Chapter Twenty-Three

MIGUEL

Raven and I arrived in Oxnard at five, way before the event, and both eager to get this entire ordeal behind us. I’d made love to him most of the night, so rising at four hadn’t been easy. What sleep we did get was peaceful, swept away with each other’s touch, in the way we’d kissed. When I had to drag myself out of his arms to shut off the alarm on my phone, he’d rolled over and looked up at me with those cobalt blue eyes and that’s the moment, I knew I’d fallen in love with him.

The event center had been set up at the Ventura County Fairgrounds indoor pavilions. When we arrived, Cassidy, Mike, Thayne, and Jarrett were already there along with a huge man with startlingly red-orange hair, freckled skin, and hands the size of frying pans.

“There they are,” Jarrett drawled, stepping forward and shaking our hands. “Miguel Huerta and Raven Mathis, this is the friend we told you about, Mac McCallahan.”

The man held out his huge hand with a ready smile. “Hi.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking. Raven shook too. The guy towered over both of us, dwarfing my six-four by at least three or four more inches.

“Jarrett suggested asking Mac to join us because he’s got lots of tactical training,” Thayne said, stepping forward to shake our hands.

“Nah, it’s just because he’s ex-Special Forces and can kick biker ass,” Jarrett said.

I looked over at the tall man, assessing him. His short buzzcut definitely made him look like a lot of the guys I’d served with in the Corps. “Marine?” I asked.

He smiled. “Army.”

Jarrett clapped the guy on the back, giving him a dimpled grin before turning to me. “Mac here’s a Green Beret and the best damned FBI agent I’ve ever known…a friend to all and loyal to boot.”

Mac smirked. “Thanks, Jarrett. And I can fetch a ball with the best of ‘em.”

I chuckled, looking up at him. “Thanks for coming.”

“Tactical training?” Raven asked, shaking Cassidy and Mike’s hands as they joined us.

“That just means he knows how to get things done, Raven,” I said.

Raven glanced at me. “Kind of like you.”

“Force Recon?” Mac asked.

I nodded.

“Good!” Jarrett said, clapping his hands as he looked at the venue from where we stood in the empty parking lot. “Now that we all know who the fuck we are, let’s get set up.”

I laughed. The guy was funny.

“I figure Jarrett and Thayne should set up somewhere outdoors,” Cassidy said. “Just in case our quarry has friends with him.”

I frowned a bit, turning to look at Jarrett. “You’re a sniper,” I said, making the connection.

Jarrett grinned. “Yeah, but I ain’t takin’ out no Taliban today. Maybe a biker or two. Oof! Hey!” he said, turning to Thayne who’d elbowed him in the ribs.

“You’re not ‘taking out’ anyone. This isn’t the wild, wild West, Jarrett.”

“Okay,” Jarrett said, rubbing his side. “I only meant I’ll be able to see where they’re goin’ through the scope of my rifle…you know…if they somehow manage to leave the buildin’.”

“Hang on,” Raven said. “You keep saying they. Do you really think a hoard of bikers are somehow going to be here? Aren’t we just here to talk to Allcott about whether he knows the whereabouts of his old friend, Howell Junior?”

“That’s all we’re here for,” Cassidy reassured him. “Like I said, we’ll have Jarrett and Thayne take a rooftop position so they can see Allcott coming and going. Hopefully, he won’t be going back to the station handcuffed with us, but if he’s not cooperative and decides to run, there are multiple ways out of these pavilions. We want them covered by someone whose high up and can see the whole parking lot.”

Raven nodded. “That’s good.”

“I think you need to get up on top of one of the pavilions, Jarrett,” Mac said, pointing in the distance. “Thayne can join you on one, and I’ll climb up to the top of the other.”

Not for the first time, I noticed they were all dressed in sand-colored tactical pants, the same washed-out khaki colors as the two domed airplane hangars which doubled as the indoor pavilion spaces themselves. The tops of them were visible in the distance, some ways behind the main fairgrounds building.

“Each pavilion has double front doors and back doors, two on each side and they have side doors which face each other, leading out to an open courtyard where vendors can set up outside as well,” Mike said.

“That’s twelve doors total, six in each pavilion,” I said, frowning. “Obviously, if Allcott’s got a single vendor booth, that means he’ll only have six doors with which to escape if he decides he doesn’t want to talk to us. Do we know where he’s setting up?”

“No, I tried to get hold of the master list of vendor spaces after we talked, but no one at the fairgrounds would answer the phone. I kept getting a recorded message when I called, so it’s a crapshoot and we’ll have to watch all doors,” Cassidy said. “We’ll know soon enough where he’ll be once he arrives, provided he only has a single booth in one pavilion or the other. In some cases, these vendors have a booth in each pavilion, and if that’s the case, we’ll need to have both covered so he can’t slip out without one of us seeing him. That’s why I thought having an extra person here to help would be good.”

“Havin’ the FBI here don’t hurt neither,” Jarrett drawled.

