Visible Threat

by Cantore, Janice

  She hesitated about calling Jack, knowing he’d insist on mobilizing the federal machine.

  Looking up at the dark, patchy sky, Brinna made her decision and muttered to herself, “I hope it’s the right one.”

  * * *

  Jack tried not to worry about Brinna. She’d left while he was on the phone telling Chuck about this relative of Simon Greuv. She’d said she was going home, and the only thing that kept him from calling was the hope that she’d left to get some rest. He knew she needed it. He needed it too. He felt dead on his feet. But he wanted to see what came of this tattoo shop lead. Apparently the cousin, a Walter Arnaut, had a thriving shop in San Pedro.

  ICE had descended on the shop, interviewing the cousin in the hopes he might have heard from Simon. But like a lot of situations in law enforcement that started out promising, this had turned into a hurry-up-and-wait scenario. All Jack could do was drink coffee to stay awake so he could pray.

  * * *

  “Now that you’re in,” Maggie said to Brinna, “how do you want to do this?”

  “I don’t want to walk. Even with the dog, it’s too odd for two women to be out at this time of night.”

  “You want to take the Explorer? Won’t that be more conspicuous?”

  “No. What would be unusual about a single patrol car driving through the neighborhood at night?”

  “I guess you’re right. The gangsters do call us ‘One Time’ because they think we only drive by one time.”

  “Yep. We’ll drive by at patrol speed, you’ll run any vehicle plates, and then we’ll drive out of sight to see what we get.”

  “All right, I guess that makes more sense than walking. Let’s go.”

  They hopped into the Explorer. Hero stood in the back panting as if expecting something. Brinna drove at a slow speed.

  “Okay, you said there were three cars in the driveway. I want all three plates in one pass. Can you handle that?”

  “That’s a big 10-4.” Maggie had paper and a pen in her hand. She clicked on Brinna’s under-the-dash light and got ready.

  The house came into view. All three cars were sedans. One was a Chevy; two were Toyotas. Two were in the driveway, and one was half on the front lawn. Brinna kept her speed steady, resisting the urge to slow further, and recited one plate, then another, while Maggie scribbled. As they passed the house and turned the corner to another street, she looked at Maggie.

  “Did you get them?”

  “Yep, all of them.” She positioned Brinna’s computer keyboard toward her and began to type. Brinna made a U-turn and pulled up to the corner, parking where she could see a portion of the house in question. She switched off her headlights but left the car running. From where they were, the driveway was visible.

  The computer began to beep with returns on the license plates. “Well?” Brinna said to Maggie.

  “Two of the cars are registered to Walter Arnaut.” Maggie frowned and glanced at Brinna. “That name familiar?”

  Brinna shook her head. “What’s the third?”

  “That’s the Chevy. It’s a rental, to a BVD Enterprises. An underwear company owns the car?”

  Brinna’s heart flew to her throat. That was the car. Her mother was in that house.

  64

  “CALL JACK. He should still be in the detective office,” Brinna told Maggie. “Tell him everything. Let him know that we’ll stay here and keep an eye on the car and the house.”

  “Will do.” Maggie opened her phone.

  Brinna stared in the semidarkness at the house and drummed on the steering wheel with her good hand. The street was well lit, but the house was dark. She hoped that the rental car in the driveway would be enough for a warrant.

  “No answer at the station,” Maggie said. “Do you have Jack’s cell number?”

  “Yeah, I think it’s on my phone.” She pointed to her fanny pack, and Maggie bent to retrieve the phone.

  “They might have left to check out the relative Magda remembered.” Brinna regretted her hasty departure from the station. “I sure wish I’d stayed to find out a name.”

  Maggie got Jack’s voice mail and left a message. “He might have gone home to sleep, if he was as tired as you look,” she said as she closed the phone.

  Brinna glanced at the house. “We’d better call dispatch—”

  Just then a dome light went on in the Chevy as a dark figure opened the rear car door. Two people got into the backseat, and the light went out. They were too far away for Brinna to distinguish if the people were male or female. Next a driver got behind the wheel. Taillights glowed red, and Brinna knew the Chevy was leaving.

