Chapter Nine
MIGUEL
I parked the truck in the huge lot behind the Federal building and got out, taking Raven’s hand when he walked around to my side. I pulled him close and kissed him. He possessed more compassion than I did. That was certain. I knew he hated this situation as much, if not more, than I did. And even though it might have helped to talk about that last mission with Sutter, I was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this. Raven kissed me back, clinging to me until I let him go. I needed to talk to Mac, find out if he knew people in the CIA who would help me learn the truth. I’d had suspicions the CIA was somehow involved in John’s reappearance, but after coming face to face with the man in the stairwell, I was sure of it.
Raven called Mac as soon as we got into the building and we waited in the busy lobby, watching people go through the metal detectors and show ID before they were allowed into the building. I’d almost forgotten how the whole world had changed since 911. Unless I was going through an airport, that was. When Mac, Thayne, Jarrett, and several others came through the elevator doors into the lobby five minutes later, I straightened, breathing out a relieved breath. I was one step closer to finding out what had happened.
Mac seemed to be in deep conversation with a guy and the minute he caught sight of us, the man reached over and touched his back affectionately. Mac waved at us and then turned to smile at the man beside him. There was something about how closely they walked together. I instantly recognized the affection between them. I suddenly remembered that Thayne had told us Mac was married to another man on the ATF’s team. The handsome man beside him, had to be the guy.
Mac walked over to us dressed in a business suit with a smile on his face, looking like a poster boy for the FBI Special Agent that he was. He held out a huge hand and we took turns shaking it. “Hey, guys, nice to see you again.”
“Thanks so much for meeting us on short notice,” I replied.
“It’s no problem. Like I said, the ATF had business with the FBI and since Lincoln and I are the designated liaisons between the two agencies, here I am.”
Raven had mentioned that McCallahan and his partner, Lincoln Snow, worked lots of cases with the ATF so I wasn’t surprised.
“We’re headed back to their office, but I have a few minutes. How are you?” he asked.
Jarrett and Thayne walked over, and I briefly looked them over. They were handsome men too, as tall as Raven and me, looking very professional dressed in suits.
“Hey, guys,” Raven said, greeting them with a wide grin as we both shook their hands.
“It’s been too long,” Thayne said with a smile as he clapped Raven on the back.
“Yeah, you should come over to our house some time,” Jarrett drawled. “We’ll barbeque and eat somethin’ really bad for us.” He smirked at Thayne.
Thayne looked back at him and rolled his eyes.
I knew Jarrett was trying to push his husband’s buttons. Even though I didn’t know the two men very well, it was already clear to me that Jarrett loved food that was bad for him and that Thayne wanted him to eat healthy. The affection between them was always evident, and to see it on display so openly, always gave me a warm feeling deep down inside. Since I felt the same way about Raven, it made me smile.
I chuckled. “That’d be nice. Thank you,” I replied. I liked them. Jarrett and his husband were good folks and even though our last meeting at the Ventura County Fairgrounds hadn’t gone exactly as I’d hoped, Howell Jr. was no longer a problem, though, I’d lost out on a huge bounty in the process.
“So, what can I do for you?” Mac asked.
I glanced around, spotting the security cameras that covered every inch of the lobby. “Would you mind coming outside to talk for just a minute? There’re too many eyes in here.”
Mac looked around before turning back to us. “Of course, anything you want. Is it okay if the guys tag along?”
I eyed Thayne and Jarrett. They were Federal officers. I knew they all held top secret security clearances due to their jobs with the ATF. I also knew Jarrett had been a Marine Corps sniper, most likely assigned to the same region where I’d spent too much time. We might have even crossed paths at some point. I didn’t know what help they might be in this situation, but anything they could contribute to our current situation might help.
“Yeah, sure, of course.”
“We’ll meet you three back at the office,” a small, blonde woman called out. We all turned to look at the group standing about fifteen feet away. The woman had exited the elevator with the rest of them, including the man with black hair and twinkling eyes who was watching Mac like he wanted to eat him.
“Yeah, Sarah. We’ll see you there,” Thayne said, waving at her.
