Cabernet Capers

by Dan Kelly

  “It is if you’re a natural fighter. And, kiddo, you’re a warrior. Just don‘t take unnecessary risks to get the job done. We’re a fourteen man team now and we work together, not alone, you got that?”

  “I got it.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter 53

  The first thing Derrick does when he gets in to work the next day is call Inspector Bianchi. As soon as he hears who’s calling Bianchi sighs then utters, “I’m sorry, sergeant, until I heard your voice I had forgotten all about the fingerprints. I’ve got some information for you. Hold on a sec.”

  A couple of minutes later Bianchi comes back on line and says, “The man belonging to the prints is Remo Bellucci and he’s not a very nice guy. He’s well known to some of my colleagues here as he’s been in and out of jail ever since he turned thirteen years old. Burglary, car theft, book making and drug dealing kept him busy in his teens, and then he moved up to the more serious stuff like assault, arson and attempted murder. It appears he’s gotten a lot smarter as he gotten older as he’s managed to elude prosecution due to insufficient evidence and a lack of credible witnesses and he’s latched onto some good criminal attorneys who have enabled him to navigate through our legal system and kept him out of jail.

  “He was a soldier for Nofri Nuzzoli, but now that Nuzzoli’s gone it looks like he’s on his own until he can hook up with someone else. Supposedly, he’s a distant relative of Antonio Arrigoni, but because of some inter-family rift that has been going on for years he joined up with Nuzzoli.”

  Derrick thinking aloud says, “I wonder if the family rift was behind his giving us Arrigoni’s name.”

  “I wouldn’t put anything past these guys to get even with someone or to save their own butts.”

  After giving the inspector an update on what’s going on at his end he thanks the inspector for the info and severs the connection.

  Derrick passes Bianchi’s input on to Julie and she says, “Well, it now looks like we’re back to waiting for something to happen.”

  “That it does, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait long, judging from the response to the newscast. I think it’s a safe bet that we really rattled some cages with it.”

  Derrick is proven right because two nights later what appears to be to Derrick et al the advent of World War III breaks out. At around six on that fateful day, Derrick, Julie, Jim Forrester and three other agents assigned to the detail guarding the deputies are sitting in Bill Bemis’s old office discussing what the status is of the task force’s getting a lay of the land and the likely whereabouts of the Paganelli twins.

  Forrester says, “According to the twins’ admins, they told them they were going to be unavailable for a while due to something personal that required their full attention. They were not told where the brothers would be and were ordered to forgo all phone calls to them. There was no time limit given to their absence.

  “Paul Dankowski here and I were convinced we had struck out there, but when we were walking to our car in the parking lot, a salesman of some sort called us over to where he was about to get into his car and said he overheard us talking with the ladies inside and it sounded like it was pretty important for us to speak with the high and mighty duo. He said he knew where they might be. He said they own a little get away place, a two room bungalow, up in the hills east of the winery, but he doesn’t know the exact location. He said the two of us look like government types to him and he was sure finding out where it is wouldn’t be a major problem for us.

  “I asked him how he knows about this place.

  “He said those two like to brag to just about anyone who is willing to listen. A while ago they mentioned to him that they had bought the place so they would have somewhere to go when the daily grind gets to them. He said the way they described it, it sounded like it was something you’d see in Better Homes & Gardens, but he thinks it’s probably just a shack.

  “I said, you don’t like them very much do you?

  “He said they’re their own biggest fans and look down their noses at anyone else trying to earn a buck working for someone else. He said they’re one of his biggest accounts, so he has to kiss butt, but he doesn’t have to like it or them. He’s hoping they’ve done something wrong and we toss them in the clink. That’s pretty much verbatim what was said.

  “We had our people check property tax records in the areas close by their winery and hit pay dirt. I sent the men I assigned to watch them out to the property and bingo the twins were spotted sitting on the patio in the backyard talking about something. I wish we had some of that fancy James Bond type equipment that uses parabolic microphones and such so we could eaves drop on their conversations, but we don’t. Anyway, we now have them in our sights and will stick to them like glue.”

  Derrick says, “Well that’s great news. At least we’ll be able to see them coming if they make a move on us. I wish we could have an advanced warning of some kind set up so we aren’t surprised by any Mafia types lurking in the neighborhood.”

  Forrester responds with, “We’re really flying blind there. Whoever the new don sends to take care of business, they’ll be professional killers, not amateurs. However, professionalism doesn’t guarantee intelligence. All we can hope for is somehow they’ll tip us off as to their presence before they make a move. If not, we’ll just have to say alert and play things by ear. Remember, we’re professionals too and I’m confident we weren’t short changed in the intellect department. So, we are prepared as we can be and will have to stay poised to meet any challenge.”

