The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) (27 page)

“Now, give me your cell phones and don’t do anything stupid. I’m all out of options and killing you is not out of the question at this point.”

Petersen was irate. “You’re an idiot! You think you can shoot us both? You’ve lost your damn mind.”

Kovach coldly answered, “Actually, Steve, I don’t like you and would love nothing more than to put a bullet in your head. But then I wouldn’t be able to finish what I started. Now give me your damn cell phones before I come up with a plan B, which would not include you two surviving.”

Dix played along with Kovach’s sick charade. He looked Petersen in his eyes and nodded signaling they needed to give Kovach their cell phones. Both men slowly locked their cell phones and handed them over.

“Good choice. Now Dix, take your knife and disable the radio by slicing the wires by your feet.” Dix did this while Kovach continued, “Excellent, now hand me the two handheld radios.”

Petersen rolled his eyes and wanted to rip Kovach’s throat out. He was completely beside himself. Dix picked up on it and grabbed his leg to get his attention. Petersen looked at Dix and Dix shook his head in an effort to get Petersen to calm down. They handed their handheld radios to Kovach.

Kovach placed all the items in a small manila envelope and tossed a pair of white zip-tie handcuffs to Dix and said, “Okay, now put these on both of your wrists.”

“Are you kidding me, you’ll never get away with this crap!” bellowed Petersen.

“I already have. Do it quickly so I can be on my way.”

Angrily Petersen stuck out his wrist and Dix applied the zip-tie handcuffs. Dix assumed Kovach would zip-tie his hands through the steering wheel making the car inoperable, but he wasn’t about to do it without being told to. Dix did not tighten the zip-ties and looked at Kovach like, now what?

“You’re wasting time,” Kovach said as he looked at the loose zip-ties on Dix’s wrists, “Put them through the steering wheel and tighten them down.” Since Kovach had a gun and seemed desperate, Dix did it. Kovach checked to see if the plastic handcuffs were snug. He quickly checked the vehicle for anything he may have missed and was satisfied it was time for him to go. He opened the door to leave and the familiar sound of the ringtone for Dix’s phone began ringing in the manila envelope.

“Doug, you gotta answer that, it could be Jim in Minneapolis,” Dix pleaded, “Your family could be safe!”

Dix’s cell phone kept ringing as Kovach seemed to think about what he should do next. The phone stopped ringing and an audible alert meant to Dix there was a voicemail. A few seconds later the group heard another audible alert, which Dix knew meant he had a new text message.

“Come on Doug, if that’s some good news from Jim and you keep screwing this up, you’ll regret it the rest of your life. Your wife and child could be safe and you’re pissing everything away.”

Kovach fished around the bag and located Dix’s cell phone. He flipped it over and could see the handset was locked. He was running out of time, but he really needed to know what was going on in Minnesota.

“What’s the code?”

“5555.”

Kovach pressed 5-5-5-5 into Dix’s cell phone and the screen opened. There was a new text message from “Jim.” Kovach opened the text message, read what it said, and dropped Dix’s phone on the street. The moment Kovach spent distracted with the contents of the text message was enough to get Sullivan and her people into position to take him into custody.

Kovach held his head in his hands and began crying uncontrollably. By the way he was acting Dix thought his family was dead for sure. None of the agents surrounding him knew what to do, move in or sit tight. It was an eerie moment. Dix and Petersen exchanged looks, and that prompted Dix to say something in an effort to diffuse the moment.

“Doug, whatever it is, we can get through this.”

Kovach continued sobbing and crying, but he managed to look up at Dix. In his peripheral vision he noticed some unfamiliar movement. He swung his head over to see what caught his eye and got a face full of a shotgun. He did not raise his weapon, however. He scanned the area and noticed he was surrounded. Among the men and women aiming guns at him was Special Agent Sullivan.
So this is what it feels like to be a criminal,
thought Kovach. He looked at his captors, at his firearm, and at Dix and Petersen several times. The clock was ticking in his mind. Without warning, he dropped his firearm, went down to his knees, and interlaced his fingers on top of his head.