  In tandem Brinna and Maggie leaned forward and looked to the right.

  “That’s the rental, the one registered to BVD Enterprises,” Maggie said.

  Brinna switched on her police radio. “Notify dispatch. They’ll be able to get ahold of everyone who needs to know what’s happening.” She watched, fear gripping her like a too-tight handcuff as the sedan backed out of the driveway and started down the street.

  * * *

  Maggie phoned dispatch. It would have been too confusing to take up airtime on the radio when neither one of them were logged on or officially on duty at the moment. But on the phone Maggie could explain the situation and they could be given a designator and logged on by the dispatcher. Once they had a designator, speaking on the air was appropriate. Maggie would operate the radio, something Brinna couldn’t do with her cast while she also tried to drive. As Maggie outlined the situation to dispatch, she sounded frustrated.

  Brinna’s stomach lurched. “What are they saying, Maggie?”

  “They got snitty because neither one of us is supposed to be working. They told me to stand by while they contact the watch commander.”

  “They told you to stand by?” Brinna glanced at Maggie and then at the sedan in front of her. “Did you tell them what’s going on?”

  “Yes, you heard me,” she hissed. “Now they’re trying to raise the watch commander.”

  “Don’t tell me it’s Harvey.”

  “I won’t tell you, but that won’t change the fact.”

  Just then the nasal voice of Lieutenant Harvey came over the radio using Brinna’s designator. “King-44, your location?”

  Maggie keyed the mike and relayed their location and direction of travel. Brinna held her breath while she waited for the lieutenant’s reply. The sedan ahead of them wasn’t moving fast. There’d been no indication the driver suspected he was being tailed. They were following a path that would take them into downtown Long Beach. There was minimal to no traffic.

  “King-44,” the radio crackled with Harvey’s voice once again, “I’ve been in contact with the federal agent in charge of this operation. Apparently a team of agents is en route to Long Beach from San Pedro.”

  “En route?” Brinna frowned. “Ask him why, Mags. Why are they coming here?”

  Maggie keyed the mike and asked the question.

  “It’s too complicated to explain over the air. Keep transmitting the location of the sedan. The federal agents are monitoring our frequency.”

  “Where’s Jack?” Brinna wondered out loud. “He’d have a radio if he was with the Feds. We could talk to him.”

  “You want me to ask?”

  “No, just keep giving them our location.” She tapped on the steering wheel with her cast, frowning. “If the Feds are on their way to Long Beach, I wonder what they found in San Pedro. And Harvey wants us to stay with it.” Her face flushed as she realized this had to be the car—that she and Maggie were quite possibly following her mother or at least following someone who had something to do with the situation. The vehicle continued at a steady, almost leisurely pace, and that put her on edge.

  “Maybe they’re trying to fool us,” Maggie suggested. “Make us think they’re innocent and decide to turn away.”

  Brinna said nothing. They were about to cross into downtown proper when the sedan made a left turn on Shoreline Drive
. Shoreline Village! They were going to Shoreline Village; she was certain.

  She looked at Maggie as the radio burst to life. Federal agents had entered the city limits. They would be traveling south on Shoreline Drive as Brinna and the sedan traveled north.

  “Tell them I think they’re heading to Shoreline Village.”

  “We might meet them at the entrance,” Maggie observed as the turnoff for the Village approached. Several pairs of headlights were visible in the distance, about half a mile away in the opposite lanes.

  The sedan made the turn into the Village, and Brinna allowed herself to relax. There was no way out now. Shoreline Village was built along the marina—one way in and one way out. If this was Simon, he had nowhere to run now. Was that better for her mom . . . or worse?

  * * *

  “They have found us,” Simon said flatly. He kept glancing in the rearview mirror. Rose Caruso and Ivana sat close together in the backseat, holding hands. Though he made no move to flee from the car he insisted was behind them, Ivana could tell Simon was at the end, beyond desperate, beyond hopeless. He and the car stank of cigarettes. He’d been through three packs since dusk and had cursed when he’d finished the last one.

