by R A Wallace
“It was the least I could do. You were the one slaving over a hot grill,” Leslie said with a grin.
“It was worth it,” Callie said as she reached for a ground chicken patty before passing the plate of meat to Ariana. “Do you have time to do some shopping today?”
Ariana looked surprised. “Me?”
Callie smiled. “Yeah. I figured it’s something sisters might do together.”
Leslie looked at Wade and smiled as she passed him the bowl of fruit.
“Um, okay. Sure, sounds good. Are you looking for something in particular?” Ariana pushed the plate of meat toward her parents.
Callie explained the kick-off party for the car show. “It’s tomorrow night.”
“That’s cutting it close,” Wade pointed out.
“I know, but my neighbor says she has something in mind.”
“You could probably use some clothes too,” Wade said to Ariana.
“I won’t have a paycheck yet.” Ariana smiled when everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her.
“You got a job?” Leslie asked. Her eyes held a measure of concern. The last time Ariana had gotten a job hadn’t turned out well.
“At the car show Callie was just talking about. I’m taking tickets.” She made a face. “Not as fun as a party, but it’s a job.”
“It’s a great job,” Wade agreed. “You’ll be in a booth, right?”
“Dad.” Ariana stretched the word out into two syllables.
“Exactly. I’m the dad, it’s my job to worry. If you’re handling money, you need to be safe.”
“Yes, I’ll be in a booth,” Ariana conceded. “There’s lots of security there too.” She shifted her eyes to Callie, but her sister didn’t respond.
“How about you?” Leslie asked Callie. “How was your week?”
Callie filtered through the cases in her mind. “I have another identity theft case involving a child.”
Leslie made a noise of sympathy. “We have to deal with that a lot.”
“I imagine. This one has me puzzled though. I followed the trail to some of the stores where the credit cards were used.”
Wade reached for the salad and added a large mound to his plate. “Why is that confusing?”
“Some of the stores insist on seeing ID whenever anyone uses plastic. They’re saying that everyone had a matching ID.”
Ariana laughed. “It’s easy to get an ID. You can even buy them online. Not that you’d have to. There’s a kid in my school that makes them and sells them in the hallway in between classes.”
Ariana bit into her burger, then realized the others were staring at her. “What?” she asked over a mouthful of food.
“I knew it was easy to get a fake ID,” Callie said. “I didn’t think it was quite that easy.”
Ariana wiped her mouth. “They don’t even have to be good. The kid that makes them at school has a bad printer. It leaves a stripe down the one side.” She rolled her eyes as she took another bite.
***
Callie thought about her shopping trip with Ariana as she pulled into the parking lot of The Regal Pomelo later in the day. They’d been a little stiff with each other at the start of it as they searched for common ground. With seventeen years difference in their ages, it was understandable. But once Callie tried on a few dresses, she was glad that Ariana was with her. Between Ramona and Ariana, they had chosen a dress for Callie that she hoped would work for the party.
It wasn’t something that she would have chosen for herself, and she even resisted trying it on at first. But once she had it on, she realized that they had a much better eye for fashion than she did when it came to evening gowns. She and Ariana had even managed to get some laughs in during their time spent together. It was a start, at least, for the two of them to begin acting like the sisters that they were. Something neither one of them had made the attempt to do in the past.
She had no trouble finding a parking space at the restaurant. Given that it was a Saturday night, that wasn’t a good thing. Ariana asked to see Ginny when she was greeted by the hostess. Her friend came out of the kitchen a few moments later and led Callie to her small office.
“Tell me you figured it out,” Ginny said.
“I did. I don’t know if it’s good news or bad news, though.”
Ginny looked at Callie like she was crazy. “My business is failing. None of it is good news.”
“It’s Mario,” Callie said quietly.
Ginny’s eyes widened with surprise, then narrowed as the anger rose.
“What?”
Callie explained what she had seen with Ginny’s ex-boyfriend and the restaurant reviewer.
“What are you going to do?” Callie asked.
Ginny’s lips thinned. “I’ll think of something.”
Chapter Ten
Callie approached the large airport hangar in her evening dress feeling like an idiot. It wasn’t so much her concern about the dress that Ariana and Ramona had picked out. It was the fact that a party was being held in a hangar. She wondered what her mother had been thinking when she’d planned it. There was no way it was going to be a proper venue for a formal black-tie event.
Her reservations were completely swept away when she walked inside trailing a group of other similarly clad people. She heard the gasps of admiration from the group in front of her before emitting her own as soon as she entered. There were large swaths of fabric elegantly draped from the support beams in the roof above her along with what looked like a million twinkling stars. Rather than emptying the hangar completely of airplanes, several of the more unique planes had been strategically placed around the edges of the massive space along with the tables and chairs necessary for seating a very large crowd.
