Sin City Assassin (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 3)

by Swinney, C. L.

  Chapter 30:

  Dix was still kicking himself for getting sucked into the last building area by Marie. He was bitter and finally admitted to himself that he’d made this whole investigation personal. He found it disturbing that she had chosen to lure only him in, and when the time was right, she went after only him. She could’ve killed several agents, but she only wanted me. He’d never hit a woman in his life, but apparently he had no problem shooting and choking one out. He looked at his hands and shook his head.

  Dix needed to calm down; otherwise, he knew he’d be useless. But, so many questions were flying through his head that made it impossible for him to sit still. He needed a tall whisky, and fast. What did Marie mean when she said she wanted to kill me before “he” did? What exactly was she up to before we apprehended her? And, more importantly, was Petersen finally in the clear? Each question bothered him, but making sure Petersen was safe was still priority one. After checking on Petersen, he’d focus on figuring out who else in Sin City wanted him dead.

  He retrieved his phone and dialed Petersen.

  “Hey buddy, what’s all the commotion about?” Petersen asked before Dix could check on him.

  “Well, we grabbed the lady who wanted you dead.” Dix thought he’d be more happy making the statement, but found himself perplexed by what she’d said when she came to after he choked her out.

  “That’s great!” Petersen could sense Dix was down. “What gives, partner?”

  “Well, we had one agent shot, but he’ll be okay,” he paused for a moment. “She almost killed me too.” Dix recalled the image of the second shadow behind him before he instinctively turned around. It made him cringe.

  “What? Are you okay?” It was Petersen’s turn to be concerned for Dix.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. We tried to grab her and she fled. Basically, she got behind us and could have taken out half the team. But….” Dix let the statement linger as he pressed the button to get a coffee from the vending machine.

  “But what?” Petersen asked, obviously worried.

  “She wanted me dead too,” Dix replied bluntly.

  “Geez, I thought I was the target. Is she saying anything now?” Petersen worried about Dix. He felt terrible that he couldn’t be with him. He wanted to solve this case and have Dix’s back.

  “No, not yet anyway. She’s in surgery. I shot her in the leg, she’s got a recent bullet wound in her arm, I think from when she killed the undercover officer…” again he paused considering everything he’d been through in the last twenty-four hours, “and I had to choke her out.” Dix shook his head. He figured Marie would never talk to him and it irked him.

  Petersen laughed. “Damn man, you had to choke her out? Why not just kill her, and be done with this crap,” he joked.

  “Well, like I said, she got the upper hand on me and I was just trying to stay alive. Survival mode kicked in, I guess. She almost broke free, but I was able to subdue her. I doubt she’s going to talk, but there’s plenty left in this case. Someone is calling the shots, and I don’t think you or I are safe until we find him.”

  Petersen whistled. “Man, this is the last time you pick a vacation destination for us. Michelle and I just want to go home. Now you’re caught up in this too. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Petersen held Michelle’s hand tighter and she looked at him with concern. It was clear he was upset. Michelle wished she could help Dix too, but until this was over, she wasn’t leaving her husband’s side.

  “Just get better. I’m gonna figure this out and try to give us some closure. Tell Michelle to keep her eyes open for anyone who appears suspicious,” Dix replied.

  “Will do.” Petersen hung up and told Michelle everything.

  She embraced him and told him they’d be all right. But in her heart, she worried so much she thought she may get sick to her stomach.

  Dix walked back to the waiting room to get his third cup of hospital coffee. He found some of his team members there having a discussion with Sergeant Frazier. He admired his men, Frazier’s men, the men and women wearing blue. He sat down next to Frazier and noticed one of his guys chuckling at him.

  “What’s so damn funny, Marcel?” Dix asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I just noticed your eye looks like Mike Tyson nailed you.” The group laughed hysterically while Dix gave the kid the bird.

  Dix motioned to the operating room and laughed. “That lady back there is as mean as they come. I’m lucky to be alive. I was almost another victim of the Praying Mantis.” Dix enjoyed the laughter and camaraderie of the two teams. He assured the men and women in the waiting room that he was fine, and informed them they had more work to do before they could get back to Florida.

  He recounted the fight with the teams and shared what Marie had said when she came to. It was clear as men shook their heads and huffed that they were equally concerned.

  “You mean to tell me she ain’t even calling the shots?” asked one of the newer agents on Dix’s team.

  “Based on what she said, I don’t think so,” replied Dix.

  A grumbling broke out between the teams.

  Frazier held up his hand. “Look, she clearly wanted to kill Dix, and she said she was going to do it, not him. We need to assume Marie works for a man, one who should scare the hell out of all of you. Mark my words. We’re not stopping and will work day and night until we find this person.” He motioned to Dix. “He’s going to talk to her if she makes it through surgery, but I doubt she says a word. That means, start calling your informants and turning the heat up on the street until we develop some leads.”

