AN: Whaaaat? Two chapters in a week? So is this a dream world where I'm productive? Have I won the lottery, and now have the free time to pursuit passions now that I'm free from financial worry? No, don't i wish though. It's just the holiday season, and I'm on vacation. Enjoy the chapter all.

Chapter 5

Felicia sat in a car outside the Monaco Airport. She fidgeted with the glasses that sat on her face. The good thing about being in a vacation destination for the stupid rich was that she needed expensive things to blend in. A Mercedes S-Class Coupe blended in really well. And of course, it was black.

"So where are these guys Fury?" Felicia asked with a slight bit of annoyance and fiddled with her new glasses. They were actually a portable communication and surveillance suite. The embed microphone and speaker allowed teammate to inconspicuously communicate, and camera allowed them to see what each other saw, curtesy of a high frequency lasers that displayed information on the lenses.

Fury was standing by a taxi stand near the exit to the rental car parking garage. In hands he held a copy of the Monaco newspaper. "Still inside the airport. Don't worry, I'll let you know when they leave." Fury said plainly. Fury once again reflected on how working with untrained assets could be a hassle sometimes. They weren't used to the downtime. They had only been waiting two hours.

Fury looked over the top of the newspaper and glanced down the road to the doors of the rental car lobby. He glanced over the weather just as two men exited the doors. First man was Caucasian, late 30's, a large build, a little fat, shoulder length brown hair, wore a grey suit. Second man was Asian, late 30's, slim build, close cropped black hair, blue suit.

"Heads up. Targets just left the rental car lobby." Fury relayed the description of the two Zodiac operatives. "Felicia, wait until they leave the airport until you start to follow. I'll get you the make and model of their car."

"Okay." Felicia said relieved.

"Peter. Are you waiting at the casino?" Fury asked.

A tone came over the microphone, and a image popped up on their lenses. Peter sat at a blackjack table with a very old woman in Avant Garde dress, and a fatter older man in a beige suit, tan cowboy hat, and bolo tie.

"God damn it." The cowboy said as the dealer pulled away poker chips from him.

"Sorry Joe. Guess you need to wait a little longer for your luck to turn." Peter said cheerfully.

"Jonas. You're up two grand. That's easy for you to say."

"Just playing the odds." Peter said. "52 cards in a deck, multiply by the number of decks in the machine, start subtracting based of the cards that were played previously, and are currently in play." He explained.

"You say that like's is high school math." Cowboy said as more cards were dealt.

"It's not. They teach probability earlier than that now." Peter said as he checked his cards. Two Kings. "I'll hold." He told the dealer.

Felicia smiled. Clearly, he knew his way around the multiplication table, if not the card table. Nick meanwhile couldn't have care less. He'd won and lost a half dozen fortunes in casinos across the world. All that mattered to him right now was getting the split-second timing of planting the electronic tracker.

Nick saw the two Zodiac members approach the gate to the parking garage. Nick folded the paper closed, and stood up. In a practiced and smooth movement, with one hand he reached into his suit pocket and drew and air pistol, and with the other he folded the newspaper in half over the pistol, covering it from sight. Fury held the paper/pistol across his chest as though he intended to carry it in his off hand, and pulled the trigger twice. He knew he hit the grill of the car, right where he needed to.

The ammunition in the air pistol was a frangible pellet of GPS microdots. On impact the pellet released several hundred nano-tech GPS transmitters that passively pinged the target intermittently. Though with hundreds of transmitters, it was a consistent tracking at the user end. The nano-tech was able to function for about two days unless they were exposed to extreme temperature or water. Once the GPS's that survived the engine block, and got into the HVAC of the car, anyone inside would be tagged. Unless they traveled to North Africa or went swimming, then they would be followed step by step.

"Felicia, I just got our guys in a gray BMW 750, plate MC91. Should be passing you in less than a minute." Fury said as he walked away. He stashed his Lexus SUV in the nearby short-term parking.

Felicia turned the ignition of her Mercedes and looked in the rearview. Sure enough, a gray BMW was coming down the road. Pulling from her skills as a insurance investigator, she briefly gazed behind their vehicle to find a spot where she could pull into traffic to follow them. After the Zodiac passed, she waited a second and pulled into the flow of vehicles.

"They're moving towards the main tourist area of hotels and casinos." Felicia said tensely.

Fury had turned on his own Lexus and was on the move now as well. "Peter. End your game. Get to the lobby and prepare to move if you need to." Nick said.


Peter folded his last hand and pulled in his winnings. "Thanks all for the memories." He said cheerfully.

"Quiting while you're ahead." Joe the cowboy sighed while shaking his head. "You're showing wisdom beyond your years son."

Peter laughed. "You can quit now Joe."

"Nah. I'm gonna stay here and lose some more money, see if my luck changes." Joe said in a bittersweet tone as the dealer tossed him two more cards.

"See you 'round Joe." Peter said as he made his way over to the cash vault to convert his chips into usable currency.

As he Peter walked up to the cashier, he heard an unmistakable Texas drawl yell out "HOT DAMN!". Peter shook his head with a smile. Guess Joes luck had just changed.

A few moments later Peter was in the lobby of the hotel. It wasn't the hotel the team was staying in, but the most popular hotel & casino in use in Monaco. It was the most likely place to for the Zodiac to hide out. He walked over to the free coffee bar and poured himself a cup, before settling down in chair and pulling out and English Monaco tour guide book.

"The BMW is pulling into the parking garage of the hotel. Just like you said Nick." Felicia said. "I going to keep driving so they don't pick me up."

"Smart work." Fury said. "Peter, wait in the lobby. Look and see what floor they stop off in." he ordered over the microphone.

"Sit in the chair, read my book, and drink coffee. I can do that." Peter said calmly. Inside his heart was racing though. If the Zodiac operatives spotted him, then he wouldn't be able to Spider-Man his way out of the there. First time in a long time where it was just him. Couldn't even do his regular genius stuff without drawing attention to himself.

So Peter sat in the chair and waited. A few more minutes and the two guys in suits that Fury had described came walking into the lobby. They walked up to the concierge and they held a brief conversation. As the Caucasian man talked with the man at the desk, the Asian man looked into the lobby and scanned carefully everyone who was there. Peter suspected that it was the usual business of checking in, putting the room on a card, and getting the room keys. Still he forced himself to stay put and look like he was just another tourist deciding what to do for the day.

Sure enough, about two minutes later the went walked away from the desk and towards the elevator. Peter glanced over the travel guide when he heard the Ding of the elevator. Sure enough, the two guys entered and selected a floor from the panel. The door closed and Peter took a drink of his coffee as he watched the floor indicator above the elevator doorway. It stopped ever so briefly on the 30th floor.

"They're on the 30th." Peter said as he finally got out of the chair.

"Excellent. Regroup at the hotel." Nick ordered. "We'll surveil the Zodiac ops from there." Nick said.

"Got it." Peter said as he down the coffee and walked out of the lobby.

"Who knew watching could be so much fun?" Felicia asked oh-so-coyly.

AN: Thanks to NeoTyson, Celgress, CRUDEN, and Akira Hayama for promptly reviewing the last chapter. Here's to hoping my other regulars review this time as well. I miss you guys.