Chapter Sixteen
Park
Mid-Morning
W hen Riley arrived, the team was already there, and they were beginning to pull evidence and snap pictures of the man on the bench. The ME was already on his knees, beside the body. The only person who wasn’t there was Riley’s partner.
Clearly, he was taking the day off.
The slacker.
“Doctor Stone, what do we have?” Riley asked, pulling on his gloves so he could help dig through the man’s pockets to find anything to help them.
“Our victim took one to the heart via ribcage. It looks like a shank, and it was a one-shot kill. That takes skill. He knew what he was doing.
“Well, that’s just great. Have you heard from my partner?” he asked.
Doctor Jameson Stone glanced over. “No, Detective. You’re first on scene. I haven’t seen Lester in a couple days.”
For some reason, this wasn’t sitting right with him. Lester was the kind of guy who came to work with the flu, and then promptly infected everyone around him.
He didn’t do sick days.
Riley was getting worried, so he sent his partner a text, asking where he was.
Nothing.
Well, it looked like he was doing this one on his own.
Riley slipped his phone back into his pocket and got down to business. “Do we have any ID on this one?” he asked.
“Getting there, Detective. I’m just about to check his body as soon as the techs finish pictures.”
That worked for him. While the man was working, he opted to ask about the other ‘unofficial’ case.
“Hey, Doc, did we have any more Jane Does come in?”
The man looked over.
“Actually, yeah, we did. How did you know?” he asked.
Riley laughed. “It’s Vegas. I figured it was a given. Do you have any details on her?”
The man worked on the dead man’s liver temperature, but still pulled his phone out. “You can find her picture on there. I was about to send it over to the precinct when I got the call.”
He flipped through the files.
That’s when he saw her.
Well, shit!
“Can you send me this picture?” he asked.
“Do you know her ID?”
“Yeah, I know who she is. She’s tied to a case I’m working,” he said. “Her name is Julie Pierce. She’s a minor,” he offered.
“That’s horrible,” Stone stated. “As for the picture, I can do that as soon as I’m done,” he said, slipping the dead man’s wallet out of his pocket when they laid him flat.
He was still flexible. Rigor hadn’t set in, so the man hadn’t been dead too long.
“He’s got ID on him,” Doctor Stone said, holding the driver’s license between his fingers.
“Name?” Riley asked, pulling out his phone to make note of it so he could do research for next of kin.
“We have an Anthony John Delmarco, age forty. It looks like it could be a fake, but that’s a start.”
At the name, he had Riley’s full attention.
“What?”
He repeated it.
Riley just stared at him.
“Uh, are you okay, Detective?” the city ME asked.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
But he wasn’t. This was going to be interesting.
They had Julie’s body, and now Anthony Delmarco had turned up dead too.
That posed one HUGE question.
Was the killer, the Crofts were chasing, cleaning up any loose ends?
He didn’t think this was a coincidence. Julie turned up last night, and now the sex trafficking mule is sitting on a park bench from a shank wound.
Yeah, definitely not a coincidence.
“I have to go,” Riley said, taking a picture of the man’s ID. I’m going to need everything you have on this case ASAP,” he said, as he was backing away.
“Sure thing, Detective,” he offered, watching him leave.
The whole team watched him tear out of there in a hurry.
Stone focused on the dead.
“Let’s bag him up. Our cooler is going to be full,” he said, pulling off his gloves.
It was just another day in Vegas.
Unfortunately.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Aquarius
When they walked in, the place already had a good deal of customers, enjoying their day.
Marissa was also there, doing her thing. For a moment, Dimitri just watched her. He’d had a rough night, thinking about the kiss they’d shared on his couch.
The entire time, he wanted to head to that tiny apartment, wake her up, and spend time with her.
He wanted to forget, and he figured she could help him.
Then he stopped himself.
Dimitri was out of control.
He was hoping for things that he couldn’t have, and he was daydreaming about thing that could never be.
Her.
Him.
Together.
Still…
He desperately craved that connection, and she seemed to get past his walls. He was still reeling from that kiss, and he didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
As he leaned against the wall, he could see her handling some of the customers.
She was a natural.
Maybe that was what he loved best about her.
