The Case

by Lee Cunningham

  The Beckett Cypher – The Case, is a novel of passion, love, intrigue, mystery, crime, corruption and conspiracy. Readers may find that some details in the investigation, although fictional, bear striking resemblance to current events that have unfolded and are still developing throughout the world.

  Shane Beckett is a highly trained undercover operative, working under contract for the Carson City Sheriff. His mission, to investigate an organized crime family that controls drug cartel distribution in the area, is about to take a turn that will alter his life, his family and his future. Shane is investigating king-pin Franky Magadinno, who for decades built a powerful crime syndicate, protected by corrupt government officials and the violent criminal underworld.

  Less than 2 hours’ drive from Carson City, Shane’s brother, Heath, is working hard to restore his new life, as a federal parolee, now free from prison, and a drug trafficking conviction. But Heath soon discovers that leaving the drug world he now hates, will be impossible, due to prison debts that have followed him outside. Heath is once again forced to choose between family and drug-money, as he is pulled in to the underworld Shane is investigating. Whether Shane will confront his brother as an enemy, or embrace him as an ally, is now up to Heath.

  As the investigation intensifies, Shane finally finds the true love he has longed for, only to discover that she is far more than just his dream girl. He learns that he too, is being followed and investigated. Shane must choose to trust his new love and her family, or reject them, as he struggles with difficult choices.

  The Case begins to spiral out of control, as one of the crime family is murdered, and Shane realizes he may be the next target. What follows is a twisted, tangled web of corruption, lies and betrayals, mixed with criminal investigation and political maneuvering, that leads to the ultimate discovery for Shane and Heath…the discovery of why their parents were murdered, and who was ultimately responsible.

  The Case becomes the preoccupation that will take Shane, and those who love him, through a series of unpredictable twists and turns, in The Beckett Cypher novels. Love, passion, romance, crime, politics, corruption, and money all play their parts, leading to the final conflict involving a shadow government. The conflict will become an all-out cold war, with explosive and deadly results, as love and hope develop for some, while despair and failure unfold for others, and everyone’s alliances are put to the test. But to unravel the mystery and solve The Case, Shane needs to find the key – The Beckett Cypher.

  Copyright © 2018 Lee Cunningham

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. To Contact the author with comments or questions: leecunninghamnovels@gmail.com.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN Paperback: 978-1-7320055-0-1

  ISBN Paperback: 978-1-7320055-1-8

  Printed in the United States of America

  Cover and Interior Design: Ghislain Viau

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  1

  “A Mirror Can’t Show What Lies Deep Inside”

  (Patrick Shane Beckett)

  Shane Beckett sat hunkered down in the driver’s seat of a new Ford Focus outfitted with dark tinted windows and paper plates that advertised a Reno, Nevada Ford dealer. He peered through binoculars 150 yards up the road to a driveway that led to the suspect’s house. A streetlight illuminated the target driveway, garage, and front porch. Thanks to the lighting Shane could clearly see everyone coming to or leaving from the house, even though it was 2:00 A.M.

  The neighborhood was quiet, due to the early morning April cold, and a light rain which had begun earlier in the evening. Shane liked rain during surveillance. It provided him one more layer of cover, the wet covering the darkness over his location. And he liked the feeling of watching crooks without worrying too much about being watched, himself. After all, the purpose of any surveillance was to see, without being seen. And Shane was very good on surveillance.

  The subject of Shane’s surveillance tonight was Hector Alverez, and Hector was one of Shane’s favorite targets. Hector was a shadowy figure, a recently surfaced lieutenant in a drug cartel known as the Mexican Gulf Cartel, who also had deep ties to the American prison-born Mexican Mafia. And although Shane had only been on this case for two months he had already identified the key players in Hector’s new life in the United States, and most of these associates’ routines, habits and acquaintances.

  Shane had been hired under contract by the Carson City Sheriff to work just one case, a case that required a deep cover operative unknown to the staff and deputies of the Sheriff’s Office or any other local, state or federal official in the area. Shane was working this assignment alone, gathering intelligence on the last major organized drug crime family still active in Nevada’s capital city. And he was identifying the family’s methamphetamine and heroin distribution network. That was where Hector came into play. He was now working directly under the family crime boss, Franky Magadinno.

  Even more importantly, Shane was charged with identifying the Magadinno ties to all the Mexican drug cartels that now supplied illegal drugs to the area, and all the people who protected that network. And that list was much longer and more interesting than a handful of drug dealers with Hispanic surnames. That list had led Shane to discover economic and political ties Hector and Franky had with both private businesses leaders and government officials.

  As he continued to scan his surroundings, Shane sat in thought about how he had arrived at this point in his life, and in American history. Drug distribution didn’t just involve drugs. The criminal element that controlled these drugs spilled over into political corruption and power alliances, involving prostitution, money laundering, fraud, kidnapping, extortion, bribery, and when it was beneficial, murder. To accomplish all this successfully without incurring major losses to the crime organization, corrupt officials were needed to provide high level protection, insulating the crime syndicate from law enforcement and prosecution.

