by Tom Haase
“Sounds perfect. How much?”
“You don’t want to know because it’s a Mercedes,” Jalen said with a smile and Kareem only nodded.
“No matter the cost, we'll recover it in no time. Right now I want us to develop a plan to take out the drug operation already here. We need info to accomplish that, and I'll give you the money to get informants to tell us about them. I want you to get out there right now and start to gather info on their location, how many people are actively involved in the distribution, and where are they getting their product. A bit of it I already know, but I need confirmation. I must report our progress to the Tsarina in a day or two. I want to have plenty to tell her,” Kareem said.
“I’ll get going after we finish here,” Jalen said.
“We have a new shipment coming in two days. I need to make sure we protect it, no screw-ups akin to the motorboat. The Tsarina told me this time it comes by truck. She said the sea route isn’t safe right now. I want us ready to distribute and the other guys eliminated by then.”
“I’m on it. I’ll call in a few hours and plan to return here at eleven.”
“Okay. I have things I need to do. By the way, did you finish off the man who had the drugs at his warehouse?”
“Yes, I sent a man to kill him.”
“Have you heard from him?”
“Not yet, I’ll see you at eleven.”
33
At nine the next morning, Chuck took a drive to Sam’s furniture store. He entered and saw a young woman approach him and assumed she was a salesperson.
“Hello, Mr. McGregor,” she said.
Chuck took a second look at the young lady who stood five feet seven with shiny black hair tied in a ponytail. Her cinnamon skin appeared devoid of any defects, with flakes of gold highlighted her black eyes. The woman exuded pure beauty.
“You have me at a disadvantage. You have my name, and I must confess your name escapes me.”
“We only met for a few minutes the last time you were in the store. I’m Hachi, Sam’s sister.” She offered her hand.
Chuck shook her delicate hand and decided on the spot he desired to know more details about this woman.
“Chuck,” he insisted, “happy to meet you again,”
“Chuck,” Sam bellowed as he approached from behind. “Stay away from my sister.” He slapped Chuck on the back. “Hachi, this good for nothing is a predator. Keep clear of him,” he said looking at his sister.
Hachi smiled at Chuck.
“He says that to every man I have a conversation with. Don’t mind him.” Only then did she withdraw her hand. “I’ll leave you two army types alone.” She gave Chuck a wink and walked off.
“She’s beautiful,” Chuck said once she was out of earshot.
“No, and no again. Do you understand?”
Chuck looked at his friend and instantly saw he was serious.
“Okay, got it. But why?”
“She is too good for us types. She's innocent as they come and I protect her from gawkers and perverts like you. No offense, my friend, I’m overly protective of her, but that's the way it is.”
Chuck decided not to pursue any discussion about Sam’s sister.
“I came to see you after your comment on reaching out to the cavalry. I assume you meant Qing?”
“Yes, I got in touch with her last night. She was very reluctant to assist as her last effort to help us almost cost her job. Can’t blame her, for the job she has supports their lifestyle and provides for the little girl. She can’t afford to put it in jeopardy.”
“So what did you find out, if she isn’t willing to assist?”
“She’s not willing to help from down here, but from Washington, that’s another matter. I gave her the complete story, as far as I’m aware, about the drug business here. After some back and forth, she agrees to render support based on the premise we wanted to get them together, and in one place. That would be the extent of her involvement. She doesn’t want to be personally involved like the last time.”
“For the sake of argument, I do remember what she did, and without her, we wouldn’t have been able to destroy the human traffickers,” chuck said.
“In this case, however,” Sam continued, “she recommends we can do what we want to achieve. We can get them all together. To accomplish it, we can put out an emergency distress call by Ramon for all his people to come to his aid as he is under attack.”
“That sounds like it could work. What’s the problem?” Chuck asked.
“She can set that up if we can get her the number on which the dealers receive their instructions. That would be the number Ramon uses. With specific information, she could get us the various locations of the dealers and how many are active in the network. She didn’t tell me any more, and we left it at that for the time being. Our job is to secure the phone number. Then she can work her magic,” Sam said.
“Is that all?” Chuck gave a short laugh and raised his eyebrows for more effect.
“Never fear, Kemo Sabe. I have a plan to get us started. Interested?”
“What took you so long? Let’s do it. By the way, what plan?”
34
Chuck drove his SUV with Sam sitting in the passenger seat. They headed to the downtown area of the city. Sam suggested they go there because he was familiar with many of the drug places used by distributors in that area. As a native of the area he knew where they operated.
“Tell me precisely why we’re going downtown?” Chuck asked.
“You wanted a plan. I got one. It involves getting one of the distributors in the organization to let us get a look at his phone. We need the number from which they receive their instruction. With that Qing can work her magic.”
“How are you planning on doing it?” Chuck said.
