The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) (11 page)

He huffed. “Doug, you’re in that small group of people, and just because you are, I didn’t single you out and say you must be the leak. He or she could have overheard a conversation and figured out the rest easily.”

Dix noticed Kovach was red in the face and was becoming increasingly more defensive. He sensed he may never get the full truth.

Kovach looked for a way out. He determined the more he talked to Dix, the more he would become a problem. And one more problem was the last thing he needed.

There was a long awkward silence in the car as they stared at each other- both wondering what the other was thinking. Kovach pulled into a McDonald’s drive thru. When the clerk asked him what he wanted to order, he didn’t answer. He was preoccupied with trying to figure out how to make his team disappear and make a run for it with his family.

“Kovach!” Dix yelled while pointing at the drive thru window. He snapped out of his disturbing day dream and fumbled to place the order.

After he ordered and moved forward to the window, Dix continued, “This case is not going to work itself out unless you’re upfront with me. Whatever you’re into, I can help, but not if you don’t tell me what’s up.”

The server handed the food to Kovach who passed it to Dix. He noticed Dix’s hands were full and figured if he’d ever have the upper hand on him, this would probably be it.
What am I thinking
, he thought,
have I lost my damn mind?

“I’m being straight with you. I’m not the leak. Romero seems like a good candidate, but I have no real proof. Any way you slice it, I’m going to be transferred half way across the globe when this is done. I’m headed for another divorce and my daughter doesn’t even know who I am,” said Kovach somberly.

Dix detected truth and deception in what he said.
Trouble
was, which was which
, he thought.

“You’re right, there’ll be blowback, but that doesn’t mean you shut out your friends,” Dix stated.

Kovach chuckled. “This goes down bad for me no matter what happens. Let’s just get back to headquarters and see if you can work some magic with Felipe while we get surveillance up on his brother.”

There was another long silence in the car as they drove to headquarters. Dix used the time to consider all that he knew about the case and where it was headed. Kovach used it to calm down and further plot against Jose Calderon.

Kovach looked down at his watch. “Shit, two hours left.” Instead of pulling to the rear of the headquarters in the secured area to park, he drove to the front of the building. He pulled over to the curb. Dix took that as his cue to get out with the food and drinks.

Dix got out and tried to bend down and ask Kovach why he only had two hours left, but he mashed on the accelerator and took off without saying a word. His gut told him Kovach was in trouble. He decided he’d only share his growing concerns about him with Petersen. At this point, the mole could be anyone, and he was nowhere closer to solving who it was. But, based on his recent actions, Dix shook his head while he added Doug Kovach to the list of possible suspects.

Chapter 20

Kovach drove around town for thirty minutes trying to get his head straight. He pulled abruptly over to a curb in a recently remodeled part of town and retrieved his service weapon from his hip. His arms began to shake and he began to cry like a child. He had not allowed himself to cry like this since he was young, but it felt good. He placed the barrel of his semi automatic weapon on his temple and considered pulling the trigger. Slowly he tapped the trigger with his index finger. Memories of good times flooded his mind.
Pull the trigger, you coward
.

His cell phone began to ring. He jumped half way out of his seat. He threw his gun in the passenger seat and tried to regain his composure. He looked down to see it was Jose Calderon calling him.

“I’ve still got time,” answered Kovach, “I’m waiting for a few more pieces of the puzzle until we meet.”

Calderon was irritable. “I’m just checking on my favorite HSI group supervisor,” replied Calderon, “and making sure you don’t have plans of pulling that trigger you keep tapping.”

His heart stopped. He frantically reached for his weapon and scanned the area for suspicious vehicles or people.
How the hell does he know
, he thought while trying to find Calderon’s men,
he must have eyes on me.

“I’m not entirely sure what you’re up to, but putting a bullet in your head is not an option. My boss wants his thirty million dollars. If I don’t give it to him, I’m dead and so are you.”

He locked his eyes on a small blue minivan a few blocks down the street. The van appeared to have a single male adult in the driver seat. The driver was motionless. Kovach only noticed him because his head was taller than the head rest. He realized he wasn’t breathing. He took a breath,
come on, think.

“By now you’ve picked up my man in the van on the street. You’ve most likely neglected to see the man with a sniper rifle to your right.”

Kovach looked up and could see the reflection of a scope pointed directly at him.
Dammit
.

“Listen Calderon you can’t kill me. I’m the only person who gives you half a shot at getting your boss’s money back. Besides, I’ve already alerted law enforcement to these people you have watching me so I hope they’re expendable to you.”

Calderon laughed. “Absolutely expendable. As are you. You’ve got one hour to meet me with the information I need or you are no longer useful. If you continue to test me, the men I have at your daughter’s school and your wife’s work will dispense of your family.”

“You bastard! You won’t get away with this, you’ve gone too far.” He wanted to kill Calderon with his own hands, but only after he tortured him. He had a moment of clarity and wondered if he could save his wife and daughter. He decided it just was not possible. He had no other play. Calderon had too many men and knew too much.
How did this go so wrong
?

Kovach slowly snapped back to reality.
Be calm, you got this
.

“I’ll be at the location with the information. Pull your men off my family or you and I will settle this like the O.K. Corral. You made me as evil as you, and at this point, I don’t care if I die.”

“Do as you were told. You have no other moves. And for the record, you aren’t prepared for what I’m capable of,” Calderon replied coldly.

