Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows)

by Mell Corcoran

  Luna Arcano was a pure bread West Highland Terrier that was extremely well groomed and cared for. A canine that definitely would stand out in a shelter. After an hour and a half of searching shelter sites and phone calls, Lou expanded her search to include Kern and Ventura counties. It was her second call to a Ventura County animal shelter when she hit paydirt. Luna was there and had been brought in by a local resident Saturday morning around 9 a.m. Lou called Vinny immediately and had him send a forensics team to pick up the pooch. She wanted to go with them but her hands were tied until she was officially signed off to go back to work. After calling Vinny, Lou let Jane know that Luna had been found and Jane requested that once they were done she be allowed to take custody. Luna had no doubt been through a horrendous ordeal and Casius Arcano was still missing. The odds of the dog being reunited with her owner were growing slimmer by the minute.

  “You found the dog.” Niko appeared in Lou’s doorway without a sound.

  “Yes. Thank you for scaring the crap out of me.” Lou leaned back in her chair and let her heart settle to a normal pace. All these stealthy people around were going to give her a heart attack.

  “Sorry. I just thought I would check in before I headed to my meet with your friends.” Niko was soaking wet in his faded jeans and heavy black turtleneck sweater. “I helped your mom and Marta haul in the groceries so she is making me a snack for the road. You are so lucky to have her. That woman makes fierce empanadas.”

  “You are such a mooch.” Lou grinned at him. “Where would one store one of these stealth helicopter thingies?”

  “I am not a mooch, I earn my keep. Besides, she offered.” Niko began fixing himself a cup of coffee. “Where do we house our aircraft?”

  “Yeah. I mean, it’s not like a Cessna that you can park at Van Nuys airport right? You need to keep something like that under wraps.” Lou was unsure where to begin looking.

  “Indeed you do.” Niko disappeared into Lou’s bathroom while his coffee was brewing and emerged just a moment later toweling himself off. “Our military grade stuff is kept at Miramar on the West Coast. The commercial grade stuff, that depends. Most of the time the jets are in Burbank or Washington National but they can be anywhere depending on who’s using them.”

  “Miramar?” She considered a moment. “The Marine base down south?”

  “That’s the one.” He retrieved his cup and plopped down in a chair. “As for someone else, a helo of that nature...”

  “Shit!” Lou shot out of her seat.

  “What?” Niko looked concerned.

  “I am so stupid! The damn animal shelter is on, hello, Aviation Drive!” Lou reached for her phone.

  “Camarillo airport.” Niko got the connection. Familiarizing himself with the whole of Los Angeles and Ventura counties had been a priority when they relocated from D.C.. “It’s public for the most part but you’re going to need a warrant and from what you’ve told me so far, you only have a theory.”

  “You are such a party pooper!” She was calling Vinny. This was no coincidence. “You need to go meet with them, Vinny and the new guy that is.

  “Lou, Camarillo might be too obvious. This is a military grade, highly sophisticated and guarded aircraft we are looking at.” Niko watched the excitement drain from her face as she hung up the phone.

  “You’re right.” She was clearly deflated.

  “I personally would look at Point Magu and Port Hueneme.” He got up out of the chair and threw the towel at her. “Use our contacts and have them check to see if any private contractors are covertly using hangar space. I’ll try and steer your guys in that direction if I can.”

  “Military grade vehicle hiding in a military facility.” Lou balled up the towel and tossed it towards the bathroom doorway. “Hiding in plain sight so to speak, but how difficult is it to get permission to fly in and out without being policed?”

  Niko just smiled at her then headed out the door.

  “Brat!” She yelled after him then leaned back in her chair to consider things.

