“I’ll get the lady in the office to shut this place down and open that front gate for trucks,” Pickett said.
“I’ll stay right here and make sure no one gets near any of this,” Sarge said.
As Pickett and Robin moved away, Sarge moved over and leaned against another row of storage units. He just kept staring back into the open mouth of the unit, trying to catch his breath and slow his racing heart.
Over the years he had come close to dying a number of times.
But this one might well have been his closest.
And coming close to dying was not something anyone ever got used to.
19
December 5th, 2016
Las Vegas, Nevada
* * *
It took the bomb squad almost an hour to clear the unit, working carefully to not disturb any evidence at all.
Pickett stood hugging Sarge the entire time. His quick mind and sane thinking had saved all of their lives. He seemed fine on the surface but she had a hunch under the stern shell he was feeling this one.
The sun had set and the night air now had a bite to it. Pickett had gotten their light coats from her car, but if they were out here much longer they were going to need heavier coats.
The bomb squad had set up bright lights filling the entire inside of the storage unit with light. They left the lights up making the entire area feel almost as bright as day.
As the squad pulled away, Cavanaugh turned to the three of them. “That bomb was as dangerous as you thought it was, Sarge. Very unstable. Now I got a hunch the chief will want me to stay and help you guys on this.”
“I think we could use the help,” Robin said. “Thanks.”
Pickett agreed to that completely.
“I got one of Will’s people bringing us heavy jackets and some hamburgers and fries,” Robin said. “What does everyone want?”
After the four of them decided on dinner and Robin got it on the way, Sarge said, “Okay, where were we?”
“About to die an ugly death,” Robin said.
“Yeah,” Pickett said, “let’s skip that step, shall we?”
“Gladly,” Sarge said, smiling at her.
“Can’t tell you how happy I am to have missed that step,” Cavanaugh said.
“We were about to photograph the interior of the drawers without touching anything, then dust for fingerprints,” Robin said.
Cavanaugh nodded. “That sounds like a solid by-the-book plan. But I got the lab guys coming in an hour to do the fingerprinting now.”
Pickett nodded.
“Good,” Sarge said. “That way we won’t miss anything.”
So carefully, wearing evidence gloves, all four of them went back into the unit.
Robin took pictures as they carefully opened each drawer. Just the grating sound of the old file drawer opening made her tense. This place had become a frightening place, that was for sure.
Every file was labeled with a number. There seemed to be no order to the numbers which meant to Pickett that there was a master sheet somewhere.
The drawers in the desk had the journals that Cinda had mentioned and one drawer was full of computer storage disks.
“We’re going to need to take those to Will,” Robin said, “to have his people save what is on them, if possible.”
“Assuming those will be evidence,” Cavanaugh said, “is Will set up for that sort of thing with the city as far as chain of custody?”
“He is,” Robin said. “Licensed computer lab for the department.”
“Perfect,” Cavanaugh said, nodding.
Pickett let out a sigh of relief when they finished the photos and left the unit again, moving back out into the chilly night air.
Right at that moment the truck from the city forensics lab pulled up and right behind it one of Will’s assistants with coats and their dinner.
Cavanaugh got the lab guys going on the storage area while Pickett and Sarge and Robin put on coats. They then decided the best place to eat would be in Pickett’s Jeep since it had the most room inside.
Pickett went and pulled the Jeep into the storage area, facing it so they could see the lit area where the tech people were working.
Cavanaugh took the offered coat and then joined them and for the first few minutes they ate their hamburgers and fries in silence with Cavanaugh and Robin in the back seat.
Finally it was Cavanaugh who broke the silence.
“You know, from first glance at how much is in there and how it was protected, we might be sitting on one of the most dangerous caches of information imaginable for a lot of people in this town.”
“Dangerous enough to kill Heather Winston over,” Robin said.
Pickett just nodded. She glanced over at Sarge. He was eating and seemingly lost in his own thoughts.
“What are you thinking?” Pickett asked him.
He glanced at her and then said, “We need armed guards on this place until we get all that stuff moved into a secure location.”
“Think we should call Mike?” Pickett asked. Until Sarge said that, she hadn’t given the next step much thought at all.
“I do,” Sarge said. “And with all the people in the bomb squad and now the tech people working this, word is going to get out and some people out there are going to know exactly how dangerous this place might be to their lives.”
“Mike?” Cavanaugh asked.
“Private and well-trusted security firm,” Pickett said as Sarge put aside his half-finished hamburger and took out his phone.
“What about Will’s firm?” Cavanaugh asked.
“Mike does a different form of security,” Pickett said.
“We’ll tell you all about him later,” Robin said. “But it was Mike’s people who went into the tunnels ahead of us on that massive kidnapping and sex-tape case and cleared out any opposition and helped with the evacuation.”
