Page 19 of Erase Me
Reed
The textfrom my handler directed me to a half-empty parking lot by the harbor in Dana Point.As I drove in, I could see a marina comprised of rows of long docks and slips crowded with boats of every size and type.
Because it was late, the parking lot was not even half full, and most cars were clustered around a drop-off rotary close to a series of restaurants lining the marina.Through my open window, I heard laughter and music coming from them.
After circling the parking lot, I identified my contact.A red, 1964 Shelby Cobra convertible occupied a space six slots away from the last car.The driver waved a cellphone light at me.
Pulling up with my driver’s side facing his, I watched him struggle to extract his lanky frame from behind the wheel.His short brown hair, clean-shaven face, and the sharp lines of his cheek and jaw matched the description I had received earlier.Still, I lifted my phone’s camera toward him, and the identity match was confirmed.
“Yeah, it’s me.No way they’re sending a lackey to deal with the boss,” he quipped, leaning against his sports car.
I stepped out and sized him up.Standing at six feet tall myself, he had a height advantage of four or five inches on me.He was well-built and too large for his car.
I cast a look around the parking lot.No foot traffic.But we were parked right under an overhead street light.
“I’m Vaughn.”
“Reed.”I gestured towards his highly conspicuous car.“Couldn’t you opt for something less noticeable?”
He turned and ran a hand appreciatively over the body.“Don’t you love it?A Shell Valley replica, Pro Dart, V8 Ford Engine, 225 CFM.A fearsome beast.”
“And you get me a Honda?”
“I live here.Need to maintain certain appearances.You’re here today, gone tomorrow.Besides, drawing attention is the last thing you want.Am I right?”
“So you parked under this spotlight?”
“No worries.Your people called my people, and we prepped for tonight.Every security camera, here and in the entire marina, is down.No one has eyes on us.”
He raised a hand before I could point out the holes in that logic.
“And no cops are coming, either.Trust me.I’m the best.I know how to work the system.That’s why your department always comes to me.”
“If you say so.”
“One thing you should know about me, boss, I never make mistakes.I take ownership.One hundred percent.You cowboys cruise in and get the credit, but this...”He waved his hand vaguely at the town on the bluffs behind him.“This is all mine.”
“Okay.”
Admittedly, I was a bit of a control freak.That was a well-known fact among everyone working for me and my handlers both in and out of the division.As I glanced across the parking lot once again, I reminded myself that in over a decade of doing this job, my support personnel had never let me down.Yet.
Vaughn reached into his car and came up with a manila folder that he waved in my direction.“And before you say how antiquated this looks, there’ll be no paper trail.This is for you to look at but not to take.”
He opened the folder on the hood of my Honda.A dozen photos were included in a pile of documents spilling out as he separated them side by side.
He pointed at the photographs.“This is your man.Del Volpe.”
I turned on the flashlight on my phone and studied the images.White with slicked back graying hair.
Vaughn shrugged.“The guy spends most of his time either screwing young women or screwing old investors.He’s making a bundle in stocks and securities.Volpe knows the future.”
Slender but muscular.Clearly, a man who spentsometime in the gym.In most images, he was in a bathing suit or shorts lounging in a bar or aboard a very large yacht.Seemed to favor loud flowery shirts.In a few, he was dressed in a business suit.
“There are whispers coming out of the SEC, but nobody knows how to pin it on him.And with his track record, he’ll continue to gull future investors.”
Future investors.This was the heart of the matter.Someone who time-traveled from the future could use their skills and knowledge to reap tremendous profits for themselves at the expense of others...and damage history in the process.
“What he’s done up to now?”
