*****
The four Enforcers looking for Special Agent Romero had made it to the second floor without encountering any real resistance. The security guard on the first floor was shocked when he saw their van barrel through the emergency room entrance. As he processed what he saw, the Enforcers were already out of the van and firing in his direction. He never had a chance. He reached down to draw his weapon, but was struck several times by rifle rounds shredding through his soft body armor killing him instantly.
The Enforcers cleared the stairwell and emerged into a hallway on the second floor. The first Collector through the door was hit in the head with a bullet and fell over dead. Two Sheriff’s Deputies were in opposite rooms in the hallway shooting in the direction of the remaining three Enforcers. One of the Enforcers threw a flash bang down the hallway. It rolled and rolled until finally exploding. The percussion caused confusion and enough of a distraction to allow the three Enforcers to advance down the hallway and take up defensive positions.
Nurses and patients were screaming and running wildly away from the hallway. The two deputies stopped firing to save rounds and they didn’t want to hit a civilian. They looked at each other and prayed cover units would arrive soon to help them.
Without warning, two more flash bangs were lobbed down the hallway. As they exploded, the three Enforcers ran down the hallway firing in the direction of the two deputies. One of the deputies got hit in the arm causing him to fall over. He wasn’t dead, but he would surely die without immediate medical attention.
With the first deputy down, the remaining Enforcers continued firing and moving toward the second deputy. The second deputy returned fire, but it seemed he was hitting the suspects and they weren’t going down. He ducked down to grab cover and reload his handgun. The Enforcers continued to fire in his direction. Wood and metal exploded all around him, but he bravely slammed another magazine in his weapon and engaged the suspects.
He poked his head out and saw a man in plain clothes pop out behind them and he was holding a gun. He fired on all three men, hitting two of them in their legs causing them to go down. The remaining Collector pivoted and fired on the man while diving into a room.
The second deputy squared up to his target, the last remaining Collector, and shot him several times in the back. The Collector looked back at the deputy and smiled before collapsing on the hallway floor coughing up blood. He grabbed his partner’s radio and updated dispatch.
While scanning for threats, the second deputy moved down the hallway to get the weapons away from the suspects. He heard the man yell out, “I’m a police officer. I’m
still armed in case there are more suspects, I’m stepping out now. Please don’t shoot.”
The man in plain clothes stepped out into the hallway with his hands up. This time the deputy noticed a police shield around his neck. The deputy also noticed the man’s gun was holstered. Based on his heroic actions and the fact his gun was holstered, the deputy determined he was most likely a cop.
The deputy said, “Copy that. Check the two suspects down by you and grab their weapons. There may be more. Head down here when you’re done. There’s going to be a bunch of cops showing up any second and you’re better off with me.”
The off-duty officer grabbed both rifles from the suspects and walked down the hallway. The two men grinned at each other and the deputy put out more radio traffic, “All units, we’re on the second floor. I’ve got an officer down. Four suspects down, all believed dead, but proceed with caution. I have a plain clothes officer with me.”
The deputy made eye contact with a nurse hiding near the nurse’s station.
“It’s okay. My partner needs help. Please help us.”
The nurse was mortified and trembling. She didn’t want to leave her hiding place, but for some reason, she slowly got up and cautiously came over to start working on the shot deputy. Another nurse saw her friend working on the deputy and decided to get involved. She got on the hospital PA system and paged doctors to their location. A man in a doctor’s gown came out of a closet and ran over to assess the deputy. The wounded deputy grimaced in pain as the doctor examined the bullet wound.
The doctor looked up at the off duty officer and the deputy and said, “We have to operate on him quickly. I think I can save him, but we don’t have much time.”
The off-duty officer, the deputy, and the other medical staff lifted the deputy onto a gurney and rolled him around the dead suspects and bullet casings to the operating room.
The injured deputy was in and out of consciousness, but as he was rolled into the operating room he grabbed his partner’s hand and whispered, “Romero.”
Chapter 46
* * *
A full size van containing ten of Calderon’s men stopped one city block short of the Sheriff’s Office warehouse. They exited wearing full tactical gear and deployed spike strips in the roadways leading to the warehouse. Once the outer perimeter was set, the secondary team leader with the perimeter units advised Smith that they were set. Smith acknowledged the update over their radio while he backed his van right up to the side access doors to the warehouse.
*****
The people in the command center watched the mercenary cartel members on street pole cameras. Some people silently prayed for the best, while others hoped the plan would work and Jose Calderon would be apprehended. The tension in the command center was thick. Commanders continually bickered with each other and fought over when they should move and who would make the final decision. One of the dispatchers advised the arguing commanders that the bank robbery was handled and it appeared the hospital attack was under control. This didn’t calm things a bit.
*****
The men in Smith’s van jumped out and broke up into two groups. Six of the men headed for the front door and stopped short before making entry. They looked back at Smith and waited for his thumbs up to proceed with their breaching of the front of the warehouse. He and the other men were unloading the equipment necessary to make the hole in the ground to slip the money into. Two men stood guard and trained their shotguns on the hinges of the door. Smith looked at his watch. He took a deep breath. Three, two, one, go!