Cavanaugh sort of chuckled. “I had heard rumors that the gang had broken that case and gone in ahead of everyone. But I honestly didn’t believe it.”
“We hate credit, remember?” Robin said.
“I’m starting to understand that now,” he said. “And if something comes of this case I’ll get the credit, right? And I’ll have to do the days of paperwork as well.”
“You got it,” Pickett said, turning to smile at Cavanaugh.
“Damn, retirement can’t come faster.”
“Mike,” Sarge said into his phone, “we got an emergency situation that is going to need some firepower to guard.”
Pickett listened as Sarge explained the situation of the storage unit, the bomb, that it might have been Darling Black’s old office, and the location.
“Thanks, Mike,” Sarge said and clicked off his phone.
“He’ll have his people in place in one hour and come tell us what he has done.”
Pickett nodded and finished off her hamburger. Knowing that they would be guarded by Mike and his people suddenly made her feel much better.
Now they just had to figure out if that old information in that storage unit was worth the problem and the near-death experience.
She had a hunch it was going to be.
20
December 5th, 2016
Las Vegas, Nevada
* * *
The tech guys were just finishing up when Mike appeared beside the door of the Jeep and all four of them got out. Sarge shook Mike’s hand and thanked him for the quick reaction.
Mike wore his normal jeans, T-shirt under a dark jacket, and tonight he had on a black stocking cap.
“Anything to do with Darling Black has to be dangerous,” Mike said.
“I’m starting to understand that,” Sarge said.
Sarge introduced Mike to Cavanaugh and explained that Cavanaugh was only months away from joining the gang, but for the moment was stuck as the lead detective on this case.
Mike laughed. “Paperwork hell.”
“Trying not to think about that,” Cavanaugh said, shaking his head. �
��Between the bomb squad and the tech folks, this will take me a week to cross the final ‘t’ on this mess.”
“Got a hunch we are a ways from the end of this yet,” Sarge said, laughing.
Cavanaugh just shook his head like a sad puppy and everyone laughed.
“I have this place surrounded by my team,” Mike said. “And two have clear sight on this unit there. I’m going to stick around for the night as well on this one. Where you thinking of moving all that?”
“Not sure yet,” Sarge said. “Got any suggestions?”
“I have a secure house on the north side,” Mike said. “Make it comfortable to work as well. And we can guard any chain of evidence clearly that way.”
Sarge noted that Cavanaugh was nodding.
“We got one issue,” Sarge said. “We have a big standing safe in there. We’re hoping to find the combo in the desk once we get to looking.”
“Can I take a look at it?” Mike asked.
Sarge glanced at Cavanaugh who shrugged.
They all went back over to the unit just as the last tech guy reported to Cavanaugh they were all done and the unit was clear. They would have preliminary results for him by noon tomorrow.
“Wow, that’s fast,” Pickett said.
“Finding an active bomb on site will tend to speed up things some,” Cavanaugh said.
Sarge sure understood that, especially in these modern times.
Mike went in and bent down and looked at the dial on the safe, then without touching anything, looked around the safe and under it, since it was on four metal legs about three inches off the concrete.
“We’ll open it before we move it,” Mike said. “And pull the contents. The safe itself can be secured nicely in the garage of the house I have.”
“You can open that safe without cutting into it?”
“Oh, sure,” Mike said. “I can get some equipment from my car and pop it for you in a few minutes.”
“Please?” Sarge said, not believing that the safe was going to be that easy.
“Be right back,” Mike said, striding off toward the main gate.
“So tell me again who this guy is exactly,” Cavanaugh said.
“Where Will’s company works out in the open and for big name stars and politicians,” Robin said. “Mike and his people work behind the scenes, sometimes just along the line of what is legal and what isn’t in some cases. Will calls him at times when he needs help on a case.”
Cavanaugh nodded.
“Right now there are four or five ex-special forces people guarding us,” Sarge said. “Mike was ex-special forces as well.”
“Damned good to know considering what has happened here so far,” Cavanaugh said.
“Also Mike is the best computer expert I have ever seen,” Robin said.
“That’s going some considering Will and his computer force,” Cavanaugh said.
Sarge could only agree with that.
They all stood just outside the doorway to the unit until Mike got back. No point at starting on anything until they had the safe cleared.
Mike had a small tool kit. He went right to the safe and tried the handle. It was secure and locked.
He spun the dial three or four times, then took out what looked like a small meter and locked it in place against the metal door just to the right of the dial.
Then slowly he moved the dial until something registered on it.
“Right three to twenty-six,” he said.
Sarge pulled out his notebook from his pocket and wrote that down.
Mike turned the dial back to the left slowly until something registered again on the dial that Sarge couldn’t see.
“Left two to twenty-one.”
Mike then turned the dial back to the right again very slowly.
When he stopped he said, “Right one to ten.”
Then he eased the dial back to the left until it stopped.
“Back to zero,” he said.
