The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) (28 page)

Dix and Petersen weren’t surprised Kovach had another trick up his sleeve. It was par for the course for this wild ride.

“If the money is here, he’s here. So who are the guys that grabbed him and the money? If those were Calderon’s guys, they’d be long gone by now,” said Petersen.

Dix was about to answer Petersen’s questions when he tapped him on the leg and motioned to the warehouse. A man wearing all black BDU’s walked out and began walking

around the warehouse. After he made one pass, he began moving further away from the warehouse to check the outer perimeter. When he passed vehicles he checked inside them. Dix could not see a gun visible, but he was sure the guy had one concealed underneath his jacket based on the bulge he could see. The man cleared the block and went back to the front of the warehouse and stood guard at the front door. A second man, dressed exactly as the first, exited the warehouse and did the same as the first. Sullivan motioned to the second man’s jacket and Petersen and Dix could see the butt of a weapon at the top of the zipper line. He too walked over to the front of the warehouse and took a position to guard the other side of the front door.

Dix said, “We aren’t going to need ten minutes to see what’s going down. Those guys are expecting someone to arrive at the warehouse soon. Sullivan, tell everyone to sit tight until you think it’s the right time for us to move. These guys look like serious professionals. This is going to be a shoot out.”

“Got it,” Sullivan replied. She advised the units in the area of the update, and reminded them not to move on the warehouse until she gave the order. Her pulse was racing and she could feel her heartbeat pounding in her chest.
Keep it together
, she thought.

Out of the blue the Sheriff himself jumped on someone’s radio and told everyone to stay off the radio unless they absolutely needed it. Law enforcement officials surrounding the warehouse checked their weapons and prepared to storm the warehouse.

“From point, we have movement at the front of the warehouse and we’re expecting an arrival. Standby,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan tapped Dix’s leg and motioned to the warehouse. A black Mercedes Benz drove slowly near the front door but did not stop. It did not look like the two men

out front communicated with whoever was in the Mercedes. The car continued on and slowly drove around the warehouse. Dix and Petersen recognized the behavior as counter-surveillance. It circled two more times before parking near the front door of the warehouse.

The driver carefully exited the car and worked his way back to the right rear passenger door. He was dressed the same as the other men guarding the front door. He went to open the passenger door, but stopped short as movement caught his attention. A man on a bicycle came pedaling toward the warehouse. He had headphones on and was oblivious to what he had just ridden his bicycle through. The perimeter unit let the man through because he determined trying to stop him would have been suspicious to the unknown people in the Mercedes. The driver watched the man intently. The driver was talking but not into a radio, Dix suspected he had a microphone on his lapel. The bicyclist continued on his way without incident.

“That was close,” said Dix, “It’s show time people.”

Satisfied the situation was secure, the two men guarding the car nodded at each other and one of them opened the passenger door. A man exited the car and limped his way to the warehouse. No one got a good look at him, but he seemed fairly young and was well dressed.

“Come on buddy turn around, just one time,” said Sullivan. The moments seemed to last forever and everyone in the car was desperate to see who had just arrived. He stopped to say something to one of the men guarding the door. While doing so, he turned to point at the Mercedes exposing his face, and the guard started to move toward the vehicle.

In unison the teammates blurted out, “Romero!” They snapped a few photos off and tried to figure out what to do next. They were beyond shocked and had no idea Romero had escaped from the hospital.

“That son-of-a-bitch! You guys think Romero is El Hefe?” asked Sullivan.

Dix whistled, “I can’t believe it. He’s definitely up the food chain, I’m not sure the cartel boss would show up in the United States, though, but if he was already here as a
wounded Special Agent
, then damn, I guess Romero could be the main man.”

Sullivan was already on the phone with her boss. She told him what they just saw and sent him a photo of Romero that she just took. Her boss was stunned. Sullivan plead with him to advise the chain of command and see if they could buy her some time. Everyone stayed in their positions, but people involved in the operation were getting impatient and wanted the money, Calderon, and now Romero.

*****

Romero slowly limped over to Calderon and sat down right in front of him. Calderon looked up and through his one eye that wasn’t swollen shut saw Romero. His heart skipped a beat and he groaned.
You’re supposed to be dead
, thought Calderon. He tried to get free of the chair, but it was useless. He had nowhere to go.
This is going to end miserably.

“Hello Jose. I see you were able to recover El Hefe’s money, well done,” said Romero. He watched Calderon and noticed he was shaking and he could see his mind was searching for answers. He wondered if he knew how close to death he really was. El Hefe had confirmed Jose Calderon ordered the hit on Romero’s second cousin, Pedro Munguia, and the hit attempt on him. This was completely unacceptable, and had not been authorized by El Hefe. Therefore, El Hefe gave Romero the option to deal with the Calderon mess any way he saw fit, as long as he retrieved his money.

“Jose, I know you ordered the hit on Pedro,” said Romero. Calderon shook and did not reply. He needed him to admit to certain things for his plan to work. Judging by Calderon’s face, however, Romero figured he probably was leery of speaking again.

“You need to speak Jose. Otherwise, I’m going to put a bullet in your knee cap.”

Calderon watched as Romero pulled a .45 caliber gun from a chest holster and took aim at his right knee.

Calderon reluctantly said, “Pedro had to go, El Hefe agreed.”

“You’re lying Jose, El Hefe did not agree to the hit on Pedro, you did that all on your own. Pedro was my family.”

Calderon shot a glance up at Romero and pleaded, “I had no idea. I was pissed, so I paid the Enforcers to take him out.”

“And in doing so law enforcement members died, which caused every law enforcement agency in San Diego to investigate us,” said Romero. He chuckled to himself since he knew the conversation was being recorded and would be used to send Calderon to prison for life and hopefully take the heat off the cartel.