Marissa knew how to work a room. She was wearing a short skirt, high heels, and a smile. The patrons responded to that.
And so did he.
His heart thumped in his chest the second he saw her turn. She smiled at him, and the world went all screwy around him.
“You have it bad,” Greyson said, coming up next to him. “Just have sex with her already.”
“Oh, okay, give me ten minutes. I’ll clear this table.”
Croft laughed.
“I can’t just walk up to her, throw her over my shoulder, and take her in the back room. I’m not you.”
Greyson gave him a fist bump. “Good one. That is my style. Don’t knock it. My kitten likes me this way.”
Dimitri wanted that. Not Emma, per say, but a woman who liked him the way he was.
Dark.
Damaged.
Broken.
Yeah, that was a tough mix, and he knew it.
“Just make a move and see how she reacts. You already spent some lip time, see what else she’s up for and go from there,” Greyson said.
“It’s weird getting sex advice from you.”
Greyson shrugged. “Why? I’m married and have a pretty eventful sex life. I should be the first person you ask. Think of me like that idolized big brother. I am older.”
He had a point.
Dimitri would have to think about it.
Before he could mull it around in his head more, she was heading their way.
“Mr. Gideon, Mr. Croft, can I get you something?” Marissa asked, as she smiled at a patron.
“Yeah, coffee, and we’ll be in the security room. We want to run yesterday’s security discs.”
She smiled. “I’ll bring it right back for you.”
Then, she lowered her voice.
“Did you find Julie?” she asked.
They both shook their heads.
The smile disappeared, and Marissa looked like she was going to cry.
“We’re still working it. It’s been less than three days, Marissa. Have hope,” Greyson offered, trying to help the girl out.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll do my job, and you do yours,” she stated.
Then she headed away.
Dimitri knew one thing.
She belonged there. When she walked around, the whole place came alive. The customers loved her, the staff respected her, and he wanted her based on her legs and how freaking long they were.
Dimitri wanted them around his hips in the worst way. Immediately, the fantasy played out, and his body reacted.
God!
He was so damn hard.
“You’re staring. It’s creepy.”
He snapped out of it.
“Yeah, I have to do something about this tension,” he muttered. It was true. Dimitri was stirred up, and if he didn’t alleviate the stress, bad things would happen.
He’d be crankier than he already was.
As they were walking back to the private office, Greyson’s phone rang.
“Yes?” he asked, recognizing the number. “What’s up?”
“Greyson, It’s Riley. I need to see you ASAP. We have an issue that you’re going to want to know about,” he stated.
He could hear it in his voice.
“Okay, Riley, we’re at ‘Aquarius’. Have Marissa bring you to security.”
The phone went dead.
Greyson simply stared at it.
“What was that?” Dimitri asked.
“The detective is stirred up about something, and that makes me nervous.”
Dimitri got that.
If it pertained to a cop, it was never good. Vegas, if anything, was predictable.
“I can’t wait to see about what,” Dimitri stated, as they headed back to the private room and then the door inside that was rarely accessed.
Once Dimitri entered the code, Greyson whistled.
“You have some security here.”
He was aware.
When you did business out of a place, you had to make sure you weren’t going to have anyone interfere with it. You also had to make sure that the cops couldn’t get you trapped with any kind of electronic listening devices.
‘Aquarius’ wasn’t just secured, it was Pentagon secured—or so he hoped.
“Let’s see what we have,” Dimitri said, rewinding the DVR to the point where they arrived the day before. Both men sat side by side, as the footage was brought up on the screens.
“Here we go,” Dimitri stated.
On one of the screens, they saw themselves entering the bar, and walking past the tables.
The man hadn’t been there.
Then they entered Dimitri’s ‘office’ space and it went black.
It wasn’t recorded.
“I don’t have a camera back there,” he said, as if reading his mind. “There is audio on a separate system.”
Instead of focusing on that camera, they watched the ones outside of the bar and the main room.
Sure enough, not long after they disappeared into that room, they had company.
As they went through the door, the man in question entered the building. He flirted with Marie, and then took a seat with his back to the wall so he could face the room.
“He’s watching,” Croft said.
Yeah, he was, and that pissed Dimitri off.
