Pleasant Harbor

by Thomas Bloom

  Chapter Sixty Three

  An hour and half later they had tracked down the head custodian for the high school and had the lights turned on at the football field. They also had five cruisers lined up on the track that surrounded the field. Three of them were manned by Amanda and her department and Dusty and his Chief Deputy were driving the other two. It was their town and they were not going to let a major law enforcement activity take place without any involvement on their part. Plus, each had a half dozen cruisers on standby. Many a New Year’s Eve plan had been ruined.

  Twenty minutes later the air was filled with the sound of engines. Two large military type helicopters with dual rotors set down on the field. As soon as they settled down Tamourini and nine other agents poured out of the side doors. Each carried an armload of equipment.

  “What have we got?” Tamourini asked.

  “We’ve had a sighting of the Arabs east of town. They’re in two vans. At least four occupants in each and maybe more. There are two of the Mexican cars in the area each with four occupants. We are tailing one of them in an unmarked and they appear to be interested in a warehouse area on the south side.”

  “Okay, here’s what we do. We set up a perimeter around the south side far enough out to not call attention to ourselves. You guys pick five spots to park and tell your officers they are to pull into alleys or parking lots with all lights off. Who is driving the unmarked?”

  “A senior deputy,” Dusty answered. “He’s experienced and level headed.”

  “Then let’s go and let’s hope your guy can vector us in. We can figure out later why these guys ended up in town at the same time. Someone has orchestrated this but I can’t imagine who or why. Here, we brought radios for each of your people so we can all be on the same frequency. Keep two and pass out the rest. Remember, we want as many of the Arabs alive as possible. I don’t care about the Mexicans but if we can get at least one of them all the better. Who wants me for company?”

  Dusty and Amanda looked at each other and shrugged. “Let’s make a pair,” Amanda said. “There’s my car.”

  A half hour later they were in position and waiting.

  Chapter Sixty Four

  The officer in the unmarked car called in a little later. “I think we’re zeroing in on something. My guy and the other car pulled into a vacant lot behind an old warehouse. Everyone stayed in the cars with all lights off except one guy is hiding behind a dumpster with what looks like a pair of binoculars watching another building across the street. What do you want me to do?”

  “Tell him to stay hidden and then give us the address,” Tamourini said. “If two vans show up we want to know immediately. That’s when we close in.”

  A few minutes later the officer called back in. “Okay, I’ve got the vans. They backed up to the warehouse doors and used a crowbar to pull off the padlocks. Four guys went inside with a hand truck and the others are still in the vehicles.”

  “Tell your guy to stay put and out of sight. We’re moving in.” Tamourini said. All five of the squad cars started for the warehouse.

  A minute later the officer on site called again. “Holy shit, all hell’s breaking loose here. The Mexicans sprayed both vehicles with automatic fire. The Arabs are firing back with automatic fire of their own. Now the Mexicans are firing something into the building. It’s an RPG. What the hell’s going on? It’s like a full scale fire fight. I did two tours in Iraq and saw encounters with less firepower than this. There’s also some fire being returned from inside of the warehouse.”

  As the five squad cars arrived on the scene the building started to burn.

  “That’s the plan,” Dusty cried. “The Arabs burned their guys and now they’re going to burn the Arabs. The RPG did it.”

  As the squad cars pulled up on the side of the building the Mexican cars pulled out of their hiding spot and sped away.

  “Let them go for the moment,” Tamourini cried. “We can catch up with them later. I want the Arabs. Dusty, Amanda, you guys secure the site and stay out of the line of fire. We’re going in.” She called her agents together and gave some instructions. Half of them started to work their way up to the open doors on the front of the warehouse and the other half headed around to the rear of the building. A few minutes later there was intense fire coming from within the building. The rear FBI crew had apparently discovered a way into the building. Rusty, Amanda and their officers took cover behind their vehicles and waited. With only nine millimeter pistols they were by far the least armed of those on the scene.

