Visible Threat

by Cantore, Janice

  Without missing a beat, Magda handed Simon the phone. He spoke to Demitri from his hospital bed at the jail ward of Los Angeles County–USC Medical Center. Yes, everything was fine, he assured his boss. The girls and his business were thriving. He recited the time of arrival and flight number of Demitri’s plane while an ICE agent wrote it down.

  Miracle, yes, Brinna thought as she watched the airline employees prepare the gate for the arrival of passengers, but not the only miracle. She’d been considering the miracle of her mother and Ivana emerging from their ordeal unscathed after Simon ordered them from the car.

  Simon had driven his vehicle to the end of the marina roadway, through a barrier, and into the ocean, hoping to end his life and escape the wrath of Demitri and the police. It was touch and go for a short period of time as the heavy sedan sank rapidly. But Simon was eventually rescued by an army of agents and local officers who had arrived at Shoreline Village about the same time he kicked Ivana and Rose out of his car. They had followed him, diving in to pull him from the cold water. Though he would be charged with murder, Rose insisted that since the police had rescued Simon, this had a part to play in his decision to cooperate with the authorities.

  “Answered prayer” was what her mother and Jack called all of these fortuitous events. Brinna agreed. The idea of answered prayer was growing on her.

  The door to the gate opened, and four agents disappeared into the tunnel. Four more stayed at the entrance of the gate. Demitri and Emil would be arrested, and after being thoroughly interviewed, Anka would be allowed to leave with Magda. Magda had been granted full immunity from prosecution in exchange for her cooperation and testimony.

  A few minutes later, yelling and cursing could be heard from the gate. Passengers waiting at the gate stopped what they were doing, and all heads turned toward the open door. Brinna felt Magda stiffen next to her.

  “That sound like Demitri?” she asked.

  Magda nodded, and Brinna watched the color drain from her face. That she still feared him was obvious.

  “Don’t worry,” Brinna offered. “He won’t look so scary in handcuffs.” She thought about how satisfied she felt when a child predator was apprehended and cuffed up.

  Just then the agents appeared, Demitri between two of them. He looked outraged as he struggled, but the cuffs were on, and his hands were firmly behind his back. In addition, each agent had a tight grip on an arm. None of Demitri’s protests or gyrations could do anything to loosen the holds the agents had on him. He looked very small and very impotent. The second man, Emil, came next, but he was quiet and walked meekly beside the agent. Behind him, the fourth agent escorted a bewildered-looking Anka.

  Brinna heard an exhalation of breath from Magda.

  “You’re right,” she said with a smile. “He is nothing but a man. Not someone to fear any longer.”

  67

  “I HAVEN’T BEEN on the Matterhorn in years!” Brinna giggled, her heart soaring. Jack’s hand was tight in hers, and they were walking through Disneyland, enjoying sights, sounds, and smells neither had experienced in a while. She had grown used to the cast, and it barely bothered her anymore.

  “I think the last time I was here was as a teenager.” Jack’s shoulder bumped hers as the crowd jostled them. They were part of a group that included Magda and her family, Brinna’s mother, Ivana, and Maggie with Rick’s kids.

  Jack and Brinna had purposely lost the group somewhere in Fantasyland, wanting to spend time alone, so to speak.

  “This is an interesting place for a date, Mr. O’Reilly,” Brinna teased as they found the end of the line for the Matterhorn ride.

  “I thought it was lighthearted enough to get everyone’s mind off the drama a couple of weeks ago.” His gray eyes danced and held hers.

  “Definitely. Ivana looked like a five-year-old when she saw Mickey Mouse on Main Street. The bruises have faded, and my mom says there haven’t been any more nightmares.”

  They inched forward and Jack pulled her close. “So now that emergencies and dramas are behind us for the time being, I thought maybe we could just concentrate on us for a while.”

  “Great plan.” Brinna leaned into him, living in the moment but also loving the promise of the future.