Smith motioned to the men at the front door and radioed to the perimeter team that the assault on the warehouse was a go. Simultaneously, he and his small team breached the side door and made their way to where the money was stored, while six men made entry into the front of the warehouse.
The perimeter units disabled the power to the warehouse. The team in the front of the warehouse deployed several flash bangs and smoke canisters and donned their night vision goggles. Smith could hear gun fire and assumed the other entry team had met some resistance.
He was hopeful the mercenaries would stick to non-lethal tactics, but he was pretty sure anything would go at this point. An image of the sweet lady named Sherry ran though his mind and for a split second, he felt sorry for her.
*****
The power getting cut was Jose Calderon’s signal to leave the benefit. He quickly slipped away from the party goers and worked his way to an office containing a change of clothes and a weapon. He had some of his men associated with his fundraising campaign stay behind to calm and direct the guests as they dealt with the power outage.
*****
Losing power was a surprise to the command center staff, but the backup diesel generators kicked in almost immediately and power was restored. However, the video feeds in the warehouse and on the streets around the warehouse went dead forcing the commanders to send all available units to the warehouse to get an update. Dix, Kovach, and Petersen got in one vehicle while Sullivan and two other deputies got into another. They crept closer to the warehouse anticipating a fire fight at any moment.
*****
Smith and his small team placed a charge of C4 explosive on the door to the internal secure storage unit inside the warehouse. Calderon’s intelligence put the money inside. They detonated the charge and the door buckled eno
ugh to get a pry bar jam inside to finish opening the door. Once inside, Smith and his team secured the door so they could work on the floor to the tunnels without being bothered.
They could see large duffle bags just ten to fifteen feet from them and assumed they were stuffed with thirty-million dollars. Smith saw the eyes of the three men with him get real big at the sight of the bags. He wondered if they would continue as planned or make a move for the money themselves. He tried to get updates from the perimeter units and the units in the front of the warehouse, but he could not send or receive radio transmissions. The steel and concrete of the interior unit of the storage facility was gobbling up the radio waves.
Quickly Smith and the men placed the pre-made device rigged with explosives in a precise location picked out by Smith. They took defensive locations and he hit the switch to detonate the explosives. The room shook and was instantly filled with dust and debris. He saw one of the men with him appear to double over and he could hear him groaning in pain. He ran over to check on him and he saw a piece of rebar stuck in the mercenary’s side. He made eye contact with the downed mercenary. He’d seen and heard death before and knew this man would die soon.
“Listen, sit tight, and we will get you out of here,” Smith lied. The injured man shook as he continued to lose a lot of blood. He tried to say something to Smith, but life left his body.
Smith got a thumb up from the other two mercenaries signaling they were okay. He ran over to check on the hole in the floor. The device had done its job. Smith could see what looked like several men waiting below. He motioned to the other two men to help him drag the money over to the hole and push it below.
As they turned to run toward Smith to help with the duffle bags, the door to the unit exploded open causing them to fall over and Smith to go down to a knee. Oh shit, thought Smith.
*****
Jose Calderon felt pretty good about himself. Once again he had outwitted law enforcement and most importantly Doug Kovach. Near as he could tell the operation to steal the money was moving along flawlessly. The diversion caused by the Enforcers had pulled a lot of the law enforcement resources away from the Sheriff’s Office warehouse. He’d not heard from the Enforcers, but he assumed Romero was dead. He checked his watch just prior to entering the tunnels. In about an hour, I’ll be handing El Hefe thirty million dollars…then walking away with the money and control of the cartel as he lies dead on the floor.
*****
According to a Sheriff’s Office SWAT Sergeant on scene at the bank robbery, the suspect was in custody and the hostages were secure. The commanders in the command center re-directed the majority of the units at the bank robbery to the Sheriff’s Office warehouse.
The Sheriff stormed into the command center. With quick words and to the shock of all of the officers, he demanded everyone be taken into custody right that moment and didn’t give a damn what happened to Calderon. Today, he chose to save lives, and fight against the cartels another day.
*****
Word of the Sheriff’s decision to take down the operation made its way to Kovach. All he could think about was his wife and daughter. If Calderon doesn’t get his money, they’re surely dead, he thought. This can’t be happening, he said under his breath. He had never felt so helpless in his entire life.
Kovach looked at Dix, “The Sheriff just shut the operation down. We have no eyes on the warehouse. Cameras are down and no one has eyes on Calderon.”
Dix considered this a moment. “Well, what’s our play?”
“I knew Calderon would head to the tunnels to get the money. I changed his escape route to a location a few miles from here on American soil. Problem is I don’t know if my UC was able to get the money down to the tunnels. Sounds like the Sheriff and police department are storming the warehouse with everything they have to take into custody as many people as they can,” replied Kovach. He was hopeful Dix would see his heart was in the right place and support him one final time.