  Then two things happened that escalated the situation beyond Dusty’s imagination. First, there was a large explosion from inside the building. The next thing he heard was Tamourini’s voice. “Shit, I don’t know what that was but I have people down and I’ve got a leg injury. I’m asking all units to converge on the rear of the building and try to make their way in.”

  The second thing was the arrival of two more vans next to the warehouse the Mexicans had been hiding behind. Several men got out of each van and immediately started spraying automatic fire on Dusty’s and Amanda’s units. Obviously, they were in radio contact with the other Arab unit inside the building.

  Jesus Christ, Dusty thought. Can this possibly get any worse?

  Dusty immediately gave a command to the squad cars. “All local units withdraw immediately. Tail the Mexicans if you can catch up with them but do not engage them. We are totally outgunned.”

  Dusty backed up for a few hundred yards and pulled behind a deserted service station. He grabbed his binoculars and hid behind an old gasoline pump so that he could keep the site under observation. A few minutes later four of the Arabs came out of the warehouse with a large box on the hand truck. They motioned to the vans still sitting beside the other warehouse. It took six men to lift the box and put it in the back of one of the vans. Then two more Arabs came out of the warehouse and all four vans left.

  How the hell do they think they can get out of the county without being seen and followed? Dusty thought. But his immediate concern was the burning building. By this time the front of the building was fully ablaze and the fire was starting to spread to the roof. Ten FBI agents had gone in and so far none had come out. Plus Tamourini had reported that she had two men down and was wounded herself.

  “All units return to the warehouse,” Dusty cried over his transmitter. “The Arabs are gone and the Mexicans are gone but we have people in the building who need help.”

  A few minutes later Amanda’s car and one deputy pulled up. “My other guys and your Chief Deputy are miles south of here chasing the Mexicans,” she said. “This is all we have.”

  “Okay, there are ten people in there. Some of them are wounded. We need to get them out. I called the fire department and they’ll be here in minutes with trucks and EMT’s but we can’t wait. The FBI found a way in at the rear of the building. We need to go in the same way and do what we can. But there was an explosion of some kind. We could be facing anything when we get in.”

  Dusty turned to Amanda’s other officer. “Call the dispatcher and have him call the State Police to put out an APB on those four vans and the Mexican’s vehicles.”

  There was a window in the rear that had been boarded up but the plywood was pulled back enough to allow entry.

  “Okay,” Dusty said. “Everyone should have a flashlight in one hand and a weapon in the other, just in case. If you find someone take them out through the way we’re going in. We may not have much time. The front of the building is burning. Let’s go.”

  The rear of the warehouse was a mess. An explosion of some kind had collapsed part of the roof and the floor was covered with debris including some large beams. They found Tamourini propped up against a metal I-beam directing her crew who were frantically digging in the middle of the rubble. Dusty quickly counted seven agents in addition to Tamourini. Her right leg was covered with blood and a tourniquet was wrapped around her upper thigh.

  “We’ve got two agents trapped in there
,” she said as she gestured to the pile of debris.

  “We’ll take over here,” Dusty said. “You’ve got a serious wound. We’re getting you out of here and to the hospital. We have several ambulances on the way.”

  “I can’t leave my men like this,” Tamourini said.

  “The hell you can’t,” Dusty said. “It’s not going to do them any good for you to bleed to death. We can handle this.” With that he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. It took two minutes to get her out through the window and a minute later she was in an ambulance and gone.

  On returning Dusty said to Amanda, “I’ll pick a man and you do likewise. By my count there’s still two Arabs unaccounted for. We need to find them if they’re still in here. The rest of you help in clearing this debris. We’ve only got a few more minutes before the fire gets to this part of the building.” The smoke was already getting so heavy it was hard to see.

  They moved toward the front of the building with a handkerchief over their nose.

