Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (31 page)

“Agreed.” Lou tried to force her personal feelings aside. Having Max staying at the house was not only strategically smart but also gave her much more face time with him. That never sucked in Lou’s book.

“You think we’ll have something to use to get a warrant to search Carlos Vargas’ place?” Lou asked him. “I have a strong suspicion he is at the bottom of all this along with the missing Rojas brother.”

“More than likely but I leave the civilian side to you.” Max looked at the time. “Give me a heads up before you go in if you do get that warrant. Unfortunately, I need to go now.”

“You will be the first to know after the judge signs it.” Lou assured him. “Good luck with the Senatus.”

“Thanks.” Max smiled. “Watch your back, Detective.”

“I do my best.” She smiled this time and her heart twitched a little when she heard the call disconnect.

Lou grabbed her phone charger as Max suggested then tossed her bag over her shoulder. Dillon was probably heading up the drive already and they had a ton of work ahead of them. It was going to be a bit tricky working the underlying situation with Vinny in the mix as well as keeping things nice and above board for the District Attorney’s case. Lou decided she and Dillon were going to have to work out some sort of code words to enable them to work more efficiently without drawing undue attention to things. As she shut the front door behind her she saw Dillon’s SUV rounding the drive. They discussed everything as they drugged along with the throng of traffic and decided they would use certain hockey references for their code words. This lead to the second half of the drive being dominated by Lou converting Dillon into a Kings fan.

Metaphorically speaking, the earth was shifting beneath their feet the second they walked through the doors of the bureau. Where they stepped was precarious at best. Lou never thought in a million years she would ever wish that Vinny was permanently on a desk, but right at that moment it would have made her job a hell of a lot easier. Lou should have known it was going to be tough on Vinny but she hadn’t expected to find him in such disarray so early. His hair was sticking up on end apparently from tugging on it in frustration and he had already discarded his tie. He was sifting through a stack of faxes that had him so confused they may as well have been written in Mandarin Chinese. Dillon tossed Lou a covert glance as he flung his bag on his desk. They had to get a grip on things fast given Captain Davidson would be arriving any minute to throw even more at them. Dillon and Lou had the advantage of knowing to a certain degree what the picture ultimately needed to look like for the public eye. The tricky part was shoving the pieces together to make that picture come into focus without raising any eyebrows.

Lou looked at the time and knew that Niko and his crew were probably already on the ground in Cuba, but that was something only she and Dillon could know. What they needed right now was to shine the spotlight on the Vargas family and get probable cause for a warrant on Carlos Vargas’ home and office. If Vinny’s stack of faxes didn’t have the key hidden somewhere in the text, Lou knew that Davidson would be giving them data that would help somehow. She just had to kill ten minutes or so until he got there.

“Nice of you two to finally show up!” Vinny grumbled as he tossed the papers on to Lou’s desk.

“It’s my fault, Lieutenant.” Dillon apologized. “I had to drop off a check for the house.”

“Yeah, well congratulations, now get your ass to work.” Vinny scrubbed his face with his hands, clearly frustrated. “All of that crap was waiting for me when I got here and I gotta tell you, this case is even more of a cluster than it was last night! I have no idea what the hell Interpol is talking about with this shit. I don’t even think they know!” He paced around his desk for a moment. “The captain is coming down here in a few minutes so I suggest you two try and get a clue on this crap. I’m getting some air and some coffee.” Vinny stormed out.

“Got any Xanex on you?” Lou asked Dillon, only half joking.

Dillon watched Vinny fling the door open as he left the office. “That’s gotta suck. Might not be a bad idea to stash a couple for instances like these.”

Lou gathered all the papers Vinny had tossed and sat down at her desk. “OK, let’s see what we can make of this.”

Dillon sat down and rolled his chair up close to Lou and they started sorting out the data. They piled up all the information on the surveillance of Esterhuizen that Dunhill had sanitized for public consumption. The field reports were thin enough that it looked like routine surveillance on a suspected arms dealer who just lost his tail somewhere in Cape Town. Nothing was mentioned about him boarding the freighter or anything about Rio or Cuba. Both Dillon and Lou agreed this would be very helpful in turning the biological for sale tip into a bogus lead. If all went really well, a report from their Sanguinostri agent at MI5 would be on it’s way to help bolster this conclusion.

