by Bob Moats
"Hit a nerve, I’d say. Good move," I said.
"I’m so cool," he said with a smile.
~~*~~
Around six in the afternoon, Skeeter brought two men over to the round-up and told Buck they were his replacement.
"Time to go?" Buck asked.
"Almost, just one more thing to do. Follow me." He took Buck and Mac to one of the carnival semi-trucks in the area that they called the back yard, where the trucks were parked, and opened the back of the trailer. He turned and had a gun in his hand, "Okay boys, get in."
"What’s this?" Buck demanded.
"It’s about being cautious with your part in our scheme of things, Mr. Dark is being careful about the success of this mission tonight. Oh and hand over your cell phones."
Buck stood defiantly and then Skeeter pointed his gun at Mac and fired into his leg. Mac screamed and went down. Buck went to him then looked to Skeeter.
"You son of a bitch, if you didn’t have that gun I’d kick your fucking ass up through your mouth!" Buck yelled.
"Big talk for a big man, we suspect you aren’t who you say you are, we also suspect you aren’t cops so you must be into something we don’t need to mess up our plans. Now the cell phones."
Buck pulled his phone out of his pocket and threw it a Skeeter. Skeeter ducked and it went past his head and into the field behind him. Skeeter looked back and said, "Okay, at least you don’t have it. Now Mac’s."
Buck pulled the cell phone from Mac and tossed it at Skeeter. He didn’t want Skeeter to have them which is why he tossed them. Skeeter ducked again.
"Listen fucker, if Dark didn’t want you alive, I’d love to shoot the both of you dead. Now get the fuck in the truck."
Buck was cursing in his mind, no sense in aggravating Skeeter any more than he already was. He helped Mac up and they got into the truck. Skeeter closed the doors and put a padlock in the latch. Buck looked at Mac’s wound, luckily it was only a graze. He didn’t know if Skeeter was a lousy shot or planned the shot.
He stood and looked around the trailer, it was totally enclosed but there was a trap door in the ceiling towards the front that he couldn’t reach, so he wasn’t sure if it was secured. There was a skylight that provided enough light to see in the trailer. He couldn’t reach the skylight either. This was not good, hopefully the GPS would show they were not moving and someone would come and let them out. He sat on the floor next to Mac and waited.
~~*~~
Warren called Lynn and said that Buck and Mac were replaced on their ride so something must be happening. Lynn thanked him and said to keep in touch. She called Dave in Electronics and he said that Buck had moved slightly from his ride, but then stopped in the lot away from the carnival. He was not moving, so something must be wrong. Lynn called Warren back and told him to carefully go see if he can find Buck in the parking area for the carnival trucks, Greg said he would, but she stopped him and asked if he had eyes on Dark.
"We can see his trailer, lots of men have gone in and out, but Dark hasn’t left yet."
"Okay Greg, forget Buck for now, just watch Dark and his men and follow them if they move. I’ll send a car to get Buck." She hung up and then called for someone to check on Buck’s location.
Lynn called for her team to get ready to go out to the carnival and wait at Century 16 theatre for word as soon as she knew where they were going.
She turned to us and said, "Looks like something is going down. Shall we get out there?"
We stood and went to her unmarked car and she led the gaggle of patrol cars and SWAT out of the precinct parking lot. Everyone was tense, I could tell. Three boy’s lives were at stake.
We drove down Vegas Boulevard to East Silverado Ranch Boulevard and she had everyone park in the Century 16 Theatre lot and wait for word.
Lynn called Warren and he said there still wasn’t any movement, and he didn’t see Buck or Mac anywhere. Lynn said no problem, just keep watching.
~~*~~
Buck was pacing around the trailer and looking up at the two places that he could get out, if he could reach it. There was nothing in the trailer to climb up on.
"What are you thinking?" Mac asked.
"How I can get up there?" he said pointing to the closed openings.
Mac struggled to his feet and then clasped his hands and said, "Shall we do our circus act?"