  * * *

  Brinna’s forearm felt tight and tired as she polished the intricate basket weave of her Sam Browne belt for the third time. She’d only had the cast off for a day—it had been removed a week early—and her left arm was weak. She’d finished her shoes earlier, spit-shined to a high gloss, and they sat next to her locker, waiting for her. She just couldn’t get a satisfactory shine on her belt because of the fatigued arm.

  “Hey, we have to get going. That’s shiny enough,” Maggie said. She was already dressed in her class A uniform—belt and shoes shined to her satisfaction. Brinna knew this was because Maggie had paid someone else to polish the equipment for her. Cheater.

  “All right, let me just wipe it down, and I’ll be ready.” Brinna felt restricted in the long-sleeved, stiff wool uniform. Her normal working uniform was a nonrestrictive cotton jumpsuit, the uniform of a dog handler. But the wool dress uniform was required for the annual police awards banquet.

  “I know you’re nervous because you and Jack will be center stage, getting a meritorious award for heroism. But they won’t change their mind about the award because your belt is dull,” Maggie teased.

  “Oh, stop it,” Brinna huffed. “It’s not the award. Janet’s at the budget meeting today.”

  “Oh.” Maggie slapped her forehead. “I forgot about that. You find out about Hero.”

  “I’m the one who has to walk up on stage and shake the chief’s hand,” Brinna mumbled as she hooked her belt on, “not knowing if I have a partner or not.”

  “Look at the bright side. No matter what, you still have a job—and your best friend.” Maggie grinned.

  Brinna snapped her belt keepers, grabbed her tie, and went to the mirror to clip it on. “Now if I could only teach you to run an agility course.”

  “Ha-ha.” Maggie folded her arms. “Just enjoy your moment of accolade and deal with what happens to Hero later.”

  Her tie and tie clip on straight, Brinna shoved her cover under her arm and looked at Maggie. “I’ll do my best. Let’s go.”

  Together they left the locker room. Jack O’Reilly stood outside, brushing lint off his uniform. Brinna smiled at him. The memory of the blast they’d had at Disneyland still played in Brinna’s mind. They’d been together a lot lately, including a standing invitation to attend church together every Sunday. Brinna had never looked forward to Sunday mornings as much in her life, and it was not just because of Jack’s company. The messages were sinking in, and she loved the feeling of family there. She and Jack were set for a formal date after the awards banquet, and she’d asked him to surprise her.

  “Hey, you didn’t even have to wear this monkey suit,” Brinna said when she saw him. “You’re a detective. You could have gotten away with a suit and tie.”

  “I was a patrol officer when we stopped the robbery, so I thought I’d dig my class A out of mothballs.” He smiled and pulled Brinna close for a kiss, and the warmth from his lips jolted Brinna to her toes.

  “Okay already, save that for later.” Maggie snorted with fake annoyance.

  They parted and Maggie looked Jack up and down. “Not bad—for a rookie.”

  “Very funny, Sloan. At least I shine my own leather,” Jack teased. “By the way, have they decided who’s going to be sentenced as your permanent partner yet?”

  In the weeks since Rick’s accident, while he was home learning to adapt to life in a wheelchair, Maggie had bounced around from partner to partner. Brinna wondered if she was deliberately being picky.

  “Nope. No one has measured up to my exacting standards yet.”

  Brinna strolled between her two friends and listened to the banter. It helped keep her mind off what was bothering her. As they walked the two blocks to the convention center
hall where the awards banquet would be held, they were joined by several other officers and civilian employees all going to the banquet.

  Rose Caruso was already waiting at the hall when Brinna arrived. She stood talking to Gracie’s parents, with Ivana nearby. Ivana had blossomed under Rose’s care. She’d been granted a student visa and planned to enroll in a few college courses. Right now she was taking a driver’s training course and would soon be a licensed driver. She’d also become a part-time nanny for Rick and Molly, helping with their three boys while Rick went through rehab. Ivana loved kids and had a knack for dealing with the boys. She bore practically no resemblance to the battered waif who’d been pulled from the flood control. Magda and her husband, Anton, were also in attendance.