  After pulling up a map and connecting the dots, Lou decided Niko was right. Camarillo airport was too exposed for someone using a supposedly classified aircraft. Whoever cleared out Arcano’s place and took him and the dog were not expecting anyone to figure out they used a stealth helicopter to do so. The shelter and the airport were just off highway 101 which was the main artery that passed Jane and Casius’ community. With finding Luna, all indications pointed to their suspects heading west towards the coast. But was that where they ended up? The helicopter maybe, but Lou had a hunch that they backtracked and ultimately headed inland. It may have been like finding a needle in a haystack but at least they had a trail leading them to the right haystack. Lou knew Niko was right with Hueneme and Magu, she just had to get solid evidence of it. For that matter, they needed to get legitimate evidence of an actual helicopter. It was up to Vinny and Dillon to do that since Lou was still benched for the time being. She said a little prayer that they picked up on Niko’s breadcrumb trail as she logged back in to her computer to find the Sanguinostri contact for Port Hueneme and the Point Magu airbase.

  To Lou’s utter befuddlement there were dozens upon dozens of names associated with Point Magu and Port Hueneme. She squinted hard as if that would make one name surface above all the others in the list. When her phone rang and the caller I.D. listed Frank, Max’s right hand man, Lou looked around and wondered if there was a hidden camera.

  “Why are you calling?” She answered suspiciously.

  “Because you need me.” Frank was grinning, she could hear it.

  “Seriously, how do you know that?” Lou sat up stick straight in her chair.

  “I am kidding, but you must need me because you sound weirded out.” He couldn’t help chuckling. “I am calling to see if your mom wants me to bring anything for dinner tonight but what can I help you with?”

  “Oh.” Lou sighed with relief. “I’ll ask her in a sec. First, I need your help finding an agent that can get me info on a helicopter possibly being stored at Port Hueneme or Point Magu and I have about a hundred names popping on the database here.”

  “I can look that up for you. I can contact them for you too.” She could hear Frank typing away on the other end. “Go ask your mom what she needs while I take care of this. You looking for the MH-X?”

  “Yeah. Niko tell you about this?” She got up and headed to the top of the stairs to yell for her mother.

  “Nah, Max told me. Stand by.” Frank set the phone down and she could hear another phone dialing in the background.

  As requested, Lou muffled the phone and yelled to her mother, asking if she needed anything. When her mother answered in the negative Lou headed back to her room and listened in on Frank’s conversation with some unknown person on the other end. His questions and instructions were far more concise and precise than she would have made them which just reaffirmed how ill equipped she felt she was to be Principate.

  “Our guy will contact you as soon as he has anything. Make note of him for future reference when he does.” Frank relayed the information to her.

  “You are the best.” She felt guilty that he was doing her work. “My mom says she doesn’t need a thing but thank you.

  “OK, hey Lou...” Frank softened his voice. “It’s my job to help you too. Don’t ever hesitate to giving me a shout.”

  “Thanks Frankie.” Lou knew he meant it. “See ya later tonight?”

  “You bet!” He chuckled. “Miss your mom’s Irish stew? Hello? The name’s Francis Patrick Sullivan, thank you very much!”

  “Right, of course. See ya tonight.” Lou grinned and hung up.

  The entire Aegis Council would be convened in a matter of hours at Lou’s for Irish stew, brown bread and the subject of three decapitations. It should have seemed gruesome but it made her happy. No doubt Abby and Caroline would be coming as well and that just made things all the better. Caroline had been Lou’s best friend for several years now but Abby and she
were so much alike that Lou felt equally comfortable around the red-headed spitfire that was Max’s girl Friday. Max would be there too. Lou suddenly felt her heart skip a beat at the thought. The perfectly tailored man just did that to her whenever she thought of him. It was silly how smitten she was, like a school girl. The man had been around for eons and was the grand poobah of the Sanguinostri, as far as she was concerned. He was kind, considerate and extraordinarily tolerant of her but Lou knew she was nowhere on his radar romantically. That was a ridiculous notion. Still, she got up and headed to her closet to find something to wear that might just remind him that she was not just a cop. Maybe, just maybe he would notice.

  Dillon had arranged for them to meet Niko Gattilusio at the Arcano house to discuss the helicopter situation. The rain had been constant throughout the morning and it seemed like it was getting heavier as the day moved on. Dillon opened one of the four garage doors so they could take refuge from the downpour inside. The men introduced themselves and wasted no time getting down to business. Dillon explained his theory and showed Niko the lab reports with the trace results and the full spectrum photos taken by forensics. Niko studied the photographs then headed out of the garage and towards the backyard without a word. Dillon and Vinny followed. When they reached the patio, Niko surveyed the area for several moments, barely phased by the rain.