“You also ordered the hit on me,” he said to Calderon. Calderon shook his head but was afraid to reply. Romero retrieved a silencer from his sport jacket pocket and put it on his gun. He then shot Calderon in the knee.

Calderon screamed in pain as the force of the bullet toppled him over to the floor. He was crying now as the realization of death was all too real.

“Okay, okay, I ordered your hit too,” Calderon said sobbing and writhing in pain. He was desperate and finally feeling the pain and agony of the many people he had done the same thing to over the years.

Romero got up and slowly limped over to Calderon and inspected the bullet wound. Satisfied he would not bleed out, Romero looked at Calderon directly in the eyes and put his thumb in the bullet wound and twisted.

Calderon screamed in pain and tried to move, but he couldn’t. He pleaded, “Stop, please stop!” After a few more seconds of torture, Romero stopped.

He whispered in Calderon’s ear, “That was for me and Pedro. We’ve got some friends in federal prison who will take care of the rest.”

Romero struggled to stand all the way back up. His body was broken and bruised from the car crash the night before. The doctor’s were not sure he would fully regain the ability to walk, but he was doing it now.
All because of Jose Calderon
, he thought angrily. He wanted to finish the man right then and there, but El Hefe needed him alive to redirect law enforcement away from the cartel.

He snapped his fingers and the men scrambled to sit Calderon back up and put the money bags near the exits of the warehouse. One of the mercenaries walked over to the area where the audio and visual recordings were stored for the warehouse. He ejected the compact disc, put it in a sleeve, and placed it on a small table next to Calderon. A second mercenary did a quick triage on Calderon’s bullet wound by packing it and wrapping it in gauze.

While retrieving his cell phone to text his status to El Hefe, Romero heard what sounded like windows breaking. The concussion of the flash bang grenades disoriented him and the other men, then all hell broke loose.

Three separate groups of El Hefe’s men exited the warehouse from the side and rear access points and began shooting at anyone they saw. The remaining men loaded the money bags into the two vans and Romero’s vehicle. Two mercenary snipers began pinning down vehicles from the top of the warehouse providing more cover fire for the remaining mercenaries to get to their vehicles.
Time to make a run back home
, thought Romero.

Chapter 51

Sheriff Libal was miffed and impatient. He ordered the hit on the warehouse without consulting with anyone else involved in the takedown. The sheriff’s deputies did what they were told and began assaulting the warehouse. The other agencies weren’t about to leave the deputies hanging, so they all joined the attack.

Dix saw the flash bangs launch into the warehouse and noticed all three exits had suspects pouring out of them right after. The splitting up of suspects confused law enforcement.

The radio traffic was fast and unorganized. People could not get out updates and the fire fight was in full swing. Law enforcement tried to disable the vehicles while the suspects tried to get mobile. Petersen and Dix could see the situation was bleak as both sides were well armed and making counter moves as though the suspects had been trained in law enforcement tactics. A group of SWAT operators moved to the east side of the warehouse. The front-shield-man was knocked down from sniper fire causing the team to retreat to cover and get eyes on the sniper.

Sullivan looked at Dix and said, “We’re not going to get out on the radio, we should go with Romero if he gets mobile.”

“I agree. He’s the link to the cartel boss.”

The windshield to their car exploded sending glass splinters throughout the vehicle. Dix checked on Sullivan and Petersen before returning fire. He scanned for threats and could see there were a lot more suspects than they’d anticipated.
Damn, they must have sent men up from the tunnels
, he thought.

Instead of the law enforcement teams working together, cops and deputies were moving in groups attacking from all angles creating cross-fire issues.

Dix grabbed a radio and kept pushing the transmit button until he could get through.

“Keep suppression fire on the warehouse, we need to keep them pinned down. Do not allow them to get mobile.”

Rounds flew over Dix’s head and since their car was already disabled, he motioned to Sullivan and Petersen to get to better cover. Petersen looked up and could see the vans and Mercedes were beginning to move. He pointed it out to Dix, and they began shooting at the Mercedes. The car’s windows were not breaking even though they were clearly hitting it with bullets.

A loud boom shook the vehicle they were utilizing as cover and one of the vans appeared to be on fire and smoking. The van coasted into the side of a building and suspects began shooting out of it toward law enforcement. Dix scanned the area to see what had disabled the suspect van and noticed a SWAT operator holding a grenade launcher and chuckled to himself. The SWAT operator was quickly reloading so he could get a second shot off at the remaining van.

More suspects flooded out of the warehouse, and the fire fight grew more intense. The second van drove in an effort to shield the Mercedes. Rounds were hitting both vehicles, but not doing much damage. A SWAT bearcat assault vehicle drove through the fire fight and slammed into the side of the second van pushing it over on its side. The bearcat reversed and set up forty yards back from the second van as the suspects pulled themselves from the wreckage and turned their attention to the bearcat.

The collision between the van and the bearcat created a small crease between the road block set up by the cop cars and the suspect vehicles. The Mercedes sped up and made a run at the opening. It hit the curb and bounced off a patrol car, but managed to break the perimeter.

Dix, Petersen, and Sullivan were already in a lightly armored SWAT SUV and trying to catch up to the Mercedes. The SWAT bearcat tried to get in the chase but had no way of keeping up. It turned back and got into the fire fight.

Dix drove while Sullivan was trying to get the HSI helicopter locked onto their location. The vehicles sped toward the San Ysidro border leaving the warehouse in their dust.

Petersen said to Dix, “If Romero gets to Mexico he’s gone and we can’t go get him.” As he said this he assumed Dix knew that but would probably chase him anyway.