The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) (22 page)

Calderon laughed and snapped his fingers again. The two women stopped.

Calderon said, “Mr. Smith you’re a planner I see. Very well. We’ve already discussed most of it already. As for later today…” Calderon waited until the women were gone, “Have the men meet at my warehouse at noon. My benefit is at three. Hit the warehouse at four. That will be in the middle of my event and right during shift change at the warehouse. Get the money to the tunnels. After that, it’s not your concern.”

Smith knew the rest of the plan now. He’d follow Calderon’s orders all the way up to the part about the money being put in the tunnels.
I’ve got my own plans for the money
.

Smith said, “Will do. Your place at noon. If your informants get any more information about the warehouse or anything to do with our operation that you think I should know give me a call.”

“Very well. Now about the women, they’re in the room waiting for you,” he winked and continued, “Don’t forget you have an operation in a few hours.”

“Oh I won’t,” Smith said as he entered the room horny and in the need of a drink. He had a grin stretching from ear to ear and decided he’d have to make love to the women to keep his cover intact. Plus, he knew Calderon would grow suspicious if he didn’t.
Someone’s gotta do it
, he thought as he chuckled.

Chapter 40

Doug Kovach was seeing his wife and daughter off at the airport. They were in tears and he was so disappointed in himself for what he had caused his family that he could hardly bear it. He thought about jumping on the plane and never turning back.

Kovach gave his wife a firm hug and said, “It’s going to be okay honey. I have one last thing to take care of and I’ll meet you in Minnesota.” Somehow his wife wasn’t too sure of that, but she loved him dearly and she was hoping for the best.

He gave his daughter a great big hug and kiss on the forehead and said, “Baby, please don’t cry. Daddy will be with you guys soon. I love you.” He tried to let go, but she wouldn’t let him. He was tore up inside, more than he ever thought he could be. He was doing this for their protection and to fix some of his wrongs. It was the toughest thing he ever had to do in his life, but it needed to be done.

Kovach’s wife and daughter boarded the plane and he stood there watching it leave. Tears fell from his eyes. After the plane took off, he gathered his wits and headed into work-possibly for the last time. An amazing sense of calm came over him and he was at peace with his decision to send his family away and with his plan against Calderon.
Now all I have to do is man up and make it all happen
, he thought.

Chapter 41

Dix woke up to loud banging and instinctively grabbed for his sidearm. He glanced over at the alarm clock and noticed it read 8:02 a.m.
Shit
.

He sprung out of bed and ran over to the hotel door and looked through the peep hole. Petersen was standing on the other side with a coffee and a bag of donuts.

He opened the door and said, “Hey buddy, sorry, I guess I crashed and was sleeping like a rock.”

Petersen laughed and said, “No worries buddy, we have a few hours until the fireworks begin.”

Petersen came into Dix’s hotel room and they began drinking coffee and eating donuts. After some small talk about their families, the discussion turned to the case. They had come to similar conclusions and decided whatever happened today at the warehouse, they were heading back to Florida on the first available red-eye flight. Although, once Petersen agreed to this, he hesitated. He thought about Sullivan and what it was going to take to tell her how he felt.

Dix heard his cell phone ringing and retrieved it. It was a call from Sullivan.

“Hey Bill, how are you?” she asked.

“I’m good, what’s up?”

“Are you sitting down?” she replied.

He looked at Petersen and motioned him to come closer. At the same time he activated the speaker function on his cell phone.

Dix replied, “I’m sitting down and Petersen is listening with me.”

Sullivan paused for a second and said, “Good, I was going to have to fill him in as well, but now I don’t have to track him down. One of the surveillance teams is still at Calderon’s home and we are working on getting a second team out there.”

Dix interrupted, “What happened to the other surveillance team?”

“I was getting to that. So the rental car from late last night took off at a high rate of speed from the Calderon compound at about two in the morning. The car broke the inner perimeter before anyone knew what happened. Long story short, an unrelated California Highway Patrol Officer saw the car merge onto the freeway and thought the driver was driving under the influence so he attempted to pull the rental car over.”

“What? That could compromise this whole thing!” said Petersen.

“The CHP Officer had no idea. He was just doing his job,” answered Sullivan.

Dix said, “Okay, what happened next?”

“Well, the car didn’t stop and accelerated. Several CHP officers and a CHP helicopter got involved in the pursuit. They chased the car down until it finally failed to negotiate a tight turn and crashed. The driver tried to run after the crash, but he’s got a broken leg. The two passengers were killed on impact.”

“Geez, that’s crazy. I guess we have another one of Calderon’s guys to interrogate before the takedown today. But really, I don’t think I need to be seated to hear news like this Sullivan,” said Dix.

“I haven’t told you who the driver was.”

“Oh yeah, who was driving the car?”

They heard her draw in a deep breath and waited for her reply. Neither of them had known her to get stressed out, but Dix sensed something big was about to happen.

Finally Sullivan said, “It was Special Agent Romero.”

They shook their heads and found it difficult to believe what she said.

Dix couldn’t contain himself. “Are you kidding me? That little son of a bitch. I guess the riddle as to who the mole is has been solved. Is he talking?

“Not yet. He was banged up pretty good. He’s in a secure location with no ability to communicate with the outside world. The higher-ups are beside themselves. Worst of all, I haven’t been able to track down Kovach to let him know,” answered Sullivan.

“This is one of the most bizarre cases I’ve ever worked,” said Petersen.

There was a silence in the hotel room and on the other end of the phone. No possible explanation could be given by Romero that would make sense. Dix figured the risk Romero took to meet with Calderon was great and it would explain why he quickly eluded the surveillance units. It was dumb luck for him that he was spotted by the CHP officer. Nevertheless, Dix was still baffled.

