The Cartel Enforcers (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 2) (14 page)

Sullivan said, “I’ll work on that with you. We can walk through it and create a game plan. We’ll get Petersen and Romero up to speed when we meet back up.” She found herself disappointed because she hoped to work with Petersen. There was something about him that made her want to be near him.

“Excellent,” replied Dix. He was excited the team had caught a break and was eager to set a trap for Jose Calderon. All of the sudden Dix realized he needed to update Kovach, but he was nowhere to be found after the team split up.

Chapter 25

Romero and Petersen walked down to the SAT (Special Apprehension Team) office and asked the sergeant for assistance. He advised he had approximately twelve men in plain clothes that could split up and cover two locations.

When Romero told him who the primary target was, the sergeant did a double take. The same sergeant sat on an advisory board at San Diego State University with Calderon.

He asked, “You sure we’re talking about the same person? The man who volunteers time at the orphanage and hospital, built the high school gym, and sits on several advisory boards throughout the county?”

“I’m afraid so,” answered Romero. He was trying his best to really sell the angst.

The confirmation rocked the sergeant and compelled him to prod further, “Who fingered him? Some Confidential Informant? This better be good information, otherwise the lawsuits are going to be huge.”

“I get your concern. This started from CI information, but was confirmed by Jose’s brother, Felipe Calderon.”

“Felipe Calderon was Jose Calderon’s brother? Holy crap, this is crazy stuff. By the way, who’s this guy,” he said as he pointed at Petersen.

Petersen stretched his hand out, “My name is Steve Petersen. I was visiting your beautiful town and ended up getting into a shooting. I’m supposed to be on a time out, but you know how that goes.”

He laughed and while shaking Petersen’s hand said, “You poor bastard. Pleasure to meet you. My men are pretty good. You guys give them a briefing in thirty minutes and we’ll get out there to see what we can see.”

Petersen thanked him and they left the office and headed upstairs to get to a computer to make an operational plan for the surveillance.

*****

Sullivan and Dix headed over to the Sheriff Office’s evidence warehouse to get the staff up to speed and start planning.

“Dix, the lieutenant over at the warehouse is a real ass. He’s going to want to take over this thing and if he doesn’t feel like he’s getting a chance to make decisions he’ll pose a real problem,” said Sullivan.

“Okay, thanks for the heads up. I’ve dealt with several of those types over the years. We’ll do what we can to keep him involved and see if we can pull this off.”

Sullivan was skeptical that Jose Calderon would come for the money. She did not think a man this slick, who’d operated under the nose of local law enforcement for decades, would slip up and get personally involved with trying to steal money from a law enforcement warehouse. Her gut told her to share her thoughts with Dix.

“I’m not too sure we should be overly excited about this warehouse thing. Jose Calderon is essentially a pillar of the community and has obviously pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes for a long time. I don’t think he will personally show up to hit the warehouse.” She knew she was talking to a living legend and was worried about how he would take her criticism.

Dix was thinking the same thing and was impressed with her reasoning.

“You know, I was just thinking the same thing, but I have a theory. I think the only way Jose can pull this off is to heavily rely on his informant, our leak, in the case. This person is going to have to be at the warehouse when this goes down. I think Jose will be very close by to ensure the leak doesn’t do something foolish, and to make sure the money is grabbed. What do you think?”

Sullivan hadn’t considered that angle, but it sounded good to her. “I think you’re right. He’s going to be close. The question is whether we can locate him and whether he has the money.”

Dix replied, “That’s going to be tough, but we have to try. I’m guessing we have a few hours to plan and we need people to set up at the warehouse.”

Sullivan nodded. “We’re going to have to reach out to other agencies to get as many people we can to cover Jose and the warehouse. That may complicate things.”

“Yup, we need bodies so we’re going to have to take the risk by using people from all over,” replied Dix.

Sullivan wondered what Jose Calderon was doing at the moment. She was confident he would have his second or third in charge handle the actual attempt on the money while supervising from a distance. She proposed the idea to Dix.

“I agree. Jose will still want to call the shots, but be on the periphery. I’ll check with Kovach when he shows up again to see if he knows anything more about Jose’s crew.”

“I’ll jump on the computer and start playing with addresses, vehicles, and phone numbers we’ve gotten to see if we get any hits. I’ll check with the local databases to see if we get lucky and find someone related to this case and Jose,” replied Sullivan. She fired up a computer and began plowing through public data and local police reports.

Dix worked on coordinating warehouse staff and locating Kovach.
Something isn’t right with Doug
, he thought. Dix found himself fighting a constant pain in his stomach about Kovach. It was a pain that normally meant there was a problem. In this situation, he really didn’t want to believe that Kovach could somehow be involved. However, he never seemed to be around when all the problems sprung up and the fact remained that Pedro was
his
informant. Dix ultimately hoped in the end Kovach would have nothing to do with any of this.