  Dankowski chimes in with, “I’m hungry. Where can we go to get something decent to eat?”

  Julie asks, “What kind of food do you like?”

  Forrester answers for him by saying, “Anything that won’t poison him. He’s not a fussy eater as long as there’s plenty of it.”

  “Well, there’s Marsha’s. It’s only a few blocks from here. It serves American food, burgers, franks, French fries, fried chicken, ribs, veggies, that kind of thing. It’s fresh, tastes good and the price won’t give you indigestion.”

  Dankowski says, “That sounds like my kind of place. Let’s go.”

  They all head out for their wheels, but not before the task force guys check to make sure the coast is clear. Waiving everyone to their cars Forrester says, “Let’s play follow the leader. I’ll take the lead, the rest of you follow and don’t let anyone cut in front of you. Divide and conquer is still a valid game plan. I’m not paranoid, just careful.”

  The ride to Marsha’s is uneventful and the food has the task force guys saying it reminds them of the meals their moms cooked for them, nothing fancy just fabulous.

  An hour and a half later they settle up with Marsha and head for the parking lot. Before anyone gets into their vehicle Forrester says, “I think it would be wiser if we alternate the position of the SUVs. You’ll be better protected if we have an armor plated vehicle in front of each of your cars and one behind each one.” After randomly selecting seven men to join him for the duty, he then points to the remaining four and says, “You can go back to the rental.”

  This last minute reconfiguration proves to be a major factor in saving the deputies’ lives.

  After Derrick and Julie get into their cars Derrick reminds everyone he and Julie first have to stop at the K-9 unit to pick up Champ and Duke before heading home. The dogs are picked up without incident and then the small cavalcade of cars moves out and cruises down the road for about five miles until it reaches an intersection that is a four way stop.

  To get to Julie’s house, she and her SUV escort will have to split off to the right. Using her new communication gear she tells the agent driving the SUV ahead of her to turn right. Derrick who is behind her will continue to move straight ahead. Before Derrick and Julie can go their separate ways, however, two small Penske trucks with enclosed cargo areas attached to the cabs come out of nowhere, one from their right and one from their left and block the intersection. The backs of the trucks
immediately fly open and three men from each truck jump down to the road, fan out and start firing some kind of machine pistols.

  The first fusillade of bullets bounces off the windows of the lead SUV which Forrester is driving. Forrester shouts into his mike, “Encircle the deputies’ cars. I’ll stay here, Henderson, stay at the rear of Chandler’s car. Morrison, position your vehicle to the right and between the deputies’ cars. Carrino, do likewise on the left side of the deputies’ cars.”

  The SUVs are quickly positioned and using the doors of the SUVs for protection, the task force opens them and returns fire. The gunmen are taken by surprise by the rapid response to their assault and run for cover behind the trucks but not before two of them are dropped. When the shooters run for cover this gives Derrick and Julie a chance to get out of their cars and take cover behind the SUVs to add their skill and fire power to the skirmish.

  Derrick yells to Julie, “Shoot out the tires of the trucks. If they decide to try to make a run for it, they’ll have to peel shoe leather.”

  When the drivers of the trucks see the response of the task force, they scoot across the front seats and get out of the trucks on the passenger side to join the others in the gunfight.

  Gun fire is exchanged for a good five minutes and both Derrick and Julie are able to wound a couple of the gunmen before Forrester says, “Enough of this crap.”

  Reaching into his SUV, he grabs what looks like some kind of a special rife. He points the rifle in the direction of one of the trucks and Derrick is wondering what he’s aiming at as there’s no visible target.

  Seconds later he realizes that he’s wrong. Forrester fires the rifle and a mini-second later the driver’s window shatters and there’s a huge explosion. The truck was the target and it is now in pieces and engulfed in flames.

  Derrick exclaims, “Damn! These Feds came prepared for a bloody war. That odd looking rifle is a grenade launcher.”

  Derrick barely has these words out when Forrester fires the grenade launcher again and the other truck meets the same fate. Careful to avoid getting hit by any of the debris falling from the sky, they all level there weapons and sweep them over the areas where their assailants could be, injured, dead or fleeing. Slowly advancing towards the burning remains of the trucks, no one takes a shot at them as they move around to the other side of the burning vehicles. When a strong wind begins to blow the smoke away from the area, they can see why. There are six bodies strewn all over the intersection. None of them will be shooting at anybody ever again.

  Derrick calls the encounter in to the station and requests deputies be sent to secure the area along with the coroner and forensic technicians to do what they do.

  Walking over to where Julie is talking with Forrester and some of the other task force people he says, “The coroner, more deputies and the crime scene folks are on their way. Pointing at the weapon Forrester is still holding in his hands he says, “That’s the last thing I’d expect you to have in your arsenal.”

