Dark Carnival Murders

by Bob Moats

  "Nope, that’s all I got," he said.

  "Good, have a nice visit with your friends, or you can stop by and follow us."

  "Sure, if I get bored listening to shop talk by my leg breaker friends," he said with a loud laugh, then hung up.

  I went back to Lynn’s office and sat on the chair I vacated. "Got some good news," I said.

  "Okay, talk."

  "There is no one named Jacob Dark." I sat waiting for a moment.

  "Jim cut the suspense, what are you talking about?"

  "Jacob Dark is Lucius Cole. Dark is the carnival’s name and he’s calling himself by that name."

  "Okay that’s interesting; I guess he wants to keep up a front. That must be why Warren couldn’t get anything on him as a person. I never trusted criminals who use an alias."

  "This doesn’t change much other than we know he is hiding behind the name. We just know more about the man now. Okay, I don’t feel like sitting here until the sting tonight so I’m going to go back to the office and try to look like I work there." I stood and saluted, then left.

  "Same room, same time," Lynn yelled to me, I responded by waving my hand.

  I drove out Industrial road to our new office, parked and went in. The cowbell that Lacey attached to the back door clanged, letting Lacey know someone came in. She was probably watching the security monitor to see who it was. I waved to the camera as I went to my office and sat at my new desk. She came bouncing down the hallway and into my room.

  "I got to talk to Mac this morning; he was telling me they may be done tomorrow night. This is good, I was starting to forget what he looked like."

  "Lacey, you are such a drama queen. Maybe you can get your own show at Caesar’s Palace, after Rod Stewart, or is Celine Dion back yet?"

  "She’s coming back, but I don’t think she’d want me after her show, people may forget about her," she laughed and went off.

  "I’m surrounded by loonies," I said and checked my email on my computer.

  ~~*~~

  Buck was just slowing down the ride when two women came up and said the phrase he was waiting for. He smiled and gave them the instructions for tonight. They went off as Buck and Mac went back to running the round-up.

  From across the midway, Skeeter was watching Buck closely. He had seen the meeting of the women and thought it was a bit brief for trying to coax the females to a party. Maybe Dark was right, they may have some other motive for their actions.

  Skeeter went off to report to Dark.

  ~~*~~

  My phone buzzed, it was Penny. "Hey sexy, are you all primped and poised now?"

  "My body tingles with energy. You better be ready tonight for a little action."

  "Well, I may be a little late tonight, the kidnapping is going on again so just have a good time with Francis and I’ll be home when I can."

  "You are just a kill-joy aren’t you?"

  "I’ll make it up to you."

  "You better or I’ll have Gino have a serious talk with you." She laughed as I asked her where she was. She said at the house for now, they were going to a show at the Flamingo. Angelo was still driving.

  I said to have a good time and we’d talk later, then hung up. I felt a little guilty having our mob friends in town and I was busy. I’m sure Angelo is probably filling them in on what was going on.

  Earl walked into my office and sat. "What’s up?"

  "Well, the snatch is going on again tonight, if it doesn’t get canceled at the last minute." I explained everything new that came up today.

  "So, same situation as before?"

  "Yep, if nothing screws up. Are you still in for it?"

  "You bet, I’m ready to take down a few kidnappers."

  "But that’s the thing, we can’t take them down without giving away our intentions and screwing up the auction of the boys. We have to walk through this carefully."

  "Got it, let me know when we are heading over to the Luxor, I’ll be ready."

  "You haven’t said much about Paula? Is she still with you?"

  "Hell yeah, she’s really happy to be here in Vegas. She has this secret desire to be a dancer on stage, I need to talk to Buck to see if Maria can get her a try-out for her show."

  "It’s a topless show, do you think you can share Paula’s great breasts with the rest of the world?"

  "What do you know about Paula’s breasts?" Earl gave me a big grin.

  "I may be married to Penny but I’m not dead, well, close to it."