They kept watching the footage. The man ordered coffee, and then drank it wearing leather gloves.
“He knew you might run this footage,” Greyson said. “He didn’t want to be tagged here. We can’t see his face, and he’s leaving no fingerprints.”
Yeah, he was sneaky.
Just like him…
They continued to watch. It seemed so innocent. He talked to Marie, and laughed along with her.
“Is she working?” Greyson asked.
“Yes, she’s on the floor waitressing today. I bumped her off hostess for Marissa.”
“We need to talk to her. Maybe he said something that will stick out in her mind, and we will have a lead.”
Dimitri knew if it were him, he would only tell the woman what he wanted her to hear. He clearly was expecting them to seek him out. His back was turned, and he wasn’t leaving prints.
No.
This man, likely his brother, would play it safe.
Still, they had to give it a shot, and Marie was their best chance at this point.
They needed something. If his brother was buying women, and he was connected to the people running the sex traffic ring, he had to get to him.
And fast.
He called out to the hostess stand. “Send Marie to my office,” he asked.
Then he hung up.
They continued watching him, and as soon as Dimitri walked out of the back room, on the recording, the man stood, and bumped into him.
Immediately, Dimitri stood up.
Shit!
He saw it.
Dimitri knew what the hell had just happened. He was wearing the same suit jacket that he had been the day before. Looking down, he ran his hands over every part of the fabric.
That’s when he found it.
Greyson stared at the tiny little chip.
‘It’s a tracker,’ he mouthed. ‘He bugged you.’
Oh, he was aware, and not happy at all.
Now he had to worry about what he’d possibly compromised. Normally, he didn’t wear his suit jacket in the house, but he did leave it over a chair.
Had he blown this?
Had he compromised his own family?
He was pissed.
Dimitri dropped the little bug onto the desk. He wasn’t sure if it had audio capabilities. Looking around, he saw a way to contain it. He grabbed the glass holding pencils, dumped it out, and then covered it.
“He placed that on me.”
“He’s following you,” Greyson stated, “and he’s apparently good at his job.”
“I didn’t expect the bug, so I never looked for it,” Dimitri stated. “I’m sorry.”
Greyson patted him on the back. “Hey! You didn’t know. This isn’t on you.”
Wasn’t it?
He’d been so tied up in knots over the woman working there, that he’d missed being bugged. That wasn’t like him.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to leave it here. He can think I’m working all day.”
Marissa knocked, and came in, carrying two coffees. “Marie is in there waiting for you. Can I get you anything else?” she asked. “Maybe something to eat?”
Greyson noticed she wasn’t talking about food, and she was trying extra hard to rub against his friend.
Dimitri didn’t seem to notice.
“No, thank you,” Dimitri said. “I’m not hungry.”
“Okay, sorry.”
Marissa headed out, and Greyson stared at him.
“Dude, you realize the WORST way to get into a lady’s panties is by getting cranky and missing the obvious.”
He looked over. “What are you talking about?”
“She wasn’t talking about food, and she leaned over and gave you a clear shot down her shirt. Meanwhile, you’re staring at a bug.”
“Did she?” he asked.
That only made him angrier.
“What’s wrong now?” Greyson asked. “You’re red.”
“She rubs me the wrong way,” he muttered. “When she’s around, I’m off my damn game.”
Yeah, he was aware.
How could a man, who hired hookers to get laid, miss that a gorgeous woman was willing to fill that gap every time she saw him?
His friend needed to chill out.
“If you smiled at her, she’d probably just rub you—again,” he teased.
He stared at him. “Gee, thanks, Dad. On your way home from work, can you stop and buy me condoms too? Go with extra-large.”
Greyson laughed and sipped his coffee. “That’s my boy.”
Now Dimitri laughed, and he needed it.
“I can’t focus on her right now. I was bugged in my own business, and by a man the FBI thinks is my brother.”
Greyson got it.
Only, he knew the truth. Dimitri was hiding. He was afraid to just admit he really felt something for Marissa, but this was his life, and Greyson wouldn’t push him.
“Do you have him on security leaving?”
He hit a few keys to change the angle of the cameras. On them, they saw him.