The next pile to be sorted was the South American intel. During the night, Abby’s Regional Police contacts had forwarded surveillance reports on Ernesto Vargas which had been sanitized just enough so that things looked completely above board and in line with normal police surveillance. The reports dated back six months and detailed two meetings between Ernesto and Carlos. One such meeting had taken place two weeks before Christmas at a coffee shop four blocks away from Arcano Imports corporate headquarters in Medellin, Colombia. The meeting had lasted just over an hour and surveillance photos showed Carlos and Ernesto embracing as they said their farewells. It looked very warm and cozy to Lou.

The second meeting, however, appeared to have been an impromptu visit from Carlos’ brother during a very short visit Carlos had made back to corporate headquarters just three weeks ago. Within the documents Dillon had singled out a security report from the Arcano office that detailed an altercation ensuing when Ernesto entered the building and demanded to see his brother. It had taken a half an hour for Carlos to clear Ernesto with security so that he could be escorted to his office. Once Ernesto was behind Carlos’ closed office door, the visit had lasted well over an hour and ended with big brother being escorted out by security. Not so warm and cozy this time. Before Lou could put the paper down, Dillon was already on the phone to the local investigator to see if they could get any more data from the Arcano staff about the altercation. While Lou listened to Dillon rattle off in Spanish, she came to the conclusion that the second visit had not been a planned one and Carlos was definitely avoiding his brother. This was good, really good, and just might put them over the edge to probable cause if Captain Davidson brought them solid data on Ernesto Vargas being missing. Lou knew in her gut that Carlos Vargas was the key in all this but she couldn’t get it straight in her head as to why. At least not yet. It may have been Ernesto at first, using his brother to try and gain access to Arcano shipping lines for simple drug smuggling. Ernesto sends his daughter in to manipulate Casius instead of relying solely on his estranged brother for the access. That didn’t explain the decapitations of the heavy weight bad guys though. Maybe the Costa Rican Rojas brother decided to go into business with his brother-in-law then decided to go back into the old family business like dear old dad. Why risk the wrath of the Sanguinostri playing around with a blood born though? Salvatore Rojas had met the ultimate punishment for running a blood slave operation, wouldn’t his sons have learned how dangerous crossing the Sanguinostri could be after all they had been through? Where the hell was the other brother anyway? What was going on in Cuba? So many questions to be answered but so few of them could ever see the light of day as far as the Sheriff’s Department was concerned. It was like threading a needle with a rope.

Lou had about three more minutes to wait before captain Davidson was scheduled to arrive. She couldn’t help staring at the door, willing the man to get there sooner. Lou felt like a race horse being put into the gate just before the race. She had to wait for the other horses to get locked in before they hit that lever and they could finally run.

Niko Gattilusio was not a small man by any means. Despite his mild
and gentle demeanor, his imposing stature drew attention when he walked into a room or meandered down a sidewalk. On a mission such as this, that was a distinct disadvantage. They landed undetected on the shores of Matanzas, Cuba, just before first light and had taken cover at the home of one of the very few Sanguinostri operatives on the island. They were briefed by the locals on current events and were given a who’s who of the criminal element throughout the region, including Juan Rojas.

Doctor Rojas, as he was known in Cuba, had established an exclusive and very lucrative practice he was running out of one of the high-end resorts in Veradero. Dubbed a ‘medispa’ that catered to the filthy-stinking-rich and corrupt of Europe, Rojas’ facility was known for cheep plastic surgery with no questions asked as well as highly questionable anti-aging procedures that the medical community at large considered barbaric. As Niko flipped through the intel, it clearly explained why Caroline had been unable to trace the serial numbers on Angela Boone aka Adrianna Vargas’ implants. She obviously had spent her eighteenth year in Cuba visiting her uncle and getting an overhaul. Niko scanned the data carefully, encrypted the files then transmitted them to Lou via satellite uplink. The Cuban government had such a massive stranglehold on communications going off the island that a simple email was not an option.

Lena Ruiz, a member of the South American Aegis Council, walked in the front door of the villa they were all hold up in, accompanied by two of her associates. They had arrived on the same stealth transport with Niko, Yuri, Finn and Conner that morning and a plan had been formulated by the time the first rooster crowed. The woman was gifted with the same talent as Frank, the ability to wipe selected memories from an individual. This had come in exceptionally handy for their recon work at the medispa they were currently returning from. Lena had dressed to the nine’s and walked into the facility playing a very wealthy and pampered wife of a very mean and nasty Venezuelan drug lord. As they suspected, flashing an obscene amount of euros got them a personal audience with Rojas. During a bogus consultation for a totally unnecessary breast augmentation and nose job, Lena’s associate was able to force his way into Rojas’ mind undetected and learned that the blood born had been there not long ago and that Rojas and his brother were in cahoots with Ernesto Vargas. Unfortunately they were unable to get much detail on the extent of that relationship. However, Lena and her men were able to glean that Ernesto Vargas was not dead. He had recently been at the facility and left a very healthy man in the company of Doctor Rojas’ brother, Manuel. Now all Niko needed to find out was where they had gone and what the hell they were up to.