  “So, there is no neighbor to the east and the one to the west is what? A hundred and seventy-five yards away at least?” Niko looked at Vinny through the waterfall.

  “Yeah, its a good distance to the west. Then the house directly across the street is a football field away too.” Vinny wished he had brought an umbrella.

  “Real easy for an MH-X to get in and out of here without raising any eyebrows.” Niko agreed with Dillon’s theory then walked to the back end of the yard, past the pool to where the infinity fall dropped off. “Real easy to stage a recon team right here too. Totally out of view and shielded.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” Dillon conceded. “It would be ideal to have had someone parked here surveilling Arcano undetected. Wait for him to settle in for the night then call in the big team for the evac.”

  “Right.” Niko nodded. “That’s how I’d do it.”

  “So you think running a stealth helo back and fourth, hauling all his crap out of the house without anyone noticing is actually possible?” Vinny thought it sounded even more ridiculous when he said it aloud.

  “I don’t think it’s possible, I know it is. I’ve done a similar op.” Niko grinned and headed back towards the front of the house.

  When they reached the garage, Niko stood in the doorway and lit a cigarette, still surveying the area.

  “You’ve run an operation like this before?” Vinny wanted to make sure he heard the man correctly.

  “Yeap.” Taking a long draw from his cigarette, Niko turned and looked at Vinny. “Of course I am not at liberty to give you very many specifics. I can tell you that we had a five hour window in which to remove an asset, all her possessions and relocate her without her husband having one trace to follow.”

  “And you pulled it off?” The idea was staggering to Vinny.

  “Of course.” Niko grinned. “However, there was a twelve man security team on premises so there was a little finesse involved. I’ll leave that aspect of the op to your imagination.”

  “Oh gee, thanks.” Vinny combed his sopping hair with his fingers and Dillon laughed.

  “My boss says you boys need a test run to prove you’re theory as well as a report from me to back it up?” Niko asked, even though he already knew the answer.

  “Can you do that?” Vinny blinked several times. “You have one of these helicopters?”

  “I can do that. Yes we have one of these helicopters.” Niko walked out into the rain and smashed his cigarette into the mud.

  Vinny just stared at Niko for a long time, unsure of what to say. The man was a serious bad-ass, of that Vinny was certain. He knew that Lou’s step-father worked with this guy’s boss and that he too was one serious bad-ass. Vinny had no reason to distrust them and actually was curious as to how much of an asset it would be to have them as consultants in the future. It was an interesting proposition indeed.

  “So your window of opportunity is between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. correct? Is that when you said the surveillance cameras went down and the silent alarm was triggered?” Niko looked at Dillon for a response.

  “1:07 a.m. is when the cameras went down but no one noticed until the alarm was triggered at 5:21 a.m.” Dillon gave him the exact times.

  “Most people are asleep by then. Saturday morning people usually sleep later then 7 a.m.” Niko slicked his wet hair back. “It wasn’t raining like this. I would prefer to wait until we can replicate all the conditions but I am sure you guys don’t want to wait for next Saturday.”

  “That’s not an option.” Vinny grumbled. “What are the odds of pulling this off tomorrow night?”

  “You mean Wednesday morning?” It was semantics but Niko got his fun where he could get it.

  “Right, Wednesday morning.” Vinny smirked.

  “Well you have your point A but do you have a point B?” Niko’s stomach growled almost louder than he spoke.

  “Point B?” Vinny was unsure of what Niko meant.

  “Let’s go grab some lunch while we go over logistics. I’m starving here. There’s a deli at the bottom of the hill. I’ll buy.” Without waiting for a response, Niko headed down the driveway leaving Dillon and Vinny staring at each other.

  “I could go for some deli.” Dillon shrugged.

  “Yeah, why not.” Vinny agreed.

