Shadows May Fall (28 page)

“Consider it done.” Vinny told them. “I’m gonna follow up with our Ventura brothers and make sure they are sending you enough back up. Get your ear pieces ready because I want to hear everything when you head into this place. I wish you would wait until we had warrants.”

“Then get us one!” Lou demanded. “Find us something, anything, to get us in there.”

“We’re workin’ on it kiddo!” Vinny’s voice squeaked again. “I’ve got everyone on the phones lookin’ for anyone in this contact list that might even hint at being missing. If we can get them in the general vicinity of that ranch, I’ll personally pound the District Attorney until he gets us that warrant.”

“Given we are basically parked on the 405, you’ve got about an hour before we hit Ventura County.” Dillon told him.

“Then let me get off this damn phone so I can make it happen!” Vinny grumbled then hung up.

There was no way for Lou to get linked into the contact data so she could use her special tools her Principate position afforded her. She had to rely on the people in the Sheriff’s Department to find something, anything, that could get them in the door to Vanessa Sturn’s estate in Hidden Valley. The brutal truth was that if Vanessa wasn’t there, she was already out hunting one of the last two men that were at Marcus Medina’s party. The question was, why was that party her trigger? Why did those five men land on Vanessa’s hit list? None of the people they had interviewed had anything but a cursory connection to the woman. They had only met her in passing, all but Deidre Love. She was the one person who had a significant personal relationship to Vanessa Sturn, and there clearly was no love lost there. At least on Deidre’s end. There had to be more to it, but Lou was at a loss on how to find it. It wasn’t even as if they had any window of opportunity; it was more like their hand was being forced. The only option Lou could see was to ask Vanessa Sturn, point blank, and see what happened.

The room they
placed Jakob Koch in looked like any other law enforcement interrogation room. For all Jakob knew, he was being held by federal agents, handcuffs looped into the bolt on the cold metal table that sat in the center of the empty cinder block room.

It was evident to Max within the first minutes of watching the live feed that Jakob Koch was utterly clueless about his role in the Black Blood operation. Before Henrik ever laid a finger on him, he was already sobbing and had wet his pants somewhere in transit. Though Max’s Danish was a little rusty and Jakob spoke no English, he was able to discern that Jakob was approached by a man that worked at the port. He was offered a small stipend to misrepresent delivery records to show that the bottles were going one place when they were being delivered elsewhere. It took Henrik only seven minutes to obtain the actual location of the delivery and the details surrounding the drops.

Jakob Koch ate breakfast every day at the same small cafe near the fishing docks where he made his regular pickups. Once a month a man would sit next to him at the counter and slip him an envelope that contained one-thousand kronor in cash and fake papers. Jakob would deposit the money into his mother’s account then head for the port to pick up the shipment. Jakob owned his own truck and freelanced delivery service, so he had no boss to check in with or fancy tracking system to worry about. He drove past the fake delivery location each time just in case. The paperwork on the bottles would be marked as delivered then the false papers would come into play for the real drop. Jakob would deliver the shipment to the train depot up north where the cargo was listed as anything from fish and produce to wind turbine parts. Once the papers were turned over to the foreman at the depot, Jakob’s role ended and he would toss all his copies of the paperwork in the fire when he got home. With this newly gleaned information, Henrik had his people pulling up all the shipping records from the train depot so they could go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. The only thing the young man could remember about his last run was that the fake documents listed the cargo as fish feed from some company with the word ‘bio’ in it.

That drop had taken place three weeks ago which meant Jakob’s next delivery would happen within the next two weeks. They needed to get Jakob back in play as if everything was business as usual.

“I’ll have Sven wipe Jakob’s memory of this, and we will put tracking equipment in the truck. We’ll also have eyes on him at all times so we can grab his contact at that cafe after his next payoff.” Henrik seemed hopeful.

“Keep the rest of your agents chasing Albert in St. Petersburg.” Max recommended. “If they have informants on the inside, making Albert the priority will give them a false sense of security.”

“Agreed.” Henrik nodded. “According to our decoy, only two people have asked about him instead of Jakob’s working the route. We’re going to make sure Jakob has a lovely meal with a little kick to it before we take him home, wipe his memory and plant new ones. Our story that he has the flu will work, I have no doubt.”