  Dix chimed in. “I know you guys are tired, but we need to give this everything we’ve got. Several cops are dead and we have their killer in custody. But, we’ve got an even more serious problem looming about, and we need to figure out who he is. If we can do that, maybe we can capture him and put this case to rest.”

  Several of the agents nodded.

  Frazier picked out a few people to stay with Dix at the hospital to keep eyes on Marie. The remaining agents were cut loose to hit the streets looking for leads. Frazier told Dix he’d call him if anything new developed. The two shook hands and Frasier left.

  Dix grabbed another cup of coffee then dialed his wife’s cell phone.

  “Hey, baby. I miss you,” she answered.

  “I miss you too, honey. So, I know you’re gonna hate me, but this isn’t over yet. We caught the suspect that shot at Steve, but she was gunning for me and there’s someone else calling the shots.”

  Dix could hear his wife begin to cry. It bothered him tremendously.

  “Let’s just go home, Bill.”

  It pained him to know she was suffering. One of the things he really hated about being a cop was time away from his wife. It caused strife in their marriage and made things difficult at times. But he knew no other way to live. He would never choose the profession over his wife, but she loved him too much to ever make it an issue.

  “I can’t, babe. Steve and I are still in danger and I’ve got to make sure we can rest at night, I’m so sorry. Please don’t cry. I’ll do my best to solve this quickly, and we will fly home,” Dix said with a heavy heart.

  She sobbed quietly into the phone. “You promise?”

  Dix knew better than break a promise with his wife. He wanted this to be over just as badly as she did.

  “Yes, I promise. We bag the bad guy and we’ll head home with the Petersens.” He wasn’t sure when that would happen, but now that he told his wife it would, he better damn well make sure it did happen. They hung up, both feeling uneasy. Dix needed to walk to get his mind back on track.

  He finished several laps around the hospital. A male nurse jogged up to him and asked him if he was Bill Dix.

  “Yeah, why?” he asked the nurse.

  “The lady you guys brought in earlier is done. She made it through surgery, and she’s in intensive care. The doctor told me to tell you she’d be awake in a few hours.”


  “Okay, great. Thanks for the heads up,” Dix said as he patted the nurse on the shoulder. He slowly walked toward the waiting room again. He had no idea what he would say to Marie. He suddenly realized he despised her. He knew he would not be able to keep his cool, and it bothered him. Dix felt like choking her out again and again. He contemplated calling Frazier and asking if they had someone to interrogate Marie, instead of him. The case was too close to him. She tried to kill me, for God’s sake, he thought.

  Dix called Frazier and learned there was no one available to interview Marie. And Frazier was shocked Dix didn’t want to do it himself.

  “I’m trying to do the right thing here. I’m too close to the case, and all I keep thinking about is choking her out over and over,” Dix said to Frazier to defend his request for someone else.

  Frazier snorted. “Well, that’s understandable, but you know there’s no one better to interrogate this broad than you.”

  Dix knew Frazier was correct, but he didn’t have to like it. “Anyway you can just find a backup? She’s gonna wake up, and the last person she’s going to want to see is me.”

  Frazier nodded. “Okay, I’ll call a guy who’s on vacation. He’ll come in. He’s been to a few of your interrogation courses.”

  Dix laughed. “Well, he ought to be able to get something out of her then.” Dix thought once he retired he could teach full-time. It was another passion of his. But he decided for at least a year or two, he’d do anything and everything his amazing wife wanted to do.

  “All right, I’ll call him and send him down. His name is Lawrence.” Frazier hung up with Dix and made a few phone calls to track down Lawrence, who wasn’t happy about coming in, but the overtime and the chance to speak with Bill Dix was worth it.

  Dix went back to stewing about Marie. No other criminal, male or female, had gotten under his skin like she had. He began formulating a plan to attack her mentally just in case Frazier’s guy couldn’t get her to talk. Is it bad I want to get in the room with her, just her and me, and pummel her?

  Chapter 31:

  Pierre, and the whole agency for that matter, had heard the woman assassin cleverly named the Praying Mantis was finally in custody. He was happy she’d been caught, but he wanted to get to her boss. After obtaining the judge’s signature, he faxed the search warrant to the phone company and was about to call to confirm they received it when a small beep on his computer terminal indicated he'd received an email. He saw the email was from the phone company he had just sent the search warrant to. That was quick, he thought.

  While clicking on the attachment to the email, Pierre felt a rush of excitement. The phone company had sent him the call detail records with the cell towers within minutes—it meant he could import the data and begin digesting what it meant without delay. With any luck, he’d be able to give Dix or Frazier another good place to start looking for the person the Praying Mantis answered to. He shivered. The thought of a gruesome and fearless assassin excited him on a deeper level, a place few people could understand. He assumed the person was a male. Whoever it was, he hoped to meet this person because he found whoever it was fascinating.

  As the information was uploaded into the computer system for analysis, Pierre started looking at the phone numbers and subscribers provided by the phone company related to the phone used by Marie. The list was very short. Each phone number, based on his previous cases, appeared to be a drop phone—one that was basically untraceable. The call history indicated the phone used by Marie only had three contacts, two of which were used recently. One was an unknown player in the case, and the other was the person he, Dix, and Frazier were very interested in.