Callie could see the caterers moving about. She reached for a glass of champagne from a passing waiter as soon as she presented her invitation to the security staff at the front. She stepped further into the hangar and looked around, appreciating the magic that her mother had woven into the structure. There was an area with a large dance floor. A small orchestra was off to one side, already playing background music as conversations floated above the melodious sounds.
“Darling, you made it!” Margaret greeted her daughter with air kisses. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you. Ariana picked it out.”
Margaret’s smile of appreciation widened. “Sounds very sisterly.”
“It was,” Callie agreed. “We had a good time together.”
Callie looked around the large space taking in the sophisticated atmosphere.
“You outdid yourself this time,” she said honestly.
Margaret looked around the structure with assessing eyes.
“It came together nicely,” she said.
“Where’s Elliot?” Callie looked around.
Margaret waved vaguely. “Oh, he’s around. There are so many people that he needs to speak with, of course.”
Callie understood. It was one of the many things that she liked about Elliot. No matter how much money he had, by the end of the event he will have made the attempt to speak with everyone from the richest person in the room to the lowest paid employee.
“Philip,” Margaret called as a man with two women approached them. “Philip, this is my daughter, Callie. Callie, this is Elliot’s very dear friend, Philip Tenley-Mulhern.” Margaret waved to the stunning woman nearly half his age standing next to him. “His wife, Sheree.” Margaret placed her hand on the brunette’s arm. “And their assistant, Tessa Guthrie.”
Callie murmured her greetings.
“Your mother has outdone herself,” Philip commented with a dramatic wave around the room.
“I was just telling her the same thing,” Callie agreed. She assumed he was around Elliot’s age which would put him at sixty or so. His wife was probably closer to Callie’s age.
“I can’t believe they couldn’t be bothered to take the airplanes out,” Sheree said with a disdainful look across the room.
/> Tessa dropped her eyes. “I believe it was meant to be part of the charm,” she said quietly.
“Whatever,” Sheree said with a shrug. The small bag she had over her shoulder began to move.
“Are you here for the full week?” Callie asked as a tiny head popped out of Sheree’s bag. The miniature dog eyed the group around it with interest.
“Oh, yes. We’re looking forward to it, aren’t we?” Philip glanced at his wife to include her in his comment.
Sheree ignored him and began speaking to the miniature dog in a high-pitched crooning voice. Callie watched as a look of derision crossed Tessa’s face at the sound. Sheree produced a treat from another compartment in the bag and fed it to the dog.
“No doubt, a lot of unrelated business deals will be made as they stand around planning which cars they want to bid on at the end of the week,” Margaret said.
“Where are the cars?” Sheree looked around. Her eyes locked onto to something behind Callie. Her lips transformed into a shapely smile.
“They’ll be arriving all week,” a voice said behind Callie.
She didn’t need to turn to know who it was, but she did anyway. Greyson was impeccably dressed. He stopped at Callie’s side and reached his hand out to Philip.
“Greyson Divine.”
Callie heard Sheree make a low noise deep in her throat just before Philip drowned it out with his name.
Margaret performed the rest of the introductions.
Sheree stretched her arm out to clasp Greyson’s hand. Callie noticed the slight tug Greyson made to get his hand back.
“Are you one of the buyers?” Sheree asked with another smile.
“No, I’m part of the security here.” Greyson half-turned to Callie. “Actually, Callie and I are partners. Our firm has been hired to act as security consultants for the duration of the event.”
The smile on Callie’s face froze as she shot Greyson a look.
“Really?” Margaret said with a contented smile. “Callie, you never mentioned that. How nice.”
“It was meant to be a surprise,” Greyson said. “In fact, if you’ll excuse us, we should go meet with the rest of our team.” Greyson motioned with his arm for Callie to precede him.
Callie nodded to the others before walking away. She handed her champagne glass to a passing waiter as Greyson caught up with her and matched her steps.
“What is this all about?” she asked between clenched teeth.
“Just what I said. We’ve been hired as consultants.” Greyson took her elbow and navigated her through the room.
Even in her anger, Callie glanced at the plaques near some of the planes they navigated around. She could tell by the dates given that most of them were antiques. When she had the time, she wouldn’t mind checking them out some more.
She kept the frozen smile on her face until they exited the large open area of the hangar and stepped into a deserted hallway leading to offices in the rear. She pulled her arm free.
“I need more than that.” She stopped moving and crossed her arms as she faced him.
A tall, muscular man appeared at the other end of the hallway.
“We’re ready for you, sir.”
Greyson turned questioning eyes toward Callie.
She dropped her arms, gave him a hard stare, then looked back at the military guy at the end of the hall.
Greyson held out his arm prompting her to begin walking again. She nodded to the military guy as they reached him.
“Callie, this is Julio Rios. He’s part of our team.”
“Ma’am,” Julio said.
“What was your assignment in the military?” she asked curiously.
“That’s classified, ma’am.”
She’d assumed as much. She nodded briefly again, then walked into the office area. There were four others waiting for them. Callie looked around the room. It was filled with high-tech equipment including a wall of monitors. Callie could see that many of them were displaying the guests at the party. She suspected some were trained in other buildings within the airport campus. There were also some that appeared to be rotating among areas. All of the entrances and exits were also covered.