Buck laughed aloud and came to the man putting his foot in Mac’s hands as the big man boosted Buck up to the trap door. Buck was just able to reach it but it must have been locked from the outside, it wouldn’t budge. He jumped down and they went to just below the skylight. Buck wasn’t sure how to handle this but went up again. He pushed at the plastic cover it wouldn’t budge. He kept pounding on the plastic but it wouldn’t break. He came back down again.
"Damn, this is not good," he said then he heard a noise at the doors of the trailer; they went to the door and listened. It was someone at the back of the trailer; Buck figured it couldn’t hurt so he started to yell.
He heard someone yelling back, "Who’s in there?"
Buck wasn’t sure who it may be, but he figured at this point it didn’t matter. "Buck Carter and Mac Knight, we’re being held prisoners. Who are you?"
"Stand away from the door," came the voice back. Buck and Mac went to the front of the trailer as they heard gun shots and then the door opened. It was Tim and another officer, they were grinning at them. "It was good we heard you banging on the trailer or we might have walked on by."
Buck said he was trying to get out and they jumped down from the trailer. Buck went over to where he threw his cell phone and the two cops helped to find the two phones.
They all went to the far edge of the lot where the patrol car was hiding, Buck helped Mac to manage walking to the cars and they got in. Ted radioed Lynn and said they had Buck.
~~*~~
"That is so good to hear, we’re at Century 16, bring them down here." Lynn clicked off the radio and told us they had Buck and Mac. We all took a breath and then I asked if they had messed the deal.
"I have no idea, but we’ll find out shortly."
We waited until the patrol car pulled up and Buck got out letting Mac rest in the car. "The fuckers locked us in a truck, they must know something is up. Do you have someone watching Dark?"
"We do, Warren and Williams are watching his trailer. Did they say why they suspected you?"
"Not really, they did say they didn’t think we were cops so maybe they won’t mess with the auction. It sounded pretty firm in its set-up. All you can do now is wait for Dark to make a move," Buck said.
"Dark will probably want to be at the auction, it’s too important to him right now," I said.
"Okay everyone, we wait."
After about an hour of pacing, Lynn’s cell phone rang, she answered, listened and then hung up. She smiled and yelled for her men to get ready.
Lynn turned to us and said, "Greg said Dark just got into his car and drove off, they’re following him. It starts."
*
Chapter 20
Lynn was leading us by way of Warren’s guidance on her cell. He reported that Dark was heading up Vegas Boulevard and just crossed over Desert Inn Road. A few seconds later, Warren confirmed that Dark had turned into the Riviera Hotel. Warren slowed his car to watch at a distance as Dark pulled into the valet parking and got out.
Lynn called her men and the captain of SWAT and told them where they were going. She then told Warren to get with hotel security and locate the room that Dark was using.
"Greg, it may be under Lucius Cole’s name, check that also. Warn security we may be running a full blown attack on their hotel. Move fast."
We pulled into the long drive to the valet parking, blocking the way in. One car stopped at the road with flashers redirecting the traffic away from the hotel for now. Everyone piled out of the cars and into the lobby, startling the guests. Hotel security went full force to calm the people. The supervisor of the hotel cops came out to Lynn.
"Lieutenant, we have a quandary here, we can’t legally give you personal info about the rooms unless you have a warrant."
Lynn got up to his face, "Listen chief, or whatever you are, there are three young boys about to be auctioned off to a group of perverts wanting to do unspeakable things to them once they take them out of your hotel. Do you have children?" Lynn demanded.
The man stood silently and then turned to the clerk at the counter and said to cooperate with the officers.
"Do you have a Jacob Dark or Lucius Cole registered?" Lynn demanded of the counter girl.
She punched keys on the computer and then said, "There is a Lucas Cole registered but no Lucius Cole."
Lynn reached over the counter and turned the computer screen towards her and studied the readout. She said, "It says he’s from Gibsonton, Florida. The name is a typo, we got the room, 2060, second floor."
