Petersen motioned over to Kovach and said, “What are we going to do with him?”
Dix looked at Kovach and could tell he was a beaten man. The fact Calderon may already have his wife and kids made things much worse. At any moment Kovach could snap and Dix did not want to be there when it happened. He and Petersen were interested in apprehending Calderon the old fashion way…Kovach wanted to torture him to get his family back, and then kill him.
Dix replied, “I’m pretty sure he knows what he needs to do. When we get out of this alive with Calderon holding the money, he’ll explain the whole story to his bosses.” Kovach looked over at Dix and nodded.
In a worried tone Kovach asked Dix, “Any word from your buddy in Minneapolis?”
Dix checked his phone, no new messages and no texts.
“Sorry, not yet. He’s good people, and if anyone can make a miracle happen, it’s him. Let’s focus on this and do it right so we can nail Calderon and work on getting you back with your family.”
As the two cars neared the warehouse where they expected Calderon to surface, Kovach got on the radio and told Sullivan to veer off to the right and take a position covering the front. She veered off and took up a point position overlooking the front doors. The location also had rear and side doors, which were covered by Dix, Kovach, and Petersen. Once they were set up, Sullivan advised the incoming units where she wanted them to park.
Extreme tension mounted. For some reason, Dix didn’t feel right about what was going on. Various scenarios danced in his head. He could not shake the fact that Kovach was desperate because Calderon made it sound like he had his family and this could push him to make a desperate move. Kovach needed leverage on Calderon to get his family back. If it was me, I would do the same damn thing. Dix was not sure what to think any more. If Calderon showed up, Dix would take over and prevent a drastic move by Kovach. If Calderon did not show up, Dix decided he’d have to let Kovach dictate the next move. He believed Kovach was a huge risk, but without him, they’d never get close to Calderon again.
Chapter 48
* * *
Jose Calderon slowed down to inspect the pipes along his pre-determined escape route. He was looking for a small white paint mark. The alarm on his watch indicated he was near the spot. The tunnels went in six directions where Calderon had stopped, and based on the fact there was very little light, he could end up at several dead end locations with no way out if he chose the wrong path. That, of course, is why he had painted the small white line with glow in the dark paint to ensure he did not make that mistake.
With his flashlight, he scanned the pipes. Within a few seconds he saw a small painted white line. He looked at it and instantly thought it did not look like the one he had done. Did I do this? I must have, thought Calderon, no one would know about this, and it’s been awhile since I was down here, it must be my mark. He looked at the mark again, and decided it was his. He turned the cart down the tunnel and accelerated toward freedom.
The tunnels were getting brighter indicating he was nearing a structure and the outdoors since natural light seeped into the tunnels from above. He mashed the accelerator and eagerly drove toward the light. The tunnel appeared to end in roughly fifty yards. Calderon was anxious to see the steel ladder in the tunnel because it meant he was in Mexico. He’d get the bags of money up and be on his way.
The cart coasted to a stop as he had a stunned look on his face. Instinctively he reached for his sidearm and began scanning the area to figure out what had gone wrong.
“Son-of-a-bitch, that wasn’t my mark!” Calderon said out loud. He noticed the tunnel area was professionally finished, which he knew could not have been done by El Hefe’s people. They crudely dug for the last three years and would not know how to finish the project. Also, the lift El Hefe had installed to bring contraband up to the warehouse and send narcotics down was absent. He looked at his watch and decided he had no time to figure out where he was. The police would be scouring the tunnels looking for the money and who ever took it. The light above suggested the surface was near. The question was, where the hell was he? He decided wherever he was, he needed to get out and secure the money as quickly as possible. He checked his cell phone and had no service. This alone forced him up the ladder and into the unknown.