“First, we have to call your buddy, Lieutenant Gordon. We don't want to mess with that group ourselves by capturing one of their men. It would absolutely tip them off that we are on the offensive. On the other hand, if one of their distributors happened to get sloppy and gets nabbed by the cops, we stay clean. Once I identify one guy we followed before, you can call your man and see if he can arrange for a cruiser to come and make a bust.”
Chuck called Eddie and told him the plan. They needed a patrol car to come to the location where they’ll have a distributor located and who is dealing.
“Have your officer take the phone from the man and drop it and accidentally step on it. He'll get it returned when he's released. We will take it and substitute an identical one broken similarly before he gets it back.”
“With this plan, even if they might want to change the number, we’ll have the ability to monitor and hear the new number used by that group,” Sam looked at Chuck for approval of his plan.
“That sounds like a solid plan if we get the phone in the first place.”
“We will,” Sam said.
Sam caught sight of the man he sought on the corner of Price Street, near the Kroger store. They made the call and Eddie had a patrol car there in minutes. They implemented the mutually agreed-upon plan. The cop deliberately dropped the phone and stepped on it when he searched the man. An hour later, in the police station, they switched the phone for an identical one. The one returned to the dealer had a smashed front and did not work. The dealer, once he received the phone back, would assume the cops did it purely for malice or cracked it on his arrest. Either way, the police wouldn't have gotten anything off the destroyed instrument.
“When do you plan to act?” Eddie asked when he called Chuck to inform him the police released the man. “Just curious?”
“Most likely in two days but nothing for sure. I’ll keep you posted. We’ll need your help when we act,” Chuck told him and pushed end.
“Lucky for us,” Sam said, “it’s not an iPhone and doesn’t have any encryption on it. He’ll go back and tell his boss that the cops destroyed the phone when they arrested him. No harm, no foul,”
Chuck liked this plan so far. He believed
he could help the police and extract his revenge on the murderer of Darlene.
They returned to Chuck’s place where Sam made contact with Qing. He connected the phone they took from the dealer to his laptop and followed Qing instructions to the letter. It took a few minutes for the upload to be complete and she told them to have patience. She would get back to them as fast as she had something to report.
“Don’t hold your breath. It’ll take me a lot of time.” She ended the call.
“Okay, that went well so far. Now, we have to come up with a plan that will allow me to take out the leader.”
“Do you think he is the one responsible for your friend Darlene's death?” Sam said.
“I had the shooter down, and I was ready to kill him. He could see it in my eyes. Believe me, he could. He told me the man who sent him was Ramon. I do not doubt who is responsible for her death and for attempting to kill me. Nobody does that and gets away with it.”
“We can’t just go kill him. I won’t be part of a vigilante kill. That’s not what we served in the Army to protect,” Sam looked at his friend with concern showing on his face.
“We are not vigilantes. We will not kill the man,” Chuck assured his friend. “We’re going to make him shoot at me first.”
35
Jalen got into a vehicle with one of his informants named Jonathan. They drove to a strip mall on DeRenne Avenue and met with another man. He planned to get information on where Ramon’s gang operated, and he had to get it soon. Kareem was breathing down his neck, and it was not a comfortable feeling. The man wanted to eradicate them before he started his operations here in the States.
They drove to an area off Broughton Street in the downtown area. The square, one of the many established by General Oglethorpe in 1733, held the statue of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. Wesley lived in Savannah for two years. Jalen watched a man walk back and forth near the statue.
“He’s waiting on his distributor,” Jonathan said. “I’ve seen him here before and have talked to him. He’s one of Ramon’s men.”
Jalen approached the man and held out a hundred-dollar bill.
“I'm looking for information, and perhaps you could help.” He let the hand holding the bill drop to his side, making sure he conveyed the implied message. Give me the info, and I give you the bill.
“Where is Ramon located, his office or headquarters, or whatever? Where is the place from which he operates?”
“On 71st Street, I’m sure that’s where they are,” said this sloppy dressed middle-aged homeless man. He wore jeans with holes in the knees and a jacket displaying a Star Wars logo. A shaggy red beard hung from his chin in desperate need of attention, but in keeping with the rest of his sartorial array.
“Where on the street?” Jalen asked.
“It’s behind the strip mall. That’s all I know.”
Jalen handed the man the bill and returned to the vehicle. Time to go and tell Kareem he had a location and to get him to relax his pressure. They drove to the Sam’s Club parking lot where the MB van temporarily used a parking space.
“Have you found where the Ramon gang has its center?” Kareem demanded when Jalen entered the MB van. “What are you doing now?”
“I have all our assets trying to locate where they are operating. I interrogated one of Ramon's people, and we have a location. I'll need a little longer to verify we have the right place. I want to go there and drive by the location to confirm it's the place they are using for distributions. What are you planning to do when I confirm this?”
“I have asked the Tsarina to send reinforcements we could use. She said they would be with us for only two days. They’ll arrive later tonight or early in the morning. We need to find that location to abolish them. That will give us a free hand here in Savannah.”