The team headed to the elevators, moving passengers out and cramming in the cars. Lynn hit the second floor button and waited. Earl and I were at the back of the elevator ready for anything, wanting to get the boys back to their families.
The elevators came to a stop and everyone flowed out to the door of the room. Lynn pushed her way through the men and up to the entrance. She put her ear to it and listened, she said she could hear nothing.
"Where’s that hotel security chief?" She called back and he came forward. "Either open the door or we will bust it in."
He pulled his master door card and inserted it in the keycard lock, the door clicked and Lynn pulled him back. "Ready everyone," she said and pushed the door opened. Everyone burst into the room and stopped just short from the door. Lynn was startled to see Dark sitting on a couch all alone. She ran to him and pulled him off his seat and got in his face.
"Where are the boys, Dark?" She yelled at him.
He just stared at her, then said, "What boys? I’m waiting here for a female friend, who seems to be running late."
"Don’t fuck with me Dark, or is it Cole. Talk now or I’ll tear you apart!"
"I’m telling you officer, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anything about any boys."
Everyone was feeling helpless at this moment, I thought about something and stepped forward, moving up to Lynn still holding on to Dark.
I carefully pulled her away and said quietly in her ear, "Lynn you trust me don’t you?"
She gave me a look and whispered back, "You have something?"
"I do but you aren’t going to like it, do you trust me?"
"Jim, I know you want the boys back as much as I do, do you have something?"
"I do, but you don’t need to know, can I have a moment with Dark, alone, no one in the room but him, Earl and I." I paused then said, "Please let me try something. Yes, I want the boys back and I would never gamble with their lives if I didn’t think what I’m going to do wouldn’t work. Trust me to try this."
She stood looking into my face then yelled for everyone to get out of the room. I signaled to Earl to come close, as everyone was going out to wait in the hallway.
Earl came up and asked me quietly, "What are you up to?"
"Get Angelo on your cell phone and then put him on speaker." Earl smiled and went off to dial Angelo.
I went to Dark and said, "Dark or Cole, whoever the hell you are, from the first day we met I didn’t like you and I knew you had something to do with the kidnapping of the boys. You aren’t fooling me or my police friends. We also know you are involved in jewel heists around the city and for the murder of a woman who was in the wrong place in one of the jewelry stores, we have witnesses. I don’t care about all that, I care about three young boys whose lives you are ruining. I don’t like that, and I don’t like you. So you can tell me where the auction is going on or I have friends who would like to deal with you."
"You can threaten me with violence, I’ll just have my lawyers put you away for brutality and I’ll sue the cops for all this," he said quietly.
I looked to Earl and he nodded, coming up behind Dark. "Dark, this is my associate, a former CIA operative, now working with me to clean up scum like you. But he isn’t the one you should be afraid of."
I went to Earl and he said Angelo was listening to the whole thing. I smiled and took his phone, "Angelo are you there?"
His voice came through loud and clear, "I sure is, Mr. R., what you want me to do?"
"Hang on for a moment," I went back to Dark. "The man on the other end of the phone is a friend of mine, Angelo, he is the son of the capo of the Traviano Mafia family out in New York. Ring any bells?"
Dark said nothing but I could see a light in his eyes.
"Okay, Angelo told me earlier that someone by the name of Benny Lesloe is interested in you. Does that ring a bell now?"
I definitely saw Dark’s eyes go wide.
"There was a jewelry heist out in Jersey that you evidently had something to do with, and Lesloe is wanting you very badly for it. I asked Angelo to hold off telling Lesloe that you were here in Vegas, but I may reconsider that. Do you think your lawyers can protect you from the mob?"
I could almost see Dark’s legs buckle a bit, he was definitely shaken by the news. "What do you want?" he said.
"Geez Dark, what have we been asking for? Where the hell are the boys? I’m giving you ten seconds to talk or I’ll have Angelo call Benny."
Angelo helped by saying, "I got Benny on speed dial and I’ll personally come out to hold Mr. Dark until Benny can send his men out to take him back to Joisey."
Good one Angelo. Dark turned pale.
