went through the trail that it had found on Victor Pinzetti.
"All right Vic, let's get nasty," I said. First to go was his bank accounts, which while not wiped out, was frozen by a non-existent court order. Next were the credit cards, each of which were frozen due to sudden charges that maxed out each of them. Financially paralyzed, Pinzetti would have to depend on his governmental resources.
Thankfully, working within the government's bureaucracy was a painstaking and tracked process. I connected Victor to the car with Faraday glass that he'd been assigned, along with his governmental credit cards, spending accounts, and even his government phone number and the specs on his phone.
"So what's your plan?" Melina said, sitting on my right and looking over my shoulder. "What's next?"
"First, I'm going to put out an APB on his car," I said, tapping away, "so that should give him a few issues. Of course, if the cops aren't looking actively they won't stop him, but it should give him some headaches. Even better, though, I have his aliases and those I can go to town on."
"The only thing he's really got left is his phone, which we've slipped an active tracer into. We'll know his location as well as being able to listen in on any conversations he has on it. I doubt he'd be stupid enough to do that, but you never know."
"Why would him using the phone be stupid, I mean besides the obvious?" Melina asked. "He wouldn't know about it."
"If he's been assigned to come after Albertine, then he should know the capabilities it has. For sure he should know what I can do. As soon as he starts to run into problems with his credit cards, his bank cards, or anything like that, he should assume that his phone is compromised as well. If I were him, I'd have paid cash and gotten a cloned or pre-paid phone for just such situations. But still, he may screw up or his supervisor may have screwed up. In any case, I can GPS track that phone as long as it’s turned on. Even hitting the switch won't work any longer, he'll have to remove the battery to keep it off the grid."
"Where is he now?"
I activated the tracker, and a map of the area, with a green point flashing to show where Pinzetti was located popped up. "He's out in the area south of here, between Caballo and Hillsboro. I'd guess he's in some sort of trailer, there aren’t any hotels out there."
"Trailer park?" Melina asked. "I would have thought you spies would have better accommodations. James Bond this guy isn't."
"You'd be surprised. As the old saying goes, I've wined and dined with kings and queens, and slept in alleys eating pork and beans," I replied with a laugh. "Sometimes even worse than that."
"Well, I'm glad you're here with me now," Melina purred, kissing my cheek. "So what's next?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. Actually, I do know, but I don't want to say it."
"What?"
I sighed and looked at the gun safe. "If he takes this as a warning and backs off, maybe we’re safe. If not, the only other option involves firearms."
Melina read between the lines of what I was saying and blanched, then nodded slowly. "I understand. I guess it would be foolish to say this would be easy?”
I shook my head. "Last time someone messed with me, I didn't have to use firearms. I thought the US government, or at least the dark matter players, had gotten the clue. Speaking of which, I need to send a message to my contact about this."