  The men followed Niko’s black Range Rover out of the community and into the parking lot of a quaint deli that was in fact at the bottom of the hill. They were quickly seated in a booth far back and out of the way from the rest of the customers. Vinny suspected Niko had requested such a seating arrangement of the hostess when he arrived right before them. Niko sat across from the detectives, needing every inch of the booth given the man’s enormous size. Vinny was sure Niko was pushing three-hundred pounds of solid muscle.

  A bright and shiny young woman came to take their order and to Vinny’s amusement Niko ordered chicken noodle soup with a kreplach.

  “What the hell is that?” Vinny asked.

  “It’s like a giant Jewish ravioli.” Niko picked an analogy he thought Vinny, the Italian, could understand.

  “A big dumpling.” Dillon added. “It’s good.”

  Vinny gave both men an odd look then ordered himself a pastrami on rye and an orange soda. Dillon ordered the same and gave Vinny another shrug when he caught him staring.

  “What? That sounded good.” Dillon handed the menus to the waitress and smiled before she walked off.

  “OK so you were saying point B?” Vinny resumed their conversation where they left off.

  “Yeah, you know the helo landed at the Arcano place but do you have any idea where it originated?” Niko leaned back in the booth and draped his arms out over the backrest.

  “We have no leads on that just yet.” Vinny admitted.

  “Alright, well this is an aircraft that is not found just anywhere. It’s military grade so you might want to look at local military facilities.” Niko shut up long enough for the waitress to drop off their drinks and place a plate of pickles on the table.

  “With that small of a window it would have to be real close.” Dillon continued once the woman was gone again.

  “Right. Figure they had several loads to haul, a dozen or so guys to pack up, so on and so fourth, in the span of four hours.” Niko was hoping Vinny would put it together rather than him naming locations.

  “Only military that I know of within range is Point Magu Naval but we gotta be talking military here for that to be the case.” Vinny scrubbed his face with his hands in frustration. “No way a civilian can go undetected on a military air base running that kind of operation with that kinda aircraft.”

  �
�I wouldn’t bet the farm on that, cowboy.” Niko sat up straight when he saw the waitress approaching with their food.

  “You sound like Lou!” Vinny snorted.

  Niko just smiled as the waitress arranged their plates on the table accordingly and waited for her to depart again. Vinny was right, he did sound like Lou and Niko found that very funny. He liked Lou’s sense of humor a lot.

  “I can do a little digging if you want but it would have to be off the record.” Niko cut into his kreplach with his spoon and noticed Vinny staring at his bowl. “You want to try some? Grab a spoon.”

  “You don’t mind?” Vinny suddenly looked like a little boy, dying to try Niko’s soup.

  “Try it, you’ll be addicted.” Niko grinned and understood in that moment why Lou was so fond of the man. He was a kid in a tough guy, goodfella suit and Niko liked him.

  The men spent the rest of their time together marveling over kreplach and discussing domestic stealth operations. Vinny tried and tried but Niko never revealed the who, where and when of the covert op that he had semi-described earlier. Dillon, for the most part, remained silent throughout lunch. He listened to the two men banter and debate the ins and outs of accomplishing such an operation. It was not lost on Vinny that Niko rarely looked at Dillon, let alone address him directly. When they were finished, Dillon excused himself to go wash his hands while Niko paid the bill and Vinny took the opportunity to ask him about it.

  “You don’t like my partner?” Vinny asked, point blank.

  “What makes you say that?” Niko gave him a sideways glance.

  “Seems like you were avoiding him, like he stank or something.” He wasn’t sure how else to put it but it made Niko laugh.

  “Not at all. You’re the boss, right?” Niko counted out several bills and placed them over the check.

  “Yeah.” Vinny thought about it a moment. “Yeah, I’m the boss.”

  “I deal with bosses.” He scooted out from the booth and gave Vinny a smile. “Force of habit I guess. Rank and file usually don’t have the capacity to get to the point. They have canned responses that they give to civilians until they get permission from the boss. I prefer not to deal with middle men. No offense.”