I was beginning to get why I liked these guys so much. They were all former military with the exception of Thayne, Raven, and Mike. It was clear Mike and Thayne had been in situations like this before. As for myself, I’d been on more recon missions than I could count. It seemed Raven was the only one here who didn’t have the experience which was just another reason I knew I had to keep him by my side until this was all over with.

“So, if I understand the situation, Miguel and I will go into the pavilion and look around for this Allcott guy with Cassidy and Mike while the rest of you guys set up outside?” Raven asked.

“I think that’s best,” Cassidy replied. “At least until we spot him going in. If we miss him in a crowd, well, we’ll have to go inside for our little talk. If our luck holds, Allcott will be cooperative, and he’ll give up Howell’s location without a problem. If not, well, we’ll be prepared.”

“Prepared to do what, exactly?” Raven asked. “It’s not like we’re the Wild Bunch and we can just go in and kidnap him and torture him for information.” He laughed.

The rest of us simply exchanged glances. No one said a thing.

“Oh, my God!” Raven said. “You’re kidding.”

“Did I mention Mac Mac Mac is also CIA?” Jarrett said, grinning widely.

“All right, that’s enough,” Cassidy said. “No one is going to torture Allcott, Jarrett. Like Raven said, all we’re here for is a fishing expedition.”

“No one brings sniper rifles to fuckin’ fishin’ expeditions,” Jarrett muttered under his breath. I noticed how fast the white-haired man hopped away from Thayne, covering his ribs, so he couldn’t land another elbow.

“Is everyone armed?” I asked. I’d never gone into a situation armed with only pepper spray and a Taser and I had to admit, I felt really naked.

“We’re all armed,” Mike said as the others nodded. “We’re law enforcement, Miguel. We have to be.”

“Okay.” I’d been a civilian for a long time. I guess I didn’t have a lot of choice here. When I glanced over at Raven, his eyes were bright. He offered me a small smile and a tiny nod of reassurance that I’d be fine. He knew my very first instinct was going to be to protect him if anything went wrong here. I blew out a long breath, trying to calm my racing heart. We were here to talk to a guy. That’s all this was.

We all turned when we saw a huge, white panel truck pull into the lot and park. The side of it said, “ Cassie’s Classic Clowns .” It had pictures of clown faces all over it. I had no idea what clowns had to do with antiques, but I figured a lot of these shows had vendors selling stuff that had nothing to do with what people came there looking for.

“Okay,” Cassidy said, gesturing to Jarrett and Thayne, “you guys had better set up with McCallahan. It’s getting light and vendors are starting to arrive. You’re not going to get another chance to climb up on top of those pavilions without being seen. Oh, here, you’ll need these.” Cassidy reached into a deep pocket in his tac pants and pulled out a long box. Inside, multiple pairs of military-grade earwigs lay on foam. He handed a pair to each of us, and I watched Raven insert his, just to make sure he knew how. I smiled at him after he’d done it and got a brilliant smile in return. My heart did a flip-flop.

“Let’s go,” Jarrett said, putting an arm around his husband. The two of them walked off with Mac following close behind. It took them a minute to cross the parking lot and then unsurprisingly, they ignored the locked main fairgrounds entrance building. Instead, they walked up to a tall, slatted metal gate and slid Jarrett’s sniper rifle in its bag through it before scaling it and dropping down on the other side. Jarrett turned, grinned widely at us through the slats, saluted, and waved like an idiot before Thayne pulled him away.

I chuckled. I had to admit, I really liked the whole team Cassidy and Mike had assembled. The three men walked away, headed toward the hangars, out of sight of the parking lot. The whole thing took less than a minute.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Jarrett is a mascot for Cassie’s Clowns,” Cassidy said, laughing as he turned back to the rest of us.

“Where should we wait?” Raven asked. I could hear nervousness in his voice and had the overwhelming urge to take his hand and reassure him.

Mike pointed. “We can wait in there. We brought the cruiser and parked in the law enforcement section.”

I noticed the parked black and white at the front of the building. “I didn’t realize the fairgrounds have a section of the parking lot reserved for officers.”

“Only when they have events,” Cassidy said. “You’ve never been to the Ventura County Fair?”

“I have,” Raven said, grinning. He looked so beautiful in the dawning light of day; it took my breath away. When I glanced back at Cassidy and Mike, I could see that they’d recognized the look I gave him and oddly enough, I didn’t care if they knew Raven was mine. I figured they already knew. I was crazy about him, and I wanted to shout my feelings to the whole world.

By six, the parking lot was busy with vendors who were unpacking their crates and boxes filled with whatever treasures they’d be selling. While we’d waited, Cassidy had run a description of Allcott’s vehicle and had been checking every van, car, and truck that had driven onto the lot. He’d relayed it to the others who’d managed to climb the roofs of the pavilions, somehow without any visible climbing gear, at least I hadn’t noticed any bulges in the baggy camouflage jackets they all wore. These guys were good.

Allcott drove a blue Dodge van—the old, big, boxy type—and we’d been watching for it as well as checking out everyone who walked across to the vendor and fairground entrances, both of which we could see from our vantage point.