Quickly and quietly Calderon climbed the ladder and came to a flap of thin sheet metal. He moved the flap a little to test if it was locked from the other side. It moved up an inch as he pushed on it suggesting there was no lock. He wondered what to do next. He could flip the lid, spring out, and search for cover, or he could stay concealed in the tunnel until the police came looking for him. He pulled out his cell phone and noticed he had one bar of service. He frantically texted his location to Sergio Rodriguez hoping he would come with enough men to rescue him. He kept sending the text hoping one would finally go out. He had no idea Rodriguez was already in federal custody or that his cell phone was being monitored by federal agents. Agents read everything Calderon was desperately sending.
He decided he needed to make a move. The money became secondary to his survival and escape. He flipped the lid open, launched out of the tunnel with his gun drawn and ran over to some shelves. He waited a few seconds and nothing happened. He looked around the room and saw office furniture and merchandizing equipment. No federal agents burst through the windows or doors to apprehend him. He tapped the map function on his cell phone and waited for it to load while looking around the warehouse for something to retrieve the money bags. He rummaged through some cardboard boxes and located a rope while his
cell phone made an alert sound.
He glanced at the map and could see he was pretty close to where he wanted to be, but still in the United States. It indicated he was approximately two hundred yards from the Mexico border. He knew if he could make it to Mexico with the money, his reputation and the money would ensure he’d survive this ordeal. He’d also have a much easier time of shooting his way out of trouble if he was in Mexico.
He called Sergio Rodriguez again and got no answer. He threw the rope near the hatch to the tunnels and walked around the warehouse to peak out the windows. He dialed more contacts hoping someone would answer his calls for help. He examined the people walking by and people in their vehicles parked on the street. None of the people or vehicles looked out of place or suspicious. It was decision time. Make a run for it or try to get the money up from the tunnels and then make a run for it. He wanted the money and needed it to ensure he would see El Hefe. Since he felt no sense of urgency, he decided to retrieve the money. As he climbed down the ladder to tie the rope to one of the bags it dawned on him that the person who changed the mark would have to reveal his or herself shortly. When that happened, he expected the worse.
*****
FBI Agent Jim Bovell drove like a Nascar driver to get to the Minneapolis Airport. While watching for pedestrians, other cars, and other road hazards, he was on his cell phone getting any available units to the airport for a possible hostage rescue. He was careful in the words he used to ensure everyone would come. The words ‘hostage’ and ‘rescue’ would pull people off lunch breaks and away from report writing. Within minutes, two FBI teams were rolling code three to the airport.
Bovell realized he was trying to rescue two people and he had no idea what they looked like. He managed to send a text to Dix requesting photos of the mother and child while he dodged cars and drove with full lights and sirens. A few minutes later he got a photo from Dix. He starred at the photo and wondered what he would do if this was happening to him. He sent the photo to the two team leaders. Bovell’s cell phone rang. He glanced down to see it was his boss calling. This is going to be brutal.
“What do we have?” asked the boss in a concerned voice.
“Boss, Bill Dix called. A HSI agent’s wife and child may be in serious danger of being taken by cartel people at the Minneapolis Airport. I’m rolling everyone. I hope we can intercept them before the cartel does, but we may end up having
a hostage rescue situation.” Bovell braced himself for a full blown conniption fit. His boss wouldn’t like all the unknown angles for the case and he didn’t particularly care for HSI.
“All right. I’ll send this up the chain. What’s your ETA to the airport?”
The kindness and understanding by the boss caught him by surprise. “Three minutes out, along with three or four more guys. I’ve alerted TSA and the local Sheriff’s Office working security at the airport. The photos of the wife and kid should be circulating. I plan to go on foot and find out the status of the plane. According to United’s website, it’s scheduled to land in a few minutes.”
“Okay. You thinking of grabbing the wife and kid before the cartel does or letting the cartel get them and wait until they’re out of the airport, in case we have a shootout?”
“At this point, we need to take the chance we may have a shootout. We don’t want a hostage situation, at the airport or anywhere else. These cartel guys are terrible. If I get a chance to get the wife and child I’m going to take it.”