“We know what he is up to.” Lena told him solemnly.

“Doctor Rojas?” Niko asked. “You got a read on what he’s doing besides being a scumbag plastic surgeon for the lowlife of the universe?”

“Yes, he got a very clear read on him.” She paused a moment before continuing. “It apparently is an all consuming thought in his mind, which disgusts me to no end.”

“What is he doing?” Niko could see she was upset.

“He has taken the blood slave business to a whole new level.” Lena sat down and sighed heavily. “From what we could figure out, the basement level is the production facility. He has his hooks in blood banks all over Cuba and he siphons off the top of every patient that walks through the door. But that’s not the worst of it.”

“What the hell?” Niko felt his head growing hot.

“People we know, Niko, members of our families secretly import from this bastard!” Tears streamed down Lena’s face as she continued. “He has people shipped in, kidnapped, holds them prisoner in the basement while they pump out their blood into some sort of special bottling system. He pays top dollar for rare blood types, crates them up and sells them like rare bottles of wine.”

Niko could barely breathe. “How many people does he have down there?”

“We can’t be certain just by the short read we got off him during the consult.” Lena shook her head. “The numbers fluctuate in his memory but there are too many just to walk out the door all at once.”

“More than a hundred?” He prayed not.

“I believe so.” Leana choked back a sob. “How are we going to get them out?”

“Leave that to me to figure out.” Niko assured her as he grabbed his satellite phone and headed for the roof. “Find out where Doctor Rojas is right now. I think I want to go have a little chat with him.”

The roof of the small, non-descript villa was set up as an outdoor patio complete with a little garden and sitting area. Connor, Yuri and Finn had been up there going over the security for the medispa when Niko walked up the stairs.

“What do ya know?” Connor asked, reading the anger on Niko’s face.

“You can listen in while I tell Max.” He said as he dialed.

It only took Niko five minutes to brief Max on everything while Connor, Finn and Yuri did a slow burn listening in. Niko’s voice trembled with rage as he relayed the details Lena had given him then requested a directive on how to proceed. Max told Niko to stand by then placed him on hold.

“What is he saying?” Finn whispered to Niko.

“I’m on hold.” Niko responded through gritted teeth.

Connor blinked. “On hold? What the...” Niko quieted him by holding his hand up when Max came back on the line.

“Given this is a joint operation with the South American Council, I had to get confirmation from Victor before I spoke out of turn.” Max explained.

“Understood.” Niko replied.

“First of all, forget what your thinking.” Max spoke sternly. “ I know what your gut is telling you to do but don’t. Get me?”

Niko knew, of all people, Max understood exactly what he was feeling. He took a long breath before answering. “I get you.”

“Good. Now, I want you to figure out the security situation, come up with whatever strategy you and the other Aegis think will work best. You have our complete support.” Max made things very clear. “I want you to get Juan Rojas into custody, liberate the captives by whatever means you can, destroy the operation in it’s entirety but...” Max spoke a little slower then usual now. “His client list, I want it. Also the distribution list for his blood project and I want no one else to have access to that but you and our boys. You bring it to me, do you understand?”

“I understand completely my Dominor.” Niko could feel the adrenaline surging at the thought of bringing Rojas down.

“I want Rojas here, alive.” Max clarified so there was no misunderstanding. “Frank will forward coordinates for a secure location but I mean it, I want him here alive. Am I clear Niko?”

“Crystal, my Dominor.” Niko responded.

“Niko...” Max made sure he had his attention. “Whatever it takes. But you all come home in one piece.”

Niko grinned. “Without question, my Dominor.”

After hanging up with Max the four men sat there looking at each other for a long while. They were all pissed as hell but they knew they needed to set that aside in order to complete the mission. Niko told them what their directive was and they all agreed it was exactly right. They had already established contact with Rojas through Lena’s consult that morning so they needed to use that to their advantage. After discussing their options the three of them headed downstairs and got everyone together to form a plan. Pablo, the agent that the villa belonged to was immediately put to work calling in the few other agents that were local enough to assist.

