"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."
"Who?"
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Sorry, in trying to come clean about myself I sometimes still self-edit a bit too much. I don't know his real name, I've heard three or four. He was officially my supervisor within the State Department, but since we were introduced for the first time on a short term posting I had in Japan, I tend to call him Senpai. It’s the term the Japanese use for someone older than you in an organization."
Melina nodded. "And you keep in touch with him?"
I shrugged. "I'm out of the game, but I need to maintain contact with someone. If I didn't, then everyone would consider me an unacceptable risk. I'd be considered a rogue player, totally unpredictable and therefore overly dangerous. As it is, the different groups in all of this don't trust me, as you can tell, but they at least act with a certain amount of restraint. You don't want to know what they'd bring in if they thought I was full rogue."
“Men in black suits and armed to the teeth?"
I shook my head. "Drone strikes would be considered a restrained reaction most likely. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few F-16's from Alamogordo tasked with my house."
"Even knowing what they do about Albertine?" Melina said, shaking her head. "How stupid are they?"
"That's the danger of having men of little intelligence in positions of power," I said. "I doubt there are ten other people in the world who understand Albertine and its capabilities, and nobody who understands it as much as me. I've had sole possession of this time bomb for going on two years now, and it scares me just as much now as it did when I first laid hands on it."
"Yet we use it," Melina said quietly.
"I let my fear remind me to respect it," I answered. "Now, let me contact Senpai, and we'll figure out what our next step is."
* * *
I don't normally have to send messages out so often. I’m sure you've heard about the traffic accident I had?
Of course. Your truck is hotlinked in my computer. Anything that involves your truck or driver's license gives me an immediate notification.
You're using the word hotlinked wrong again. But I get what you're saying. I take it that someone didn't get the word?
You could say that. Just to let you know, I had nothing to do with that. Is that why you’re contacting me?
I had someone with me at the time. Pinzetti fucked up.
Who?
Victor Pinzetti. He's the person who’s been coming after me. Whether he was the driver or not, I couldn't tell. Not through the Faraday glass.
He's American?
According to the EPA, he's an oil pipe inspector.
I see. And what would you like me to do about it?
Put it out. Someone has to be in charge of this man. If they want him to live to the weekend, he leaves New Mexico.
I'll see what I can do.
I logged off the program and looked over Melina. "So that's him.”
"Can you trust him?"
I shook my head and shut down my laptop. "I can't. Pinzetti could be working for him for all I know. But if he is, then Pinzetti's got a better chance of survival."
"Why's that?"
I sighed and looked at Melina. "Senpai knows what I can do. I hope you’ll never have to see that side of me.”
To her credit, Melina didn't flinch, nor did she try to play off the meaning behind my words. Instead, those beautiful dark eyes drank it all in, and she nodded.
"Then shut it down, come with me, and let's get some rest. You have school tomorrow, I have the opening shift at work, and we just got engaged. Let's go do something more typical of a newly engaged couple."
Chapter 27
Melina
I was yawning when I came into work, and my hips were deliciously sore. Cam and I hadn't gone at each other that hard since the island, and I forgot just how good the man was at bringing me to the point of insanity with repeated mind blowing orgasms.
Jay Winters was actually behind the counter when I came in, a knowing smile on his face. "First day of school celebration?"
I nodded, but before I could say anything else, he saw the diamond ring on my finger. Jay's smile spread until his face nearly split in half, and he pounded the counter once. "Congratulations."
"Thanks Jay,” I said. "He did the whole nine yards, nice dinner, proposal right at dessert in front of everyone. We even got a free bottle of champagne out of it."
"Good. And from the yawn, I guess you didn't stop with just dinner and dessert."
I laughed. "Now that, Mr. Winters, is information I don’t need to share with my boss."
Jay chuckled. "Well, congratulations. Listen, I'm going to be up here most of the day today anyway, the pharmacist on duty called in sick. Have you gotten your pharmacy tech license for New Mexico squared away yet?"
I shook my head. "Not yet. The state board hasn't gotten back to me."
"Ah well, I'd have offered you a shift in the dispensary, but I guess I'll cover it. As soon as you have it back, tell me. I want you covering sometimes, if you're okay with that."
"Of course, Jay."
The morning was slow, the only customer being old Mr. Timmons, who I'd already seen twice in my time at the pharmacy. He apparently came in twice a week like clockwork to refill his prescriptions, since he couldn't seem to coordinate his doctor's visits. After he left, I went over to the pharmacy window. "So why's he in here so often?"