Dix looked concerned. “Petersen, switch to the secondary radio channel and get Sullivan up to speed. We’re going to roll to the location where Doug believes Calderon will surface and try to get him in custody. If we’re lucky, he’ll cooperate and make a call to his people in Minnesota.” Kovach, Petersen, and Dix rolled code three with full lights and sirens to where Calderon was supposed to surface. They would not be prepared for what they saw when they got there.
Chapter 47
* * *
The two mercenaries with Smith that were knocked to the floor from the blast got back up to one knee and started shooting through the open door in an effort to keep whoever was coming for them at bay. Meanwhile, Smith struggled to grab the duffle bags and push them through the hole. Jesus man, you have one simple task and you can’t get it done. Smith could hear the gunfire had stopped and looked up from what he was doing to see why.
He saw both mercenaries looking at him and the bags of money and back at him. They were arguing with each other about something he couldn’t hear. Without warning, one of the men threw his last flash bang through the door of the secondary storage unit. As the second mercenary turned to look at the flash bang going off, the first mercenary shot him point blank in the temple. He fell to the floor lifeless. Smith instantly realized the remaining mercenary was going to come after the last bag of money. He shot at Smith and within a few seconds had him pinned down. The mercenary had tunnel vision and was fixated on the last bag of money.
Smith was fatigued, but used his legs to try to kick the last bag of money down the hole. He was extremely calm given the fact a man was trying to kill him and it was his responsibility to live and get the money to Calderon. His training kicked in as he knew he had a job to do. He slipped a small transponder underneath the bag and kicked it down with one last kick. Smith could hear the mercenary right next to him and brought his weapon up to take a shot. However, the man lunged out and was able to grab the strap of the bag as it went down the hole. His momentum carried him into the hole, and he and the bag fell down to the tunnel floor. If there was any chance he was alive after the fall, the two gunshots confirmed he was dead now.
Shining a light down in the tunnel, Smith could see Jose Calderon looking up at him. He was so tired all he could manage was to give Calderon a head nod. He’d taken an oath to protect his country, and that meant more to him than anything else in his life. Trapping Jose Calderon was his way of protecting his country, and he was damn good at it.
As Smith attempted to regain his composure, he realized any second several law enforcement members would enter the room he was in and shoot first, then ask questions. Not a position I want to be in, he chuckled to himself. He retrieved his neck badge and put it on. He disabled his weapons and threw them on the warehouse floor. As he laid face down in a prone position he allowed himself to lookup to watch the stack of men cautiously entering. He identified himself as law enforcement several times and just waited. He did not move or do anything that would cause the men moving toward him to kill him. I’ll die someday, but that someday is not today. He hoped Kovach had alerted the command staff as to his identity and role in the mission, but he knew with Kovach, most things like this were a crap shoot.
*****
Jose Calderon unzipped the duffle bags and quickly made sure they contained money and nothing else. He checked two bags and skipped the third seeing the other two were fine. Satisfied the money was all there and pressed for time, he and his men loaded the duffle bags onto a flat bed golf cart. He did not detect the tracking device Smith had put in the bag because one of the other men loaded the bag and had not checked. Once it was loaded, Calderon told the men to leave in the opposite direction. He instructed them to create a diversion at a pre-determined location to help him get away. The two men began running in the opposite direction. One by one, Calderon lifted his rifle and shot them in the back of their heads, killing them both. He threw the rifle on the floor and took off through the tunnels to meet and kill El Hefe.
****
*
Dix drove to the location as Kovach gave him directions. Everyone in the car had been on the phone with various personnel attempting to get the right people to where it was believed Jose Calderon would surface. Kovach coordinated incoming units over the primary radio channel. Dix, Petersen, and Kovach stopped short of the location. A few minutes later, Sullivan also arrived and met up with them. Kovach and Dix figured it would be at least ten minutes before reinforcements would arrive, which wasn’t good because Kovach estimated Calderon would be surfacing any minute. The time difference was a real problem, but none of them could do anything about it.
Sullivan pulled out a small white board and dry erase marker and handed it to Kovach. “Diagram the location where Calderon will be so we know what we are dealing with.” Kovach grabbed the marker and board and started drawing the layout. He gave her an odd look as she ordered him to do something, but realized he was no longer in a position of authority. He drew as the group discussed a plan. They decided they’d hold down the fort until the troops showed up, unless of course Calderon came out and realized he was still in the United States and made a run for the border.
The team split up again into two cars. Dix and Petersen shared glances with each other. Neither of them could believe how this ordeal had spiraled out of control so quickly.
Petersen said, “How the hell do you seem to get us in this kind of stuff all the time, on vacation no less?” He was jabbing his old friend, but there was some truth in what he said.
Dix grinned, “I have no idea. Really, I don’t. Let’s nab Calderon so we can get the hell out of here.”
The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) Page 18
