Blown

by Chuck Barrett

He and the inspector dropped their guns and raised their hands.

  An older man with overly thick glasses walked onto the landing and glanced at both men then his eyes settled on Kaplan. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips while he spoke. "Mr. Kaplan, I presume?" He removed the cigarette. "Come to collect on that favor so soon?"

  Kaplan recognized two of the men from last night when he handed over Tony in Lexington. "I'm a man of my word," said Kaplan in a terse tone.

  "That might very well be your undoing." Scalini looked at Moss. "You must be Senior Inspector Pete Moss."

  Moss gave him a baffled look.

  "Tony mentioned you to Angelo here." He pointed to Moss. "Plus your belt badge was a giveaway." He smiled. "Pete Moss, not a name one forgets."

  Scalini stepped back and took a long draw from his cigarette. He coughed. "Bruno, go get Tony Q and bring him out here. I want these gentlemen to observe what happens when someone double crosses me."

  Bruno disappeared into the room and returned leading Tony by the elbow.

  Scalini turned to the old man. Sweat trickled down his forehead. "Tony Q, this breaks my heart. We've been together for forty years. You're like family to me. I gave you your start and what do you do? You stab me in the back. Bastardo. This is how you repay me for all my generosity?"

  Kaplan observed the men's body language. Tony stood eerily calm, as if he'd made peace with his impending fate. Scalini, on the other hand, was shaking from pure unmitigated anger. His face was red and more sweat trickled down his forehead and dangled from the tip of his over sized nose.

  And then Scalini's phone rang. He looked annoyed until he looked at the caller-id.

  "Yeah," Scalini said into the phone. "What? Are you sure?" His eyes took on a panicked look. "When? Now?" He disconnected the call.

  If it weren't for the impending threat of being shot by the thugs, Kaplan would have found Scalini's behavior amusing. The already panicked mob boss seemed to unravel at once. And at that moment, all the lights to the warehouse went out.

  Scalini gasped and then cursed.

  Battery powered backup lights came on at the four corners of the warehouse, barely enough to see but better than pitch black.

  Several canisters broke through the windows above them sending shards of glass raining down. The canisters landed on the lower warehouse floor and burst open spewing tear gas into the air.

  Kaplan noticed all the men looked at Scalini for instructions.

  All, except one.

  Bruno.

  Scalini looked at the old man. "Tony Q, may you rot in hell." He raised his gun.

  Before Scalini could pull the trigger, Bruno turned his weapon on Martin Scalini and fired a bullet into the mob boss's head.

  Scalini's face never had a chance to show surprise. His body dropped to the ground. His trusted bodyguard had killed him. Bruno the Rat.

  The next projectiles through the broken windows weren't difficult for Kaplan to recognize or prepare for—flash bangs.

  Instinctively he and Moss flung themselves to the floor, closed their eyes, opened their mouths, and covered their ears with their hands, pinching off as much noise as possible in preparation for the blast. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was Bruno retreat into the back room with Tony…but not before he fired another round at point blank range.

  This one into Angelo DeLuca's chest.

  38

  In rapid-fire succession, the stun grenades exploded. The effect was usually brain numbing. Upon detonation, the grenades were designed to emit an intensely loud bang, usually in the range of 170-180 decibels, along with a one million candela plus blinding flash. The immediate result was flash blindness, deafness, tinnitus, and inner ear disturbance. All of which caused disorientation, confusion, loss of coordination, balance, and sometimes even consciousness.

  Kaplan's first exposure to the flashbang was in the Army. His Special Forces training had prepared him to use the flashbang against his enemies as well as defend against the grenade being used against him. The use of the flashbang was intended to disorient the opponent and buy the user extra time to gain a tactical advantage. It was a wonderful innovation—unless the mission demanded stealth. Obviously, this one did not.

  Scalini's men, Joey and Nicky, groaned as they covered their ears with their hands. They were dazed and blind. Kaplan had a window of at least twenty or thirty seconds before they would recover enough to pose any threat. He also knew the men who launched the grenades into the warehouse would storm through the doors any second and he had no intention of being in the line of fire when they did.