  Magda had offered Ivana a job at her shop, but the girl declined. Anka had been deported back to Bulgaria. She would not believe that her father was the criminal the American police said he was. To her credit, Magda was trying to help the women rescued from Demitri who wanted to stay in the country. A number of the women freed from Demitri’s horror houses had opted to go home; the rest were still in ICE custody until it was determined what was best for them. Magda was working hard to be an advocate for them. Brinna had forgiven the woman and reached out to her. They’d formed a friendship because they both wanted to help those who were exploited.

  Gracie saw Brinna, and her face brightened. “Officer Caruso!”

  Brinna hadn’t seen the girl since the day she’d shown up at her house. Her lead had led them to Rose in a night that everyone was calling the “smackdown at Shoreline.” Cops could turn anything into a joke, and a situation that had Brinna in a cast, driving, with Maggie in the passenger seat and Hero in the backseat, turned into an endless source of jokes and pranks. But she couldn’t believe she’d received high praise from Lieutenant Harvey for showing restraint and protecting her mother and Ivana.

  “How are you doing, Gracie?” Brinna shook Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan’s hands and accepted a kiss on the cheek from her mother.

  “I got an A on my school report about helping you find your mother,” Gracie gushed. “My teacher thought it sounded like a news story and said I’d make a great reporter someday.”

  “Reporter?” Brinna arched her eyebrows.

  “Well, yeah. Then I can be a part of the action and tell everyone about it later.” Gracie’s eyes wandered the hall foyer. “Oh, excuse me. There’s Tracy Michaels. I have to go talk to her.”

  Brinna watched the girl jog away toward the reporter and wondered why she felt let down. She hadn’t been ready for the burden of being someone’s hero; shouldn’t this take a weight off?

  “Tossed over for a reporter. Will wonders never cease?” Maggie teased.

  Jack put an arm on her shoulder. “Kids are fickle. Don’t let it get to you.”

  “Officer Caruso, you’ll always be my hero.” Ivana grinned at Brinna.

  “And mine.” Rose stepped forward and gave Brinna a hug. “Now let’s go inside so I can snap a lot of pictures, be excruciatingly proud, and make you uncomfortable.”

  Brinna laughed and shook her head. “At least some things will never change.”

  With that they joined the line filing into the convention hall.

  68

  BRINNA SIGHED and tried not to get emotional again. While Hero was now officially her dog—she’d written the check two days ago—he was no longer an LBPD search-and-rescue dog. The city had declined to pick up his contract, and tonight was her first night back to work, cleared for full duty, with no partner. She’d already turned in her take-home car and now had an armful of uniforms, plus the kit that held all of her law enforcement forms and books to put in her locker. No more dressing at home and driving into the station with Hero panting behind her.

  She had joined a civilian search-and-rescue outfit and looked forward to training with them, but their first meeting was not for a month. Hero would have to adjust to being a civilian dog.

  “See you later, buddy.” She hugged the dog one more time, then grabbed her gear and lugged it out to her truck. Once at the station, it took two trips to transfer all her equipment from the car to her locker. Notes had been stuffed inside the locker, condolences for her loss of Hero but welcoming her back to patrol. Jack sent her a text to be safe and to go easy on her new partner.

  “Hey, Officer Caruso, sorry to hear about your dog,” another afternoon officer said, patting Brinna’s back as she walked past to her locker. “Know who you’re working with?”

  “Nope, not yet,” Brinna answered. “I think I’m a Robert car for a couple nights at least.” She worked hard to be upbeat about the current situation. As a Robert car, she’d be stuck taking reports on low-priority calls like burglaries with no suspects, and that usually meant a boring night, certainly not what she was used to with Hero.

  No use whining about something that can’t be, she scolded herself.

  Banter died down as everyone finished dressing and, one by one, headed for the squad room.

  Maggie wasn’t in yet, which was normal—she usually breezed in at the last minute, so why would tonight be any different? Brinna had met Maggie’s new partner the other day. His name was Mark, and he’d just transferred to the afternoon shift from days to help deal with child-care issues at home. He seemed nice enough.

