Dark Carnival Murders (14 page)

Angelo laughed, "Mom, you
always know how to deal with a situation don’tcha?"

"Mafia mothers always know
what’s best," she laughed then took a bite of her
burger.

~~*~~

I was lounging in the
precinct squad room with Earl waiting for our plan to start when my
cell phone buzzed, it was Buck.

"What’s the word?" I
asked.

"I’m back in my phone
booth so this will be quick. They aren’t telling me where we go,
just that we follow them so make sure the GPS guy is watching. We
go earlier than closing, I don’t know what time, so if I suddenly
show we are leaving the carnival, that’s the time. I may not be
able to call so be ready. That’s all I know or can say for now, so
talk later, hopefully with three boys in tow." He hung up and I
called over to Lynn in her office.

She came over, "What’s
up?"

I explained what Buck had
said, and she looked concerned. "They won’t tell them where they
are going, that’s worrisome. I think I need to put eyes on the
carnival, just to be sure." She yelled for Warren, who was in the
coffee room, he came out and over.

"Yeah Lieutenant?" he
said.

"Being formal, is it time
for promotions?"

"No, just saying it out of
respect."

"Thank you, here’s what I
want you to do, take Williams and one other man and go sit on the
carnival watching Buck and Dark. His picture is on my desk, watch
them and if it looks like they are leaving the carnival grounds,
get to me ASAP and then carefully follow them."

"I thought Buck had a
tracker on?"

"For some reason I’m not
trusting it and we have one chance to do this, or the boys will be
gone."

"You got it, I’ll take
care of it." He went off after calling Williams from his
desk.

"Better to be safe than
sorry, I guess," I said.

*

Chapter 19

Angelo called next and
told me about his contact with a Jersey mob looking for Dark. "Can
you stall them off until tomorrow?"

"I already did, let me
know what you want me ta do," he said.

"I will my friend, now
enjoy your time with your mother and don’t worry. I’ll let you know
how our sting goes tonight." He agreed and hung up.

I figured it wasn’t
something I needed to burden Lynn with, she already had enough
worries without telling her the mob wanted Dark also. I leaned over
and told Earl and he laughed.

"Boy, Dark is so screwed.
You telling Lynn?"

"Oh hell no, you know her
feelings about the mob. She’s got enough on her plate with tonight.
I may mention it after we finish this, maybe she’ll reconsider and
let the mob take Dark," I said.

"It will save the people
of Vegas a lot of money in court costs and lawyer fees."

"Yes, it will. Maybe I’ll
tell Angelo to inform his friends to take care of all
this."

"Hell, you’re too moral to
sick the mob on Dark, you prefer justice."

"We’ll see," I said with a
smirk.

"What are you two plotting
over here?" Lynn asked as she came back to us.

"Just discussing politics.
Nothing you’d be interested in," Earl said.

"Why is it I never trust
what you say," she replied.

"Have you transferred your
hostilities from Trapper to me now?"

"I’m still miffed about
the stripper comment you made."

"Hey, I was just
commenting on how you look good enough to get into the
business."

Lynn opened her mouth but
nothing came out, she took a breath and walked away.

"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."