Whoever had hired them had deep pockets. Callie reconsidered her original stance on the idea. She had been ready to dismiss his idea immediately and walk out on him. But now, she straightened her spine and faced the others in the room.
Greyson took control. Callie noted that the others appeared to expect him to. They’d obviously spent some time with him already.
“This is my partner, Callie Indigo.” Greyson pointed to the person closest to him. “Callie, this is Kate Haffner. She’s on loan from a federal agency we’ve been ordered not to identify.”
“Less red tape that way,” Kate said with the hint of a smile. She wore her auburn hair in a tail pulled through the back of a ballcap.
Greyson continued around the room, pointing to the next person. “This is Zach Dubois. He’s one of our IT experts.”
Callie nodded to the young man who embodied a caricature of a nerd. Zach nodded back then dropped his eyes.
“The old man here is Nigel Espley.”
“Pleasure,” Nigel said as he looked at Callie with assessing eyes.
She met his gaze steadily.
“And then, we have Lenora Byers. She can access data no one else knows exists.” Greyson dropped his hand at the end of the introductions.
Callie knew the type. She shared an office with two people who had similar talents. She shifted her gaze back to Greyson to see where he was headed with the meeting next.
“As I mentioned before, Callie and I will be sharing the duties of team leader throughout the week. We’ll be sharing more information with you as we get it. For now, we need everyone to remain vigil for anything that might happen.”
Greyson shifted his focus to Callie. “At the moment, however, we should be getting back to the party. The length of our absence will be noted by your mother, I’m sure.”
Callie looked around the room. “Nice to meet you all.”
She saw several nods of acknowledgement as she led the way back out of the office. They passed others in the hallway, so Callie kept her comments to herself. When they reached the main area, there were a lot more people than when they had left. Several had begun dancing to the music of the orchestra. Greyson looked out at the dance floor then raised his eyebrows at Callie. She nodded her agreement and joined him on the floor.
“I suppose you have a few questions,” he said as he led them around the dance floor.
“You wouldn’t?” She looked up at him. At five seven, she was taller than a lot of women. Though her heels helped, he was still taller.
His eyes glanced around the room as they danced, observing the others in attendance.
“I would, indeed. The thing is, I don’t have a lot of answers,” he said.
Callie thought about the equipment in the room.
“There’s too much money behind this operation for me to believe that,” she argued. “You have a specialized team and a lot of hardware at your disposal.”
“Still, it’s true, I’m afraid.” He glanced down at her. “We’ve gotten intel from reputable sources that something is going to happen at the car show. Whatever it is, we know it’s big. The problem is, we don’t yet know what it is. That’s why we’ve been hired. You and I are supposed to figure it out.”
Chapter Eleven
Greyson stepped down from the large diesel motorhome on the airport grounds Monday morning hours before the Pomelo Cove Classic was scheduled to begin. Although this one had been given to him as a loan during the run of the car show, it hadn’t taken him long to decide he wouldn’t mind having one of his own. He slid into the large all-terrain vehicle and took the long way to his office.
The entrance gates to the airport grounds were already open. The line of vendors attempting to get in and set up their goods for sale was mind boggling. There were people and vehicles everywhere as the vend
ors struggled to find their allotted spaces and begin to unload. Many of their goods were easily recognizable as belonging to cars. Others were the kinds of things that also sold well at such events that drew in large crowds of people who wanted to get out and enjoy the day.
Then, of course, there were the food trucks. He already knew from studying the maps that they would be strategically placed throughout the campus. As time wore on, the chaos began to shift into a more organized melee. The rows between vendors that would allow the visitors to navigate past the various items for sale began to take shape. It would take days to walk up and down all of the rows of vendors and see everything there was to see. In addition to the vendors, there would also be plane rides, helicopter rides, and instructional sessions on various topics throughout the week.
Greyson passed by a row of motorhomes for sale. Curious about the price of one similar to the one he was using, he slowed to read the sales tag. He grimaced and sped back up, now headed for his office. Callie was due to arrive any minute. He wanted to get her up to speed on the phone call he’d received earlier in the morning.
***
Callie pulled into the airport campus and waited in line with dozens of other cars that had also pulled in. More cars quickly pulled in behind her. There were security guards at the entrance and a lot of people wearing orange vests directing the spectators to the parking area in the fields surrounding the airport. The line in front of her followed the hand signals given to them by the orange-vested people and snaked across the field to their allotted spot.
She stopped at the security guard and flashed the ID she’d been given the previous evening. A serious-looking man in a uniform read it closely, then spoke into a mic attached to his jacket. Once he got the response, he waved Callie out of the line and directed her to an area close to the hangar where she and Greyson had an office.
She found him already inside with some of the team when she arrived.
“How did you get through that mess so quickly?” she asked him.
