by Dan Kelly
Abby adds, “If it’s not feasible to enter the villa without being detected, perhaps we could create a situation that would require the occupants to leave the premises for their own comfort or safety.”
Pete asks, “Like what?”
“A neighborhood gas leak or an electrical problem of some kind. If they had to leave the villa, they’d have to take Trumball with them. If they did, we’d spot him and could rescue him if it was safe to do so. If not, at least we’d know for certain that he’s being held by Pablo and we could devise another plan to free him.”
Pete said, “That works for me. Paul?”
“I’m on board. Let’s run this by Phil and Dave and see if we can get some manpower for the stakeout.”
Chapter 25
- Miami –
Phil supplied six men for the stake out, so with Pete and Paul they had eight people to cover the front and back of the villa. Working four two men shifts of four hours each, the villa could be covered from six in the morning until ten at night. Whoever was in the villa had to sleep, so they figured there was limited risk of anything happening during that time period. Those not on stake out would be staying at a motel not far from the villa and if needed could be at the villa within ten minutes. Phil needed Abby to help him find out what the temporary consortium of cartels was planning to deal with their recent losses of merchandise and personnel, so she was not available to help with the stake out, much to Pete’s chagrin. “If things start to go to hell on this stake out, the lady has skills that could save the day.”
Phil was hoping that they would not only be able to rescue Bob Trumball if he was being held in the villa, but also nab Pablo Salazar and any of his people who might be with him in the villa. That would be a welcome bonus and another thorn could be stuck in the sides of the cartel leaders by spreading another rumor that someone in one of the cartels had ratted out Pablo.
During the first three days, the only activities outside the villa were the gardeners working on the grounds and a woman about fifty years old whom they assumed was the live-in maid going shopping for groceries. The number of bags indicated that there were more than a few people staying at the villa No one else left the place.
On the fourth day about seven in the evening while Pete and Paul were on stake out, Pablo and the man they had followed to the villa came out on the veranda and engaged in a heated argument. “Pablo, it’s too damned risky. He is too well known here. If we’re spotted, there’s a good chance we’ll lose him and any opportunity we had to collect a ransom will go out the window as well and I’ll probably wind up in jail.”
“If we don’t get him to a doctor, the chances are he’s going to die and then a million bucks goes bye-bye. I’ve put in a lot of time and effort and am taking a lot of risk to pull this off, Pedro. I’m not going to blow a chance to rake in that kind of money. Your brother is a doctor and will know what to do to make him better. Set things up with your brother and get moving. I want him in your brother’s office within the hour. Your brother’s not lily white and if you offer him say twenty grand he’ll treat the man and keep his mouth shut. He’d better if he knows what’s good for him.” This last reminded Pedro who he was dealing with and obliterated any further inclination he might have had to continue the argument.
The two men went back inside and a few minutes later Pedro and another gorilla of a man came out with Bob Trumball supported between them. Trumball didn’t look good. His color was gray and he had lost some weight. A black Escalade backed out of the garage and pulled up in front of them and they all got in the back. A few seconds later the Escalade pulled out of the driveway and headed for the highway.
Pete and Paul followed them in their car, keeping a block distance away. Pete drove and Paul called the motel and notified the rest of the stake out team about what was going down and instructed them to get over to the villa, keep an eye on things and wait for further instructions.
When Paul disconnected Pete said, “Well, now we know where Bob Trumball is, but he looks in bad shape and how are we going to get him away from those goons without anyone else getting hurt?”
“One thing we have going for us is the element of surprise. These guys don’t have a clue we’re following them and their guard will be down when they get to Pedro’s brother’s office because he’s no threat to them. The odds are decent that we’ll get a chance to pounce on them before they know what’s hit them.”
“I hope you’re carrying because all I’ve got going for me is my disarming charm and I don’t think that’s going to be much help with these characters if they’re armed.”
Paul reached down and came up with a little life insurance he carries in an ankle holster there. “This should make you feel better.” It was a snub nosed S & W .38. “It’s for close up shooting and holds five rounds. If you’re in close to your target and you need more than five shots, you probably still wouldn’t hit the target if you had twice that many rounds.”
“I used to be pretty good with side arms when I was in the Coast Guard, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had one in my hands.”
“Don’t worry, bro, it’s like riding a bike. You never forget.”
“Well, let’s hope I don’t have to find out.”
Thirty minutes later the Escalade pulled into a parking lot that fronted a two story brick building with a large sign over the entrance that said, ‘FELDMAN MEDICAL OFFICES’. A few minutes after Pedro and company entered the building, Pete and Paul cautiously approached the entrance and when they saw the vestibule was empty they entered quickly as well. The driver of the Escalade had leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes as soon as his passengers left, so he was no problem. There was a directory in the foyer listing all of the doctors and their office numbers. Fortunately, there was only one Hispanic name listed, Gabriel Manzanares, MD, office number 203.