  "I’ll tell her you said that."

  "Go ahead, she’s used to me by now. So shall we go get something to eat and kill time till we go save the world?"

  "Sounds good to me. I suppose we’re going to Sonic?"

  "Let’s go to Carl’s Jr. this time, just for a change."

  We went out after I told Lacey that we would be gone the rest of the day. We headed to the closest Carl’s Jr. and ate, then I drove by the house to see if the women were still there, they were.

  "Sweetie, you just couldn’t stay away, and you brought my boy toy," she said with a laugh and kissed me, then Earl.

  "Hey stop that, he doesn’t deserve a kiss. Hello Francis, how are you doing?" I said to her as she came over to give me a hug. Angelo was standing in the kitchen and came out to the living room to greet us.

  "I’m doing very well Jim. I hear you are chasing down some despicable person who kidnaps children?" Francis said.

  "Yes we are. We have an ongoing investigation tonight to stop human trafficking. Sounds like when we were out in New York," I said.

  She laughed and said, "Yes, and you got shot as I remember, don’t do that again."

  "I have Earl to jump between me and a bullet tonight."

  He looked at me, "I’m sorry, but when did I sign up for that?"

  "You know you love me," I said and turned back to Francis, "Where’s Gino?"

  "He’s doing his business. I don’t get involved, I learned early in the life that the men take care of the business and we enjoy the spoils. Are you hoping to get the boys back?"

  "Always, I’m sure we will. Thanks for your concern, now we have to go back out to fight the bad guys," I said before I thought that Gino was technically a bad guy according to the law. "We need to do something fun before you go home," I said changing the subject. "I’ll let Penny plan something special. Our case should be tied up by tomorrow night, we have good info that we can find the boys."

  "Wonderful Jim, please bring them home safely," Francis said.

  ~~*~~

  Closing time at the carnival. Buck and Mac had shut down the ride and saw the women coming up the midway. They greeted them and then went off to their cars. Skeeter was watching at a distance, then followed them.

  Buck pulled into the Luxor parking structure and parked. He guided the women, new ones this time from the last, to the lobby and up to the tenth floor again. They arrived at the door after passing our door. Lynn had the door open slightly and Buck saw her, just to let him know we were ready. Earl and I were standing by the table where they had the communication equipment set up. We could hear Buck talking to Mary, the female cop with the wire.

  "You’re going to enjoy this party girl," he was saying as he knocked at the door. Lynn had the room bugged last night, it still was working and we could hear the men in the room giving orders to be ready.

  Everyone in our room was tense, we had no idea what to expect, but we were ready. Lynn gave Mary a code word in case things went bad. She listened closely for it.

  The door opened and Louie was there to greet them. "Hey Buck come on in and bring your friends."

  Everyone entered the room, there were three men standing nearby, Mary asked if this was the whole party?

  Louie looked to her and said, "Be patient, we haven’t even begun. Now please sit and relax."

  The women went to the big couch and sat. They were all lookers and Louie said to Buck, "Good choice, my friend, now get lost."

  Buck was taken by surprise and said, "Don’t y
ou need us to help?"

  "Nope, get out of here, we’ll take it from here."

  Buck didn’t want to queer the deal so he looked to Mac and said to follow him. Louie opened the door as they went out. He closed the door as Mary asked where they were going. The snooping equipment gave us their voices.

  "They are just going out to get some refreshments." He turned to the bedroom door as it opened, Skeeter walked out.

  The women gave Skeeter a surprised look as he pointed a gun and said, "Ladies, I need you to put your hands up and close your mouths."

  *

  Chapter 16

  I carefully opened the suite door to look out and see where Buck and Mac went to. They were still standing in the hallway talking. Buck saw me, looked back to the door they just came out of and moved over towards me. I opened the door for them and they entered.

  "What’s going on in the room?" Buck asked.

  Lynn smiled and said, "The game is afoot," quoting Sherlock Holmes.