  Kaplan grabbed Moss by the arm and herded him toward the back room where Bruno and Tony disappeared.

  The smoke from the tear gas canisters was already stinging his eyes. Both he and Moss pulled their neck buffs over their noses to help filter the air and delay the mucus membrane irritation in their lungs as long as possible.

  The room was relatively clear of smoke, but in a matter of seconds that would change. He closed the office door behind him and as he did, he heard the sound of the men downstairs breaking through the exterior doors. He turned, expecting to see Tony and Bruno, but no one else was in the room except Moss. Through an open door in the back, Kaplan saw a staircase against the north wall leading to the warehouse floor beneath.

  The thunderous sound of the men charging into the warehouse from the main entrance was interrupted by the sound of gunfire as Joey and Nicky had regained their faculties and opened fire on the intruders. The exchange of shooting was close, just outside the office. Below, on the warehouse floor, he heard the invaders yelling halt commands. Bruno and Tony had not gotten away.

  "Throw down your weapons," several men yelled from the warehouse floor.

  One of DeLuca’s men yelled back, "See you in Hell." Then there was a continuous blast from an Uzi followed by an explosion at the far end of the warehouse. The fuel tank. Panicked yelling resonated from below and was followed by another salvo of gunfire. Then, everything went silent except for the sounds of boots running and the crackling of a fire in the background. He knew the outcome. Joey and Nicky were dead.

  Footsteps pounded up the wooden stairs toward the office. Moss grasped Kaplan and spun him around. Moss looked him in the eyes and placed his gun on the table. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his creds.

  The footsteps had reached the landing now and were just outside the door.

  Moss snatched off his badge from his belt, turned toward the door, and held up his badge in one hand and his creds in the other.

  The door flung open and three men swarmed in, pointing their rifles at Kaplan and Moss while yelling, "Drop your weapons. FBI. On the ground."

  Moss yelled back, "U. S. Marshals, U. S. Marshals."

  While the first two men in the door were subduing Moss, two others had come up the back staircase and tackled Kaplan from behind. The largest man held him down; pulled his arms behind his back, and held his rifle barrel against Kaplan's head.

  "Federal agents," Kaplan shouted over the commotion. "You're making a big mistake."

  "Oh, I doubt that," the big man said.

  He got off Kaplan, pulled him to his feet, then pushed him over on a table that was bolted to the floor. The table was crudely built with rough-cut lumber and four adjustable leather shackles attached to the tabletop. Its splintery surface had dark red bloodstains from years of use by Scalini.

  The man holding him down relaxed his grip and leaned over to speak to him. The other man standing next to him lowered his rifle. Kaplan bolted upright before the man could react and head butted him in the face. He felt the crunch of the man's nose. The crippling blow had momentarily stunned his opponent. Blood streamed down the man's face. With his right leg, Kaplan kicked outward, a powerful blow to the second man's knee. He dropped his weapon and fell to the floor, holding his knee as he did. Kaplan spun his waist in a tight twisting motion, extended his leg, and delivered a crushing blow with his boot to the side of the
man's head. The man was unconscious before he hit the floor.

  "Kaplan, no," yelled Moss.

  Kaplan felt the butt of a rifle bash the back of his head. It sent a paralyzing shockwave through his body. His legs weakened and wobbled. He tried to fight it, but consciousness left him.

  39

  When Kaplan regained consciousness, his legs and arms were flex-cuffed to the chair behind the table, arms still behind his back but secured to the chair. The chair was bolted to the floor just like the table. He figured Scalini wanted it that way so his victims couldn't move during the torture sessions. His head wobbled as he tried to fight off the fog from the blow to the back of his head. Dazed, he looked up. The room was blurry. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs. Moss's face slowly came into focus.

  "Welcome back," Moss said. "I tried to stop them… but they don't take kindly to having their own men beaten up."

  Kaplan's head was throbbing. His throat was dry. He could smell smoke but no one seemed in a hurry to get out of the warehouse. "How long was I out?"