There was an elevator, but they opted to take the stairs in case one of the men remained in the hallway to be on the lookout for anyone that appeared out of place. These guys were lowlifes, but they weren’t stupid. When they got to the second landing, Paul opened the door a crack to peek out. The hallway was empty. Pete whispered, “It looks like you were right. They’ve let down their guard because they think no one knows who they are or what they’re up to. They’re taking a hell of a risk though of some patient in the waiting room recognizing Trumball. I’m surprised any of these offices are open now. It’s almost eight o’clock.”
Paul said, “These days many doctors have evening office hours one or more days a week to accommodate people who can’t get off work during the day. Wait here.”
He went down the hall, entered Dr. Manzanares’s office and approached the receptionist. There were two other patients in the waiting room besides Trumball and his escorts. “Good evening, I’m Joel Rothman and I’m with Epitome Diagnostics. I’ve stopped by to see what time would be convenient for me to meet with Dr. Manzanares to make him aware of the latest developments in medical equipment for the office. Can you help me?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Rothman, but Ms. Canera, the doctor’s administrative assistant takes care of his schedule. She won’t be in until eight tomorrow morning. If you’ll give me one of your business cards, I’ll tell her you stopped by.”
“That’s alright. I’ll be in the neighborhood again tomorrow. I’ll try to touch base with her then. Thank you for your courtesy.”
As he turned to leave the office, he took a quick glance at Trumball and the two guys with him. Trumball looked like he was going to keel over any second and he was bundled up like he was freezing to death. He was wearing a London Fog coat with the collar up and had a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. It was impossible to get a good look at his face. The two men with Trumball paid no attention to Paul. They must have been carrying the duds Trumball was now sporting and put them on him when they got inside the building, a precaution against someone recognizing him. Not the best of disguises in a humid Miami, but it appears to be working.”
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br /> Returning to the stairwell where Pete was anxiously waiting, he clued his brother in on what he had observed. Pete said, “You took a hell of a chance pulling that stunt. A lot of these guys have seen pictures of me because of the reward on my head. If they recognized you/me, the shit would have really hit the fan and Trumball’s chances of survival would have zoomed to zero.”
“I had to take the chance. These organizations have thousands of people and the chances of all of them having seen that picture are pretty slim.”
“You took a hell of a chance, but since you were obviously right what can I say. Okay, what do we do now?”
“We wait to see who comes out of the office first. If it’s the other two patients and no other patients arrive in the meantime, we can storm the office and take the three of them down without risking the lives of anyone else. If we do it quickly, it’ll be all over before they can think to react. As we run through the waiting room, we can tell the receptionist to skedaddle.”
“Paul, I think we should call Dave for some backup. If things go down the way we’d like, how are we going to restrain them until help arrives? We don’t have cuffs or anything else to tie them up with and that big guy is going to be tough to handle. If things don’t go the way we want them to, like Trumball is taken next before the other two people in the waiting room, we’re going to have to wait until they get outside and waylay them somewhere along their route back to the villa. If that’s the scenario, we’ll have to deal with the driver as well and other innocent bystanders could get hurt.”
“You’re making sense, bro. I guess I still think I’m twenty two and can handle any situation. Give Dave a call and see if he can help us out. No uniforms though. We don’t want the bad guys to get any whiff that something bad is coming their way.”
Pete made the call and filled Dave in on where they were and what they were planning to do. Dave said he’d have Manny and a couple of his men on our doorstep in twenty minutes. It seems Manny and his men are still assigned to Sea Wasp and are sitting in Dave’s shop awaiting orders.
Twenty minutes later Manny and his men joined them on the landing. Pete said, “Man, am I glad to see you guys. Manny, one of the guys with Trumball is as big as or bigger than you. He probably doesn’t have your combat skills, but don’t take any chances if he decides not to surrender quietly.”
Manny said, “We saw an Escalade in the parking lot with a tough looking character snoozing in the driver’s seat. Is he with the men you’re following?”
“He’s their driver.”
“Okay, what now?”
Paul said, “We wait to see what develops.”
Fifteen minutes later a man came out of the office and took the elevator down to the ground floor. Paul said, “He must have been in with the doctor when I was in the waiting room.”
Another fifteen minutes went by and then Trumball and his entourage came out of the office and waited for the elevator to arrive. As if on cue, both Pete and Paul whispered “Shit!”
Manny asked, “Okay guys, when do we tango?”
