by B A Trimmer
“And if someone doesn’t go down or reaches for a weapon?” Carson asked.
“Protect yourself at all times,” Max said. “If you need to use your pistols, don’t hesitate. But if no one is killed, the better off we’ll all be. Keep in mind, this is a hostage rescue, not a vendetta.”
No one said anything for a few moments. Max looked at Sebastian, who nodded his head.
“Everyone gather around,” Max called out. His other two men and the four soldiers from the Black Death came to the back of the van.
“Listen up,” Max said. From the way he spoke, I knew he had gone into full military mode. I could see him back with his old unit, surrounded by a dozen uniformed men while barking out orders. It was a little frightening, but he was also completely awesome.
“We’re going in as two teams,” he continued. His voice was loud, clear, and had an edge of command to it. “Gabriella and I will go in first, closely followed by Carson and Roberto. We’ll keep it tight until we start to meet resistance.”
He looked around to see if there were any questions. When no one said anything, he continued.
“The rest of the men will form a perimeter around the building to prevent anyone from escaping. The main exits will be the front door, the loading dock, and from the back office. But there may be other exits we aren’t aware of. Everyone will need to keep their eyes open.”
Max, Gabriella, and Sebastian then spent another five minutes finalizing plans and working out contingencies. At last, everyone seemed satisfied.
“Sebastian?” Max asked, loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Is this plan acceptable? Is there anything you wish to change?”
Sebastian thought for a moment. “You seem to have this well thought out. I have no further changes.”
“Alright,” Max said. “Let’s move out.”
~~~~
The members of the Black Death climbed into their vehicles and took off. According to the plan, they would park on the street about a block on either side of the business. Then they would wait for the rescue party to go in.
Carson climbed into the driver’s seat of the SUV with Max riding shotgun. I was seated behind Max, Roberto was in the middle, and Gabriella was behind Carson.
We had started up the street to the business, but Max had Carson pull our vehicle to the curb. A large black sedan, like a Mercedes or a BMW, was pulling out of the parking lot of the target location. They turned north and headed up the street toward Curry Road.
Max pulled out his phone and called Sebastian. “A black sedan just pulled out. Did you see it?”
“Yes,” I faintly overheard Sebastian’s voice from the phone. “I’ve ordered my men to discreetly follow. They will report where it goes.”
“Very well,” Max said to Sebastian. “I see everyone’s in position. We’re going in.”
Max disconnected the phone and directed Carson to park alongside the building. Carson found a place that wouldn’t be visible from the business’s windows.
“Let’s do this by the numbers,” Max said. “Roberto, stay close to Carson and follow his lead. If we make good decisions, this should be simple and quick.”
Everyone nodded their heads. “Alright,” Max said. “Take your positions. Safety’s off.”
Max, Gabriella, Roberto, and Carson pressed themselves against the wall, out of view of the main entrance. I went up to the front door and tried the handle, but wasn’t surprised when it was locked.
There was a buzzer and intercom next to the door. I pushed the button and held my breath.
About a minute later, there was some static, and the intercom came to life. “Yes?” a man’s voice asked.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Rachel. I’m here to start working.”
“You’ve got the wrong place,” the voice crackled. “We have everyone we need today.”
“No, I’m sure this is the right place,” I said, trying my best to sound sincere. “I usually work up at Scottsdale General. They sent me down here for the afternoon.”
There was a pause. “Hold on,” the man said. His voice had a touch of annoyance. “I’ll be right out.”
A minute later, the door was cracked open by an unfamiliar guy in his early twenties. From the uninterested look on his face, he didn’t seem to recognize me.
The man looked me up and down, then pushed the door open further. “I don’t think you’re needed here today,” he said. “Come in, and we’ll figure out what to do with you.”
Without a word, Max and Gabriella slipped inside the door. I heard some muffled noises, then everything was quiet.
Max stuck his head out and motioned for Carson and Roberto to follow. He pointed to me and made a motion for me to take off.
Both vans pulled into the parking lot and men quickly poured out. Under Sebastian’s direction, they rapidly surrounded the business.
From inside the building, I heard the sound of several shotgun blasts. They were quieter than I would have expected. Fortunately, I didn’t hear the louder sounds of a pistol or rifle shot.
I quickly lost count of the number of shots fired within the business, but there must have been at least eight or ten. Everything became quiet as we nervously stood around the building.
Ten minutes slowly ticked by and I could tell Sebastian was debating sending in more men. Before he had a chance to act, his phone rang.
“She’s not here,” I heard Roberto say from the phone. “Send in some men with zip ties. We need to secure the people.”
One of Max’s men produced a bundle of plastic handcuffs. Sebastian directed two of his men and one of Max’s into the building.
Once they were inside, it was another ten minutes before anything happened. Then, the back door from the offices opened, and the four raiders came out.
Gabriella and Max were leading a man between them. He was dressed in a white button-down shirt and a tie. His face had a nasty bruise along one side and his hands had been bound in front of him with steel police handcuffs. As with a lot of the people I see around Scottsdale, he looked familiar.