Bovell’s supervisor thought it was a reasonable plan
given the circumstances. “Sounds good to me. I’ll be there in seven minutes, and I’m dialing our bosses now. Did you contact United officials?”
“I’ve been dialing over and over with no luck. Do you have the ability to get through to someone?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Grab your hand held radio and keep me posted.”
“Will do.” Bovell parked and instantly began scanning the parking lot and front of the airport for suspicious people or vehicles. Nothing stood out to him. He grabbed his side arm and ballistic vest which contained his radio. Two FBI agents slowed in front of him and he directed them with hand signals to take positions to cover the front of the airport. The agents grabbed what they needed and worked the area on foot to set a perimeter. Bovell checked his watch and guessed the plane was on the tarmac by now. Over the radio Bovell told four agents to stay outside the airport and look for suspicious people while he and five other agents sprinted inside. He knew the terminals well and headed directly to the gate where the plane was scheduled to arrive.
Bovell’s adrenaline spiked. He tried to control his breathing while running through the airport. TSA recognized Bovell and his team and let them through the security screening area without a hitch. They’d been advised that the FBI had a “situation” and would be running through the airport fully armed. He noticed the arrivals kiosk indicated the plane had arrived. He began fast walking instead of running as they got closer to the gate. If there were cartel guys there, and they were as resourceful as Dix said they were, they were likely armed. If he and his men came into the area too quickly they may miss something or alert the cartel people. They had the element of surprise and Bovell intended to use it. Plus, they were in plain clothes and their weapons were concealed.
Every agent scanned the area looking for the female and child. There was a steady stream of passengers coming off the plane, but not the woman or child. Bovell took a spot along the wall to observe the deplaning passengers. He was getting frustrated because no one looked suspicious. He noticed fewer and fewer passengers coming off the plane and was getting nervous. He doubled checked the gate and confirmed the flight was in fact at the gate he was at. Did we miss them, he wondered, oh to hell with this. He motioned to the team to move toward the walkway and proceed down to the plane. They quickly indentified themselves to the workers and sprinted after they heard a loud scream from a woman. Instinctively, Bovell and his team drew their weapons and slowed as they neared the door hatch to the plane.
Bovell was first onto the plane. As he turned his head to the right, he could see a large man carrying a child over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. She was squirming and hitting the man in the head with no avail. Two men were wrestling with a female that Bovell positively identified as the one in the photo from Dix. The rest of the team was behind him and fanned out through the rows of seats near the cockpit. The attackers had no idea they were there. He pointed out a firearm in the small of the back of the man carrying the child. He assumed this meant the rest of the attackers were also armed. In a whisper Bovell updated the other units involved via radio. He asked for units to converge on the plane from the tarmac.
He and the other men trained the lasers from their firearms on the three suspected cartel men. They were difficult to target as they wrestled with the woman and child. Bovell made a motion with his hand to the team that this event needed to end right now. They nodded and he counted down with his fingers, three, two, one.
“FBI, step away from the lady and put the child down!”
The large man carrying the child spun around and threw the girl to the floor and tried to reach for his weapon. Two of Bovell’s men shot the suspect multiple times in the chest. The child and mother screamed. The two remaining attackers continued to wrestle with the woman even though their bodies were covered by gun lasers. She violently kicked and clawed at them while trying desperately to get to her daughter.
Bovell watched all this and kept praying for a clean shot. He heard a gun go off and saw one of the attackers fall to the ground. His gun flew out of his hand and slid close to the last attacker. Bovell could see the eyes of the last attacker get big once he saw the gun was so close to him.
“Don’t do it! Don’t make me kill you. Let her go now!” shouted Bovell.
