Sin City Assassin (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 3) (15 page)

Chapter 29:

The safe house seemed business as usual to Blass. He drove around the area twice looking for anything that didn’t fit the neighborhood. He texted Marie, and again, no response. Blass noticed the cold-plated Honda Civic was gone and assumed Marie was out and about.
She’s probably scouting the hospital where Dix’s partner is
, he thought. Although he loved her tenacity, he was beginning to get upset that she wasn’t answering his texts or phone calls. He pulled over to dial her again and noticed a car that seemed out of place. It had tinted windows and was parked a little off the curb. He recognized the slanted position would allow a person in the car a much better view of the front of the safe house.
What do we have here
? he wondered.

Blass needed to know if this was just him overreacting, or if the safe house was no longer safe. He stepped out of his vehicle and walked along the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the suspicious car. He looped around a block away and made sure he could walk by the car with a clear view inside of it. If someone was inside, he’d note it, run the license plate through a friend of his, and decide what, if anything, needed to be done.

After he crossed the street, Blass’s angle better provided him a clear line of sight into the suspicious car. He pulled out his cell phone and prepared to take a picture as he walked by. Sometimes the human eye misses stuff in plain sight. He walked slowly, looked in the car as he strolled by, and snapped two photos with his smart phone. His palms felt slightly clammy and he noticed his breathing became heavy as he got closer to the car. A subtle glance into the passenger side of the car revealed nothing useful. Blass continued to walk around the neighborhood and eventually hopped back into his car. He turned his attention back to Marie.

He was about to dismiss the car completely until he checked the photos in his cell phone. It almost looked like a person was in the backseat, covered up by a blanket.
That’s strange
, he thought. He peered at the photo trying to justify what he thought he was seeing. He examined the photo further and thought he saw a curly black cord running from the front passenger seat to the area near the blanket.
Son of a bitch
,
that’s a radio microphone cord.
Blass cursed out loud and realized the safe house’s cover was blown. He dialed a number to one of his nefarious suppliers.

“Is everything okay?” Blass asked the man.

“Yeah, why? I’ve got the things she asked for and I’m just waiting for a call,” replied the supplier who’d spoke to Marie earlier. He thought Blass sounded a bit nervous, which was completely unexpected because the guy has always been as cool as the other side of a pillow.

Blass relaxed some. “Okay, there’s at least one cop outside the safe house. I need the house to burn up sooner rather than later. Get it done by tonight, you got it?” Blass was back to barking orders and confident as ever.

“There’s a lot of good stuff in there. Are you sure—I could clean it out then torch it?” asked the supplier.

“Leave it and burn it all. Tonight.” Blass rolled his eyes and wondered who or what had led the police to the house. He hoped burning it down would cripple their investigation. It would also buy him more time to set up another house in the area.

He kept his eyes on the undercover police car, but turned his attention to Marie. He called her number and it went straight to voicemail. He texted her, “Stop fucking around M. We need to talk ASAP. Cops around THE house. Meet up in 30 minutes at location number two.” Blass was pretty sure telling Marie they needed to talk, meet up, and there were cops around the safe house would get her to respond. It was not like her not to respond. Then Blass wondered,
did Marie fuck up and get herself killed? Or worse, captured?
A chill traveled down his spine. Marie being caught would be very bad for him and the business. She wouldn’t talk, but eventually, she might get vindictive, and the gloves would come off then. Blass decided he needed to find Marie instead of flying back to Canada. He grumbled as he dialed the number to his private pilot. Deep down, he knew something had happened to Marie. His opinion about whether she would talk began to waver, and he felt his ulcer kick in. He rubbed his stomach, more nervous than he’d been in a long time.

Chapter 30:

Dix was still kicking himself for getting sucked into the last building area by Marie. He was bitter and finally admitted to himself that he’d made this whole investigation personal. He found it disturbing that she had chosen to lure only him in, and when the time was right, she went after only him.
She could’ve killed several agents, but she only wanted me
. He’d never hit a woman in his life, but apparently he had no problem shooting and choking one out. He looked at his hands and shook his head.