She smiled back and walked out of the building with the others who headed toward their cars. We followed, heading to the parking lot, and waiting until everyone was out of earshot before I turned to Mac.
“So, you know I was Force Recon, right?”
“Yeah.” Mac nodded.
“Something’s come up and honestly, I could use your expertise.”
“Anything I can do.”
I decided to jump right to the questions I had. Mac’s time was short, and I really needed answers, assuming he could help resolve some of the concerns I had.
“When you helped us out on that job a few months ago, I think you mentioned you were with the CIA as well as the FBI, right?”
Jarrett slapped Mac on the back, hard enough to make his whole, huge frame shudder. “Mac Mac Mac wears many hats,” he drawled, chuckling.
Mac shot him a look. “Yeah,” he said as he turned his attention back at me.
“I hesitate to ask but there’s this thing that you might be able to help with.”
“A thing?” Thayne asked. His blue eyes twinkled. “Mac’s good with things.”
“It might have to do with the CIA,” Raven said.
I could hear the nervousness in Raven’s voice, and I was sure the others could too. They were all trained for that sort of thing. I steeled myself and decided I had to tell them whatever I knew, if I was going to get any help from them.
“Like Raven said, if you have any contacts within the CIA, I’d like to find out some things.”
“If it’s in my power to help, I will,” Mac replied.
“I obviously can’t divulge anything classified, so I’ll just say this,” I began. “On one of our missions out in the desert, our Recon unit got caught in a sandstorm. We sheltered in our Humvee until it stopped. Then our team leader got out of the vehicle to check if it was buried in sand or whether it had been damaged somehow. The area where we were stranded was full of unfriendlies and it was dangerous to linger. When the sandstorm kicked up again, Sutter was trapped outside the vehicle.” I sighed. “By the time the storm died down and we were able to extricate ourselves from the vehicle, Sutter was gone.”
“Sutter was your team leader?”
“Yes,” I replied. “John Sutter. Anyway, we searched for him for as long as we could. We thought he might have sheltered beneath the vehicle…I don’t know…behind a tire or something. Unfortunately, he was lost out there. When we got in touch with the base commander, he ordered us to abandon the search and go back to base. You can understand how that made us feel.”
“Fuck yes, I can,” Jarrett said before Mac could answer. He was standing with both big arms crossed over his chest. I could feel the waves of anger coming off the guy and could only surmise he’d had a lot of contact with the brass, with people who either didn’t care or couldn’t understand why we’d wanted to stay and keep up the search for John. They weren’t all bad, but the base commander was responsible for a whole base, and unfortunately, a mission we had to complete elsewhere. Mac had a similar expression of disgust on his face as he nodded.
“Anyway,” I said, “we went back to join a convoy to complete a mission where we were overdue. When we returned, we made several forays into the desert where we’d lost Sutter.” I sighed again. “We never found him. We could only assume he’d become disoriented and had wandered away, dying out there without food or water. Maybe he was buried in the sandstorm, maybe taken prisoner by the enemy. We didn’t know. We never found any trace of him.”
When I paused, Mac reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “How can I help?”
“He showed up here in L.A. a couple of days ago,” Raven blurted.
I turned to look at him, catching sight of his frown before glancing back at Mac. “We were meeting with a new client to pursue the recovery of a missing ruby. After our meeting at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, we noticed a man arguing with the security guard who checks IDs before letting folks onto the patio where we just happened to be. The moment the man turned in our direction, I knew it was John.”
“He recognized Miguel right away,” Raven added, “because the minute he saw him, he ran.”
“He ran from you?” When I pivoted back to Mac and the others, the huge Green Beret was wearing a surprised expression. “Why would he do that? Are you sure he recognized you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he recognized me. When we ran after him, he jumped into a car that was waiting.”
“And he hasn’t been in contact with you again?” Thayne asked.
I looked at his serious face and shook my head. “No, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized there may be a different scenario which would explain both his disappearance and his sudden reappearance.”
“You think the CIA nabbed him,” Jarrett said. The furious growl in his voice was evident and I realized that a Marine Corps sniper would have come into contact with a hell of a lot of CIA operatives during the course of his military service.