The assailant was enraged and started moving toward the gun while dragging the woman as a human shield. Kovach’s wife waited for the right moment. The man bent down to grab the gun and she kicked him as hard as she could on his foot causing him to slap her down to the floor. He realized he lost his shield and lunged for the gun. His body was riddled with bullets before he got any further. Sirens and chaos filled the air. Bovell and his team finished searching the plane and could see the back door was open. He looked out the rear of the plane. A Hispanic male adult saw Bovell poke his head out and jumped into a food truck. Ah, the getaway driver, thought Bovell. He advised over the radio that there was another suspect fleeing in a truck down the tarmac. He chuckled as he knew numerous law enforcement officials had littered the runway and would scoop the guy up in a matter of seconds.
He looked back at his team and the victims, then shook his head. He couldn’t believe how brazen the cartels had become. The realization that no one was safe was tough
for him to imagine. He checked to make sure everyone was okay. In all of the excitement he had forgotten to update Dix until thirty minutes after they’d rescued the woman and child. He fished out his cell phone and dialed Bill Dix. He grinned as he thought exactly how he was going to explain this one. Dix didn’t answer, but Bovell left the update via voicemail. He then texted Dix and thought, crap, this is going to be a ton of paperwork.
Chapter 49
* * *
Dix studied Kovach. He noticed he stared at his cell phone and was texting like crazy instead of helping them locate Calderon. Again, Dix felt something wasn’t right. He didn’t have time to think about what exactly Kovach was up to because agents, officers, and deputies began arriving and taking compass points to surround the warehouse. Dix couldn’t resist the urge to investigate further.
“Doug, Calderon should be here by now. There’s no movement at the warehouse, no sign of him or his men. You sure this is the right place?”
Kovach looked at, then through, Dix. Petersen noticed he had the look of a psychopath on his face. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin was pale, and his mouth was slightly open but no words were coming out.
Finally Kovach said quietly, “You ever have your wife and child taken from you? You know as well as I do that my family is as good as dead,” he paused and shook his head, “I just couldn’t let that happen.”
“What did you do?” asked Dix. He watched him intently and kept a visual of his hands. He felt Kovach had gone off the deep end and wondered if he could actually shoot him if he had to. The thought alone sent chills down Dix’s spine.
Kovach did not reply right away. He sat there and stared at Petersen and Dix not making a sound. Dix could see the wheels turning in his mind, but what he said next was truly mind altering.
“It’s another wild goose chase. Calderon isn’t coming. At least not here anyway. My people should have him detained at the real location, one I re-directed him to. If he cooperates and my family is unharmed, I’ll give him to you. If he doesn’t cooperate, I have ways to make him talk.” Kovach seemed at peace with the decisions he was making.
Petersen tapped the butt of his weapon and measured up Kovach. “You’ve lost it. Think about what you’re doing. You really think your men, federal agents, are going to allow you to have your way with Calderon? These men swore to protect people, not get screwed over for you!”
“I never said they were federal agents,” replied Kovach. That stunned them both like a quick jab to the gut.
Dix said, “What a minute Doug, think this through. You’re only making things worse. Whoever you have working for you is going to go to the top dollar. Calderon will pay them off, man. We need to get to the right place, right now!” Dix pleaded with him, but he was pretty sure it was falling on deaf ears.
Again Kovach did not answer right away. He finished sending a text and looked up at Dix with a grin on his face.
“Here’s what’s going to happen Bill. I’m going to leave under the guise that I’m following another lead. Everyone else is going to stay here and pretend to wait for Calderon to surface. I’ve got plenty of time to take care of what I need to do before someone above me shuts all of this down. At that time, I’ll also be a wanted man. I’ll decide whether Calderon lives or die. Then, I’ll either be the hero one last time or disappear. If my family is dead I have no reason to right the ship.”
Dix gnawed on his nails while staring at Kovach in dismay. He noticed Petersen was texting on his phone and assumed it would be to Sullivan to alert her of this new development. He was sure Sullivan would do something to help them out of the jam they’d landed in. He felt he needed to keep Kovach busy a few more moments so Petersen could finish what he was doing.
The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) Page 19