Dix needed to calm down; otherwise, he knew he’d be useless. But, so many questions were flying through his head that made it impossible for him to sit still. He needed a tall whisky, and fast.
What did Marie mean when she said she wanted to kill me before “he” did?
What exactly was she up to before we apprehended her? And, more importantly, was Petersen finally in the clear?
Each question bothered him, but making sure Petersen was safe was still priority one. After checking on Petersen, he’d focus on figuring out who else in Sin City wanted him dead.

He retrieved his phone and dialed Petersen.

“Hey buddy, what’s all the commotion about?” Petersen asked before Dix could check on him.

“Well, we grabbed the lady who wanted you dead.” Dix thought he’d be more happy making the statement, but found himself perplexed by what she’d said when she came to after he choked her out.

“That’s great!” Petersen could sense Dix was down. “What gives, partner?”

“Well, we had one agent shot, but he’ll be okay,” he paused for a moment. “She almost killed me too.” Dix recalled the image of the second shadow behind him before he instinctively turned around. It made him cringe.

“What? Are you okay?” It was Petersen’s turn to be concerned for Dix.

“Yeah, I’m fine. We tried to grab her and she fled. Basically, she got behind us and could have taken out half the team. But….” Dix let the statement linger as he pressed the button to get a coffee from the vending machine.

“But what?” Petersen asked, obviously worried.

“She wanted me dead too,” Dix replied bluntly.

“Geez, I thought I was the target. Is she saying anything now?” Petersen worried about Dix. He felt terrible that he couldn’t be with him. He wanted to solve this case and have Dix’s back.

“No, not yet anyway. She’s in surgery. I shot her in the leg, she’s got a recent bullet wound in her arm, I think from when she killed the undercover officer…” again he paused considering everything he’d been through in the last twenty-four hours, “and I had to choke her out.” Dix shook his head. He figured Marie would never talk to him and it irked him.

Petersen laughed. “Damn man, you had to choke her out? Why not just kill her, and be done with this crap,” he joked.

“Well, like I said, she got the upper hand on me and I was just trying to stay alive. Survival mode kicked in, I guess. She almost broke free, but I was able to subdue her. I doubt she’s going to talk, but there’s plenty left in this case. Someone is calling the shots, and I don’t think you or I are safe until we find him.”

Petersen whistled. “Man, this is the last time you pick a vacation destination for us. Michelle and I just want to go home. Now you’re caught up in this too. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Petersen held Michelle’s hand tighter and she looked at him with concern. It was clear he was upset. Michelle wished she could help Dix too, but until this was over, she wasn’t leaving her husband’s side.

“Just get better. I’m gonna figure this out and try to give us some closure. Tell Michelle to keep her eyes open for anyone who appears suspicious,” Dix replied.

“Will do.” Petersen hung up and told Michelle everything.

She embraced him and told him they’d be all right. But in her heart, she worried so much she thought she may get sick to her stomach.

Dix walked back to the waiting room to get his third cup of hospital coffee. He found some of his team members there having a discussion with Sergeant Frazier. He admired his men, Frazier’s men, the men and women wearing blue. He sat down next to Frazier and noticed one of his guys chuckling at him.

“What’s so damn funny, Marcel?” Dix asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I just noticed your eye looks like Mike Tyson nailed you.” The group laughed hysterically while Dix gave the kid the bird.

Dix motioned to the operating room and laughed. “That lady back there is as mean as they come. I’m lucky to be alive. I was almost another victim of the Praying Mantis.” Dix enjoyed the laughter and camaraderie of the two teams. He assured the men and women in the waiting room that he was fine, and informed them they had more work to do before they could get back to Florida.

He recounted the fight with the teams and shared what Marie had said when she came to. It was clear as men shook their heads and huffed that they were equally concerned.

“You mean to tell me she ain’t even calling the shots?” asked one of the newer agents on Dix’s team.

“Based on what she said, I don’t think so,” replied Dix.

A grumbling broke out between the teams.