“That’s about it. I can tag him out of the building and just out the front door. He disappeared into the people staying at this hotel.”
That made Greyson think. He needed to make a call.
“What if he’s staying here?” he suddenly asked.
Dimitri wasn’t sure. “If he’s staying here, how is he killing the women? There’s no way he could carry one inside and not be noticed.”
Still, that worried him.
Greyson pulled out his phone and called his hotel’s front desk.
“François, this is Greyson Croft.”
There was a pause, and then the man realized no one was playing a joke on him.
“Sir! What can I do for you?” he asked. “Your brother and his fiancé have arrived at the penthouse. Do you need them?” he asked.
Greyson genuinely liked this man. He was an excellent manager.
“I have an odd question.”
Dimitri didn’t speak as he listened.
“Yes, sir?”
“Has anyone who looks like Mr. Gideon tried to stay at the hotel, or maybe booked a room?”
“I can ask, sir.”
“He’d also have a Russian accent.”
“I don’t have one,” Dimitri stated.
Greyson stared at him. “Yes, check, please, I’ll hold,” he stated, waiting for the man to come back.
“You absolutely do.”
“I don’t.”
“Say ‘I hate moose and squirrel’.”
He said it.
Greyson laughed his ass off.
Dimitri didn’t get it.
“You’re right. No accent,” Croft said, wiping his eyes. He couldn’t believe the man didn’t get the Rocky and Bullwinkle reference. He’d been waiting to use that one for the longest time.
“Are you feeling okay?” Dimitri asked.
“Yeah, sorry, I was having a moment,” he said, laughing even more.
“Do I have to Google Moose and Squirrel?” he asked.
Greyson was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. “I’ll explain later,” he offered, almost unable to speak.
At that moment. François came back on the line.
Dimitri handled it.
“Mr. Croft, we don’t have anyone who matches that description, or with a Russian accent.”
“Thank you, François,” Dimitri offered. “Mr. Croft was detained. Keep an eye out for anyone who looks similar to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dimitri hung up. “Okay, so the hotel is safe.”
Greyson nodded. “We covered our bases, and that’s going to matter. We can’t risk anything. This is going to suck,” Croft said.
At least they were on the same page.
“Let’s talk to Marie,” Dimitri offered.
Together, they headed into the room to talk to the woman who might be able to give them something on Viktor Marchenko.
As they sat, she looked nervous.
“What did I do?”
Dimitri patted her on the arm. “Nothing. We just need to talk to you about a customer yesterday.”
She swallowed. “Okay, who?”
He pulled up the security footage on his phone.
“Do you recall him being in?”
She nodded. “Yes, he said his name was…Viktor. He was Russian. I asked if he knew you, you know…since you are too.”
“And he said?”
“He said you two went way back. That you and he were from the same town.”
“Did he say where?”
“Dirbent?”
Dimitri sat back. To his knowledge, no one knew where he was from. No one. The KGB, when they recruited his father, and took him into the military for his tour, didn’t disclose locations. If he knew where he was from, that only reason would be because he was from there too.
Shit!
This probably was his brother, and Dimitri had to face the cold hard facts. His father had more kids out there.
“Tell us everything he said,” Greyson offered.
Marie could do that.
“He said you both grew up on the coast, and that he and his mother would wait for your father to come home, but he never did. Then he’d learned the truth. Someone killed him. He said that broke his mother’s heart and his. He loved his father a lot as a boy.”
Dimitri’s cheek ticked.
Yeah, he’d killed him after he caught him raping Katerina. His father was a monster, and if Viktor loved him, then chances were he was a monster too.
This was on him.
“What else did he say?” Greyson asked.
“That he was in town to catch a few sights, handle some business, and maybe pick up a sexy woman or three.”
Dimitri wanted to warn her, but he couldn’t. If he did, and Marie freaked if he came back in, Viktor might kill her.
Dimitri had to protect his people.
‘Aquarius’ was their home too.
“Did he say anything else?” Dimitri asked.
“Yeah, that he was looking forward to your reunion. That you both had some things to settle, and that going back home would be that much sweeter.”
“Is that all?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry you missed him. He has your eyes.”
Yeah, he was aware.
