Jungle Warriors, Crime Fighters

by Doug Houser

  “Wow, this all came together more quickly than I expected.”

  “Yes, sir. We were lucky in that management showed up during the first day we were watching the corner and they were easy to follow. Agent Peters did a great job teaching us how to tail a vehicle without being spotted.”

  “So, how many men are you planning to use for the takedown?”

  “Two men will take out each lookout. Then they’ll join six other men for the takedown. Five will go in the back door, five in the front. If the doors are locked, we have two guys ready to pick the locks. If they can do that, it should be easier to take them by surprise. But we’ll take rams with us, just in case. It looks like, from what the drone pictures show, that they turned out all the lights when they settled in for the night. We’ve tested all of our night vision goggles. We’ll neutralize the gang members with tasers and then use tranquilizer shots to keep them quiet while we truss them up nice and cozy. Miller will carry the safecracking gear in his backpack. Four guys will wear empty backpacks in case we need the space to carry cash out of there. We’ll leave all the drugs we find for the locals to use in prosecutions. After we’ve secured everything inside, we’ll bring the two lookouts in and truss them up too. When we’re done, we’ll leave the front door wide open. Once we clear the area, we’ll call 911 and complain of a serious domestic disturbance at that address, piercing screams, etc., then hang up and go back to the motel and pack up, change, then come home.”

  “Ok, that covers just about everything that we planned. It sounds like our original plan will be the one we execute. How many black guys do you have on the takedown team?”

  “Three plus me.”

  “Just remember, and emphasize this right before you enter, only the black guys talk. And make sure that all of them talk and that they do so from several different locations in the house, so it sounds like the entire takedown team is black.”

  “Got it. When they wake up, they’ll be blindfolded, totally confused and in quite a bit of pain, so it shouldn’t be too hard for them to imagine that they were just taken down by a whole bunch of Bloods or Crips. Especially when they hear the four of us taking from various areas of the house.”

  “Great. I know you’re ready but be extra vigilant today. Make sure that there are no significant changes before early tomorrow morning. Give me a call as soon as you’re done. I’ll be wide-awake. Good luck and good hunting.”

  “Thank you, sir, talk with you tomorrow morning.”

  Chapter 41

  The two dogs were sleeping in the backyard when they were wakened by whirring sounds. Both looked up in the direction of the sound when two large patties of meat descended and plopped onto the grass. One of the dogs barked, but both advanced on the patties and began devouring them. The backdoor opened and someone yelled, “Dogs, what’s up?” The dogs were silent as they ate the tranquilizer-filled hamburger meat. The same person mumbled, “Putas perros” and closed the back door.

  The earliest any of the block’s residents left for work was around five-thirty and the latest any of them stayed out during the week was typically no later than ten. So, the gang lookout on the end of the block was a bit startled and wary when an old black man, pushing a shopping cart, came stumbling around the corner at 3 AM. The old man seemed oblivious to Miguel and simply stumbled on down the sidewalk in the direction of the gang headquarters. Miguel took a couple of steps toward the man and the next thing he knew, he was coming to and tied hand and foot. His hands were behind his back and his knees bent with his feet and hands tied together. He was gagged, blindfolded and being carried, apparently by two men. After traveling in this extremely uncomfortable manner for how long Miguel had no idea, he was dropped on a lawn.

  At the same moment that the old-looking black man appeared at one end of the block, a sedan pulled around the corner at the other end of the block, the engine stopped running, the headlights went off and it coasted to a stop in front of the young lookout. Jorge thought pretty much the same as Miguel about being posted as a lookout, that it was boring. Jorge stepped forward to take a closer look into the darkened car and it appeared to him that there was a black man slumped over the wheel. He took a few steps toward the car to get a better look and then had the exact same experience that Miguel was having.

  After Jorge was dumped on the lawn, he could hear faint footsteps off to one side but he had no idea what they were doing, how many there were, or where he was. At least, not at first. Then it dawned on him that he had been tricked, that he was most likely on the front lawn of the house they used as headquarters and that a black gang was probably about to break into the house. He felt instantly terrified. Not of the gang about to break in but of his own gang leader, the one he had just failed. Jorge briefly struggled against his constraints but quickly gave up. Getting loose was hopeless. He’d just have to wait and see what happened.

  The entry and takedown was executed without one shot being fired. The lock was almost too easily picked and the sleeping beauties were caught entirely off guard. It turned out that there were a dozen gang members in the house. All twelve, plus the two lookouts, were suitably constrained and left for the local police to find. The safe was in a corner of the master bedroom and was quickly opened. There was a lot of cash, neatly bundled, all of which was quickly loaded into the backpacks the team had brought. The safe was then re-locked.