Max grinned. “Nether do I, Henrik. Thank you for letting me watch the interrogation.”

“Absolutely.” Henrik smiled. “We are in this together, my friend. Unfortunately, patience is required now as far as my region is concerned. Might I suggest patience on your end as well. If you uncover something before we do, it might start a chain reaction of everyone closing up shop until things quiet down.”

“That crossed my mind as well.” Max agreed. “I’m going to have my people keep digging for leads quietly, but we’ll hold off on anything actionable for the time being. You have the hottest trail right now. I won’t let our work here jeopardize that.”

“It is a coordinated effort, as always.” Henrik assured him. “Take the weekend to catch your breath. Have a drink with Niko for me! We’ll talk Monday.”

“Will do.” Max smiled. “Thank you again, Henrik. I owe you several rounds of drinks.”

“I’m going to collect soon!” Henrik laughed. “Take care, my old friend!”

Henrik cut the video feed and Max was left in silence for a change. Things had been moving at lightning speed since he returned from Juneau and he realized he was still wearing the sweats that he was in when Lou visited him in the middle of the night. There was nothing else he could do for the moment. Joe, Abby, Niko and the rest of his Aegis were all working their own angles. He needed them to know where they were with the Denmark connection, though. Keeping things quiet until Jakob’s contact was snatched up was critical. Max took a moment to type out an encrypted memo to everyone so that they would be up to speed. He made sure to exclude Lou from the recipient list since he knew she was dealing with her own time sensitive issues. He could fill her in later when she got home.

The upside to hitting the brakes a bit in their investigations was that Niko would be able to look into whatever he had up his sleeve for Max’s grand gesture for Lou. As Max leaned back in his chair, he couldn’t help but chuckle. How ridiculous was it that he was grateful for a pause so that he could plot and scheme on such silly things. Well, they weren’t silly. Lou was the most important thing to him if he were being honest, but he wasn’t ready to broadcast that just yet. A simple private text to Niko requesting he get back on his Las Vegas assignment would suffice. Once sent, the next order of business was a shower and a change. After that, he would check in on Lou and see if he could be of any assistance with her case. He realized he was behaving exactly as he asked his people not to, where Lou was concerned. He had even chastised Abby and Frank for helping her too much with her new duties. It was important that she learn her way, on her terms, and in her own time. This was different, though, or so he chose to think. Max wanted to help Lou with her case as a Detective, not his Principate. Surely that didn’t count as the same thing.

“Lou’s got an issue.” Niko walked in without knocking.

“Is she alright?” Max stopped dead in his tracks.

“Yes, but she’s in a tight spot and texted me, asking if there is any way we can give her a hand.” Niko sat down at one of the laptops.

Max took a seat across from him, relieved that Lou was alright. Everything else could be dealt with. “What’s the issue?”

“She and Dillon are on their way to a location that she believes belongs to her murder suspect. She was holding off bothering me, given recent events, but she’s run out of options.” Niko paused to pull up Vanessa Sturn’s information. “Apparently Vinny has all their techs trying to find anything that could tie this woman to the victims to get a warrant. I mean, seriously, what are they going to do? Knock on her door and ask her to confess out of the goodness of her heart?”

“Can we hack in and do a faster job?” Max knew it was risky, but he had to ask. “No offense to the Sheriff’s Department techs but, they have limits that we don’t.

“Perhaps.” Niko was hesitant. “But there might not be anything there. Or anything that would get them a warrant. I think they are looking for the names of two other possible targets as well.”

“Get her on the phone.” Max instructed. “Let’s find out exactly what it is she needs from us. I don’t want her going anywhere blind if we can help.”

“I figured that would be your position.” Niko grinned as he dialed and the phone began to ring.

“Niko?” Dillon’s voice asked.

“Yeah, and Max.” Niko frowned. “Why are you answering Lou’s phone? Is she okay?”

“I’m here too!” Lou shouted. “He’s got my phone plugged into his car.”

“That’s rather smart.” Max noted.

“Yeah yeah, so people keep telling me.” Lou sounded annoyed. “How can we assist you, Detective?” Max got to the point.