“Where’s Danielle?” I asked once the group reached the blue van.
“She was here, but they moved her,” Roberto said.
“They apparently moved her right before we arrived,” Max said. She must have been in the black sedan we saw leaving the lot.”
“Who is this?” Sebastian asked.
“I’m J. Barrett Knight,” the man said. “I’m the CEO of Scottsdale General Hospital. Thanks for getting me out of there. If you can get these handcuffs off me, I can tell you exactly where they took the girl. My brother has her.”
At a nod from Max, one of his men started digging through a toolbox in the van, presumably to look for a handcuff key.
While we were waiting, Max looked around at the group. “Is everyone alright?”
Gabriella, Roberto, and Carson looked back and forth at each other and nodded.
“What about the enemy?” Max asked.
“I shot three of my beanbags,” Roberto said. “They were remarkably effective. Once they took a round to the belly, it seemed to completely incapacitate them.”
“Gabby?” Max asked.
“I use six rounds. I double-tap everyone I come into contact with, just to make sure.”
“Did anyone need to use live ammunition?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“Gabby?” Max asked. “What about you?”
“No, I no use live ammunition.” At this, she looked a little downhearted, but then her grin turned mischievous. “I did use my knife on one of them.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“He will live. Even after taking two rounds to the belly, he looked like he might be going for gun, so I use knife to stop him.”
“How bad?”
Gabriella smiled. “He will need some stitches.” As she said this, her face flushed with excitement and she shivered in pleasure.
Wow.
“How many were in there?” I
asked.
“There were six guards and five women working the narcotics room,” Max said. “There were also three men who looked like common street pushers. I’m sure they come in and out all day. These three were just the unlucky ones who were there at the wrong time. There was also a woman who seemed to be the leader.”
“That’s Lillian Abbot,” Barrett said. “She’s my supply chain director. This is her operation.”
“We have all of them cuffed,” Max said. “They’re in the narcotics room and two men are watching over them.”
“Did you find a nasty-looking guy with long hair and a thin face?” I asked. “His name’s Benjamin Todd. He’s the jerk who took such pleasure in torturing me.”
“Benny went with the woman,” Barrett said. “Apparently, they found out she had some sort of gang connection. From what I overheard, they were going to pressure her into using her gang to make some sort of distribution deal.”
“We need to get Danielle,” Max said as he looked at Sebastian. “But I also want this narcotics operation closed down.”
“I agree,” Sebastian said. “They’ve been a problem for us for too long.”
Everyone then looked at J. Barrett Knight. One of the men had just unlocked his handcuffs and he was rubbing his wrists. As the head of the hospital selling the drugs, I expected him to object or try to make some sort of deal.
“Oh, I agree,” he said. “Shut it down. The whole thing has spiraled completely out of control. My brother’s been using the narcotics operation to finance his lifestyle for years. Lillian pretty much runs the hospital now. I don’t even care all that much what happens to me. I just want out. Shut it down.”
“We have the ringleader, the guards, the street pushers, and the drugs, all in one place and ready to be taken away,” Sebastian said. “However, we should release the women who were simply repackaging the narcotics.”
“I agree,” Max said. “They aren’t who we need to be concerned about.”
“Shall we call in an anonymous tip?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t know if we’d get a proper response to something like that,” Max said as he looked at me. “We’ll need something more direct. Do you or Gina have anyone you can call to get the right people over here without getting caught up in it?”
“I think I do,” I said. “Let me go somewhere and make a call.”
Chapter Sixteen
I climbed into the front seat of Max’s SUV and closed the door. After taking a moment to compose myself, I made a call to Reno.
“Hey,” I said when he answered. “Remember me?”
The phone went silent for a few seconds and I thought we might have gotten disconnected.
“Laura Black,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again.”
“Um, surprise!”
“What can I do for you today? You didn’t call to ask me out again, did you?”
“Well, no.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, sounding a little disappointed. “So, why did you call me?”
“You said to call you if I ever needed something official.”
“I’m listening.”
“Are you still on the narcotics team?”
“No, I’m back on homicide. Knowing your history, I’m actually a little surprised our paths haven’t crossed.”
“Hey, it’s been months since I’ve found a dead body.”
“That’s good to know. You have something going on with narcotics?”
“I have information on a large narcotics ring that’s been operating out of Scottsdale General Hospital.”
“Really? We’ve suspected an organized drug distribution network has been going through the hospital for years. Still, no one has ever been able to prove anything. You think you’ve come up with something solid?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty reliable. Who should I contact?”
“I’d go with Lucinda Alvarez. She’s heading up the city’s narcotics task force. She was sitting at her desk ten minutes ago.”
“Perfect, could I get her number?”
“I’ll text it. Oh, I don’t know if you’ve heard. Chugger McIntyre made detective a couple of months ago. He’s Lucinda’s new partner.”