He broke the silence and asked Sullivan, “Who were the two dead passengers?”

She snapped back to reality. “So far it seems they were female escorts working in San Diego. Very high end. Not exactly sure how they tie into our case, but they’re dead now.”

Dix looked down at his watch and estimated he had some time to interrogate Romero. He wasn’t sure he’d get that chance because the Homeland Security Investigations people were going to want him sequestered and completely cut off from the world. And, once Calderon learned Romero was apprehended, he was a dead man. One thing they all had learned so far was there was no safe place to hide if Calderon came looking for you.

“You think your bosses will let me interrogate Romero? Maybe I can learn more about Calderon’s plan,” Dix asked Sullivan.

“I think
maybe
is the right answer. The bosses are sensible, but we’re caught with our pants down on this whole thing, and now it’s ten times worse. Kovach would have the ability to convince them to give you a shot, but I can’t get a hold of him.”

“We need to track him down ASAP. Maybe he will see the news this morning and realize he needs to talk to us. Knowing him he’s probably aware of the whole situation and working out a plan to keep this thing together,” said Dix. He was worried about how Calderon would play things out now that Romero was in custody. Calderon would not know for sure whether anyone saw Romero leave his place, but if he had any sense, he would have to assume that was the case. Dix put himself in Calderon’s shoes for a moment. The only option he saw for Calderon was to kill Romero before he could talk.

Dix said to Sullivan, “Romero is as good as dead. Calderon will kill him to protect his operation and make sure his attempt on the warehouse today still happens.”

“I told the bosses the same thing. Only a select few know where Romero is, but there are only five trauma centers in San Diego. Calderon will figure out where he is pretty quick, and I think we all know he will not stop until he’s dead.”

Petersen nodded. “Well Romero is a piece of work, but no one deserves to be hunted down. We’ll try to track down Kovach as well. Can you take care of the final coordinating of the takedown? Dix and I will meet you at the Sheriff’s Office in an hour.”

“Okay sounds like a plan. You guys be safe. I have a feeling many more shenanigans are going to happen before this day’s over,” replied Sullivan. She felt slightly overwhelmed by the recent events. She needed to be consoled. The thought of Steve Petersen being the one to do that flooded her mind. She tried to suppress any feelings she had for him, but it wasn’t working very well. She said out loud, “Petersen, you better not get yourself killed.”

Chapter 42

Petersen and Dix quickly showered, and headed to their car in the parking lot of the hotel. Petersen scanned the parking lot for threats and noticed a car very similar to one driven by Kovach in the rear of the lot directly facing their rooms. Petersen used hand signals to get attention of Dix. They split up to meet at the suspicious vehicle. When they got closer they could hear the car running and saw Kovach inside. He was not moving.

Dix looked around the remaining parts of the car while Petersen covered him. Once satisfied there were no threats in the vehicle and no obvious signs of foul play, Dix started shaking the car in an effort to wake Kovach. On the fifth shake he woke up with a concerned look on his face and his gun drawn. He noticed Dix and Petersen and quickly looked relieved.

As he stepped out of his car Dix said to him, “Good morning buddy. You were sitting out here to protect Steve and me?”

Doggedly Kovach replied, “Not exactly. I came by to give you an update and my system must have finally shut down. I sent my wife and child to our relatives in Minnesota early this morning, and I’ve been sleeping like shit this whole week. It all finally caught up to me, I guess.”

Dix instantly wondered why Kovach would send his family out of town especially on a day like today. “You picked today to send the family out of town. What the hell’s going on?”

Kovach looked him in the eyes. “I know for a fact you have suspected me of being the mole. And in some respects you were right.” Both Dix and Petersen immediately trained their weapons on Special Agent Supervisor Doug Kovach. An eerie quietness surrounded the three men. Neither Dix nor Petersen had a radio to call for help and they were not going to try to fish their cell phones from their pockets.

Kovach detected the tension and calmly replied, “Gentlemen, I’m not armed. My gun is in my car. Hear me out, and all of this craziness will make sense. I’ll give you everything and you guys should be able to apprehend Jose Calderon,” he paused, “And turn me, in too.”

Petersen was fuming and angrily said, “You son-of-a-bitch. I don’t give a shit what you have to say. You got part of your speech correct; Bill and I are hauling your ass in.” He shook his head in disgust.

Dix was also upset, but he realized Kovach was playing it cool because he was actually in the driver’s seat now. It pissed him off, but he knew Kovach would be calling the shots from here on out.

Dix kept his eyes on Kovach and replied to Petersen, “Steve what exactly do we haul him in for? We have nothing to show any connection between Kovach and Calderon.” Dix expected to see a smirk on Kovach’s face after his statement, but he didn’t move. He could see Kovach was a beaten man, ready to take whatever punishment came his way. He figured Kovach had finally tired of all the lies and decided to fall on the sword instead of running.

Petersen snorted and replied, “Damn, you’re right. I bet Doug knew that all along.” He looked Kovach in the eyes and said, “What’s next?”

“I’m prepared to talk. I thought about running, but I’m so tired and I’m getting old so that wasn’t an option. I’ll give you everything as long as you agree not to turn me in until
after
Jose Calderon is arrested with the money from the warehouse.”

Petersen did not like the idea one bit. Dix digested everything. He could not see any other way to actually apprehend Calderon without Kovach.

Dix shook his head. “You got thirty minutes to spill the beans. You do something foolish or threatening to us or

any other law enforcement official, and this game ends.” Dix made sure he was looking directly at Kovach. “Don’t give me a reason to kill you Doug. I’m not sure how deep you’re into this, but right now I’m assuming the worse.”