Long, dirty hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Long, dirty beard. Reflector sunglasses. Heavy jacket. Motorcycle boots. Of course, glancing around, he blended in with the eclectic crowd at the festival. The difference was the earpiece receivers and transmitters on the collars of the jackets they both wore.
He’d kept an eye on the Minotaurs motorcycle gang. They had taken over a small tent where they gathered, posting three men outside as guards.
“You need me to start a diversion?” he asked.
“I got it,” came Cobb’s response.
A large group of people heading into the entertainment tent passed nearby, and Cobb tripped one, causing him to fall onto the side of the Minotaur’s tent. As the guards stepped over to shove the bystander along, Cobb reached up and attached a listening device to the side of the tent. Undetected, Josh would now be able to listen to what was being said while back in the LSI headquarters.
Their plan had been to stay close, but suddenly, Christina appeared and walked to the food trucks. Inclining his head toward her, he said, “Follow.” He watched as Cobb nodded and headed after her. Unable to stay away, Clay wandered at a distance, keeping her in his sights.
It was when she shopped at the Celtic jewelers that Cobb moved closer. She lifted her head and stared right at Cobb, and Clay held his breath, sure that she would see through his disguise. When she dropped her purchase into her purse and hurried away, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He followed her back to the entertainment tent while Cobb moved to a position so that he could observe the Minotaurs. Seeing Steven talking to the gang members, Clay’s anger ratcheted up at the danger Amhrán M'anama’s leader was placing on the other band members. So focused on Steven, he almost missed seeing Christina making the same observation. As she turned to walk toward Steven, one of the Minotaur guards grinned, his gaze devouring her. Lust raced across the man’s face, and Clay reacted instinctively, bumping into her, making sure to hit her open bottle of water, causing it to pour down her front.
Fighting the urge to throw her over his shoulder and race away, he simply mumbled an apology and continued on his way. She hurried back inside the entertainment tent, and he turned to look at Cobb.
“Shit, man, that was close,” Cobb whispered.
Heart pounding in his chest, he stared at the tent flap where she’d disappeared, torn between wanting to go to her and knowing he needed to keep an eye on Steven and the gang he was meeting with.
Soon, Steven jogged back to the tent and disappeared inside. It appeared the Minotaurs were breaking up their gathering, and he and Cobb wandered to the parking lot, easily finding the motorcycles. Walking past, they clapped two miniature devices onto two of the cycles, giving LSI and the International Drug Task Force a chance to see where they were going as well.
Circling back inside, they pressed into the crowd, not surprised when others moved for the two large, rough-looking men. Leaning against a pole, he stared enraptured as she danced, twirled, and entertained with her fiddle.
“I gotta admit, your girl has got it going on.”
Clay looked over at Cobb and shook his head. “I know it. Every time I hear her play, whether it’s a symphony, Gaelic music, or just something for fun, I’m amazed at her talent.”
“Man, she scared the shit outta me when she looked at me at the festival. I know you wanted me closer to her so that she wouldn’t recognize you, but I swear she looked right at me, and I was afraid she was going to call out my name!”
“Hell, I don’t know how. With your disguise and the sunglasses, she couldn’t have known.”
“I know, but she’s a smart cookie.”
Frowning, Clay said, “Normally, I’d agree with you, but when I saw her start to head toward Steven and that group of Minotaurs he was talking to, I could’ve throttled her.”
Cobb laughed and leaned back in his chair, his feet propped up on the coffee table. “I was standing off to the side, ready to intervene if I had to, when you slammed into her, spilling her water. You walked away, but man, you should’ve seen the glare she shot toward your back!”
Clay laughed, but he’d been on edge the whole day. An untold number of missions in his careers, but he’d never been as nervous as he was today trying to keep up with where she was, what she was doing, and if she was safe. Wanting to protect her was the only thing he could think of. “I know we were supposed to be watching the band and seeing what happened with Steven, but damn, Cobb. I went into protection mode, and I’ve never done that before.”
“Look, whether you want to be or not, you’re involved with a woman that’s now part of our mission. It didn’t start out that way, but that’s the way it is. So that protective instinct is going to kick in.”
Scrubbing his hand over his face, he nodded. He and Cobb had managed to check into the cheap hotel near the airport that Christina and the band were in. Just down the hall from them, they ordered room service so they could avoid being seen. He knew the band members had gone down to the bar earlier, and Cobb had followed to observe. Not surprised when Cobb returned to report that Steven met outside with a few more of the Minotaurs, he was still angry, nonetheless. Cobb had watched as Steven accepted an envelope from one of the gang members and they alerted Josh to keep an eye on Steven and the band’s bank accounts.
Clay stayed in the room, keeping an eye on Christina’s door. He wasn’t surprised that she’d also ordered room service and stayed in. Looking over at Cobb, he asked, “So, what did we learn?”
“Josh logged a phone call from a burner phone to Steven. It wasn’t from Jerry’s number, but he’s got Steven’s phone tapped and recorded the call, so he knows it was Jerry’s voice. At first, Jerry just checked to see if Steven had the money to pay the driver and if everything was going okay. Steven gushed his thanks, and then Jerry casually mentioned that there were people Steven needed to meet with.”
“And he told him where to meet them?”
Nodding, Cobb said, “Told him to wait outside the tent. That’s all. Yeah, Jerry is a slick-shit. So, Steven goes outside and then is called over to another smaller tent.”
Clay shook his head. “What an idiot.”
“Yeah, it was the Minotaurs. I mean, most people would shit a brick if they saw a gang of big, ugly, rough guys… but no, Steven hurried right over.”
“I couldn’t get too close without raising suspicions, but I couldn’t see a transfer of any packages or money. My guess was it was a chance to make a connection. The payoff didn’t happen until tonight outside the hotel. Josh will be able to tell us more.”
“I thought maybe Jerry was going to use the band to transport drugs,” Clay said, standing and stretching his arms above his head, trying to ease the tension he felt in his back.
“The amount of drugs that the band could try to sneak over the border would be pennies compared to what Jerry’s dealing with. I still think that he’s using the band to launder money, and he’s going to keep Steven in line by making sure Steven knows what’ll happen to him if he breaks rank.”
A little later, Cobb headed into the connecting room, and Clay climbed into bed. He was determined to make sure Christina got to the airport safely the next morning, then he and Cobb would take another flight back to Portland.