  Shane knew this all too well from his former days as an undercover agent with Drug Enforcement Administration, working in a federal task force. His years at DEA, although few, had been packed with action, intrigue and surprise. Shane’s “street education” had taught him that people working in the powerful criminal justice system could be bought, corrupted and controlled at all levels, including the local, county, state and federal systems.

  The highest profile case that Shane and his team worked in his federal career cost millions in tax payer dollars, in addition to the ultimate sacrifice of the lives of two dedicated agents. Both agents had been Shane’s closest partners, and friends. After months of legal wrangling, warrants were finally issued that culminated in twelve arrests. But by the end of many well-orchestrated delays in prosecution and the lengthy trial that eventually followed, a mountain of evidence had disappeared from its temporary holding safe in the court system, and what little evidence remained was then deemed “tainted” by a judge who was on-the-take. The ca
se was dismissed by the judge with prejudice, barring any later attempt at prosecution.

  To add insult to injury, the higher-ups in Shane’s agency wouldn’t authorize an investigation into the judge’s behavior. The topper was that the crooks that evaded prosecution were later labeled “untouchable” when they returned to their life of crime. They had been effectively insulated, through law suits and political correctness issues related to their ethnic minority and illegal immigration status. Corruption had triumphed over justice, and once again evil laughed in the face of law and order.

  Shane’s four-year task force experience had shown him first hand that the criminal justice system was in part corrupt, infected with crooked politicians, lawyers, judges and even a few bad cops. Shane knew he couldn’t continue to work in a corrupt and broken system, and he had simply walked away from a promising career. He now worked by himself as a contract operative, conducting specialized investigations for agencies trying to rid themselves of the ever-spreading and contaminating corruption.

  To successfully navigate and survive in the solo undercover world in which he now lived, Shane was forced to learn quickly how to identify and follow only the real leads…and of course, always the money. He had also learned how to rapidly distinguish the good guys from the bad guys, on both sides of the law. Working as a private investigator, Shane developed the ability to use people from all walks of life to expose the truth. Truth had now become all important to Shane. He would expose it, turn it over to authorities, and then leave, not worrying about how or where the information lived or died, or how it was used when he was gone.

  During the first years on his own, Shane had also developed and honed unique specialized skills, making him the perfect choice to work this one particular case in Carson City. And the case was perfect for him, allowing him to use all of his unique abilities. Plus, it allowed him to work alone just as he liked it, not dependent on or responsible for anyone else. Shane didn’t ever intend to lose a partner again.

  So, when the newly elected Carson City Sheriff explained the case to Shane at their first meeting, Shane immediately accepted the offer. This Carson City Sheriff had been in office less than a year, but he was well versed on corruption in the state capital. After his election Sheriff Mark Roberts had met with agents from the DEA and Nevada Division of Investigation to inquire about a series of murders that had plagued him during his previous twenty-year career with the FBI.

  Roberts had been blocked and delayed in working these cases for nearly two decades at the Bureau. When he retired from the FBI to run for office, he promised himself that someday he would solve these mysteries and discover who in his organization had been responsible for impeding the investigations.

  Although Roberts himself could never identify all the players and make all the connections, he was certain that this drug cartel and some high-powered politicians had worked together to orchestrate these particular murders. But when Roberts was closest to making progress on the case, using a Confidential Informant it took years for him to develop, Roberts’ wife, Lisa went missing, and the CI suddenly got cold feet. Lisa was never located, and Roberts knew that foul play had to be involved, even though his own bosses suggested she had voluntarily left him.

  Most of his close friends at the FBI knew that Mark’s wife was troubled by the long hours her husband worked, and that she had been unhappy during their last year of marriage. She had even left Mark and rented an apartment close to her work in Gardnerville, south of Carson City. But what they didn’t know was that for the three months preceding her disappearance, Lisa and Mark had been meeting at a secret hideaway in Nevada City on their weekends. The couple had rekindled their romance, and Lisa was planning on moving back in with Mark just before she disappeared. In fact, she had already sublet her apartment.

  Roberts’ motivation to move to Carson City and run for Sheriff was in part to solve these crimes. He remained committed to uncovering the dirty little secrets involved in these connected murders, and his own wife’s disappearance, which he adamantly believed was entwined with the unsolved cases. He had become obsessed with knowing the truth once and for all. Wisely, he had kept this obsession to himself.

  Mark Roberts was a smart, politically savvy man. He knew that solving these cases would make many powerful people with something to hide, very uncomfortable. And he knew he had to limit the knowledge of the investigation to the fewest number of people possible in order to succeed and to survive…and in order to give his investigator a real chance at uncovering the truth. Roberts decided that only he and one other person in his department would know anything about the investigation. And he decided he needed one of the best undercover operatives in the business for this sensitive assignment.

