Is A Shadow War Now In The Open?

Somewhere On The Coast In New England

It's been a few days since a cockroach that could not be exterminated came to our house. Eve, the Tennessee superwoman, had her assistant run the Cardinal And The Jack for a few days before she spent time shopping and installing things. You know, making our house a home. 

She did a super job and added some touches I never thought of. I have a desk now in the living area. I'm off the table, and it has all the right touches for a new computer and maybe two screens.

 After seeing her fantastic job with The Jack and her apartment, I trusted her decoration skills. She has an eye and a subtlety. She also has excellent taste in men.

All my old furniture is gone, and Eve arranged for a charity to pick it up. 

Most of it was old, bought in yard sales when I arrived in New England three years ago. 

TEXT EVE: Allston, I think it's time we moved your business from the kitchen table to a little corner in the living room. I found a desk or table that will allow you the space to have two screens like you are always telling me about. Can I? TEXT ALLSTON: That's a long way from the refrigerator. TEXT EVE: You know I'll bring you a beer, silly. TEXT ALLSTON: Can you wear a French Maid's Costume when you bring that beer?

Eve and I talked, and I agreed that we should grow into ourselves as a couple. It's only fair for what she has gone through just by being with charming, fun-loving me.

It looks like her move into this home is permanent. I have no complaints.

She can shoot, loves to cook, is brainy and funny, and the view under the sheets is stunning. She makes me laugh hard, and most of all, Tango is crazy about her.

We have new tables, chairs, a sofa, a bedroom set, and cool things hanging on the wall. 

I have a good-sized corner in the house where my desk is and a sturdy bookshelf where my Boston College diploma and my police academy graduation photos sit. There are also photos of my USMC platoon and a few shots of my family in Connecticut. It's a mini man cave, and Eve can hear me asking for a beer from that spot anywhere in the home. How handy!

She brought in a few things from her apartment and has her desk in one corner of our bedroom. I can hear her asking me for a beer anywhere in the house.

So far, so good. 

We are lying in bed. I'm reading The Wall Street Journal on my tablet, and Eve sleeps after a stressful couple of days. I have so much to think about.

Who broke into our place, for one, and why do all these events seem to be related to Gerry Tanner's now-dead computer?

I was able to answer Sophie's question regarding her father. To his end, he was one of the good guys. 

Sophie's case now becomes mine as I am targeted.

This is not the first time I have been in someone's crosshairs, but it's the first time I haven't known who was aiming at me. 

Tomorrow, I'll start to figure that out.

New York, New York - Manhattan

Yeung Bao sat at his table in a dim corner of The Golden Dish Food Court. He was reading a report from a Boston-based asset who broke into the home of Thomas Allston and Evelyn Crowder.

The documents and computer files his agent had procured were being analyzed on the Mainland, and Bao would soon understand the contents.

It was the first successful operation aimed at Thomas Allston, where he was not there to become a hindrance.

The agent searched the whole premises. He downloaded the local files on Allston's computer and recovered two security cameras taken from China's site in New Hampshire, which The Americans now occupied.

Bao smiled as he considered a shadow war with America that might now be open. Gerry Tanner, a long-term employee of The Central Intelligence Agency, knew where the funding to build the site came from. The Americans had to know, but the implications were not being played out in diplomatic back channels, the media, or anywhere else.

The Americans had taken back Chinese military property on their soil. Do they know about the other four properties in the overall plan? 

Was Allston part of the U.S. Government? Why does he keep showing up?

Bao decided that he had to research the backgrounds of Thomas Allston and Evelyn Crowder again, with nothing left out.

Bao looked at his tablet and sent a message requesting a complete analysis of the two lovers.

This time, Bao will have more than two days to assemble a profile.

Bao's support from the Mainland was returned. Since he got put back in his old job, he restored the jobs of individuals he had worked with for years and trusted. The man placed in his seat was proven incompetent in a crisis, and he was recalled. This incompetence saved Bao and his family from shame and a life of labor.

The smells in the food court today were tremendous, and Bao's stomach growled a bit as lunch hour approached. He was hungry, ready to resume the war, and his mind was clear. I will solve this Allston puzzle and then eliminate him before he can cause more damage.

Columbus, Ohio

Bradley Falter had failed to kill Natalie Leuze. He was discouraged about this. Her day of reckoning in the parking lot of a diner in Maine was ruined when Natalie was whipped off to a hospital in Boston and revived. 

The tabloid papers in the supermarket detailed her med flight rescue, and it was unclear if Natalie was still talking to the cops to try to find him. 

Brad dared not go online and let his search patterns be identified if a case was being made against him.

Did anyone see his license plate as he sped away from The Breakfast Bee? This event in the Maine parking lot could cause the dominoes of his past to fall one by one.

Of course, it did not matter. Brad had stage 4 terminal lung cancer, and his time left was measured in months. 

His need to settle his score with Natalie Leuze has festered for many years, and part of Brad's bucket list of things to accomplish before death could not be scratched off yet.

Did Natalie tell the cops who he was yet? Would they come crashing into his mother's home to arrest him soon?

Brad coughed into a paper towel and saw the blood that had hit the white surface.

Should he focus his remaining life energy on getting Natalie Leuze, or should he create a smoke screen that may divert attention away from him?

Dying with an unfulfilled wish was not appealing, but dying in forced confinement was worse than a still-living Natalie Leuze.

He needed to think more.