At six-thirty, we decided it best to get out of the cruiser and fan out across the front of the building. Since we were all dressed casually, we blended well with the crowd. Raven and I took up positions farthest away from the security officers checking vendor badges and tickets and waited. We were separated by about seventy-five feet, but we could still see each other. Cassidy and Mike were positioned at an equal interval between us, leaving no more than twenty-five feet between any one of us.

When I looked up toward the pavilions themselves, I caught sight of Jarrett’s snow-white head only once. I did wonder how they got this sanctioned and coordinated but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He must have been lying on his belly along with the others because I hadn’t been able to spot either Mac or Thayne.

The event started at eight and by seven forty-five, I was growing very anxious. “No one’s seen this guy?” I asked.

“Negative,” came the responses from everyone in the earwigs.

“This metal roof sucks,” Jarrett drawled. “My balls are icicles.”

I chuckled.

“He must have gotten past us,” Mike grumbled. “It takes time to set up a booth. My daughter sells candles at these things, and it takes her a good hour and a half to wheel her crates in and unpack to set up her tables.”

“Fuck,” Thayne said. “I can see the whole fairgrounds from where I’m at, though. Good call on having us take a position up high, Cassidy.”

“Still haven’t seen anyone matching Allcott’s description enter the East pavilion,” McCallahan said.

“Same here with the West pavilion,” Jarrett drawled.

“Could we have missed him somehow?” Raven asked.

I glanced in his direction and noticed him lift his hands in a “where is he?” gesture.

I shook my head. “Don’t know. Maybe we got this all wrong and Allcott isn’t going to be here,” I said in the earwig. “Fuck!” I watched Cassidy shake his head.

“Stay on task, Marine. This is our best chance,” Cassidy said in a commanding voice. He sounded like my lieutenant.

I nodded back to him. “Will do, SEAL.”

By eight, the general public began pouring into the fairgrounds as attendants in bright orange vests waved cars into parking spaces.

“Let’s go inside,” Mike said in the earwig. “We missed him somehow.”

I glanced at him, standing some fifty feet away from me and nodded. “Let’s go.”

“You keep watching from height,” Cassidy said. Affirmatives from the three men on the roofs came back as the rest of us began walking toward each other, gathering at the front entrance.

“We need to buy tickets to get in,” Mike pointed out. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“We should flash our badges at the vendor entrance,” Cassidy said. “They’ll let us in.”

I walked up to him, reaching into my shirt and pulling out my bounty hunter badge, which hung on a chain. “Do I need to show this to get in?” I glanced at Raven who had a badge in his wallet on display.

Cassidy smiled. “That’ll work. These security guys won’t know the difference if Mike and I go first.” I nodded and the four of us walked up to one of the security guys at the vendor gate.

“LAPD,” Cassidy announced.

“Go ahead,” the guy said, waving him through. He did the same with the rest of us.

“We’re in, guys,” Cassidy said in the earwigs. “Now, to find Allcott.”

“Got you in my sights,” Jarrett’s voice said. It was a comforting thought to me, but when I looked over at Raven, his expression was anything but calm. Instead, he looked pale.

“Are you okay, Raven?”

He turned and frowned at me, nodding rapidly. “I’m fine.”

I nodded back, unable to be anything but nervous for him. He was only now recovering from a gunshot. I thought back to the night before when he rode me in the dark and forced myself to relax. He’d have to be okay. We were finally close to the end of this bullshit.

We walked through the fairgrounds toward the hangars. When we got there, we stepped out of the flow of traffic. There had to be a thousand people or more on the grounds. I’d never stopped to think about how many people in southern California would be bargain basement antique buyers.

“We have to split up,” Raven said.

I hated the idea of leaving his side for even one minute, but I reminded myself we were only here to talk to one guy. How dangerous could that be? Really damned dangerous, if the luck I’d been having recently was anything to go by. Besides, perched on the roofs above us, I knew three more capable men were there to back us up if any trouble happened. I nodded. “Okay then. Let’s each take a front and a back door of one of the pavilions.”

“Okay,” Cassidy said.

We split up. Raven and I walked to the East pavilion and Cassidy and Mike to the West. I watched as Mike disappeared around the building to take up position at the back before glancing at Raven. “I’ll take the rear entrance.”

“See you soon,” he said, smiling at me. His smile seemed forced, but I took a deep breath and walked away from him. It wasn’t easy.

The pavilion was huge, and it took me more than a minute to go to the back of the building. The traffic entering the rear double doors wasn’t as heavy, but people were still holding the doors open for each other as they went inside.

“In position,” Mike said in the earwig.

“In position,” I echoed back.

“I’m ready,” Raven’s voice said in my ear. I felt relief wash over me.

“Let’s find Allcott,” Cassidy said.

I walked through the double doors, nodded at the portly security woman standing at the entrance, and flashed her my best smile.

“Have a good day, sir.”

“Will do.”

I really hoped I would.