  "Who’s foot? What do feet have to do with the case?" Buck was confused.

  "Buck, someone has the women held with a threat. I’m imagining he has a gun on them. The kidnapping begins," I said.

  Buck went to the communication equipment and listened. We could hear Skeeter giving orders to the other men.

  "That’s Skeeter’s voice, I didn’t see him in the room when we took the ladies in," Buck said.

  "It sounded like he was in another room and after you left he came out."

  Skeeter’s voice from the other room said, "Okay ladies, put all your cell phones on the table along with your purses."

  "I hope he doesn’t frisk them," Earl spoke up.

  "Mary has the wire and the safe word so be ready if she says it," Lynn said.

  "What is the safe word?" Buck asked.

  "Biscuits," Lynn replied.

  "Biscuits? That’s the word, who thinks these things up?" Buck laughed.

  "Quiet, Skeeter’s giving more commands."

  From the speaker we could hear him saying, "Okay ladies, here’s what is going down. If you cooperate you’ll live long and productive lives. Otherwise you die. Now we are all going out of this room, each of these men will escort you and I’ll take this lovely lady." It sounded like he yanked one of the women up from the couch and then continued. "Now if any of you decide to run, or open your mouths to get help, I’ll shoot this bitch in the head. You don’t want to be responsible for her death, now do you?"

  We could hear the women agreeing.

  "Do you have a tracker on Mary?" Earl asked.

  "Yes we do, it’s in her belt. It’s hidden well, unless they have a electronic de-bugging device. I got electronics division in the precinct watching her. They’ll report back when they can confirm a route from the hotel."

  Skeeter was now speaking loudly, "Okay everyone, get up and pair with the men, we are going out now and I don’t want any problems, or she dies, understand?"

  We could hear agreements, then they were moving about in the room. We could hear the door open and Lynn got on her walkie-talkie and asked someone named Dave if he had them on the radar. He confirmed that they were on the move and would keep her posted. Lynn clipped the unit to her belt and put an earpiece in her ear.

  We moved to the door, Lynn listened and then carefully opened it. She couldn’t see them but heard them heading down the hall in the opposite direction from us. Lynn stuck her head out the door and saw them go into the stairwell door. She said to move, we went out the door.

  Lynn pulled her cell phone and hit a speed dial number, "George, have you got eyes on them?"

  I knew she had arranged with the hotel security to follow them on the cameras all over the hotel. The man on the other end of the call told Lynn they were in the stairwell and heading down.

  "They would have to be going to the ground floor, let’s take the elevator down to greet them," Lynn said as Warren, Williams, Earl and I, followed by Buck and Mac, went to the elevator and pushed the button for the first floor.

  We stood waiting... annoyed that the thing didn’t move faster. Lynn was still listening to the security report of the men, they were almost to the ground floor. We burst out from the elevator and around the corner to see the four men and four women come out of the stairwell door and head for the exit. Lynn thanked the man in the security room and we followed, but not too close.

  Buck could see Skeeter and I said to him that maybe he should back off in case Skeeter looked back and saw him. He agreed, so he and Mac stopped and went off the side of the room behind a row of slot machines.

  Lynn was listening through the earpiece to Dave back in the precinct who was following the GPS and reporting their progress. She led us out to the parking lot and we waited until they had gotten in a very long limo. Warren and Williams went off quickly to get their cars so we could follow. We stood waiting for something to happen; the limo started up and pulled out of the parking, heading out to Las Vegas Boulevard.

  Two unmarked cars pulled up with Warren and Williams driving, we piled in. Lynn asked Dave where they were headed and the man on the other end said they turned south on the Boulevard. Lynn gave the details to Warren and he drove out.

