I sure hope it's not him. The guy was laying low in the Starship RV park under the assumed name 'Keith' (*as he couldn't tell me his real name), living out of a trailer. In his mid-80's I'm guessing, Keith' educated us all on the ways of the world.
We were sitting around a campfire-in-a-can chatting and 'Keith' walked up and was commenting on our temporary campsite prior to our drop into Death Valley via Titus Canyon. He sat quietly for a time, and then started into his explanations of the local LE (2 officers in Beatty), how they knew never to pull him over, because then his name would pop up on the CIA radar. He also expounded of his time in 'The Nams' and Cambodia which led to his service to this Great Nation in the CIA. While stationed in Cartejena, Colombia, he was responsible for several assassinations and kidnappings of high value drug cartel members, including one which put out a hit on his life several years back which required full battle rattle callout of the entire 2-person Beatty Police Department to this very RV park to defend his life against imminent attack. The officers there carry M16's with the autobark feature, so I'm told.
When I mentioned that I'd been to Cartajena before, and thought all Drug Interdiction work by CIA was run out of Bogota - he quickly informed me that the really deep undercover work was in Cartejena. 'Keith' was very up-front about his exploits, which is rare in this day and age of the internet and free information. 'Keith' mentioned his work on behalf of our gov.org last October during which he was asked to speak at a parole hearing for a major Colombian drug cartel member who was set for release - and for which he testified to keep the man in federal prison. The bullet we all dodged on that one was clearly spelled out around the glow of the campfire.
I asked 'Keith' why he chose to live in a trailer park in Podunk (ahem, Beatty), NV, his reply was that living off the grid was the only way to avoid the drug cartels tracking him down, and that NV has open carry laws - but he doesn't carry a gun anymore, because it just attracts attention. I showed 'Keith' the AZ version of a CCW permit - which is no longer even required - and lo and behold, he had a permit of his own; a gleaming brass CCW badge in his wallet that he displayed proudly.
All of this information is on a need-to-know basis, of course. I just sat and humored an old man and his dreams, hoping that it wasn't all true!
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