“Thank you, Marie.”
She headed out.
For a full minute, Dimitri said nothing as he weighed all of his options.
That’s when he dropped the bomb.
“He’s gunning for me,” Dimitri stated. “I have to pull my sisters and get out of here.”
Greyson stopped him. “Then we’re all going.”
He was horrified.
“No. You don’t get it, Greyson. If he knew my father, and he’s so enamored by the man, he’ll be just like him. I don’t doubt that the FBI is right. He’s the one buying women, raping and killing them. That was my father’s style and it’s now his.”
Greyson didn’t care.
“If you leave, we all leave. You’re our family. We can’t let you just run, Dimitri. Not alone. We stand together.”
He felt panicky.
Sick.
Ill.
There was so much on the line, and he didn’t even know where to start. In the back of his mind, he knew he could go back to his roots, digging among the seedier side of Vegas for answers, but it would cost him.
He knew the price.
“We can do this together,” Croft promised. “We can find and fight him.”
Dimitri didn’t know if he bought that or not. If he was like him, like their father, he’d been trained to be a ghost.
The same skills Dimitri taught Natasha to blend in and disappear were going to be their biggest issue. He’d hide in plain sight.
Dimitri weighed his options.
Run.
Buy some help.
Stay and fight.
NONE of them sounded good to him.
Still, he wanted to trust the people he’d come to love. They were his family, and he wanted Greyson to be right.
“If he tagged you with a tracker, chances are he can’t keep his eyes on you long term. We all know you’re good at evading, and he’s struggling. So, you go out the back, and head home. You’re safe there.”
“My sisters…”
Greyson stopped him.
“We’ll get them home.”
At that moment, Riley walked in and he was all kinds of stirred up.
“We have a problem.”
Yeah, of course they had another one. Why not pile on the shit right as the storm began?
He dropped his phone onto the table for them to see the pictures. “Julie turned up, and I also found Anthony Delmarco.”
“Where?”
“Our morgue.”
He told them about the killings, and Riley showed him the pictures. It was definitely Julie.
“She’s going to need someone.”
Greyson had an idea.
This might actually work. He needed Dimitri to go under for a bit, and Marissa was going to need someone to comfort her.
Perfect.
“This is what I want you to do, Dimitri. Cut out of here with Marissa, and take her home. It will get you out of the scope of your brother, and we can work this.”
“Grey.”
“Dimitri, please. I’m fine. I don’t have anyone gunning for me like you do right now. This is huge. If you go down, we all go down. This asshole brother of yours could destroy us all. In order to be safe, we have to keep you safe. If the commissioner or Christ see you fall, they will come right at me and Emma. They’re afraid of you.”
He had a point.
“What’s going on?” Riley asked.
They trusted him enough and told him everything. They explained that the man was definitely his brother and what he’d told Marie. While the FBI suspected, they pretty much had confirmation directly from the man.
Riley offered to help them.
“Greyson is right. Get undercover. I’ll go get Kat and Natasha. I’ll bring them home. If a cop does it, he might be caught off guard.”
Dimitri relaxed. “I want them in the house and not leaving. We’ll have to run security with me alone.”
Greyson had news for him.
“Once Emma finds this out, you’re not going out. I can guarantee it. You’re on lockdown, too, until we catch this asshole.”
Dimitri wanted to weep and rage.
“Take her home, tell her, and help her,” Greyson stated.
Riley sent him the picture. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll go get Kat and Natasha.”
“I can call them.”
“Don’t,” Greyson stated. “We need him to be caught off guard. If he sees them bailing, he might suspect something.”
He got it.
“What’s the address?” Riley asked.
Greyson told him where the Lamaze center was. “As soon as Natasha sees you, she’ll follow you home. She’s going to blend in, and he probably won’t see her.”
That worked for Riley.
Now it was Dimitri’s turn to disappear.
“Head out. I have your back,” he said.
Dimitri was going to trust his family. He had to. They were all he had. For his sisters, he’d do anything.
“Okay. I’ll take her home.”
That was exactly what Greyson needed to hear.
“Stay under. Emma is on her way here with Chris. We’ll regroup, and I’ll call you to update you.”