“I’m not sure but it’s definitely a possibility,” I replied grimly.
“More than a possibility,” Mac said. “If you were operating out of the base I think you were at, then I’d bet there were more than a few CIA operatives on base. They no doubt helped your Recon unit with intelligence before missions.”
I nodded. “There were several.”
“Thought so,” Mac said. “Did any of them accompany you out to the site of Sutter’s disappearance to help search?”
I cocked my head, frowning. I hadn’t thought about what the CIA was doing. “Not that I know of, but I wasn’t paying attention to their activities in the aftermath of John’s disappearance, but it’s entirely possible that they were. My sole focus at the time was trying to figure out where the hell my brother was before it was too late.”
“They would’ve been looking for him too,” Jarrett said. “As your Force Recon’s team leader, he would’ve had a wealth of intelligence in his noggin’.” He tapped the side of his head. “The CIA wouldn’t want any of that in the hands of the enemy and I’m sorry to say, I don’t care how well you’re trained, things slip out when you’re bein’ tortured.” Jarrett turned to look at Thayne and just for a second; I was sure I saw something profound pass between the men. It was puzzling but when Jarrett looked back at me, his expression was relaxed.
“Jarrett’s right,” Mac said, drawing my attention back to the conversation. “I’m still skeptical it was the CIA, though. How long ago did Sutter disappear?”
“Eleven years ago.”
“And he’s never been in touch…with anyone on the team?”
“Sutter’s replacement was KIA out there not too long after he joined the team to round out our six guys,” I said, ticking off their numbers on my fingers. “Two of the guys are still active-duty Recon and aren’t around to ask. One other guy retired back to his Iowa farm. I haven’t spoken to him since I spotted John, and the last guy is here in L.A.”
“I assume you haven’t talked to him about this?” Mac asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I will.” I glanced at Raven who was watching me closely, before looking back at Mac. “I just wanted some answers first. Their parting wasn’t amicable and he won’t take Sutter’s return well. He was our medic, the same guy who patched up Raven after he got…injured.” I’d never told any of these law enforcement officers that Raven had gotten shot during the Gemma Monroe job, only that he’d been hurt enough to require a medic. Since I hadn’t known any of them other than Cassidy Ryan and Mike Williams, my detective friends at the LAPD, I hadn’t wanted to tell them the extent of Raven’s injuries. I hadn’t wanted to take the risk that one of them might unintentionally make trouble for us.
“Sutter had been shot in the thigh a couple of weeks before the mission where he was lost in the sandstorm. He really shouldn’t have been out there with us and Vonne told him so. When Sutter ordered him to keep his mouth shut about how bad he was, Vonne didn’t take it well.”
“Of course,” Jarrett drawled. “I get that. He didn’t want to be sidelined or leave his team in hostile territory without him.”
I felt a wave of relief flood through me. He understood. When I saw Mac nod, I realized that of course, he did too. The Green Beret would’ve been part of a team as well.
“Is there any other reason why you think the CIA picked him up?” Mac asked.
“During our attempts at recovering the ruby Miguel told you about, a man accosted us this morning,” Raven blurted. “He thinks he might be a CIA operative.”
I frowned at him before Thayne’s words brought my attention back to the other three.
“What do you mean he accosted you?” Thayne asked.
“We went to talk to the man responsible for the security at the mansion where our client lives. She thinks it was stolen from her husband’s safe, so we went to speak to her head of security. He has an office in Westwood. When we were leaving, a man stepped out of the shadows in the stairwell, pointed a gun at us, and threatened us. I have no idea how long he’s been following us. He told us he knows we’re trying to recover the ruby and wants us to give it to him. He knew all about the case.”
Jarrett whistled. “Must be some ruby.”
“It’s a rare pigeon’s blood ruby that the owner and her lawyer value at around two million dollars,” Raven said. “The wife was supposed to inherit it since it’s part of the estate, and we were hired to recover it.”
“And you’re sure the man who threatened you was CIA?” Mac asked.
