by JC Kane
Lee cocked his head and looked at Bruce. “You mean you told him not to work with us?”
Bruce was surprised at the accusation. Lee was correct but Bruce was surprised that Lee came to that conclusion so quickly. Lee wasn’t known for his quick wit or intellectual prowess.
“Really?” Bruce said. “I talked to Cooper about the situation, because he told me about it, and that’s what he told me before I said anything. And, by the way, thanks for giving me a heads up before you went to see him.”
“Why would I tell you? We’re not partners anymore, right?” Lee stuffed some of the delicious Oceanic Bakery sourdough bread into his mouth.
“Because he’s my friend and we’ve worked on a lot of projects together. I went to law school with him. You barely know him. This is someone I will continue to work with and if he’s busy doing work for you then that will directly affect me.”
“I hope you’re not trying to screw me over here. Don’t take it out on me just because I have the balls to keep this business going. I didn’t think you were the type of person to hold a grudge.”
“Funny you should mention that,” Bruce said. “Do you happen to know a guy named Francisco Carbajal? He stopped by the Firehouse and wanted to have a conversation with me about your new business venture.”
“What do you mean?” Lee asked. “What new business venture?”
“Your new business venture with Francisco Carbajal and the Sinaloa cartel. He thought Oceanic Bakery and the Two Zero Five were going to play vital roles in your plans for expansion. He also suggested I come out of retirement to help with the transition. It didn’t seem like he was ready to take no for an answer. I hope you’re not trying to screw me over just because I have the common sense to walk away while I still have a life to enjoy.”
“Oh, big fucking deal. I just haven’t talked to Francisco since you quit. I’ll tell him what the situation is between us, but it’s really no big deal. In fact, it’s none of his business who I associate with. He’s not my partner. I pay him to supply me with drugs and that’s it. What I do in my business is none of his business.”
“Well, you better tell him that because he seems to think that me and Green are going to be a part of this thing going forward. If that’s what you think, you better rethink that deal because Cooper and Green and everyone close to me will no longer be helping you with your criminal enterprises. Period.”
“I get it. You’re retired. You’re done. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. No one is out to get you.”
“Just make sure you explain that to Francisco and his people. I’m not involved anymore. Green is not involved anymore. Tell him to stay away from the Firehouse, and if he threatens me or anyone else, I’m gonna have to respond and it won’t be a pleasant response.”
Bruce got up to leave.
“Yeah, it’s at the top of my to-do list today,” Lee said sarcastically. “Tell your new shuffleboard friends at the community center I said hello. And enjoy your fucking retirement. Asshole.”
Chapter 24
Severo Moreno walked out of a restaurant on Third Street in downtown San Jose. He made his way towards his white Audi A8 parked at a meter on the street. Severo looked up from his phone and saw Lee and Jesus leaning against his car, waiting.
“Hey, what’s up?” Severo said. “What are you guys doing here? Are you waiting for me?”
“Have you made any progress on the things we talked about?” Lee asked.
“I have some calls out.”
“Are you kidding me?” Lee asked. “Is this how you conduct business now? What happened to you? You used to be so reliable. I told you we wanted to move fast on this thing. We needed the stuff yesterday. We’re losing money because of you. And all you can say is you have some calls out.”
“Hold on,” Severo said. “You’re actually making a ton of money because of me. I’ve been supplying you with everything you need for the past four years. At a very good price. No problems. No complications. I supply it. You sell it. We have both made a lot of money. Or did you forget about that little piece of information?”
Lee walked closer to Severo. “Well, we have some good news. We found a new supplier. Someone that can provide us with everything we need.”
Severo shrugged his shoulders. “Good. We don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Lee held up his index finger. “But, here’s the thing. He is supplying us with everything. Heroin. Meth. And cocaine.”
“You’re buying more cocaine, in addition to what you’re buying from me?” Severo asked.
Jesus stepped directly in front of Severo. “No, moron. We have a new supplier to replace you. You can’t provide us what we want so we no longer need your limited services.”
“You’re trying to cut me out?” Severo asked. He looked directly at Lee. He knew Lee was the decision maker. “We’ve been doing business together for four years and we haven’t lost any shipments. Not one. Now you say we’re done, just like that?”
“We gave you a chance,” Lee said. “You couldn’t get us what we needed. It’s kind of important for a supplier to be able to supply the buyers with what they need.”
Jesus laughed. “He’s a supplier with no supply.”
Severo put up his hands. “Hold on a minute. Who are you buying from now?”
“I can’t tell you that,” Lee said. “That’s proprietary business information. But, I can say that we will not be buying anything from you, anymore.”
“This is what it’s come to?” Severo asked. “After four years of working together, you drop me without even talking to me first?”
“We did talk to you,” Lee said. “We asked you to get us meth and heroine and you told us that you couldn’t get it. Of course we dropped you. You’re not capable of fulfilling our business needs. What else would you expect? You left me no choice.”
“Well, there are going to be a lot of people that are very upset about this. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Lee laughed and shook his head. “Please tell me that’s not a pathetic attempt to threaten me. That was just sad. I almost feel sorry for you.”