  They soon decided it was hopeless. The smoke was so thick they could see nothing. By the time they got back to the rear of the building there were two bodies on the floor.

  “One of them is dead. The other has some broken bones but he’ll live. We need to get them out of the building. Any sign of the Arabs?”

  “The smoke’s too heavy up there to see anything,” Dusty said. “They may have made it out with the others or they might have been dead in the vehicles after the Mexicans ambushed them. I’ve put out an APB on their vehicles and on the Mexicans.”

  Dusty spent a half hour on the phone with the State Police and with several of the neighboring law enforcement departments explaining the situation. They all pleaded low man power and too many demands given the holiday eve. Then they got a couple of breaks. First, Jerald Lutz, Chief of Police in Muskegon called. “Hey, I’ve got an odd one for you. A couple of folks who live next door to a local marina called and said they saw something really weird. Two vehicles drove up to the local boat launch ramp and then they pushed both vehicles into the lake. After that they got on a boat tied to the pier and took off. We’ve got a description of the boat but no hull number. The reason I’m calling you is one of the neighbors snuck up to the fence to try to figure out what was happening and he says all the men in the vehicles looked Hispanic and were covered with tattoos. I know what happened in Pleasant Harbor a few weeks ago. Do you think there’s any connection?”

  “Absolutely,” Dusty said. “But I don’t have time to explain now. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Dusty then spent twenty minutes on the phone with the Coast Guard. “Look sir, we’re strained to the breaking point given the holiday and, in any case, we have limited arrest powers. I’ll relay this to the post in Chicago and maybe they can pick them up if they do come in there. If they do see them I’ll have them call the local authorities. They’re lucky this part of the lake hasn’t frozen over yet. Global warming, whatever.”

  Dusty and Amanda called the hospital and were told that Tamourini was in surgery with a serious leg wound but would be alright. They said she would be groggy for hours and not to visit until the morning. The other agent had several broken bones and would be hospitalized for a few days but should fully recover. The third agent had been pronounced dead at the scene from severe head trauma and had been transported to the coroner’s office.

  They finally got home just in time to see the ball fall on Times Square. The boys were in bed and Mrs. Johnson left as soon as they arrived. “Way past my bedtime.”

  They both poured a drink and set in the living room. “We’ve got so many loose ends here I don’t know where to start,” Dusty said. “This was obviously set up but by who and why? Why would the Arabs come back after getting away clean? What did they have on that hand truck? How did the Mexicans know they would be here? I understand the Mexicans setting up a unique get away plan. These guys are not stupid. But it’s been three hours since the Arabs took off and not a report on their whereabouts. I know everyone is busy with New Year’s Eve activity but, on the other hand, that means there are a lot more police units on the street at this hour than normal. I can’t imagine why someone would not have spotted them. They must be playing the game Tamourini described and have a local switch point set up. They drove out with different vehicles.

  “I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” Amanda said, “not just today but over the last few days. I’m sure we’ve got someone on the inside managing all this. Remember the bug in your office. It almost certainly had to be someone with unlimited access to the station. Remember the attack on the FBI stakeout? How did this person know they were there? Why did the Mexicans deliver the arms to Pleasant Harbor as opposed to any one of fifty other possible spots on the lake shore? Why a harbor at all? Why not just meet at a rest stop on an interstate somewhere? Everything’s linked to Potawatomie County. It has to be someone here on the inside.”

  “You must be right,” Dusty said. “But I’m drawing an absolute blank. Between us and the FBI we checked out every possible lead in this county and some next door. What I don’t understand is the motivation. Let’s assume it’s a guy. What’s he getting out of this? All this trouble and death. What’s in it for him?”

  Chapter Sixty Five

  Well momma, it worked but it didn’t. I got the Mexicans and Arabs together and they had a nice firefight. What I didn’t plan on was being assigned to drive one of our units. I intended to be on the roof of a building down the street with the sniper rifle. I figured I could take out Mr. Dusty and Mrs. Amanda and no one would ever know that they were not just caught in the crossfire. My backup plan was the bomb. I figured if I knew everyone was in the building I could set it off with remote control and get the whole batch. Finally, I just took a chance and called from my car to activate the bomb. It almost worked.