I exchanged a glance with Raven before turning back to them. “I can’t be sure but yeah, he had the look of an operative. I’ve seen enough of them to know.” I stopped myself from elaborating further, not wanting to describe his vacant, dead eyes. The man in front of me was warm and kind, even though he also was FBI but connections with the CIA. I had no doubt, Mac had done things under orders that’d make my hair stand on end, but I could tell that his nature was pure and decent.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can find out if you give me the date and the coordinates of where you last saw Sutter,” Mac said. “I’m on permanent assignment with the FBI here in the states, so I don’t have a lot of CIA duties, but I do have access to classified intelligence which my team doesn’t.” He glanced at Thayne and Jarrett before looking back at me.
“Thank you, Mac,” I said. “That’ll really help.”
“If Mac can’t help, you can ask my daddy,” Jarrett said, smiling as he clapped Mac on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. “He’ll be willin’ to help and even though he’s retired, he still has friends in very high places.”
I couldn’t help but frown back at them as my heart began to race. “Who’s your father? Is he… ah , was he CIA?”
Jarrett chuckled. “My daddy is Mark Evans, former Associate Director of Military Affairs for the CIA.”
I felt my eyes bug out of their sockets. “Are you shitting me?”
“The Associate Director of Military Affairs,” Raven parroted. “Is that a powerful position in the government?”
I turned to glance at him. “You could say that, Raven. Mark Evans’ job was to advise the president in the Situation Room, so yeah, I’d say Jarrett is right, his father really does have friends in high places.”
Raven gaped at me, but I turned back to the three men standing before us. I swallowed hard, feeling a lump in my throat, as real hope filled my chest for the first time; I realized that maybe we’d lucked out and all our questions would be answered. I held out my hand.
“I don’t know how to thank you all.” I shook their hands. “If it’s okay, I’ll text you the coordinates where we last saw John.”
“Better yet, you should meet my daddy,” Jarrett replied. “That way, you can give ‘em to him in person.”
“Jarrett’s right,” Mac said. “Best not to text anything in case the guy you met is monitoring your phone. If he is CIA, we both know he’s capable of doing that.”
“Tapping our phones?” Raven said. I could hear the alarm in his voice.
Mac shrugged. “You said you thought he was following you this morning. So, yeah, there’s a good chance he’s been looking into you hard since you’ve been trying to recover that ruby he wants to get his hands on.”
“What’s so special about a ruby except that it’s worth a lot of money?” Thayne asked.
“I never thought about that,” I said. “I just figured he was after the money, but maybe there is something else.” I glanced at Raven who was looking back at me. I nodded to him, almost reading his mind.
“There is something else,” Raven said as I turned back to the men. “Did Miguel ever tell you about how we first met?”
“Yeah, the day he first met us,” Jarrett said, “at the restaurant.”
“It was on a job, right?” Thayne asked, looking at me. “If I remember correctly, you told us you and Raven were both after the same bounty or something, right?”
“Yes,” Raven said. “We were both trying to recover a half million-dollar diamond which had also been stolen.”
“The Mulberry diamond,” I added.
“Do you think the recovery of this pigeon’s blood ruby is related to that?” Mac asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Mac.” I glanced at Raven. “Clearly, you’ve drawn the same parallels I have. Two pieces of jewelry with high-value stones…both stolen here in L.A. It may be a coincidence but doesn’t feel like it, does it?”
Raven shook his head. “No, it doesn’t feel like a coincidence at all and they never recovered the diamond even after the thief was found dead.”
“Wait. The thief…died?”
Raven nodded. “Yes. The Mulberry diamond was insured by the company I worked for at the time I met Miguel,” he explained. “When it was stolen, I learned that the thief was a lowlife by the name of Lyle Trench who had been a long-forgotten talent on American Idol a decade ago. He was seen running from the scene of the crime…caught on traffic cams.”
“Wait, the thief of this diamond you’re talkin’ about was an American Idol star?” Jarrett asked. He sounded very interested in this.