Lou relayed the situation as they crawled through traffic at a snail’s pace. She and Dillon explained how they were sure Vanessa Sturn was their killer, but they had no real reason to do anything but question the woman. Lou detailed what they had uncovered about Marcus Medina’s party, how they had confirmed Timms and Esterhuizen were present along with two as yet unknown males. The men were described only as being major players in the film and or music industries. Both Niko and Max agreed that they had to be next on the killer’s hit list and understood why Lou was asking for help.

“I wouldn’t do this if there was any other way!” Lou told them. “We have two choices at this point, get our mystery men into protective custody or get Vanessa in a box so she can’t go after them.”

“So, you just need probable cause for a warrant that gets you on that estate without warning and a reason to hold Vanessa Sturn.” Max thoroughly understood.

“Exactly.” Lou sighed. “I have faith that our techs in the department will come up with something eventually, but we don’t have time for that.”

“We just made the transition on to the 405, heading west and it looks like a parking lot.” Dillon grumbled. “Surface streets will be just as bad at this time of day, so we are stuck more ways than one.”

“You’ve got about an hour before you get to Thousand Oaks?” Niko asked as he pounded away at computer keys.

“That sounds about right.” Dillon confirmed.

“Let me get Connor and Frank in on this and we’ll see what we can dig up.” Niko told them.

“Detective...” Max was speaking to Lou. “You are not going in there without proper back-up, are you?”

Lou smiled to herself before she answered him. “We’ve got Ventura Sheriff’s standing by.”

“And she’s reviewing the plans we got from Building and Safety while we’re parked here.” Dillon chimed in.

“You are assuming there have been no modifications to the property, Detective Cole.” Max pointed out. “Give me the exact address, please. I’ll send aerial reconnaissance.”

“You can do that?” Lou asked.

“Yes, Detective, I can do that.” Max grinned as he typed out a text to his man at the airport. “Address please?”

Lou recited the address for the estate in Hidden Valley, and Max messaged it off to his pilot. It took only ten seconds for a reply confirming the helicopter would be in the air within the next ten minutes. Max explained that he would have them do a thermal scan of the place before Dillon and Lou got off the freeway. That would be a huge help in knowing how many possible hostiles they were going up against. Max told them he wanted to look into a few more things and would get back to them within the next five minutes. After they had disconnected the call, Max looked at Niko with great concern.

“I’ll grab Frank and head out there.” Niko told him, knowing exactly what he was thinking. “If we take the bikes, we can be there in twenty minutes.”

“Provided you don’t get pulled over for going mach five.” Max frowned.

“Really?” Niko smirked at him. “When was the last time we got pulled over?”

“Never.” Max continued to frown. “Evading the police in a highspeed chase does not qualify as never having been pulled over. They just never caught you!”

“Then you should have all the faith in the world in me!” Niko chuckled and headed for the door. “I’ll see what seeds Connor can plant to get Lou that warrant.”

“Remember, she just needs probable cause.” Max shouted as Niko exited the guest house. “Have comms up so I know what’s going on!” He could hear Niko answering him but wasn’t clear on what he was saying. It didn’t matter; he knew Niko would follow his orders to the letter.

The fact that Timms and Esterhuizen were even remotely connected to Lou’s case bothered Max a great deal. He felt a personal sense of responsibility that one of his people had a hand in things, regardless of what form or context. It didn’t matter that Cameron Timms wasn’t his subject or under his purview, he was still Sanguinostri, blood born at that. Max needed to make things right somehow, and if Lou was right about Vanessa Sturn, he needed to help her any way they could. Even if that meant fudging things a bit in Lou’s favor.

Max hit speed dial for Connor. “What have you found on Lou’s suspect?”

“She is an extremely careful lady.” Connor was still digging. “The property is owned by a shell corporation out of the Caymans and it’s privately held, so I’m having to do a little back-door tap dance to get anything.

“Even if you do there’s no way Lou will be able to use that information legally.” Max sighed. “Does she have any other digital footprint? GpS on her car? Phone? Some way to get her in a particular location that we could dig up a witness placing her there for probably cause?”