The agents moved in quickly and placed zip-tie plastic handcuffs on Special Agent Supervisor Doug Kovach. It was a surreal moment for the team. Sullivan was an emotional wreck as she grabbed Petersen’s elbow and gave him a slight hug after he was un-handcuffed. They exchanged a tender glance that caught Dix’s attention. He realized then that his hunch that the two of them had got together might be correct.

Quickly, Dix and Petersen were cut free of the zip-ties, and Kovach was escorted to a caged car. Dix retrieved his cell phone, unlocked it, and read the text message from Jim. It read, “Wife and child SAFE, three dead, call me ASAP.” He was relieved and ran over to where Kovach was and told the agent to open the door.

“Doug, where the hell is Calderon?” Dix could see Kovach had finally lost his mind. He was a shell of his former self, completely beaten down. He was hopeless, and it seemed as though he may not talk at all.

Kovach did not look up. “4141 Camino De La Plaza. Should be twelve men guarding him.” Dix thought he could see a slight snicker as he made the statement. He also noticed Kovach would not look at him directly.
What the hell does that mean
, Dix wondered. He determined it was likely Kovach was completely unstable and that explained his oddness.

Dix waved Sullivan over to his location. She ran over and Dix grabbed her radio. “All units, Calderon is at 4141 Camino De La Plaza. At least twelve mercenaries have him detained. Proceed with great caution. We’ll find a place to meet and brief what to do next.”

Dix handed the radio back to Sullivan. “You call the shots from here on out. Lead the way, Petersen and I will follow.” Dix watched as Kovach was driven away by a junior agent and shook his head in disgust.

Sullivan never hesitated. She jumped into her vehicle as Dix and Petersen got back into theirs. Dix wasn’t sure what they would discover at the warehouse where Calderon was supposedly held, but he was pretty sure the men holding him would discover the money he had and would not give up without a serious fight.

*****

Calderon got two of the bags tied to the rope and began climbing up the ladder while trying to carry the final bag. Unfortunately, the bag was too heavy so he let it fall to the tunnel floor and scurried up the ladder. When he got to the top, he stopped and listened before coming completely out. He didn’t hear anything so he jumped out of the tunnel and began pulling the rope. He was in great shape, but the bags were dead weight making them very difficult to move. He tried wrapping the rope around his waist, but it was too difficult because he had his gun in one hand and the rope in the other. He didn’t have time to consider his next move.

Two warehouse windows exploded as two flash bang

grenades were tossed through them. The grenades bounced on the warehouse floor before going off. He tried to shield himself, but the blasts were too big. He was knocked to the floor and he fumbled for his weapon. He could not see or hear, but he was able to get a hold of his gun and he began shooting wildly in all directions. Instead of counting rounds to know how many he had left, he just squeezed the trigger until no more came out. He was desperate and mortified. He had no control of the situation; in fact, he had no idea what was going on.

Before he had time to think of what to do next he felt hands grabbing his arms and legs. He thrashed about but was overmatched. He could feel his legs getting tied together, his hands being handcuffed, and the weight of the rope from his mid section was removed.
Shit
. He resisted the urge to talk and tried to hear the best he could in an effort to figure out who was tying him up.

Calderon’s vision began to return but his ears were ringing loudly. He looked around the room and saw men wearing black BDU’s and black knit masks. He was stunned when he saw the men were carrying FX-05 rifles, a standard issue gun for Mexican Special Forces. He could see two men pulling the rope and the money to the top while another man grabbed a chair and set it in the middle of the warehouse floor. He was lifted up off the floor and slammed down into the chair. One of the men went down the ladder and grabbed the last money bag. Calderon noticed the man used one arm to bring the money up and didn’t even break a sweat.
These men are well trained
, he thought,
I can’t fight my way out, and now they have El Hefe’s money.