Raven nodded. “He’d gotten accepted onto the show singing under the stage name of Angel Gabriel and after he was eliminated from the show, his stardom fizzled. He became a heroin addict and a petty thief. I could never understand how a low life like Lyle Trench ratcheted up his petty theft to suddenly learning that Charlotte Mulberry would be collecting the stone from her safety deposit box in the bank.”
“That was kind of a stretch,” I said. “I always wondered how he could have access to the kind of information he’d need to know…who owned that piece of jewelry…where she’d be. It just never made sense to me. Anyway, he robbed her as she walked out of the bank. He was identified on traffic cameras, just as Raven told you. We both thought he’d planned on selling the diamond. When we took the guy down at the Capitol Records building, he didn’t have the diamond on him, and although the police checked all his hidey holes, it never resurfaced. He died in jail of a fentanyl laced heroin overdose a few weeks after.” Raven glanced over at me. “After seeing that guy today, I’m wondering whether the two cases are somehow linked.”
“Maybe someone was coverin’ their tracks,” Jarrett said.
I shrugged as I looked between Raven and Jarrett. “Anything’s possible and Raven’s right. I never thought it made sense that Trench could get a hold of information about the diamond either.”
“It’s entirely possible that the CIA is involved,” Thayne said. “Who knows?”
“I’d be interested to know if the cases are linked,” I said. “It’s really odd that the two biggest cases Raven and I have been involved with, just so happened to have very expensive jewels at their center. Coincidence? Maybe, but we all know the CIA had a large contingent on the ground in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. I know a big chunk of the money the U.S. government sent overseas to advance our interests by paying off warlords and the like, disappeared.”
“Hundreds of millions,” Thayne said. He and Jarrett exchanged a knowing glance before they both turned back to us.
“Without divulgin’ anythin’ classified here, we can confirm that’s true,” Jarrett said. “Thayne and I were involved in the recovery of some of it.”
I nodded. “The CIA didn’t only trade in U.S. currency…they also traded in gold and jewels. Rumors of missing hoards of cash seemed to be rampant on the various bases where my team and I were stationed. Maybe the Mulberry diamond as well as the pigeon’s blood ruby were part of some of a missing stash.”
“But Mrs. Flores said the ruby had been in her husband’s family, passed down through generations, Miguel,” Raven said.
I turned to him. “That might have been a lie he told her or she might have been lying herself, Raven. Perhaps Flores got hold of it another way, and it might help explain what’s going on here with the CIA fucker who accosted us this morning, if he really is an operative.”
“It’s entirely possible, Raven,” Jarrett said. “Who knows what’s goin’ on here.” He frowned. “I do know one thing, though. CIA involvement in that activity is held close to the vest, but maybe my daddy can shed some light on it.”
“And you think your buddy, John Sutter was involved in it?” Mac asked, looking skeptical.
“I hate the idea but we won’t have any answers until we find Sutter,” I said bitterly. “I sure as hell hope he wasn’t involved. I know he wouldn’t willingly help the CIA in something like that. He served his country honorably and I just can’t believe he’d do anything like that in good conscience.”
“The CIA has methods of persuading people to do just about anything,” Mac said. A muscle in his jaw ticked.
“This is all speculation,” Raven said, putting his hand on my arm. “We won’t know anything for sure until we find John to ask.”
I nodded before turning back to Mac and the others. “Anything you can find out will be helpful. I know we’re keeping you. Thank you so much for meeting with us on such short notice.” I felt a little embarrassed that we’d kept them so long but I felt they all needed the background in order to justify the huge favor I was asking.
Mac smiled widely and held out his hand. “Like I said, I’ll help any way I can.”
Jarrett rubbed his hands together gleefully. “A new mystery to solve.”
I smiled, grateful to these men. I shook all their hands and so did Raven.
“And I’ll talk to my daddy as soon as we’re done in the office, Miguel,” Jarrett said with a big smile.
“We can’t thank you enough, guys,” Raven said. “It means a lot. The last thing we want is to face the guy with the gun again.”
“We’ll be in touch,” Mac said. They walked away and Raven and I headed back to the truck. Some of my worry for Raven’s safety fled and I felt hope for the first time since John had resurfaced in my life.