  Once the information was completely uploaded, Pierre chose a few options with the software and immediately began to plot the coordinates of the three cell phones he’d obtained search warrants for: Marie’s, the phone where the texts of sexual nature had originated, and the new phone number. One by one, he plotted the call detail records and the cell tower locations of the phones during crucial parts of this case on a large Google map, making sense of the paths the phones traveled. Pierre could clearly see all three phones were in the same areas on several occasions, strengthening his theory that the phones were related to each other.

  At the recently discovered safe house, Pierre could see the mystery phone hit off the same cell tower as Marie’s phone did at the same time, indicating, but not proving, that the users of both phones likely met up. He wondered about the mystery phone. Since the phone had pinged at the safe house with Marie, it occurred to him the owner could be the supplier for the various illegal items located at the safe house. Then he could see the phone leave while Marie’s phone stayed in the area and began sending text messages that were sexual in nature to the other phone. Shortly thereafter, the phone Marie was texting would come closer to Marie’s phone and hit off a closer cell tower, again indicating the two users were likely together. Based on this information, Pierre called a judge he knew to see if she would sign an order to ping both phones. She said yes over the phone, and that was good enough to send to the phone companies.

  Pierre noticed the phone companies servicing the two phones had LTE capabilities. It meant if the users had their GPS functions on, Pierre could get coordinates from the devices within a few meters. That of course, meant Pierre could put Dix basically right on top of the users of each phone, making it much easier to identify them. Pierre cracked a wry smile. He had always secretly wanted to be an agent, but the last time he tested, he was disqualified because of poor eyesight. He cursed the event every time he thought about it. They didn’t even let me get corrective surgery.

  He dialed Dix’s number. No answer. He left a voicemail telling Dix he was close to figuring out another lead and should call him ASAP. He called Frazier and gave him the update. The technical talk went right over his head.

  “Listen, can you give me something so we can catch these assholes or not?” Frazier grumbled.

  Pierre laughed. “Technically speaking, yes. I’m waiting for pings to get set up, and I should know much more then.”

  “What’s the ETA for those damn pings,” growled Frazier. Exhaustion was kicking in, and whenever he became real tired, he became cranky. In fact, he was very much like the Snickers candy bar commercials.

  “Hey, calm down. Don’t shoot the messenger. I’ll know whether the phones are on, and where they are in a few minutes.” Pierre stared at the computer screen, waiting for an email from the phone company containing the data he needed.

  “Okay. Keep me posted. You let Dix know yet?” Frazier calmed down slightly.

  “I left him a voicemail. No word….” Pierre removed his cell phone from his ear as it vibrated indicating he was getting another call. He could see it was Bill Dix. “Hey, I’ll call you back, Dix is calling me.”

  “Okay, and get those damn phones located,” Frazier replied.

  Pierre hung up with Frazier and switched over to Dix. “Hey Bill, I’ve got some updates for you.”

  “Good. What’ve you got?”

  Pierre filled Dix in on the three phones, how they were connected, how they were near each other from time to time, and how Pierre had classified the users of the phones. “We know the phone we had for Marie was correct, since you guys confirmed the cell phone number when she was apprehended. The phone ending in five-three-zero-nine I think belongs to a supplier, based on the phones being together at the safe house prior to the other phone showing up. In addition, that phone left before the second phone got to the safe house. The phone ending in two-nine-two-four is being used by someone who was clearly hooking up with the assassin.” Pierre spoke confidently, determined to demonstrate his superior intellect. After giving the rundown to Dix he felt a little pride coming through.

  Dix whistled. “Geez, Pierre, that’s some fine work. Any way we can get up on the two remaining phones ASAP?” Dix knew they had the tools to help him and his team identify the person calling all the shots.

  “Yup.
Judge already signed my search warrants and the information from the phone companies is already showing up in my database. I’ve been waiting for the pings. We should know the status of the….” Pierre stopped talking as the first ping for the phone he’d labeled, “Marie’s boss,” populated on his Google map.

  “Hey, Pierre, you ok?” Dix asked. The hair rose on the back of his neck. He could hear Pierre’s breathing had accelerated.

  Pierre assumed Dix was at the hospital with Marie. The six-meter coordinate for the phone being used by the shot caller showed the device in the area of the same hospital. Pierre’s heart pounded.

  Very quietly he asked, “Dix, where are you right now?”

  Dix sensed Pierre was freaked out. “Take it easy, son. I’m at the hospital waiting for Frazier to get here and the doctors to finish up with Marie. Why?”

  “Dix, t-t-he phone of the shot caller is right outside the hospital, probably at the park,” Pierre said in a whisper.

  Dix shook his head. Why are my hunches always correct? He began to wonder if it was a fluke. How would the shot-caller know Marie was in custody? And how would he know she was at this hospital? “How many meters are the pings, and when was the last one?”