Kovach felt he was finally getting under his skin, which was exactly what he needed for his plan to work. He’d been plotting against Calderon the moment he crossed the line and drug his family into this. Now he just hoped he’d live long enough to destroy him.

“We’ll see Calderon,” muttered Kovach as he hung up and quickly drove to his office to complete the plan before his time expired.

Chapter 21

Jose Calderon was more impatient these days. Given the circumstances, he was extremely uptight and waiting around for Kovach made him angry. Based on their earlier conversation, he wasn’t even sure he’d show up, but his two hours were now up.

He decided to check on the status of the men he ordered to watch Kovach’s wife. None of them answered, which caused him to spit on the floor in disgust. He wanted to know what the hell his men were doing and why they weren’t answering his calls.

Okay
, he thought,
I’ll check on the men watching Kovach’s kid instead. A
gain, there was no answer.

“God dammit,” he yelled out loud. He assumed there was a problem, otherwise, one of them would have answered or called him back. The question was, how big was the problem, and was Kovach involved?

He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. He saw Kovach driving up to the abandoned warehouse they had used for years as a meet location. He watched him calmly park and exit his vehicle. He was carrying a manila file. Kovach then went to the trunk of his vehicle and retrieved a large burlap sack. He turned to walk toward him. Calderon noticed he looked disheveled. His eyes were red and he was clearly fatigued.
He must be hitting the bottle again
, he thought.

“I thought you may have tried to take off before giving me the information I needed,” said Calderon condescendingly.

Kovach gave a disturbing laugh. “This is the last time I help you. You made a huge mistake bringing my wife and kid into this.” He handed the file he’d snatched earlier in the day to Calderon containing the information he would need to have a real shot of getting the money.

Calderon looked over the information approvingly. As he thumbed through the pages, he kept an eye on Kovach. He could see the burlap sack appeared to be weighted based on the strain showing on Kovach’s face while he held it. He was curious about what the sack contained.

“You’re awfully quiet. You going to tell me what’s in that sack?” he said while pointing at the burlap.

Kovach walked over to Calderon and tipped the burlap sack over. The head of Calderon’s second in charge rolled out and rested near his Gucci loafers.

Both men immediately drew their weapons and trained them on each other.

“You’re a dead man!” Calderon said through strained teeth. He was seething and had his finger on his trigger.

“I’m not too sure about that Jose. What’s the problem, you don’t like seeing your man’s head at your feet?”

“Once I get the money, you will become our greatest enemy. I will not let this go without revenge. You’re a dead man!” Kovach chuckled and knew he was deep under Calderon’s skin now.

They starred at each other and slowly circled in the ultimate standoff. Kovach was prepared to die and Calderon could sense it. Calderon had greater business to handle before he could deal with Kovach and Kovach knew it.

“I thought the greatest enemy you had was Pedro Munguia?” answered Kovach.

Calderon huffed. “My people found him. With any luck, he’s dead. You’ll be joining him soon.” He considered killing Kovach right then and there; however, he noticed a vital piece of intelligence in the manila file was missing.

Before he could ask about it, Kovach casually said, “You made an egregious error messing with my family. Be very careful of making all these threats, Jose. I’m liable to get a conscious and kill you or take you in; I’m not sure which one.”

Calderon was furious. He wanted nothing more than to torture and kill Kovach.
Calm down
, he thought,
his time will come
. He realized he needed him alive at least a little longer. The fact of the matter was he needed him and wasn’t about to fail El Hefe.

“Where are the blueprints to the warehouse?” Calderon asked.

“Oh, they aren’t in there?” Kovach snorted in disgust.

“No asshole, they’re not.”

Kovach sensed he was pushing Calderon to his limits. He needed him to be so mad that he would make a mistake. He was hopeful he would focus on him instead of the warehouse so he and Dix would be able to capture him with charges that would surely stick.

Kovach smirked at Calderon. “Sorry Jose, I thought they were in there. Let me go check the car.”

He slowly walked over to his car, never putting his back to Jose, and retrieved the blueprints for the warehouse. Unfortunately for Calderon, these blueprints were slightly altered in an effort to confuse him. Calderon was smart, but the work done on the blueprints was undetectable.

Calderon had put his gun away and was on his cell phone when Kovach met back up with him with blueprints in hand.

He hung up and said to him as he handed over the blueprints, “Good. Your actions have caused us to move this whole thing up a day. I expect you to cause a diversion on the other side of town. I hope for your family’s sake you don’t have any more tricks up your sleeve.”

“I’ve taken care of the men you sent for my family. It’s me and you now, Jose. You’re gonna get one shot at the money. Mess this up and the money is ours. I hope for
your
sake you don’t fail. You know what your boss will do to
you
and
your
family if you botch this up.” Kovach rather enjoyed

flipping the tables on Calderon.

Calderon’s face was beet red and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Truth of the matter was, if he did fail, El Hefe would torture and kill him. In addition, no matter how much he despised Kovach, he truly needed him. Attacking a police warehouse was never a good decision. However, telling El Hefe “no” would have been an even worse idea.

“You needn’t worry about what my men or I will do. You got a few of them; I’ve got plenty more. I’ll call you tomorrow to confirm the time of the diversion. If I detect any tom-foolery, you’re dead.”

Kovach laughed and replied, “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Now, pick up your man’s head and get the hell out of here.”