"Nine seconds, eight, seven, six… times ticking Dark, what’s it going to be? Tell me, or cement boots for you!"
"The cops won’t let this happen!" Dark yelled.
"They want the boys back too. I’m sure they’ll look aside as we take you out of here to a place where Angelo can hold you. They won’t care about a pissant like you. Five, four, three…"
"Okay, okay, if you guarantee my safety, I’ll tell!"
I looked to Earl and said, "Get Lynn."
He went to the door and called her back in. She came up and stood by.
"Mr. Dark, tell Lieutenant Carter where the boys are. Don’t disappoint me. Angelo you still there?"
"Yes I am," came his voice from the cell phone. "I got my finger on the speed dial."
Lynn’s eyes went wide and she said, "You brought the mob in on this?"
I looked to her and winked. Dark yelled, "Okay, I’ll tell you where the boys are!"
Five minutes later Dark had given us the location of a warehouse where the auction was taking place. Lynn turned him over to her men and told them to escort him to the precinct and watch him carefully. I thanked Angelo and told him to relax for now, maybe we’d call Benny later. Lynn gave me the evil eye and then smiled.
"You did good, now don’t tell me any more about it. We need to rescue the boys," she said.
We left the room as she was calling for full back up to go to the warehouse, and directed the SWAT team to the destination.
We drove up and over to Maryland Avenue and found the warehouse where the auction was going on. I was surprised that it was the same warehouse where Angelo and the porn actress were kidnapped back during the hypnotic murders. The parking lot had many expensive cars, telling us we had the right place. SWAT and Lynn’s men covered the front door and the back.
Lynn went up to the entrance next to the big garage door and tried it. The door was locked. I was next to her and pounded on it. She gave me a look.
"What? They should answer," I said just as the door open and Lynn grabbed onto the man just inside and yanked him out. She signaled to her men and they all flowed into the room. I followed and saw what I hoped to see, the boys, alive and looking well.
*
Chapter 21
The warehouse was a tangle of cops in flak uniforms and assault rifles all aimed at a group of about a dozen men seated in folding chairs in front of a makeshift stage. The boys
and three carnies were on the stage, one of the carnies grabbed one of the boys and held a gun to his head. I was working my way around the back of the platform in all the confusion. The men in the seats didn’t move with all the fire power aimed at them.
"Yo shitface, let the boy go," Lynn yelled with her gun aimed at the man.
He sneered and said to make him. I came up behind him and hit him hard with the butt of my Glock. He went down as I turned the gun around and pointed it at the other two men as I grabbed the boys, pulling them back. Lynn came up on the platform along with Warren and seized the men, handcuffing them.
Lynn came over to where I had the boys and she knelt down to the youngest one. "We’re the police and we’re getting you out of here and back to your parents, how’s that sound?"
The young boy looked worn and beat, but he smiled and nodded. Lynn yelled for Warren and Williams to take the boys to her car and watch them. They went out as Lynn went to the stage and yelled for silence.
"Okay all you perverts, you are all under arrest for pandering, child endangerment and pedophilia, the line forms to the left. Get moving now!"
They all grumbled but lined up. I was watching the procession just as Buck came flying in the door. He had taken Mac to LV Medical by way of Tim in his patrol car. Buck saw me and came over.
"Damn, you couldn’t wait for me to start the attack?" he said.
"We got itchy. How’s Mac?"
"He’s going to be alright. He knew I wanted to be here so he chased me out of the hospital. Tim hotfooted it over here." Buck looked over to the three handcuffed men who were running the auction and I saw his eyebrows go up. He walked to the men and stopped in front of one of them.
"Well Skeeter, we meet again and you don’t have a gun this time. That sort of evens us up." Buck brought his fist up and smashed Skeeter right in the face. "You’re lucky I don’t shoot you in the leg like you did Mac," he shouted down to the man now on the floor. He gave his famous grin and came back to me. "Damn that felt good. I’ve hated that man since I started working at the carnival. Hey, I can quit my job now," he laughed.