  Well here’s where we stand. Neither the Arabs nor the Mexicans have a clue that I’m on the local force. They may suspect I live here but they have no way to identify me. However, if I stick around too long they may figure out a way to make the connection. On the other hand, if I leave before taking care of Mr. and Mrs. Dusty they may eventually make the connection. I need to work on this. Remember I have over two million waiting in a bank account in the Caribbean.

  One more thing. Part of the deal with the Arabs was a safe house. I found a place in Washington County, just across the line--an old warehouse that’s been vacant and for rent for two years. I told the owner I wanted it for three months. I left cash behind the padlock and she left the key when she picked it up. The Arabs spotted some older non-descript vehicles there, and that’s what they left the area in after the shootout in town. No one saw them because they were looking for the wrong vehicles. They did pretty much the same thing after the affair in the harbor but they just rented a storage unit for a few days. They came back a few days later to get the other vehicles. These guys are smart. I don’t know what they’re planning but I think it’s going to be ugly. They took the box with them. One of their vehicles was an SUV and if they put the back seat down they would have had just enough room to get it in.

  I knew they would test the box for radioactivity to be sure I was not scamming them. Believe it or not you can buy very small amounts of low level radioactive material on line from several sources. It’s shipped in lead lined packages. I order a small amount under the name of a fake laboratory and threw it in the box. If they tested it with a Geiger counter it would show positive.

  It’s the same way I got the anesthetic. Just order on line under a fictitious name.

  Well now I have to figure out what to do—go or stay.

  Chapter Sixty Six

  The Donavans spent New Year’s Day with the kids. They did break away for a couple of hours in the morning to visit Tamourini and the other agent in the hospital. The agent had a cast on one leg and on his opposite arm but was alert and in good spirits. Tamourini was still groggy and on a morphine drip. She asked about her men and when Dusty told
her that one of them had not made it she grimaced and fought back a tear. “Shit, they were my responsibility and now I’ve lost two of them. Any word on the Arabs or the Mexicans?

  Dusty brought her up to date on both issues. “Look,” she said. “Give me one more day to get my head cleared up. “Let’s meet tomorrow morning to see where we go next.”

  “You’re on” Dusty said. “Get some rest.”

  They got a break later in the day. Dusty got a call from the Coast Guard.

  “We’ve had a development this morning on your guys from Chicago. One of our copters was answering a call off Gary, Indiana from a boat in trouble. The guy was just drunk and out of gas so they vectored a cruiser to him and headed back to base. On the way they spotted a boat that matched the description of the one you gave us that left Muskegon yesterday. Well the idiots made it easy. We were a half mile away and they opened fire on us. We pulled off and they didn’t hit anything. We contacted Chicago police and they called an Air Guard unit in Waukegan. They had an Apache in the air in twenty minutes. It only took one shot off the bow for these guys to wave a white flag. They’re now in custody in Cook County. Chicago says they don’t want the guys because there were no crimes committed in Illinois but you can have them if you get extradition papers. Just between us, the Chicago police don’t want to hold any Mexican drug guys. Every time they do someone gets hurt.”

  “Tell them I’ll be in contact tomorrow as soon as our courts open.”

  The rest of the day was cooking the ham they should have had the night before along with some games and some football. They took a break between games to take a walk in the dunes. It was cold with a little snow on the ground but it was clear with no wind. The color was long gone but the view from the top of the dunes was spectacular and the air was invigorating. The lake was starting to freeze over and there were burgs floating for a mile or so from shore. The dunes were several hundred feet tall and extended for several miles. The boys wanted to race down the hill and then climb back up. Dusty, his daughter and Amanda decided to sit it out.