  In various areas of the house, different drugs were discovered. In a back room that had probably been designed to be a den was the cocaine, most of it in bricks and some in the process of being broken down into small packets. There was quite a bit of heroin in a second bedroom. Amphetamines were found in several kitchen cabinets, neatly organized and at the ready. A search of the garage turned up a large amount of marijuana. All of the drugs were left just as they had been found. The local police would find them all, soon enough. The team secured all of the gang members and the two lookouts just as they had planned. The black guys carried on with a lot of banter, moving from room to room as they did so, while the white and Latino team members remained silent as they took care of securing the gang members. With the takedown completed successfully, they took off, leaving the front door wide open.

  When the team was four blocks away, using one of the burner phones, Cedric called 911, yelling into the phone about a life and death domestic violence situation that was taking place. They then returned to the motel, changed back into civilian clothes and checked out. They proceeded to the airport, turned in their rental cars, took the shuttle bus to the airport and boarded the parking lot shuttle to return to the long-term parking lot to retrieve their vehicles to drive home. Quietly, calmly, feeling good. Once they had left the airport grounds, Cedric called KC.

  “We’re on our way home, sir. It all went per plan. Fourteen gang members are probably being taken into custody as we speak. We left the front door open and there were plenty of drugs for the local PD to find.”

  “That’s fantastic! Congratulations! Anyone get hurt?”

  “Not even a scratch. They never expected a big break-in. The dogs were sleeping in the back yard and the lookouts were tied up out front. The lights were off we were all in black, black hoods, black gloves. They never saw us. Once they were all asleep with gags in their mouths and sacks over their heads, we turned on the lights and finished up securing them and stashing the cash in our backpacks.”

  “Do you know how much cash you got?”

  “No, sir. It’s in several backpacks in our trunks but I believe it’s a substantial sum. There wasn’t enough room for all of it in our backpacks. Fortunately, we had extra room in our fatigue pockets. We stashed the overflow in our suitcases before we headed out. I feel quite pleased with today’s outcome.”

  “It sounds like counting the spoils will be fun. You want to help Peeps, Top and me with that task? You deserve to know how much damage you did.”

  “Very much so. How about right after I get
some sleep?”

  “Done deal. Bring it all here, then go get your much-deserved rest.”

  “Aye, aye, sir. See you soon.”

  “Again, congratulations on a job well done. See you soon.”

  Chapter 42

  A few hours after talking with Cedric, KC received a call from Frank Stone. “KC, guess who I just got off the phone with.”

  “I give, who?”

  “Sturgeon! They got an anonymous panic-and-hang-up 911 call about a domestic disturbance early this morning. A patrol car responded to the reported address and immediately called for backup, drug enforcement and EMT.”

  “EMT?”

  “I’ll get to that. They found hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of all kinds of drugs. There is a safe, but they haven’t been able to open it yet. Sturgeon is pretty sure that this is the gang that came from California and co-opted those good kids into working for them. He said they have the tats to indicate that they’re who he thinks they are. After finger printing and facial recognition checks, they’ll send all the info to California. He figures that they’ll prosecute all of them for possession with intent but that if any of them are wanted for more serious crimes out West, they’ll let them be extradited.

  “But here’s the crazy part, something that Sturgeon swears he’s never seen before. Every one of them, fourteen in all, had their hands and elbows screwed into wall studs. And six of them had screws through their kneecaps.

  “The EMT used power screw guns to reverse the screws out of them. He said that the suspects were thrashing around so much that it took two or three cops to hold each one still while the EMT unscrewed them. He said that he’d never seen street cops laugh at a crime scene, where usually everyone is somber. But it was crazy and well, you know, there’s not much sympathy for these thugs. The EMT unscrewed the suspects’ hands and elbows in order to free them from the walls. But the six who had their kneecaps screwed were not attached to wall studs by those screws. The screws weren’t long enough to go all the way through their knees and into the wall studs. The EMT briefly talked about transporting them and unscrewing their knees under anesthesia at the hospital but quickly decided that it would be efficient to do it at the crime scene. There was lots more thrashing around and they eventually got all the perps unscrewed.”

  “Wow, that sounds like quite a circus. What does Sturgeon think happened? One of the local black gangs decided to fight back?”

  “He first told me with a laugh that these guys really got screwed. But yeah, two of the suspects that they identified as lookouts said that they had been attacked by black guys. A few of the gang members who would talk said that there were black guys all over the inside of the house.”

  “Yeah, but why would a rival gang leave all those drugs behind?”

  “Sturgeon wondered about that too. He’s decided that whoever it was who put in the 911 call was spotted and the intruders panicked and ran.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably what happened.”

  “By the way, what do you think the odds are that the intruders got into the safe and that my Police Benevolent Association will be getting a contribution?”

  “You never know. I’ve heard that there are civilians that actually enjoy supporting their local police departments. Sometimes, they make cash contributions to police charities and sometimes they provide direct help. It probably depends on how much help the police provide to those kind citizens that determines just how much police charities benefit.”

  “All right, you got me. I’ll keep an eye out for other opportunities. See you later.”

  “Thanks for the info. It would be great if someone had taken videos and sent them to you and then you forwarded them on to me.”

  “You never know.”