Paul said, “It’s after nine o’clock. Manny, how many cars were in the parking lot when you got here?”
“Three, one is the Escalade.”
“One must belong to the two folks still in the office and the other one to guy that left about half an hour ago.” After pausing for just a moment he added, “We’ll take them down in the parking lot. That’s about as deserted a place as we’re going to find before they get back to the villa. Try to keep Trumball out of harm’s way. 0kay, let’s do it.”
They beat the elevator to the vestibule and were through the door and hiding along the nearest side of the building before Trumball and the goons exited the building. As the three approached the Escalade with their backs to the building, Paul gave the hand signal to move in.
It was like a scene in an action flick, perfectly scripted, choreographed and performed. Manny took on the big gorilla, Paul went after his partner, Pete grabbed Trumball and pulled him away from the action and Manny’s men took care of the driver.
In less than five minutes it was all over, but unfortunately it wasn’t a bloodless encounter. Manny came up behind the ape, grabbed and pulled back hard on his left shoulder and at the same time kicked him in his left knee joint. As he was falling to the ground, Manny swung his right elbow with such force that he crushed the guy’s nose and as the guy landed and rolled over onto his stomach, he finished him off with a rabbit punch to the neck. The guy’s partner was quicker than Paul anticipated and as Paul reached for him the jerk spun around with a gun in his hand and pulled the trigger. Paul took a round in his shoulder and dropped his gun. Pete had the gun Paul had given him in his hand by his side and when he saw his brother get shot didn’t hesitate and put two bullets in the tough guy’ chest. He wasn’t tough anymore. He was dead before he hit the ground. The driver gave up without a struggle.
Looking at Paul’s shoulder, Pete was glad to see it was only a flesh wound, no bones were broken and he wasn’t bleeding too badly. “You were a lucky guy, bro. We’ll get you to a hospital ASAP and have that wound treated and dressed. In a couple of weeks you’ll be as good as new and sporting a scar and a story that you can dazzle your daughter and grandkids with.”
Paul sheepishly said, “I was lucky because I had a brother watching my back who can shoot straight. I told you it was like riding a bike.”
“Well, if it just the same to you, I’d rather ride a bike.”
Manny came over and said, “I contacted Dave and briefed him on what went down. He’s making arrangements for the locals to handle the episode with discretion so it doesn’t come to the attention of the news media until he gives the word. They will arrange for the coroner to discretely pick up the body of the guy you killed, Pete, and have an ambulance come take Paul and Mr. Trumball to the hospital to be checked out. Dave wants you, Pete, along with me and my men to join up with the men on stakeout at the villa. He wants to take Salazar and whoever else is in the villa with him into custody. He thinks there’s an outside chance of getting old Pablo to spill the beans about what he knows about the cartels and their operations and what they’re currently planning if they offer him the right incentive, his life in a witness protection program if he agrees to snitch or his death through rumors that will be spread about his cooperation with federal authorities if he refuses to talk.”
Pete said, “Okay. You can follow me back to the villa. Who’s in charge now that Paul’s out of action when we get back to the villa?”
“I’m looking at him. This is primarily a civilian matter and Dave wants me and my men to be as helpful as we can, but keep a low profile. He feels you’ve had experience with this type of thing when you were in the Coast Guard, so you should feel right at home.”
With a lot of reservations since it’s been a long time since he’s been in a situation like this, he kept his mouth shut, nodded his acceptance and went over to Bob Trumball who was sitting in the back seat of the Escalade. “How are you feeling, Bob?”
“Physically, terrible, emotionally like I just won the lottery.”
“Didn’t they feed you well? You look like you’ve lost about twenty pounds.”
“I wasn’t put on bread and water, but the fare wouldn’t be any competition for the Barefoot Contessa. I was given mostly sandwiches and coffee. When we got to the villa, the food was a little better, some pasta and seafood along with submarine sandwiches.
“As you know, I love to fish, but I’m allergic to most of it and have a violent reaction to some of it. At first, I passed on the fish when it was offered, but then I had what I thought was a great idea. It damned near killed me. I figured if I ate the fish I would get sick enough that I would have to be taken for medical help. I had heard enough of my kidnappers’ conversations to know that they wanted to keep me alive long enough to collect a ransom. I was convinced that I wouldn’t be long for this world afterwards, so I had to do something to improve my odds for surviving. I was hoping
someone would see me and recognize me and notify the police and they could nail the bastards and save my sorry butt or that I might find some way to clue someone in on who I was and hope for the best. From what the big fella told me about how you found me, I guess what I did helped out some.”
“That took guts, Bob. What did the doctor do for you? Your color is looking better.”