  "Only a couple of minutes," said Moss. "Barely long enough for them to strap you down."

  "Who was the son of a bitch who hit me?"

  "One of my men," a strange voice said.

  Kaplan turned. Next to the table was a man in a suit and tie with a badge clipped to his belt. He was tall and thin with a ruddy complexion and wire rim glasses. His hair was light brown with a hint of grey. He looked official. There was a man standing behind him with a rifle. "Who are you?"

  "Harvey Sturdivant, Assistant Regional Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," he said. "And you, Mr. Kaplan, just sent two of my best agents to the hospital. Senior Inspector Moss explained the situation to me and, if you promise to stop killing or disabling my men, I'll have the cuffs removed."

  "I haven't killed any of your men."

  "Remember the two men who chased you from the restaurant in Little Rock? And then were involved in a car crash near Searcy?" Sturdivant asked. "Those were contract agents. We knew Scalini's men were coming to capture Tony…that's what we wanted to happen, but you interfered. No one knew who you were. They were just trying to stop you."

  "Stop, as in shoot me? What am I, a mind reader? No lights, no sirens, no badges," Kaplan snapped back. "And they used sound suppressors."

  "Perhaps they didn't handle the situation the way they should have or were trained. Gunfire draws a lot of attention. I authorized the suppressors and since I felt Tony's life was in danger, they were given permission to use deadly force against you if necessary."

  "By you?"

  "Yes."

  "The helicopter?"

  "Tragic. Belonged to the contractor as well."

  "Your contractors are idiots." Kaplan paused and then asked, "Then you planted the RFID tracking devices?"

  "Yes."

  "You compromised a witness without the U. S. Marshals Service knowledge?"

  Sturdivant looked at Moss and then back at Kaplan. "Correct again."

  Moss clenched his jaw and interrupted, "You’re telling me you FBI assholes deliberately avoided cooperating with or even notifying the Marshals Service of your intentions? To get your prize you were willing to let civilians and a federal marshal be collateral damage? There is blood on the FBI’s hands. I will personally make sure you go down for this and then I'm coming back and kicking your ass.”

  Sturdivant’s voice remained calm as he continued, "Our intel was that Scalini knew the location of your witness and his men were not authorized to shoot, just grab and go. Nobody was supposed to get hurt. We knew your witness," Sturdivant looked at Moss and said, "could lead us to Martin Scalini. That's why we didn't have men inside the restaurant. We didn't alert the Marshals Service because your director would never have agreed to it."

  "You're damn right he wouldn't agree to it," said Moss.

  "The FBI considered capturing Scalini a higher priority than your witness." Sturdivant turned and looked at Kaplan. "I think it was because of your involvement, Mr. Kaplan, that caused Scalini's men to change their strategy and open fire. When the shooting started, my men scrambled. By then it was too late, the damage had been done."

  "Bullshit. I was there," Kaplan began to shout. "Scalini's men had no intention of a simple snatch and run. They came out shooting. If it weren't for Deputy Cox and myself, more people would have died."

  Sturdivant was silent. His face had turned red. He motioned to one of his men. "Cut him loose…and give them back their weapons."

  The man pulled out a knife and cut the flex cuffs.

  "Where is Tony now?" Kaplan rubbed his wrists where the cuffs had been clamped tight against his skin. "And how did you locate us here? Another RFID I didn't find?"

  "Tony is downstairs with Bruno Ratti," Sturdivant said. "Both men are fine and in FBI custody. We found the warehouse because Angelo DeLuca called Scalini for backup in Lexington and we were monitoring DeLuca's phone. When we knew we had this chance to nab Scalini, we got authorization to tap and track his phone…that brought us here."

  "You're wrong about one thing," Moss said. "Tony is not in FBI custody. His protection was breached and now I’m wondering if the FBI wanted Scalini so bad that it intentionally leaked the info to the mob. I don’t know, and at this point, I don’t care. Tony is my witness and I'm taking him with me."

  The door burst open and one of Sturdivant's men entered. "Sir, the fire is spreading. We need to evacuate the building immediately."

