The Road to Nowhere

The Grand Tour and Crash

     "How long until we get a fix on the asset's location?" The tall African American man with a white beard asked out loud.

    "Indeterminate, Sir, unfortunately, we lost the subject in Colorado." came a female voice from behind him. "The asset is very skilled at eluding our on-the-ground operatives," she added.

    "Dammit! We must find the asset before the opposition finds them. There will be hell to pay from the higher echelon if we cannot protect the asset." He stated vigorously. "Ideas, anyone?" he asked.

    Trey Sloan nervously raised his hand. The twenty-four-year-old African American man had just joined this group of C.I.A. analysts after being reassigned from his last group in Serbia. That was after a long grueling debrief and multiple appearances in front of the Judiciary Committee regarding the fiasco that led to that group all being split into different groups.

    "What is it Sloan?" the tall man asked, "This isn't elementary school, just spit it out." He added gruffly.

    "Sorry, Sir, has anyone backdoored the assets GPS feature on their cell?" He asked the group.

    "You can do that?" the question came from the other side of the room.

    Trey nodded, "If we have the asset's cell number; it's a small hack of the cell providers system. If we have the authorization, of course," he explained.

    "Get it done, Sloan."

                                     ******************************

    The ride through the town of Nowhere was nice. The small town was a smaller city than a town in the traditional sense. With a population of just over eight thousand people, Nowhere was almost a throwback to an era of those old black-and-white good, wholesome television shows. The vehicles were newer, people dressed in current clothing styles, and the prevalence of cell phones were in everyone's possession, but the vibe was innocent. Mostly. Jesalyn smiled a little thinking that this town was what she needed to get her life back on track. Mitch had pointed out all the locations that would be important to her in the next few days. The bank, the road that led to the Safeway grocery store, the post office, and several gas stations along the way.

    Once they hit outside the town, Jes asked, "Does the town have a gun shop?"

    "Unfortunately, no," Mitch responded, "Not a dedicated one. There are two pawn shops with FFL's but their gun selection is mainly hunting rifles and shotguns. O'Leary's Second Time Around Shop has lower transfer fees if you're ordering online, but if you're looking for parts and cleaning supplies, most order it and have it mailed to their house." 

    Jesalyn thought for a moment. "Gunsmiths?" 

    Mitchel shook his head. "If you need a gunsmith's service, most people around her just sell to the pawn shops to whoever will pay more."

      "So, what you're saying is if someone were to open up a gun shop that offers gunsmith services, they would have a decent chance at making money?" she asked.

     He glanced at her for a moment, if she had the ability and capability he'd be her first customer, but Nowhere offered obstacles to the idea. "More than likely, but the city business council has killed permits for gun businesses in town for at least a decade. The only gun ranges here are the indoor one at the Sheriff's office and the one on the Palisades Resort just North of Nowhere."

    She lightly laughed at him. "Well, there are ways around that."

    "Why are you laughing?"