None of the men spoke to him. Eleven men watched him while the man Calderon assumed was in charge texted on his cell phone. It looked like the man sent a text then broke the cell phone in half.
Man, these guys are pros
.

The suspense was killing him. He decided to break the silence. “Well gentlemen, whoever is behind this, I can pay you triple.” No one looked at him, and no one responded. He was unaccustomed to being in the position he was in now, but he was willing to do almost anything to get out of it. He watched as his captors paced back and forth. It seemed as though they were waiting for someone. They could have easily just killed him and taken the money, but they were doing neither. He began to worry. He wondered if he’d be tortured before he was killed.

“Come on gentlemen. I have thirty million dollars in those bags. It will be my money shortly once I take care of…” He didn’t get a chance to plead for his life as he was pummeled by two men in the stomach and face. They punched him repeatedly and told him to shut up. He could feel blood trickling from his mouth and above his right eye. He was in tremendous pain and was losing consciousness. He kept quiet. He could hear the ticking of someone’s watch and it was driving him crazy. He wondered how much longer he would be alive.
Should I mention El Hefe
, he wondered,
no, it’s too risky,
he replied to himself.

Chapter 50

Dix, Petersen, Sullivan, and the other units stopped short of 4141 Camino De La Plaza. Dix could see two black full-size vans parked on the east and west sides of the warehouse and noticed two windows were broken.

Sullivan noticed the same thing and said over the radio, “Looks like we have company fellas. Two large vans out front, and a couple broken windows, probably people inside.” She directed an unmarked vehicle with an officer in plain clothes to roll by the vans to get the license plates. She set the rest of the units up surrounding the warehouse and looked over at Dix with a now-what-do-I-do look.

“Well, we can hit the place or sit tight. I’d say we sit tight to see if the license plates mean anything. That will give us time to see if anyone comes out of the warehouse or goes in. We have time on our side because Kovach’s family is secure and Calderon has no idea we’re coming,” Dix said.

Petersen chimed in, “And we have no idea what is going on inside the warehouse. By the looks of those vans there could easily be twelve bad guys in there. We also don’t know what Kovach really set up here.”

Sullivan digested their comments and agreed with their assessment. She got back on the radio and requested a helicopter to be on standby and told the acting Special Agent Supervisor to shut down the San Ysidro border for vehicles or pedestrians trying to get into Mexico.
Ain’t no way I’m letting someone get across the border at this point in the game
. She felt someone staring at her and turned to see Petersen was looking at her funny.
Oh, man, I wonder what he’s thinking. Am I doing a good job?
She placed a ton of pressure on herself based solely on a look she got from Petersen. She wanted to impress him so bad because she was hopeful he’d stay a day or two after this was all over.
A girl could dream, right?

Sullivan said, “I’m not going to get a lot of time to sit and observe, guys. The bosses are going to order we hit the warehouse with everything we have in a matter of minutes. This whole thing has pushed everyone over the edge; they want Calderon dead or alive.” Her phone rang and she could see it was a HSI supervisor calling her. She answered it.

“Uh huh, yes, I understand. Okay.” She hung up the cell phone and looked pretty upset.

“Well guys that was the big boss. You want the good news or the bad news?”

Dix blurted out, “Bad.”

“We have ten minutes before the Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and HSI equivalent storm the warehouse and eliminate all threats. The bosses just want the money back. This thing is officially over.”

Petersen shook his head in disgust and said, “Always about the money isn’t it. What’s the good news?”

“We have ten minutes to sit and observe before all hell breaks loose. Sorry guys, but it’s not my call.”

Dix said, “How the hell does your boss know the money is here?”

“Apparently there was an undercover agent in this operation since the beginning. He was placed there by Kovach. The guy was in on the attack on the warehouse and slipped a transmitter into one of the money bags. The transmitter shows right there,” Sullivan said as she pointed to the warehouse.