“You understand that I will sell my supply to someone else, right?” Severo asked. “That could cut into your business.”
“I am growing my business much bigger than it was before. And I can tell you that anyone who gets in my way will be dealt with very harshly. There will be a lot of pain and suffering during this period of growth and I hope, for your sake, you don’t get in my way. I suggest you retire or maybe I can find something for you to do if you want a job. But, if I find out that you are selling drugs in direct competition with me, in my territory, I will have to do what’s right for my business.”
“Does Bruce know about this?” Severo asked. “Is he actually letting you get away with this?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. You might want to talk to Bruce. He’s retired. He’s no longer in the game. Talk to him. Actually, you should join him in retirement. Maybe you guys can go play bingo or plant a garden together or something.
Lee and Jesus both laughed.
“Okay,” Severo said. “Good luck to both of you. I hope you get what you deserve.” Severo winked at Lee before he jumped in his car and drove away.
Lee looked at his watch. “You think we’ll have to kill him?”
Jesus nodded. “We’ll definitely have to kill him.”
Chapter 25
Chula Vista, California was only ten miles north of Tijuana, Mexico. Tijuana was primarily controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel. Most of the drugs smuggled into the United States by the Sinaloa Cartel came in through California and Arizona.
Lee and Jesus were parked outside of a warehouse off of Oxford Street in south Chula Vista. Several blocks away were four more cars filled with armed men. They were waiting for an eighteen-wheeler filled with mobile phone cases and two hundred kilos of cocaine. However, this drug shipment was under the control of Los Zetas cartel, not Sinaloa.
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br /> This was El Cazador’s twisted way of testing Lee. If Lee could successfully rip off a Zetas drug shipment, El Cazador would supply Lee with all the drugs he wanted. El Cazador provided Lee with all of the details about the shipment, but it was up to Lee and his team to execute. It was risky. They could get killed by the drug dealers or they could get caught by the police. The upside, if he pulled it off, would be a nice eight million dollar profit. Not bad for a couple days work.
“Has anyone seen the truck yet?” Lee asked.
Jesus grabbed his radio and pushed the talk button. “Has anyone seen the truck, yet?” Jesus asked into the radio. All four teams responded in the negative. No one had seen the truck yet.
“Fuck,” Lee said. “That truck was supposed to be here two hours ago. If we don’t deliver on this, we are screwed.”
“Is it possible that he gave you bad information on purpose?” Jesus asked. “Just to mess with you? Maybe another test?”
Lee hadn’t thought about that possibility before. He didn’t like it. “Fuck.” Lee slammed his hand down on the dashboard, looked out the window, and checked the road again for signs of the truck they were waiting for.
One of the team members announced over the radio that the truck had arrived. Lee breathed a sigh of relief. It was time to execute.
Their first objective was to take control of the eighteen-wheeler once it stopped. After they had control of the eighteen-wheeler they could deal with the armed escorts.
Lee’s team spotted the eighteen-wheeler and they fell into place behind it, waiting for the right moment. One vehicle moved into position next to the truck, waiting for a red light or a stop sign.
The truck stopped at a stop sign and one of Lee’s team members, Reggie, jumped out of the car and approached the cab of the truck with his weapon ready to fire. Reggie was a driver for Oceanic Bakery and he knew how to drive an eighteen-wheeler, as well as handle a weapon.
Reggie grabbed the door handle and pulled but it was locked. He aimed his gun at the window and pulled the trigger. The window shattered. The truck surged forward, jumping the curb onto the sidewalk. Reggie fell off the cab onto the ground. The engine stalled and Reggie got up and ran towards the truck but the driver pulled out a handgun and fired at Reggie as he approached the driver’s door.
Lee’s team pulled up quickly and the four cars surrounded the cab of the truck. Several men jumped out of the trucks and started firing at the driver of the truck with high-powered rifles. After emptying a few magazines, the driver stopped firing. They assumed that he was fatally wounded, but there was only one way to be sure.
Reggie ran over to the truck and quickly opened the driver’s door. The driver was slouched in the driver’s seat with his seatbelt holding him in place. He wasn’t moving and he was covered in blood. Reggie pointed his gun directly at the driver’s head and put two rounds into his skull. He didn’t want any surprises. Reggie released the driver’s seat belt and pushed him into the back of the cab.
A bullet hit the door, missing Reggie’s leg by a few inches. Reinforcements pulled up and one of the trucks ran over the man who had just fired at Reggie. The rest of Lee’s crew started firing at the armed men and they were forced to take cover.
Reggie started the truck and slammed it into first gear. The truck was straddling the curb, so Reggie turned it to the left and drove it back onto the roadway. Several bullets hit the cab and shattered the rearview mirror. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor and, luckily, the truck kept moving forward. He drove through the intersection and pulled away from the hail of gunfire as he prayed that he could make it to the nearby warehouse without breaking down or coming across a law enforcement officer.
One of the SUVs pulled in front of Reggie and led the way. He looked in the side view mirror and saw the cavalry eliminating the remaining threats. Reggie had confidence in his team and he knew they would easily overpower a handful of hired guns. Now that there was no one left to follow him, he could focus on driving.