  It was after midnight and dark so it was easier to tail the limo without being seen. Lynn said Dave reported that they were still going south; Warren kept going until we spotted the car and then he pulled back since we had them on GPS. Dave reported that the limo had suddenly turned left into McCarran Airport’s commercial business area. Warren carefully turned into the drive across the median and drove through the gates, pulling around to the side of the commercial hangers where they ran the private flights out of Vegas. He parked as Dave reported that the bad guys had stopped.

  Everyone piled out of the unmarked cars and carefully went around the hangers where we could see the limo parked by a very expensive Airstream jet. We watched as the men pulled the women out of the limo and handed them over to three other men standing by the plane.

  "They’re taking them out of the area quickly. Crap, we don’t want to lose them but we also don’t want to give away our sting to Dark. We have to time this closely," Lynn was speaking, "Warren get on your phone and call the McCarran Airport security and have them tell the tower to delay that plane from leaving. Get the tail number and call."

  Warren went off to make the call as we watched. "If Dark’s men leave the airport before the plane takes off, we can get the women back and lock down these men for kidnapping, and Dark will never know what we did."

  Warren came back and told us the tower was going to put the plane in a delayed hold. We waited until Skeeter and his men got back in the limo and drove off. "Williams, go watch and let me know when they are out of the airport," Lynn said and Williams went off.

  "This may work," I said.

  "So why do I feel like something is going to screw up," she said with a grimace.

  We got the word that Dark’s men had driven off the property and we relaxed. Lynn led the charge towards the jet, but as we were almost there the thing started up and was moving now.

  "Crap, they’re supposed to wait for the tower to clear them," Lynn yelled over the roar of the jets. "Follow me," she said as she ran back to the cars. She got in the driver’s seat and started it up. Warren got into the passenger seat as Earl and I jumped in the back. Williams went to the other car. Lynn sped out towards the now moving jet as it left the tarmac and headed out to the runway.

  Lynn, followed by Williams, sped down the runway towards the accelerating jet. "The bastard is going to break airport regs and take off without authorization. So he thinks." She accelerated faster now and was pulling alongside of the jet. Warren had his window down and was showing his badge to the cockpit, it didn’t do much, the jet kept going.

  Lynn pushed the car hard and finally got ahead of the jet and turned sharply into the path of the beast. We all jumped from the car as the jet was hitting its brakes narrowly missing Lynn’s car by inches. We all had our guns trained
on the plane as Williams pulled up next to the jet. We waited for something to happen inside.

  We could hear a number of gunshots and saw flashes from the window of the jet. My heart skipped a couple beats as we waited. After a few minutes, the gangplank lowered and we aimed our weapons towards the opening. Suddenly Mary came out followed by her women and Lynn went running to them.

  "What happened?" she yelled as the jet was shutting down its engines.

  "Assholes, they were more interested in watching you guys out here, we got the drop on them from behind. Just four helpless women, no threat to the big bad guys," she laughed with a sigh of relief.

  *

  Chapter 17

  Lynn had called for backup and the men on the plane were being dragged off. Lynn then placed a call to Bill Kestor, the FBI agent out in Florida, and explained why she woke him at an ungodly hour. He was appreciative and said he would get hold of his counterpart in Vegas and have them investigate the human trafficking angle.

  Lynn came to Earl and I, "Well, I think we got this part of the situation taken care of. Kidnapping, robbery and child endangerment, Dark is really racking them up."

  "How are you going to keep this under wraps so Dark doesn’t hear back from the people he sold these women to?" I asked.

  "I talked to Bill Kestor, FBI, and he agreed to see about delaying info about the jet. As far as the people in Dubai will be concerned, the jet was delayed for engine problems. We just have to delay for one more day. Tonight is the auction and if we can take that down and get the boys back, the FBI can move in on the slavers. The men on the plane will spend a quiet night in Homeland Security cells here at the airport." Lynn explained. "Next, we need to get Buck to find out where the auction is to take place."

  As if on cue, Buck and Mac drove up in their camper, after calling me earlier to find out where we were. They parked and came over to us.

  "One more night and hopefully this will end," Buck said.