Jalen went to 71st Street and drove the street’s length. The street behind the strip mall on DeRenne was not long. He parked and observed for a good half hour. One house had a few visitors who were not the occupants based on the various forms of dress he saw. He concluded he had the right home on the right street and had no doubt this was the place Ramon used for his business. He called Kareem and confirmed he now had discovered the address and would return in a few minutes.
“Well done,” Kareem said.
“You want me to stay here and observe more?”
“No, that might alert them if they see someone watching their place. Come on back here. I’m planning to take them out in a few hours. I’ll need you here to be in charge while I go with the Tsarina’s gang.”
“This will be a full-blown drug war,” Jalen said.
“Yes, it will. I’m counting on it being a short one.”
“What about that man, McGregor, the one we tried to retrieve the drugs from? He must know we were the ones who attacked him.”
“If he does, it will do him no good, because I plan to confirm he’s dead for shooting up our men. Did you hear back from the man you sent after him?”
“Not yet,” Jalen responded.
“No matter. His days are numbered, two at most.”
36
Chuck let Sam in, and they stood in the middle of the kitchen while Sam told him what Qing had said. She had called him a short time before, and he drove over to pass on the information to Chuck in person. He didn’t trust phones much, specifically after he saw what Qing could do with her equipment on any device used for communication over an open source and that included every cell phone. Nobody had privacy on any device they used with an electronic signature. The old concept of confidentiality of communications and of private lines didn’t exist today.
“She has diagrammed the network of phones used by Ramon to communicate with his distributors. The guy seems to be hurting because he doesn’t hold any goods to distribute, or if he does only a few held in reserve. She got the impression he expects a big shipment soon.”
“So where’s he hiding?” Chuck queried.
“The signals to the phones all originate at a location on 71st Street. She triangulated it from the cell towers, and the number of calls bounced off each tower. I don’t understand how she does it, but that’s where he is. At least, that’s where he talks from on the cell.”
“Great info. I need to talk to Eddie. We can’t move in on this place. I want Ramon, but I can’t take on his whole organization.”
“Did she have any idea of the number of people involved?”
“She told me it would be difficult to determine how many were involved because there could be multiple recipients on each phone call. You know, one guy listening and telling more people at his location what he heard,” Sam said.
“Okay, that makes sense, and that’s why I believe we need the police to do the heavy lifting. Do you think we could get her to not only make the call to muster them all at one place but also to get a call to Ramon to go somewhere else?”
“You mean a place where you would be?” Sam asked with a grin showing he had caught Chuck’s intention.
“I’ll find out and get it to you. When do you want to move on this?”
“Let’s shoot for tomorrow. It’s short, but these guys are getting ready to receive a big shipment, and there’s the possibility the new gang, the one we fought off, has designs to replace Ramon. I don’t know if that’s what’s going on or not, but I’m just playing different scenarios in my mind. You have anything else?”
“No, I’ll wait for your call or get the info to you if Qing can help. If she can, I’ll come to wherever you are so we can make a plan. You’ll need our crew if you’re going to take that course. Do not do it by yourself. That’s an order, Kemo Sabe.”
After Sam departed, Chuck called Eddie and requested to meet him at a Starbucks at the Twelve Oaks shopping center in an hour. Eddie agreed.
On arrival at the coffee shop, Chuck bought a cup and waited. His goal–eliminate the gang operating under Ramon and to pay back the man. He realized there might be a bigger elephant in the area with th
is gang from Nassau. Perhaps Eddie could enlighten him on that organization.
“Good to see you,” Eddie said as he sat next to Chuck.
“I have actionable intelligence for you and Emma. I've been able to locate the home base which Ramon uses to operate his business.”
“That’s great,” Eddie said. “Where is it?”
“I believe we can help each other out here. How long would it take for you to put together a strike force to take out the whole organization at one time?”
“How are you going to do that?”
“A little faith, please. If I could get all the members to come to the location off DeRenne, could you act in say less than fifteen minutes?”
“That I can, but why fifteen minutes?”
“Let's say in two days’ time. Can you do it? No leaks, no warning to anyone, even the team you send, only you know it's going down.”
“You aren’t answering any of my questions. What are you doing?” Eddie asked.
“We will send a call to his people and have them all arrive within fifteen minutes at the location he’s using for a base. That’s why I need the time element, and I need the day to plan it with my people so you and the department can look good with a major drug bust. You might want to inform the captain as the only exception. I’ll personally inform Emma if you agree to all this.”
“I agree. We can clean up the whole gang. Sounds great, let’s do it. I’ll get the captain read in today and start out our planning. Do we have to wait?”
“Yes, it takes time to arrange things on our end. That’s all you need to grasp now. I’ll call you as soon as I find out we’re able to proceed. You’ll have at least fifteen minutes to act. I’ll give the exact street address at that time.”
Eddie thanked him again and departed.
Chuck sat back and relaxed. This plan was going to work. The only wild card that seemed to be rearing its deceptive head was the possibility of interference by the other guys, the ones who had attacked his place after the first group left.