Yuri and his South American Aegis counterpart, Monica, possessed gifts that were going to be invaluable to pulling things off. They both were gifted with the power of persuasion, the ability to make someone do something as if it were their own idea. The problem, however, is that this specific talent only works on the opposite sex from the possessor. This meant that Monica was going to bare the brunt of the load in the persuading department since they needed to convince a ship’s captain and his crew to take on a hundred extra passengers without argument or tipping anyone off. Another hiccup was that they had to locate a ship that was due to sail after midnight. They had to find it, then do all the persuading necessary and get back to the villa within four hours.

The plan was simple. When Monica and Yuri got back they were going to call Doctor Rojas and depending on the gender of his assistant, one of them would use their gift to influence the assistant into convincing Doctor Rojas that the procedures Lena wanted must be performed that night, in secret and at whatever price he wanted. Her warlord husband was insisting. Provided this part went according to plan, the rest would fall into place. They just had to wait and see. In the meantime they went over the security layout of the facility again and again, talking through everyone’s specific role step by step so that they were on the same page. Once the wheels were set in motion, there was no room for error.

It took about an hour before everyone was confident that they had it all down. Emotions were running high so Niko suggested everyone take a break, get food or sleep, whatever they needed to get centered before Yuri, Monica and Pablo got back. Finn and Connor went off with one of the other Council members to arrange for transportation for the captives. The resort that housed the medispa conducted their own tours of the island for their clientele. On a tip, they found out there were four tour buses on the property, just waiting to be commandeered. Each bus supposedly carried fifty-eight passengers so with any luck they would be able to get two of the buses off the property with minimum difficulty.

Niko headed back to the roof for his down time, opting to clean his Glocks and enjoy a Montecristo cigar Pablo had given him. He had wanted to go and hunt down the good doctor immediately but Max’s directive removed that option. Instead, he took a seat at the small rusted iron table on the roof and tried to ground himself. It was a balmy afternoon in Cuba and little had changed from the last time he had been there over twenty years ago. The sky was mostly cloudy making it darker then it should have been at such an early hour and the temperature loomed around eighty-five degrees. Off in the distance Niko could see lightning strikes sizzling through the clouds. He hoped they planned on heading in their direction. A little thunder storm would work nicely in their plan since they were going to have to cut the power to the building.

Niko always had a soft spot for Cuba. He often wondered what would have happened if the Sanguinostri had not abandoned the island when Castro took over. On several occasions he secretly dreamed that he stayed and pulled the political strings needed to help the people, the way they needed to be helped. They were only dreams though, and Cuba had somehow fallen into a weird time warp that kept it very much stuck about fifty years behind. He supposed it could have been worse.

Nearly an hour had passed when he finally began fiddling with his guns. Connor and Finn joined him without saying a word. The three men sat smoking cigars, disassembling their weapons. Carefully brushing them then meticulously placing the oiled pieces back together to form the precision crafted tools they relied upon so heavily. It wasn’t the first time the three men held this ritual and it would most certainly not be the last. “I’m in.” Lena said as she suddenly appeared at the top of the steps.

“I’m to be there for pre-op at 11:45 p.m.”

“Well then your mean and nasty warlord husband had best get cleaned up so he can go with you.” Niko said with a smirk.

“Hey!” Finn protested. “How come you get to play the mean husband?”

Connor laughed. “You think me or you looks like a Venezuelan warlord? A Viking and a Mic?”

Both Lena and Niko laughed while Finn looked offended. They started to gather their things but the men decided they had a little more time to finish off their cigars. Lena chuckled and left them to their vice while she headed back down to get her team ready. It would be Lena and her team who would be transporting the captives on the buses to the ship while Niko and his guys would be taking Rojas and any other high level prisoner out via the boats they had come in on that morning.

By 10:00 p.m. everyone was geared up and ready to head out. Niko and Lena had gone through everything again making sure that each team member knew their specific role and the time allotted for them to do it in. Monica and Yuri had the arrangements for the ship ready and waiting, having happened upon an all too eager captain and crew that required very little persuading. As luck would have it, the boat was bound for Rio anyway so it couldn’t have been more perfect for the South American team. After one last check, they broke up into their respective units and started filing out of the villa one by one. Niko, Lena and her two associates were the last to leave for their appointment with Doctor Rojas.

Upon arriving at the medispa, the entry doors were unlocked for them by a lone security guard. Mr. and Mrs. Big-Bad-Warlord and their two bodyguards were escorted past the empty reception area and led directly to Doctor Rojas’ office. It was a large room with plenty of windows that looked out over the beach. The dark of night had settled in snugly so neither Niko nor Lena could see the extraction boats that waited just past the waves which meant there was no way anyone else could see them either.