Jay laughed. "Leon Timmons has been coming into this pharmacy since my father was running the place back in the seventies. He's come in more often over the past five years since his wife died. His children all moved out of T or C, last I heard the closest was his son who lives up in Denver. Other than Christmas and maybe two or three other times a year, he doesn't have a lot of visitors.
So I think he breaks up the boredom by going to the doctor. He's got double retirement, he did twenty years in the Navy before doing another twenty five for the State Wildlife Commission, so his insurance and pension cover it all. Actually half the time he's bringing in scrips for placebos. So other than a ten dollar co-pay at the docs, we don't charge him anything. The docs in town just send us a couple of bucks a month to cover the pills. I get them from a medical supply store that provides them for drug companies who are doing double blind studies."
"Is everyone in on the scam?"
"Sure are," Jay said. "Oh, we all make sure that nobody gets themselves in trouble. If Leon actually needs a real prescription done right, he pays the full amount, all that sort of stuff. But if he comes in for just a bottle of sugar pills, none of the paperwork ever gets put anywhere but the trashcan. The docs don't charge Medicare or the insur
ance companies, the ten bucks splits up half to them for their time and half to us for our time and the pills themselves, and Leon I think knows as well. I don't think any man could take placebos for so damn long without figuring out something about them. It makes him happy though, so I don't worry about it too much."
The shift continued, and I was enjoying it. Other than Mr. Timmons, things went reasonably slow, and Jay was relaxed enough with me now that he didn't mind if I drifted around the store. So instead of being bored off my backside with nothing to do, I cleaned. There was one of those janitor style dry mops in the back, the type that have those wide yarn-like heads that are meant to sweep up dust. Two passes with one of those on an aisle and you're pretty much cleared for the whole thing. It passed the time.
We were just before lunch and the end of my shift when the first police car went screaming by, lights and siren going. I watched it go by, turning toward Jay. "Didn't even know the town police had lights and sirens on their cars."
"Yeah, they're pretty laid back, letting the state guys handle most of the serious stuff. Really most of what they do is coordinate with the DEA and the state police along with the county sheriff," Jay said. When the second car went screaming through the nearby intersection with lights and siren, he set down the magazine he'd been reading and came out from behind his counter. "What the hell?"
We both looked out the window, so intent on what was happening up the street in the direction the cars had gone that we were nearly scared out of our shoes when a third car, this time a county sheriff, went by, an ambulance hot on its bumper.
“Let’s check the TV,” Jay said. The pharmacy did have a small television near the counter, but Jay's policy was not to let it be on unless it was one of those nights where the weather or conditions were keeping everyone away, but the store still had to be open.
We turned on the television, flipping to the local stations. T or C is somewhat caught in between two markets, so it got some of both. The cable company's CBS and Fox stations were from El Paso, while the NBC and ABC stations were from Albuquerque. We tried the NBC station first.
"Breaking news from Truth or Consequences," the anchor said, clearly flustered. "We are still gathering information, but initial reports are coming in of masked gunmen entering the high school. KOB is sending crews by helicopter to try and get reporters on scene. In the meantime . . .”
I stopped listening, my heart catching in my throat and everything going numb. "Cam . . .” I whispered, staggering backwards until my butt bumped into the counter. "Cam."
Jay put his hands on my shoulders, not knowing what else to do. “I’m sure he's fine. There’s no need to panic.”
I thought back to Albertine, and knew that somehow it was connected to that fucking computer system. I grabbed my bag and keys, heading for the door. "Melina, you can't go, you'll just get in the way!" Jay called after me as I ran out.
I didn't reply, just jumped into my car and drove. I'm sure I surprised the hell out of Jay when, instead of turning left toward the high school, I turned right instead. Driving quickly, I headed home, knowing that if this was about Albertine, then soon enough there'd be an attempt to get it. I couldn't help Cam, but I could make sure that if he was facing danger, if the unthinkable did happen, that he wouldn't be risking it all for nothing.
The house was quiet when I got home, but that didn't mean anything to me. I knew that anything out of the ordinary would be inside the house, not outside it. Hopping out of the car, I wished I had something better than just a shoulder bag with a cell phone and keys.
The front door was still locked, and the house sounded quiet when I entered. Still, I tried to not make any noise as I made my way through to the back bedroom, certain that there was a team of international spies or hit men waiting inside the bedroom already.
When I saw that the office bedroom was empty, I let my breath out in a large whoosh, not realizing until then that I'd been holding my breath. I pulled open the closet door and put my hand on the scanner for the lock. I reflected at how strange it felt that I had access to the safe which contained the most powerful, destructive piece of machinery in the entire world.