  “Weapons similar to this are standard issue to our military these days. It’s a rifle/grenade launcher combo and it packs one hell of a wallop as you saw. This is an H&K AG-SA.”

  Julie says, “I wonder how these creeps knew we were at Marsha’s and what route we were taking when we left.”

  Forrester answers with, “I’ve been wondering the same thing. There has to be some kind of tracking device on your personal cars. Let’s have a look.”

  Sure enough, Forrester found tracking devices attached to the chassis of both Derrick’s and Julie’s cars.

  Holding the devices in his hand Forrester says, “These people aren’t stupid and they’ve been doing their homework. Using trucks to follow us around was a clever move because there’s less chance of them being considered as tailing vehicles and they know you have a protection detail or why send so many men to handle two people. Deputies, somebody really wants your hides.”

  Derrick says, “Well, I got what I was looking for. I definitely have someone’s attention and now let’s hope they reveal themselves so we can nail them. I’m wondering if these guys are home grown or from across the pond. They’ll definitely be ‘family’ members. The dons don’t like to outsource if they can avoid it. It sure would be nice if we could tie any of them to Antonio Arrigoni. I know it would make Inspector Bianchi ecstatic. He’d rattle Arrigoni’s cage so violently he’d think he was standing in the middle of an earthquake.”

  Forrester says, “When we get some prints, I’ll send them through our system to see if we can come up with a match. You can ask the Inspector to do the same at his end. We might get lucky.

  Dankowski went through all of their pockets and came up with zilch.”

  Suddenly Julie lets out a loud yelp. “The dogs, where are the dogs?”

  In all of the excitement, they had forgotten all about them. When they checked their cars there was no sign of them. Derrick and Julie started calling them. “Champ! Duke!”

  Their first attempt got no response, but the second try got a lot of barking but no appearance. The same thing happened on the third and fourth attempts. Seeing that the dogs for some reason were staying out of sight, Derrick and Julie went looking for them and headed off in the direction of the barking.

  On the other side of the intersection there is a wooded area and the barking sounds like it’s coming from somewhere in there or on the other side of it. After a couple of minutes they came to a cluster of tall grass and weeds and standing in it are Champ and Duke and they’re standing over a couple of men lying on their backs with their hands and arms over their throats and faces, looking petrified as the dogs growl menacingly at them.

  It suddenly dawns on Derrick and Julie that these two must be the drivers of the trucks. There are no machine pistols in sight. They must have decided to beat it before Forrester let loose with the grenade launcher. The dogs must have spotted them running away and took off after them. Smiling broadly Derrick says, “Guys, you just earned yourselves a gourmet meal for dogs whatever that might be.”

  Calling the dogs off, Derrick and Julie cuff the men, pat them down for any weapons, they are both armed with a Glock 19 and one has a shiv tucked in his boot, and bring them back to the intersection. Julie shouts out to Forrester, “Look what our partners snared for us.”

  Looking at the two men with both anger and disgust Forrester says, “Now that’s downright rude, guys, leaving the party without even saying goodnight.”

  Looking at Derrick and Julie he asks, “Did you find any ID on them?”

  Pointing at the bodies on the asphalt Julie answers with, “Unlike their buddies here, they were carrying wallets containing the whole package, driver licenses, credit cards, union cards, social security cards, some cash and one of them even has a wallet sized address book in his wallet with names, phone numbers, addresses, the whole enchilada.”

  Giving the pair one of his most derisive looks Derrick says, “We’re going to have a field day with you two. The list of charges we’re going to hit you with will be as long as my arm and at the top of the list will be attempted murder. You’re going to be behind prison walls for the rest of your lives.”

  The two men are already scared to death, but this has them literally shaking in their boots. One of them even loses control of his bladder. Accomplishing what he set out to do, painting as bleak a picture as possible for the men’s future, Derrick adds, “However, some leniency might be in the cards if you play ball with us.”

  The two don’t hesitate one second to reach for the lifelines that are being tossed to them, no matter how tenuous they might be. They offer their willingness to do whatever is asked of them.

  Before anything else can be said by anyone, six patrol cars with sirens blaring and lights flashing, a crime scene vehicle carrying the forensic people and the coroner appear on the scene, followed by an unwelcome entourage of reporters. The arrival of all these people at the scene has aroused the curiosity of the citizenry in the area and soon there are close to a hun
dred people in and around the intersection.

  Derrick calls two of the deputies over and says, “Introduce these two to our accommodations at the station. Deputy Styversant and I will be there as soon as the rest of us can seal off the intersection and disperse this crowd of looky-loos.”