  Sturdivant nodded and then looked at Moss. "Do whatever you want with Tony." Sturdivant motioned toward the door at the back of the room. "Let's get out of here, we can resume this discussion outside."

  Halfway down the stairs Kaplan looked back at Sturdivant. He raised his voice over the increasing background noise of the fire. "This isn't over between you and me," he promised. "Whoever screwed the pooch on this one is going down."

  "That's right," Moss chimed in. "Someone will be held accountable."

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the front door of the warehouse was already engulfed in flames, leaving the rear exit the only safe passage out of the burning building.

  Kaplan made a mental note earlier that the warehouse with all the chemicals stored inside was a virtual powder keg waiting to blow. Now he was seeing its volatility first hand. Flames were licking at Scalini's limousine and the heat radiating from the inferno caused a shimmer from the vehicles roof, trunk, and hood. Kaplan figured when the flames reached the north end of the building, the chemicals and solvents stored in the drums beneath the offices would ignite.

  A solvent drum next to Scalini's limo caught fire and exploded. Flames swallowed the limo and jumped to the Buick parked next to it. Every man instinctively ducked. Flames from the fire rolled across the warehouse floor devouring everything in its path. The building filled with black hot smoke making it impossible to breathe.

  "Move it," Sturdivant coughed twice and yelled as he pointed toward the door. "Now."

  Tony and Bruno were ushered through the metal door by two of Sturdivant's men. All four men were wheezing and coughing from smoke inhalation.

  Kaplan followed Moss through the door while Sturdivant pulled up the flank. The seven men ran from the raging fire consuming the warehouse. Another explosion rocked the warehouse and blew out all the upper level windows. Flying shards of glass pelted the men on the ground.

  The group of men ran out of the burning building into the night. The lights of the city still visible but haloed from the excess moisture in the air. A touch of fog had settled across the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay.

  They stopped about a hundred feet from the warehouse. Every man was rubbing his eyes, coughing, and short of breath. Tony fell to his knees, leaned over, and vomited on the ground. Bruno stood next to him. The two men who escorted them out of the warehouse stood watch.

  Kaplan stopped beside Tony and put his hands on the old man's shoulder. "Have you noticed that excitement seems to follow you?" Kaplan
said to Tony between coughs.

  The old man nodded and vomited again.

  Sturdivant stopped behind Kaplan and said, "This is far enough."

  Moss walked over to Kaplan. "Hell of a forty-eight hours, huh?"

  Kaplan nodded and leaned over to cough, cupping his hands over his knees for support. He looked up at Moss. In the corner of his vision, he detected a flash of light.

  Behind him, Sturdivant grunted and fell to the ground.

  And then the warehouse exploded.

  40

  Moss instinctively dove to the ground as a fireball plumed skyward forming a fiery mushroom cloud over the shipping terminal complex. He'd witnessed Sturdivant go down the same moment the warehouse exploded. His mind barely registered what his eyes had just witnessed. If Kaplan hadn't leaned over to cough, the shot would have struck him in the head. Instead the bullet went over Kaplan’s head and struck the man standing behind him.

  Sturdivant's men were caught off guard; their gaping mouths an obvious indication of disbelief. Their boss lay dead in an ever-expanding pool of blood. Both men raised their weapons and took up a defensive posture.

  The glow from the massive fireball shooting into the sky glistened and sparkled off the crimson liquid.

  Moss looked at Kaplan who had turned his head to see Sturdivant lying motionless.

  "Take cover," Moss yelled to Sturdivant's men as he stood.

  One of them yelled back, "Where?" The two men were back to back, turning and scanning in every direction for the threat that killed their boss.

  Moss looked around; there was no cover around them. They were out in the open and easy targets.

  "In the water," Kaplan said as he pointed toward the river.

  Moss grabbed Kaplan's hand and pulled him to his feet. "We gotta move it."

  Sturdivant's two men ran toward the bulkhead next to the water. The ground around them exploded from gunfire. Bruno was already standing on the bulkhead but refused to jump in.