He put his hand on Greyson’s shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do…”
He got it.
“No need, brother. No need.”
Dimitri hugged him.
Greyson was shocked. The man didn’t do sentiment and this was beyond moving. He held him.
“We will be okay,” he whispered.
Dimitri prayed he was right.
“I’ll grab her, and I’ll get her back to that apartment,” Dimitri offered.
“Be safe, and if you need me…”
“I know.”
Dimitri pulled off his suit jacket, and left it there. He wasn’t taking any chances. They found one bug, but that jacket could be compromised further. He didn’t have time to pull it apart to find out.
“Greyson, if anything happens to me…” He stopped at the door, unsure how to ask this. “If I go down, please take care of my sisters.”
“OUR sisters.”
Dimitri stared into his eyes. “Thank you, my friend.”
And with that, Dimitri headed out.
Riley whistled when he was gone. “Vegas is about to go nuclear,” he warned.
Yeah, Croft was well aware.
“We have a mess,” he said to Riley. “You may want to distance yourself from us. If he goes down, we all go down,” he stated.
Riley shook his head. “I’m in, Greyson. I have dead women who shouldn’t be, and a shanked scumbag. I’m not backing down. We’ll get through this. I signed on to fight this kind of bullshit, and I’m not giving up. Not now.”
Croft knew how lucky they’d been getting Riley on their side.
“Get to Kat and Nat,” he said, rolling his neck. The popping of bones showed how tense he was.
“On it. I’ll call you.”
Greyson watched him leave.
In the meantime, he got down to work. He was going to study the enemy.
Like he used to...
When he killed for a living.
Dimitri took Marissa out the back door of the club, through the hotel, and to the owner’s parking lot. He got her into the spare ride he kept there, and they were on their way.
The entire time, she was asking a million questions, and he refused to answer them.
Finally, in the car, he pulled a spare gun from beneath the seat and tucked it into the back of his pants.
Just in case.
It freaked Marissa out.
“What’s going on, Mr. Gideon?”
“I have news. I’ll tell you when I get you home,” he stated, heading out in the sunlight.
“Is it bad?” she asked.
He glanced over and weighed his options. Did he pretend or did he lie?
Then he thought about the mess he was facing. Lies wouldn’t make it better. She deserved the truth.
“Yes, Marissa, it’s bad.”
She stared at him with tears in her eyes.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, reaching over to take her hand. “We have you. I have you. I’ll make sure you’re okay.”
In her heart, she knew what was coming.
Still, she closed her eyes, and prayed.
For her sister.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Across Vegas
Sitting in the sunlight, he enjoyed the breeze on his face. Honestly, Viktor enjoyed his life. He could come and go as he pleased, he could buy women to use their bodies as he wanted, and he could kill.
That was his favorite part.
As he sat in the empty office across from his intended target, his scope in hand, he began constructing his gun.
It was his favorite.
Why?
It was said his brother used the same, and so did his father when he’d worked for the KGB.
So, he cherished it, the last tie to the man who created him out of love with his mother. He cleaned it meticulously, just like he imagined his father would do with his weapons.
He polished it.
He loved it.
He used it as an extension of himself.
Like this gun, he was a weapon, and he was ready to begin his revenge.
It had been a long time coming, and once he found his target, his voyage to retribution and peace would begin.
He craved that, and Viktor would have it.
Now, it was about waiting to take that perfect shot. Oh, this was going to be the best day in his life. From the moment that he knew his father was murdered by his own son, his brother, he’d begun plotting, training, and implementing his plan.
He was going to make Maximillian pay.
He was going to make him bleed.
He was going to take the killer down with a well-placed shot.
This revenge was going to be served by his hand, for their father. He’d given them life, and he deserved the honor, glory, and revenge.
This was about Cain and Abel, and he was going to smite his brother in the field of battle.
Killer versus killer.
Man versus man.
Blood versus blood.
In the end, he would be the only one standing, and he would prove to the world who had been the best son.
As he got into position, he placed the gun on the stand, and he stared through the scope.
He was going to make it count.
“Well, Brother. It looks like it’s about time. Welcome to Hell. I’ve been expecting you.”
And with that, he got ready to take the shot.