I pulled the door open, taking out the three guns inside along with Albertine itself. I didn't want to use it, I had no clue what to do with the damn thing. But I had to keep it safe. Opening my bag, I jammed it inside, then turned my attention to the guns. Other than playing around with some pellet guns as a teenager, I’d never fired a weapon in my life. Sure, I'd grown up around them, Lima was one of those areas where a lot of people had shotguns or rifles that they used for hunting deer or sometimes birds. Finally, I grabbed all three. New Mexico was pretty open about carrying guns in your car, and I could keep them with me in case Cam did get out safely.
I put the pistol in my bag and slung the rifle over my shoulder, knowing I couldn't shoot it very accurately. The shotgun though, at least I had a chance. I hoped Cam had left it loaded, but didn't know anything else as I left the house. Checking carefully out the front door, I didn't see anything. Wishing I had a garage to use like I'd had in Ohio, I dashed out the front door toward my car, hoping that nobody would see me. Thankfully, it seemed everyone was either obsessed with the shooting or were somehow otherwise tied up indoors. I set the rifle and shotgun in the back seat of my car and drove away, hoping to get away from the area as quickly as possible.
While I was driving, I pulled out my phone. I knew that Cam, even if he was okay, would likely be unable to talk. So instead of calling, I sent him a text message. Call me if you’re OK. I have our things safe, please tell me you are too. M.
I sent the message, praying that Cam would reply.
Chapter 28
Cam
I’d just finished taking attendance for fourth period, the class that I disliked most on the day. It wasn't the subject matter, I don't care if we're discussing the finer points of Dickens or conjugating verbs. What made me struggle with this group was the students themselves. It was a remedial class. That in itself isn't a problem, as I had another remedial class that was fine. But this group was the localized group of near drop-outs who were doing nothing more than marking time until they were old enough to leave school and not get chased back in by the cops.
Teaching the class was like pulling teeth, with the occasional breakup of a potential fight thrown in for entertainment. Half of the class could barely read past a third grade level, and the biggest challenge was just trying to get them past their own egos and insecurities to see that actually learning how to be functional in English was essential. Oh, and that the word fuck is not required in every other sentence to be understandable English.
"All right guys, so before we begin, tell me who actually took the time to read their assignment?"
"Man, I ain't got time for that fucking bullshit," Tony Castillo in the back said. There were a few laughs, and Tony grinned at me in a challenge.
"You didn't have time for it because you can't fucking read, bitch," Dwayne Holdings up front taunted him. "Since Swag up here took out the pictures, you didn't realize he was asking you to read last month's fucking Iron Man."
"Yo, fuck you!" Tony shot back, and I held up my hands, stepping into the aisle in between them before it could escalate.
"Dwayne, you're right and wrong. First, you're right in that I had Mrs. Baker transcribe the book for me, I think she probably had her students do it. But there's no need for taunting Tony, and both of you, watch the fucks, okay?"
"No problem, man. From now on, I give zero fucks," Tony replied, earning a laugh. I had to admit, the kid knew how to play with meanings, and it was a decent joke. I let it drop. I’d learned to let a little slide with this group. If not, nothing would ever get done.
"Well, in that case, Tony, take a look at the overhead if you don't mind," I continued. "I took the liberty of formatting the text and scanning the comic you were assigned to read. But, I took out the text itself, so now we've only got pictures. All right, everyone, we're going t
o go together through the book, each of us being the voices of the various characters. Dwayne, since you apparently read the assignment, I'm giving you the biggest . . .”
My instructions were interrupted as the school's alarm went off, followed immediately by the three beeps that sent chills down my spine. The three beep alarm was implemented the year before and meant one thing. School shooter.
"Everyone down, under the desks!" I called, going to the door. I threw the lock and shoved the bookshelf in front of it. Frankly, it sucked as an effective barrier, but it was better than nothing. "We've got a gunman on campus."
"How the fuck do you know that? I ain’t heard no shots!” someone behind me called, and I didn't have a chance to answer when we heard a few pops, sounding ridiculously quiet and innocent considering the deadly intent, rattled off somewhere in the school. "Never mind."
It was perhaps the one blessing of having the students I did for that period. Fifteen boys, ten of them known gang members, and almost all of the students coming from backgrounds where gunfire was unfortunately all too common. There was none of the panic I could’ve expected from my fifth period class, an Honors English group that was mostly girls from the 'good families' in town.
Instead, when I glanced back, I saw every student crouched down, their eyes on the narrow window that gave us some view of the hallway. They were quiet, tense and ready to move as soon as they thought it was safe. If we hadn't been on the second floor of the building they probably would have already been out the window that gave us a decent view of the outside. I reached next to the door and flipped the switch on the intercom, connecting me to the office as we'd drilled.
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