Total Engagement

Chapter Eleven

Danger

MEET VINNIE (IF YOU CARE TO)

Gliding into his sling-backed game chaise, Vinnie can’t believe that only three months ago he used to sit at a desk trying to keep track of a dozen video screens with nothing more than a walkie-talkie and a phone to summon response. Long before his first coffee break, his eyes had glazed over with the peculiar kind of boredom that comes from a task that is impossibly difficult because it is so easy. Watching for evildoers in an endless stream of ordinary people doing ordinary things would be unbearable if it weren’t for the absurd surprises involving noses, underwear, or, occasionally, heavy petting.

Here at Rangefinders, work is different. Vinnie’s three seventy-minute shifts go by so quickly ...