  Mark Roberts’ first decision was selecting and recruiting Shane Beckett. Shane had been suggested by Bryan Holland, Roberts’ longtime friend and a fellow Quantico graduate. Roberts trusted Bryan Holland with his life and Bryan trusted Shane with his own. Plus, Bryan Holland knew Shane’s abilities from task force work and a lifelong friendship. That recommendation alone had been good enough for Roberts.

  Secondly, Roberts had appointed one of the only people he believed he could trust, longtime acquaintance and former California Department of Justice agent Brian Grant, as his Undersheriff. After leaving the DOJ, Grant had worked himself up through the Carson City Sheriff’s Office ranks, starting as a patrol officer, and finally serving as the Undersheriff in the previous administration.

  Mark Roberts and Brian Grant had met at Quantico, Virginia, when Brian was a new lieutenant and attended the FBI National Academy. They had become distant friends and stayed in touch throughout Grant’s rise to Undersheriff and while Roberts left the FBI to run for office. Grant had even managed to secure high level donors to assist Roberts, in his bid for office as a first-time candidate.

  Roberts understood that Brian knew the department intimately. And Mark Roberts thought he needed someone with intimate knowledge of this historically political Sheriff’s Office. While many people advised Mark against keeping a manager from a previous administration, Roberts believed he could trust Grant, so the job of Undersheriff was offered and quickly accepted.

  Although Roberts alone had recruited Shane and was the only person to know Shane’s true identity, and more importantly his true mission, he had placed Grant in charge of managing the finances of the undercover operation. Roberts had secretly commissioned Shane a “special deputy,” and had arranged to cover all expenses of the investigation, using federal money awarded the Sheriff’s Office through a grant to increase drug awareness and impact illegal drug sales.

  Roberts set up a special account that Brian Grant would manage personally, making payments to a consulting corporation created for this case only. No one but Roberts, Grant and Shane would know of Shane’s existence until the investigation was complete. And only Roberts and Shane would know the details of the case and the identity of the targets. Shane was free to move about and work unrestrained. Only Roberts knew the location of Shane’s Carson City apartment. Both Roberts and Grant had Shane’s undercover phone number, but Grant was directed to use the contact only in case of an emergency involving Roberts, or under Roberts’ direct order.

  Coincidently, Shane’s target, Hector Alvarez, had also been recruited to fill a specific assignment. Hector had been selected by an organization known to law enforcement as the Magadinno Family Crime Syndicate, to allow the family to affiliate more deeply with the various Mexican drug cartels. Hector was Mexican by birth and had been Franky’s personal choice for his Number Two in command to fill this void.

  Hector was well versed with both Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and worked effectively with most of them, importing all the various drugs the cartels supplied to different locations. While Hector was from Mexico, benefactors had recognized his talent at an early age. They had sent him to be educated at an expensive private university in the United States. Thereafter he was prepped for service as a high-lev
el facilitator in the drug world.

  Shane had spent sleepless nights trying to figure out who had selected and groomed Hector for his current role. It didn’t make sense to Shane that Franky would spend the time and money to invest in a poor boy from the streets in Mexico. Shane felt another explanation was more likely, but that explanation had so far proved elusive.

  Franky had started in the family business decades earlier, primarily importing cocaine and marijuana. In dealing with rival cartels, he found out quickly that he needed a facilitator to keep hard drugs flowing to his warehouses. This was especially true after meth had overtaken the cocaine market and cocaine supplies became expensive and unreliable.

  The public demand for cocaine grew exponentially in the 70’s and 80’s. But coca leaves don’t grow naturally in the States, so it couldn’t be produced locally. It came to the States initially from Peru and Colombia. The problem for the Colombian drug lords was that cocaine was produced far away from their American market on a different continent. The drug had to be transported thousands of miles, through, around or over several different countries, to its U.S. destination, making the business very expensive and risky. The Colombians gave the risk to the Mexicans.

  For decades, Colombian drug cartels had ruled the drug trade supplying tons of Colombian-produced cocaine to a voracious market in the United States. The Colombians used their Mexican counterparts to smuggle product through Mexico and into the United States to safe houses for distribution. But while the Colombians got substantially richer, the Mexicans took all the risk in Mexico and the U.S., and often were arrested, robbed or killed in the process, all while making only a small fraction of the huge profit.

  But while they worked for the Colombian cartels, the Mexican drug runners gained a great deal of experience in the States, and soon understood both the cocaine distribution business and eventually its more lucrative rival, the methamphetamine trade that American outlaw biker gangs had previously controlled in the U.S. And as Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs” took its toll on the cocaine supply, the “coke” price sky rocketed, creating a very timely opportunity.