  When Cedric and his team arrived around dinnertime, KC assembled them in the conference room along with Peeps, Nellie, and Ol’ Top. Top had ordered in a big spread of BBQ meats, corn, slaw, potato salad, beans and fries. Top, Peeps, Nellie, and KC popped the corks on several bottles of expensive champagne and KC made a toast to an operation well done. They all dug into a great welcome home meal.

  After they had eaten, KC made a few closing remarks. “Once again, I’d like to congratulate all of you for the great effort you put in during training for this operation and the subsequent fantastic job you did of executing your tasks. Because of your outstanding efforts and performances, I think we put the Columbus arm of that gang out of business, at least for now. Not to dampen the spirit of our celebration, but I have to admonish one last time, none of what you did ever happened. No one outside of this room is ever to know anything about it.”

  Silent nods filled the room.

  “With regard to the money you brought back,” KC continued, “we’ll count it and then use our normal formula for dividing up the spoils. Mind you, most of it will go into an account that we will use to finance future missions like this one. But from what I understand, there will be enough left over so that each of you will receive a very nice bonus along with your next paycheck.”

  A loud cheer broke out and each man had a big smile.

  KC said, “And don’t forget, no one else around here is to know that you got a bonus. You can tell your spouses, who I’m sure may watch your bank accounts closely, that you got the extra money because of your normal periodic performance review. Again, thanks for a job very well done.”

  When everyone left, Nellie excused herself too.

  “Wonderful celebration, wonderful operation. But I’ve got a class to teach. See you gentlemen later.”

  “Thanks for all you did to get the team ready, Nellie. You played an important role in this too,” KC told her.

  “All in a day’s work,” she winked. “I’ve got to run, but thanks for the thanks. It’s appreciated. See you all later.”

  With the three partners and Cedric left in the room, KC asked if Peeps had collected all of the pistols, phones and night vision gear. Peeps replied, “I got it all and it’s secured.” KC then suggested that they count the money so that Jacoby could get busy “cleaning it up.”

  Top and Peeps collected it from Peep’s office and they set about to determine how much they’d “earned.” It wasn’t a particularly easy task, especially at first, but after a while, they developed a system and it became somewhat smoother and then they were finally done. The total was exactly $867,330.

  KC said, “Wow, that’s more than I’d hoped for.”

  “Yeah, nice haul.”

  “Cedric, very well done. We’ll let you go. Nice job.”

  “Thanks to all of you for giving me this opportunity. I appreciate it.” He then left.

  “Good return for a relatively small investment.”

  “Are you guys in the mood to talk bonuses?”

  “Of course.”

  “I agree.”

  “OK, what do you guys think? Ten thousand each for the team, that’s a hundred and ten thousand, plus twenty thousand for Cedric, that’s one thirty. How about a hundred for us partners to split? That’s a total of two thirty, which would leave six thirty-seven and change for our future projects fund.”

  Peeps said, “That sounds fine to me.”

  “Me too,” added Top.

  KC looked at them and said, “You two don’t want to change that, at all?”

  “Why do you ask? Are you thinking of something else? I thought this was your suggestion,” Top said.

  “Well,” KC replied, “I was thinking about something regarding the bonuses for the three of us. I was kind of wondering what you guys would think if our shares were twenty-five percent going forward instead of the thirty-three plus.”

  “What, you want to put more into the operations fund?” Peeps asked.

  “No, not that. And I wasn’t actually thinking about just this operation. I was thinking more about possible payouts from future operation
s, where there was a bonus pool for us, but we split it four ways instead of three.”

  Top exclaimed, “Oh my God, you’ve finally started thinking about making Nellie a partner!”

  Peeps continued the thought, “Well, it’s about fucking time!”

  Chapter 43

  “What are you guys talking about?” KC asked.

  “Hell, Peeps and I have been trying to figure out how to approach you on that for over six months.”

  “Top and I thought you’d be unwilling to expand our management team.”

  KC laughed and said, “Wow, you don’t know what a relief it is for me to hear you guys say that. I’ve been thinking about it, but I couldn’t come up with a good way to approach you guys on the subject and figured the bonus angle might provide an icebreaker. Since you guys are open to discussing this, let me tell you that I checked our two companies’ profit and loss statements. I subtracted Nellie’s salary from the expense total and then subtracted an additional partner share from the new bottom line. Our profits were still more than twenty-five percent of revenues. So the financial aspect of having a fourth partner doesn’t seem to be an issue. As far as decision making, we’ve always operated on the assumption that two votes decide any contentious issue but as far as I can recall, although we’ve started out with some different ideas on issues, by the time they’ve been discussed among us, we’ve always ended up in unanimous agreement. So, I don’t see how a fourth partner would have any impact on that.”

  “I’m not sure that I totally agree with you on that,” said Top. “I think that having input on company decisions from someone younger than us could give us an advantage and since that younger person we’re talking about is a woman, we could be exposed to viewpoints different from ours that might open new vistas for us. I think that gender and age diversity could be an important step forward for us.”