Several blocks away, Reggie pulled into the warehouse parking lot. Lee and Jesus were waiting in a Chevy Suburban. One of the garage doors opened up at the warehouse and Reggie followed his escort in through the large door and drove the truck into the warehouse. As soon as the entire eighteen-wheeler cleared the doorway, the door closed behind him.
Several workers opened the doors of the trailer and started unloading the boxes. They were operating like a well-oiled machine. Lee and Jesus walked into the warehouse and watched them work.
“I need twenty-five kilos in each bag,” Lee said, as he pointed to the four black roller-cases nearby. “Put fifty in the truck over there and give fifty to Reggie.”
The workers located the boxes filled with drugs, dumped the contents onto the ground, and started packing the wrapped cocaine packages into the suitcases as quickly as possible.
“Jesus, I want you to take the truck, go with Reggie and you guys deliver the hundred kilos to the shop in San Diego. I’m flying back home so we’ll take the rest with us.”
“Okay.” Jesus nodded. “I’ll make sure everything is taken care of here,” Jesus said. “We’ll ditch the truck, clean up the warehouse, and I’ll catch a flight home tomorrow.”
The workers parked four, rolling, upright suitcases in front of Lee. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lee said to Jesus. Lee gave him a big hug to celebrate the successful robbery. “Call me when you get back. It’s going to be a busy week.”
Jesus nodded.
“Let’s go,” Lee yelled to his security team. Each of the four men grabbed a rolling suitcase and followed Lee to the Suburban.
Chapter 26
Lee swirled his glass of whiskey around as he looked out the window at the lights below. He was on his way home, flying back to San Jose with four members of his security team and one hundred kilos of cocaine.
Lee chartered a private jet from San Diego to Mountain View. With the exception of international flights, private jets made it easy to move illegal contraband. There was no airport security to worry about and, in many cases, passengers could be dropped off or picked up right next to the aircraft. Technically, the airline and pilot were responsible for security but they checked the TSA No Fly List and that was about it. If a paying customer could afford $30,000.00 for a round-trip flight from Mountain View to San Diego, the pilot wasn’t too concerned about what they were carrying in their luggage.
Lee picked up his iPhone, opened up his Signal app and called Bruce. Everyone that worked for Bruce and Lee was given an iPhone with the Signal application installed. The app was used to make encrypted phone calls, send encrypted messages, and make messages disappear after a specified amount of time. While most drug dealers liked to use pre-paid phones, Bruce and Lee determined that they were unnecessary and gave a false sense of security. It was people you had to worry about, not wireless phone intercepts. If a person worked with the police to sell you out, a prepaid phone wouldn’t help. Lee tried to minimize the impact from snitches, informants, and undercover officers by having contacts in the police department and making it known that any violation of trust would be met with extremely harsh consequences. Those harsh consequences might also be levied against friends and family members, too. Lee’s message was clear - do not snitch, or there would be hell to pay.
Even though everyone in the organization used encrypted technology, they still used codes when speaking on an encrypted call. You could never have too many layers of protection.
Bruce picked up the phone. “Hey.” Bruce was in his garage at the Firehouse with Green. They were working on a motorcycle and Bruce still had a wrench in his hand when he accepted Lee’s call.
“My man,” Lee said. “What are you up to?”
“I’m working at the garage. What’s going on?”
“Well, I’m on my way home, and I’m pretty hungry.”
“So, why would you call me?” Bruce asked.
“I need you to grab the guys and we’ll all go get a large pizza from Maldana
do’s.”
“Are you kidding me?” Bruce asked. “A large pizza from Maldanado’s?” Bruce looked at Green. He was typing on his phone as he waited for Bruce to wrap up the call. They were both very familiar with the simple codes they used. Food represented drugs. They normally referenced burgers, not pizza. One burger was code for 1 kilo of cocaine. A double burger was 5 kilos. Two double burgers represented 10 kilos. A large pizza represented 100 kilos of cocaine. That was very rare. Shipments or sales that large didn’t happen very often.
Maldanado’s was a pizza joint in Mountain View. One large pizza from Maldanado’s meant 100 kilos were coming into Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View. Moffett was a private airport leased by Google. Among other things, the airfield was used as a place for Silicon Valley millionaires to keep their expensive toys. It gave them a convenient place to fly in and out of whenever they wanted. Bruce had a connection that allowed them to use the airport when they needed it, and they used it frequently.
Under the circumstances, leasing a private jet was more than worth it, especially out of Moffett Airfield. No lines. No security. No crowds. Walk in. Walk out. That’s the benefit of having money to lease a private jet.
“Come on, man,” Lee said. “I need you to help me out. This is important.”
“Yeah, unfortunately, I’m busy and not hungry at all,” Bruce said. “Guess you’re going to have to eat without me.”
“Are you really going to leave me hanging?” Lee asked.
“What can I say? I’m on a diet and I can’t eat pizza. You’re on your own tonight.”
“Can you tell the guys, at least?” Lee asked.
“Call them yourself. I gotta go. Good luck with dinner.” Bruce ended the call and looked at Green.
“What was that all about? Was that Lee?” Green asked.