He took the device off the side of the safe, then pushed the handle down and pulled the door open.
“Holy shit,” Cavanaugh said.
Sarge could only agree. Inside the safe were stacks and stacks of bundles of hundreds of dollars.
They all stepped back and just stared at the vast amount of money in the safe. Sarge just couldn’t believe how much there was.
“I’ll get some folks out here to take custody of that paperwork nightmare,” Cavanaugh said, pulling out his phone and stepping away. “That’s going to take real protection to move that amount of money.”
“How much do you think is there?” Pickett asked.
Sarge had seen this kind of money a number of times in the past. Once he had helped guard the final cash prize at Binions for the World Series of Poker. That had been two million and it wasn’t even close to the amount in that safe.
“Fifteen million,” Sarge said. “More than likely more. Each of those bundles is ten thousand.”
“So how did a college girl end up with that kind of money in a safe?” Robin asked.
“I think a better question is who was her partner or partners,” Pickett said, “and how did they lose track of that kind of money?”
“And what are they going to do when they discover their money has been found?” Sarge said.
“I’m going to get a few more men out here,” Mike said, pulling out his phone. “At least until this can be taken by armored car to a secure impound center.”
“Thanks, Mike,” Sarge said.
“Don’t thank me. That money in there is like bait in front of a pack of rats and I don’t want my men outgunned.”
Sarge didn’t like the sound of that at all.
21
December 5th, 2016
Las Vegas, Nevada
* * *
Pickett didn’t much like the safe standing open and millions in cash just sitting there. In fact there was nothing about this case she was liking at this moment, from almost being killed by a bomb to not knowing what was in those files.
But she was very glad Sarge had thought of calling in Mike and his people.
Cavanaugh turned back to them after a moment. “Going to take about an hour for a security detail and armored car to get here, and then it will take them about thirty minutes to count and secure that money.”
“Afraid we don’t have that kind of time,” Mike said, coming back to join them. “We have company. Who told you about this place?”
“An old friend of Heather’s named Cinda,” Pickett said.
“Well, someone knew fairly quickly and right now four armed intruders are working their way this way from three sides. Another is waiting in a van a block down the road from here.”
Pickett couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Cinda couldn’t have been involved in all this? Did that woman play them to find the storage unit and get it open? Was that even possible?
“I’ll call for backup,” Cavanaugh said, reaching for his phone.
“No need,” Mike said. “That will be too late and might get someone hurt. My men will handle it, but I need you four to act naturally and just walk as a group back over to the Jeep. Stay on the side of the Jeep closest to the building and just talk so a spotter for them won’t realize they have been made. Keep your guns in their holsters, but be ready to cover. I’m going to bring in the person in their van.”
Mike then turned and without another word headed off like he was going back to his car.
“You trusting him on this?” Cavanaugh asked as the four of them turned and walked slowly back toward Pickett’s Jeep.
“Completely,” Robin said. “Mike’s in charge at the moment, we do what he says. That’s why we hired him to protect us.”
“His people are that good,” Pickett said, touching Cavanaugh on the arm to reassure him.
The four of them reached the Jeep and stood facing each other so each of them could see in any open direction. Pickett still felt out in the open, but this was better than standing in front of all those lights
in the open storage unit.
“Not hearing anything,” Cavanaugh said.
“You won’t,” Pickett said.
“Mike’s men won’t fire a shot,” Sarge said. “They will just wrap up the attackers for us.”
“Deliver them with bows on,” Robin said.
Pickett looked along the row of storage units and into the distance. A dark building sort of loomed in the distance, only basic lights were on. It was clearly not occupied.
“Sarge, you know what that building is in the distance there?”
“New apartment construction,” Sarge said.
“Let’s move around behind the Jeep,” Pickett said. “That’s close enough for a sniper.”
“Have I said how much fun it is to work with you three,” Cavanaugh said as they all slowly worked around to the back of the Jeep, putting the car between them and that distant dark building.
“Just a normal day for the Cold Poker Gang,” Robin said.
Pickett laughed.
“Trust me,” Sarge said, “This is far, far from normal.”
“And here I thought all you guys did was play poker,” Cavanaugh said.
“Well, we do that too,” Robin said.
In the other direction Pickett could see lights from a McDonalds and passing cars.
Now they were covered on three sides at least.
They stood, not knowing what to say for another minute. As far as Pickett was concerned, that was the longest minute she had experienced in a very long time.
Finally Mike came around the corner pushing a resisting and very angry Cinda Blessing ahead of him. That meant all the men were also under wraps.
Pickett just stared at her as Sarge said simply, “I’ll be go to hell.”
As Cinda got close, she could see the open safe and the massive amount of money.
“That bitch,” Cinda said, almost spitting out the words.
“Talking about Heather I assume,” Pickett said as Cavanaugh took Cinda from Mike with a nod.
Ace High Page 7