“Chugger made detective? I didn’t even know he was trying.”
“From what I hear, he did well on the tests. He’ll make a good detective.”
There was a pause when neither of us spoke.
“So, how have you been?” Reno asked.
“I’ve been good. Busy with work. It’s that time of the year again.”
“I remember about you and the Snowbirds.”
“Um, how have you been?” I asked.
“I’ve been good. There’re always murders to solve, even in Scottsdale.”
There was another pause. I guess I hadn’t thought this part through very well.
“Well, take care of yourself,” I said. “It was good talking with you.”
“Same here,” he said. “I’ll see you the next time you find a dead body.”
Great.
The phone went silent as Reno disconnected, but it soon buzzed with his text. I called the number.
“Alvarez,” the woman on the phone answered.
“Detective Alvarez, my name’s Laura Black. I got your number from Jackson Reno.”
“What can I do for you, ma’am?”
“I have a tip for you. The people who’ve been running the narcotics ring out of Scottsdale General Hospital are currently in handcuffs in their drug storage and processing warehouse. It’s about two blocks south of Curry Road. I’ll give you the address.”
I gave her the details on the location and I could hear her taking notes.
“That address is technically in Tempe,” the detective said. “But we often coordinate with them. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“The ring leader is a woman calling herself Lillian Abbot. In reality, she’s Ruth Skaggs. She’s the current Director of Supply Chain at Scottsdale General. She’s also wanted for parole violations from running a previous narcotics operation in Mississippi.”
“Alright,” detective Alvarez said in a non-committal cop voice. “Anything else?”
“The building is full of the drugs they’ve taken out of the hospital. Some of them are still in the original cases. A lot of them have already been repackaged to sell on the street. There are a few of the street-pushers being held there as well.”
The phone went silent for a moment. “Ma’am, you aren’t associated with the DEA by any chance, are you?”
“No, I’m not with the government at all.”
“Huh,” she said. “This is the second tip I’ve received about Scottsdale General today. I’d like you to come to the station and make a statement.”
“Um, I’d rather keep my name out of this, if I could. Ask your partner, Chugger, about me. I think he’ll vouch for my character.”
“Hold on for a second,” she said. The phone then went silent for almost a minute.
“Alright, ma’am,” she said when she came back on. “Chugger says we can trust you. We’ll take it from here.”
~~~~
I climbed out of the SUV and saw the women from the business coming out to the parking lot. Knowing they wouldn’t be arrested made me feel a little better about the whole thing. They were only trying to feed their families.
Max walked over to me. “Well?” he asked.
“I expect the first patrol car to be here within five or ten minutes. There’ll likely be a joint Tempe and Scottsdale narcotics task force here within the hour. They might even pull in the DEA.”
“Thank you for doing that. I’ll feel a lot better once this is shut down for good.”
Max went to talk to Sebastian. After a brief discussion, they both started barking out orders.
Men climbed back into their vehicles, and everyone took off. Carson took the driver’s position in our SUV with Gabriella riding shotgun and Max and me in the back.
“W
e’re going to regroup at the vacant lot,” Max said. “Sebastian is leaving two men to watch over things. They’ll make sure no one escapes before the police arrive.”
~~~~
Within a few minutes, our group had re-formed in the vacant lot. Everyone then gathered at the back of the Black Death bakery van.
J. Barrett Knight was also there. From the cuts on his wrists and the bruises on his face, I could see he’d been badly mistreated.
“What do you know about the woman?” Max asked Barrett. “Her name is Danielle.”
“They brought her in earlier this morning for questioning. I’ve been locked in a storage room for the past two days, so I don’t know anything for sure. Based on the screams I heard, Benny must have used his stun-gun on her three or four times. Lillian uses him as her enforcer, and he’s a nasty piece of work.”
“What happened to her then?” Sebastian asked.
“They brought her into the storage room with me. She was weak, but I talked with her, and she seemed to be okay. They took her out again just before you raided the building.”
“Where did they take her?” Max asked.
“I overheard Lillian talking to Benny,” Barrett said. “They’ve taken her to Oswald’s house.”
“Who’s Oswald?” Max asked.
“He’s my brother. He’s also head of the Wolfe-Knight Family Foundation.”
“Where is the house located?” Sebastian asked.
“It’s on the northeast side of Camelback Mountain. On Yucca Road off of Cameldale Way.”
As Barrett called out the address, I punched it into my phone.
“Damn,” I said out loud.
“What?” Max and Sebastian asked at the same time.
“Sorry,” I said. “But it looks like Oswald Knight lives next door to Stig Stephens.”
“What?” Roberto asked. “You mean Stig Stephens, the movie star?”
“Yes,” Barrett said. “The estates there are so big we really never have a lot to do with the neighbors, but Stig Stephens does live next door to Oswald. I’ve been to his house a couple of times for charity fundraisers. It has a nice view of the city, especially from around the pool. I live half a dozen houses to the west of there.”