  “Please, give yourself up,” Mrs. Caruso pleaded. She’d been talking to Simon nonstop since they left the house. He hadn’t told her to shut up, but he hadn’t given any indication he was listening, either. “If they are following you, and you stop and surrender, no one will get hurt and you’ll see what I’ve been telling you is true.”

  Ivana had no idea where they were as they traveled over dark streets. Gradually, the lighting and size of the buildings increased, and she could tell they were approaching the city center. They made one turn and then another.

  Finally Simon spoke. “I have no wish to hurt you. I will give you one chance and one chance only. When I stop at Magda’s shop, you will get out of the car, and you will get out quickly or I will kill you.”

  “What are you going to do?” Mrs. Caruso asked.

  “That is not your concern!” Simon bellowed. “You will get out of the car, or you will die.”

  65

  “KING-44—” Lieutenant Harvey’s voice came over the car speaker—“hold position at the entrance to the parking lot. Agents will be there shortly to contain the situation. They’ll block the exit and proceed as needed.”

  Brinna was about to say that sounded like a good idea when the sedan lurched away, tires squealing, smoke belching from burning rubber.

  “Where is he going?” Brinna gaped, incredulous. “Does he plan on driving into the water?” Reflex set her foot down on the accelerator, and the Explorer leaped after the sedan. If he did drive into the water, could her mother get out in time?

  The sedan roared right into the parking lot, very nearly on two wheels. It then cut over the empty lot in a diagonal line across the parking spaces. Brinna kept after it, slowing just a bit, mindful of the fact she was not alone in the car and this could get dangerous.

  The sedan jumped the curb and roared along the walkway, getting ever closer to the water line, then suddenly came screeching to a halt.

  Brinna sucked in a breath and hit the brakes. The last thing she wanted was an armed confrontation. She watched from about two hundred feet away. The back door of the sedan flew open and two figures stumbled out. They’d barely hit the pavement when the sedan shuddered and squealed away.

  Forgetting the vehicle, Brinna punched it toward the two figures picking themselves up from the ground. Her headlights illuminated them, and before she could think about it, the words “Thank God” burst from her lips.

  She positioned the Explorer between the pair and the fleeing sedan, then jammed it into park and threw herself out the door. She was certain that her mother was surprised by the intensity of the hug, but Brinna just didn’t care.

  * * *

  Jack met them at the hospital after Rose and Ivana were taken to exam rooms. Brinna was almost as happy to see him as she had been to see her mother. When he stepped forward and gave her a hug, she willingly hugged him back, not caring who was watching.

  “I’m so glad we’re celebrating this ending,” he whispered to her as he stroked her head.

  “Oh, you and me both.” Brinna held tight, enjoying the feeling of his muscled back beneath her hands.

  It was Maggie clearing her throat that got them to part. “The Feds want to talk to your mom and Ivana.”

  Brinna turned to see Chuck and a couple other agents walking into the emergency room. “Not sure if the doctor will let them.” She yawned. “In any event, I’m out of this for now.” She sat down in the waiting room, and Jack sat next to her, holding her good hand tightly in both of his.

  “You’re just going to sit there?” Maggie asked.

  “I might sleep as well.”

  Chuck laughed. “You’ve earned a rest. We’ll talk to your mom and fill you in later.”

  Maggie threw her hands up and sat on the other side of Brinna.

  Jack told them that the house Maggie had been led to by Laura was actually the home of Simon’s cousin, Walter Arnaut. Walter and his wife were on vacation and would not be home for another week.

  “We got the address from a tattoo artist in San Pedro. We would have been there, but you two beat us to it,” he told them.

  He and Maggie started a spirited banter about who was the better detective, but Brinna decided she must have dozed off because it seemed like only minutes later that her mother, not Jack, was talking to her.

  The sun was up when Rose and Ivana were released from Memorial’s emergency room. Other than being emotionally drained, tired, hungry, and dehydrated, Rose and Ivana were given a clean bill of health. They’d been debriefed by federal agents and were more than ready to go home. Because of all the other girls ICE had jurisdiction over and the extreme shortage of shelter beds, Chuck said Ivana was free to stay with Rose.