  Brinna dressed in a short-sleeved shirt for the night, hating the scratchy feel of the long-sleeved wool shirts. If she got cold, she had her jacket. Once dressed and ready to go, she still had ten minutes before the start of squad meeting. She grabbed her kit and flashlight and strolled out to the lot to find a car. She found a clean black-and-white unclaimed, stowed her kit, and made her way to the shift meeting.

  In her mailbox were more welcome-back-to-patrol notes. She grabbed them, found a seat in the squad room, and read through them.

  “Officer Caruso.”

  Looking up, Brinna saw Lieutenant Harvey at the doorway to the sergeants’ office. He motioned her back to the office.

  “Gosh, you haven’t even been back for a day, and you’re already in trouble,” Maggie whispered in her ear, voice laced with amusement.

  Brinna jumped; she hadn’t seen Maggie come in.

  “When did you get here?” Brinna asked as she stood.

  “I’ll tell you later. Don’t keep the LT waiting.” She nodded in Harvey’s direction.

  Janet Rodriguez sat at a desk in the office, and Harvey leaned against the file cabinet.

  “I have a letter of reprimand here for you to sign,” Janet said, sliding the document from internal affairs across the desk. “It has to do with the pursuit in the rain.”

  Brinna nodded, surprised she’d gotten off so light. She read the letter and signed it. There was a section at the bottom where she could protest if she thought the discipline excessive, but she had no problem with the reprimand. She slid the paper back to Rodriguez.

  “Thank you, Officer Caruso,” Harvey said, moving away from the cabinet and toward the door. “I’m glad to see you can admit when you’re wrong.” He left the office.

  Brinna stood to leave, but Rodriguez waved her back. “One more thing. You want to know who your new partner is?”

  “I thought I was odd man out, a Robert car for a while.”

  “Things change quickly around here; you know that. I can’t guarantee you’ll get along with your new partner as well as you got along with Hero, but maybe this one will speak up and keep you out of trouble.” Rodriguez smiled and handed Brinna a slip of paper with her new call sign and the name of her new partner. Her jaw dropped when she read it, and Rodriguez laughed.

  “Get back to the squad room and sit. We’re late.”

  Brinna found herself giggling, truly feeling upbeat, not having to fake it. She hurried back to her desk. Maggie had appropriated the seat next to her and grinned.

  Sliding into her seat, Brinna whispered to Maggie, “How long have you known?”

  “Just since yesterday. Afternoons weren’t working for Mark
’s family, so he had to go back to days. I wanted you to be surprised.”

  “I was.” She couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “We’re working beat 2.”

  “Yep.”

  “You don’t have any problem with looking into missing kid cases or keeping tabs on sex offenders, do you?”

  Maggie shook her head, then leaned close to Brinna’s ear. “Just remember. I don’t sit and stay on command, so you better get used to sharing the driving.”

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  IT SEEMS AS THOUGH every day there is a new article about someone being arrested for human trafficking. According to HumanTrafficking.org, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 people—mostly women and children—are trafficked to the US each year.

  When I was still working in law enforcement, I saw a training video that told the story of an apartment complex turned into a virtual prison by traffickers. They brought laborers to the US illegally and then kept them in apartments, only letting them out to work, and even then they were closely monitored. They even set up a company store in the apartment complex for the captives to shop at, but they charged exorbitant prices, basically taking back the little money they paid the captives for their day labor. The apartment complex was not out in the boonies; it was right in the middle of a normal neighborhood.

  Traffickers often prey upon the poor and the struggling. They promise high-paying jobs in countries like the US, Italy, France, and Germany. The victims often leave their home countries willingly with the trafficker, but once they get to the desired country, the trafficker will confiscate the victim’s ID and papers and keep him or her confined, unable to do anything but what the trafficker wants. Traffickers tell their victims that the police can’t be trusted, that they are in the country illegally, so if they complain to anyone, they will go to jail.