Frazier held up his hand. “Look, she clearly wanted to kill Dix, and she said she was going to do it, not
him
. We need to assume Marie works for a man, one who should scare the hell out of all of you. Mark my words. We’re not stopping and will work day and night until we find this person.” He motioned to Dix. “He’s going to talk to her if she makes it through surgery, but I doubt she says a word. That means, start calling your informants and turning the heat up on the street until we develop some leads.”

Dix chimed in. “I know you guys are tired, but we need to give this everything we’ve got. Several cops are dead and we have their killer in custody. But, we’ve got an even more serious problem looming about, and we need to figure out who he is. If we can do that, maybe we can capture him and put this case to rest.”

Several of the agents nodded.

Frazier picked out a few people to stay with Dix at the hospital to keep eyes on Marie. The remaining agents were cut loose to hit the streets looking for leads. Frazier told Dix he’d call him if anything new developed. The two shook hands and Frasier left.

Dix grabbed another cup of coffee then dialed his wife’s cell phone.

“Hey, baby. I miss you,” she answered.

“I miss you too, honey. So, I know you’re gonna hate me, but this isn’t over yet. We caught the suspect that shot at Steve, but she was gunning for me and there’s someone else calling the shots.”

Dix could hear his wife begin to cry. It bothered him tremendously.

“Let’s just go home, Bill.”

It pained him to know she was suffering. One of the things he really hated about being a cop was time away from his wife. It caused strife in their marriage and made things difficult at times. But he knew no other way to live. He would never choose the profession over his wife, but she loved him too much to ever make it an issue.

“I can’t, babe. Steve and I are still in danger and I’ve got to make sure we can rest at night, I’m so sorry. Please don’t cry. I’ll do my best to solve this quickly, and we will fly home,” Dix said with a heavy heart.

She sobbed quietly into the phone. “You promise?”

Dix knew better than break a promise with his wife. He wanted this to be over just as badly as she did.

“Yes, I promise. We bag the bad guy and we’ll head home with the Petersens.” He wasn’t sure when that would happen, but now that he told his wife it would, he better damn well make sure it did happen. They hung up, both feeling uneasy. Dix needed to walk to get his mind back on track.

He finished several laps around the hospital. A male nurse jogged up to him and asked him if he was Bill Dix.

“Yeah, why?” he asked the nurse.

“The lady you guys brought in earlier is done. She made it through surgery, and she’s in intensive care. The doctor told me to tell you she’d be awake in a few hours.”

“Okay, great. Thanks for the heads up,” Dix said as he patted the nurse on the shoulder. He slowly walked toward the waiting room again. He had no idea what he would say to Marie. He suddenly realized he despised her. He knew he would not be able to keep his cool, and it bothered him. Dix felt like choking her out again and again. He contemplated calling Frazier and asking if they had someone to interrogate Marie, instead of him. The case was too close to him.
She tried to kill me, for God’s sake,
he thought.

Dix called Frazier and learned there was no one available to interview Marie. And Frazier was shocked Dix didn’t want to do it himself.

“I’m trying to do the right thing here. I’m too close to the case, and all I keep thinking about is choking her out over and over,” Dix said to Frazier to defend his request for someone else.

Frazier snorted. “Well, that’s understandable, but you know there’s no one better to interrogate this broad than you.”

Dix knew Frazier was correct, but he didn’t have to like it. “Anyway you can just find a backup? She’s gonna wake up, and the last person she’s going to want to see is me.”

Frazier nodded. “Okay, I’ll call a guy who’s on vacation. He’ll come in. He’s been to a few of your interrogation courses.”

Dix laughed. “Well, he ought to be able to get something out of her then.” Dix thought once he retired he could teach full-time. It was another passion of his. But he decided for at least a year or two, he’d do anything and everything his amazing wife wanted to do.

“All right, I’ll call him and send him down. His name is Lawrence.” Frazier hung up with Dix and made a few phone calls to track down Lawrence, who wasn’t happy about coming in, but the overtime and the chance to speak with Bill Dix was worth it.