  Brinna watched Rose hug Ivana with the news and realized the ordeal had brought the two very close. She doubted Chuck would have gotten Ivana away if he tried.

  “I’ll call you,” Jack told Brinna as he and Maggie said their good-byes.

  “Sorry about that backseat,” Brinna said to Ivana as they climbed into the Explorer, “but it’s set up for my dog.”

  “That’s fine. Anywhere is fine right now considering where I have been,” Ivana said as she slid into the back.

  “Boy, do I need a shower,” Rose exclaimed.

  “I wasn’t going to say anything, but . . .” Brinna grinned at her mother.

  “I’ll probably sleep for two days,” Rose said, ignoring Brinna’s gibe.

  “Well, before you go into hibernation—” Brinna looked across the car at her mom—“I’m curious about something.”

  “Oh?” Rose’s eyebrow arched.

  “Yeah. I was a basket case, all nerves, certain we were going to find you dead.” She sucked in a breath as strong emotion she wasn’t expecting threatened. “How were you doing? I mean—”

  “Was I a basket case?” Rose asked.

  Brinna nodded.

  “I was frightened.” Rose glanced back at Ivana. “But I was also certain that God was in control of everything, including the gun in Simon’s hand.”

  Brinna wiped her eyes. “I wondered. I wondered if you’d still believe, if your faith would hold while your life was in danger.”

  “When my life was in danger,” Rose repeated. “Oh, Brinna, that was when my faith was the strongest. God is strongest when we are weakest.”

  “I don’t understand that, not completely. But I’m trying. Jack and I even made a date to go to church. And it may have been lame, but I even tried praying for you a couple of times.”

  Rose beamed and gave Brinna another tight hug.

  As they drove home, she told her mother and Ivana about Magda and being her sister’s keeper.

  “I never thought a story from the Bible could touch anyone like that,” she admitted to her mom. “Turns out, i
t touched me as well. I may lose Hero and my right to be called a Kid Crusader, but I can still be my sister’s keeper. I’m that every time I help someone, whether it be a kid or not.”

  “Wonderful,” Rose said simply.

  66

  TWO DAYS LATER, Brinna, Jack, Magda, and about twenty federal agents were stationed in various places at LAX. They awaited the arrival of a plane from Eastern Europe—Bulgaria, to be exact. Demitri, Emil, and Anka were due to disembark. Magda explained that for his trips to recruit girls he always flew, acting like a legitimate businessman. He only utilized ships when he was actually bringing captives with him. Magda was with them because she wanted to see Demitri humbled. She’d decided that only by knowing he’d lost everything, and that he had no reach to touch her, could she move on with her life, unafraid.

  At the same moment the plane touched down on the runway in California, Canadian agents raided a container ship set to sail to America in a few days from Vancouver. Ten young women were discovered secreted in a container on one of the upper decks.

  Though ICE had already decided to board the plane and take Demitri into custody before all the passengers were let off, Brinna and every other law enforcement agent had with them a photo of Demitri Dinev in case there were any glitches. He was tall, six feet four, about two hundred and forty pounds with dark hair graying at the temples. His eyes were mean and cold. Brinna wished she could be the one applying the handcuffs, but this was a federal op now, and she and Jack were simply observers.

  It was a miracle that Dinev had not heard of the entire breakdown of his organization in the States, since it had been big news. He’d called Magda and asked her if everything was okay. Magda happened to be with federal authorities—at Simon’s hospital bed—when the call came in to Simon’s cell phone. He’d wondered why she was answering Simon’s phone, and she made up a story about having asked Simon to come help her move some heavy items at the shop. It was not anything Magda had ever done before, but Demitri had bought it. She’d assured him that, yes, everything was running smoothly. He then wanted to talk to Simon. He didn’t know that Simon had turned state’s evidence and was being interviewed extensively about all he knew of the human-trafficking operation.