Chapter 26

Dix was catching a cat nap when Kovach shook his shoulder and said, “Hey, wake up buddy! I have several updates to share with you and the team, and we need to game plan the whole warehouse situation ASAP.”

Dix yawned and looked around for a coffee maker. He noticed Kovach looked like crap.

“Man you look terrible. I need some coffee, and I think you do too.”

Kovach wasn’t feeling well and thought maybe a cup of coffee would help.

“I’ll send someone to get us some coffee. Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Petersen and Romero are getting people on Jose Calderon’s business and home to watch him. Sullivan is scouring the local and state databases to see if we get any leads on other members of Jose’s crew,” he checked his watch, “Everyone should be here in ten minutes or so,” replied Dix.

Kovach wondered just how much Dix knew about his ordeal. The fact the team was already putting surveillance on Jose demonstrated to Kovach they were moving fast.

“What do you have?” Dix asked. He was excited to hear what Kovach may have dug up.

“I received a phone call from a retired cop who lives across the street from where my daughter goes to school. He thought he noticed some suspicious men watching the school and called me. I sent a few units out there and they scooped up four men, all armed, all recently arrived from Mexico.”

With great concern Dix replied, “Jesus, you think they had anything to do with you or your daughter?”

“Unfortunately the cops found a picture of my daughter in the pants pocket of one of them.”

Dix’s heart dropped. He immediately abandoned his suspicions that Kovach was in some way associated to the case. He felt terrible for Kovach and couldn’t imagine having to worry about his own family like this.

“Man that’s creepy. Are they saying anything?”

“Not a word. It gets worse. I called my wife and told her to meet me at the school. When she went outside to get in her car, she noticed a large van parked next to her car that she had never seen before. She called me back and I rolled over there with some cover units. There were five guys in the van, all armed, all recently arrived from Mexico.” Kovach did not tell Dix how there was originally six guys in the van and how he tortured the man before cutting his head off and delivering it to Jose Calderon.

Dix had never feared a man, but the resources and boldness of Jose Calderon were frightening to him. The fact Kovach had to deal with this made him feel guilty for even considering that he might be wrapped up in this mess.

“I’m sorry Doug. I’m happy everyone is okay. We’re going to get this bastard, but we have to have clear heads. You sure you’re up for this?”

“I’m absolutely sure!” replied Kovach as he noticed Petersen and Romero approach.

The team gathered together in a large conference room. Tension was clearly in the air. They needed a break in the case as their spirit had been depleted as of late.

Kovach casually greeted the team and jumped right into the updates.

“Without getting into all the details, I’m going to get you guys up to speed. Suspected cartel members were apprehended at my wife’s work and my daughter’s school.”

Romero had to interrupt, “What the hell is going on? Cartel guys? Watching your family?” He honestly had no idea what Kovach was talking about, but it concerned him quite a bit because it meant Calderon was making mistakes.

Kovach held his hand up to stop Romero and said, “Just let me finish. There have to be more cartel people here in San Diego. The quicker we get eyes on Jose, the quicker we get a handle on this.”

Petersen exchanged a curious look with Dix and the rest of the team members. Dix could tell Petersen was skeptic of the whole thing. Dix assumed there were too many coincidences for Petersen.

“Guys, let’s stay focused. We need to hear everything Kovach has so we know how to proceed,” Dix said to the group.

Kovach continued, “We have people trying to get the cartel people to talk, but there’s nothing yet to tie them to Jose Calderon. That isn’t even the worse of it.”

Sullivan and Romero exchanged glances as to say,
what could possibly get worse than this.

“We just got word that Pedro is dead.”

The silence in the room was unbearable. Every member of the team felt defeated and miserable.

Dix broke the silence. “What the hell happened?” He wondered why Kovach hadn’t told him earlier.

Kovach replied, “Pedro was moved to a safe house in Ocotillo Wells without my knowledge. About six hours ago, thirteen suspected cartel hit-men stormed the house and took on the four man protection team. One team member died. Fortunately, a few DOJ helicopters and another support team were able to respond to the safe house during the assault. All threats were eliminated before they could get to Pedro.”

Petersen interrupted and said, “Wait, I thought you just said he was dead.”

Kovach without hesitation continued, “The protection team did their job. He died of a heart attack in the safe house. Medical staff tried to revive him, but it didn’t work out. None of the attackers survived, but their tactics, weapons, and vehicles suggest they were trained hit men from Mexico.”

“Jesus. This Calderon guy’s got to go down. I’m beginning to wonder if we can even stop him if he makes a move on the warehouse,” said Dix. He was thinking Jose Calderon was fearless and intimidating, and he wasn’t sure he or anyone else could stop him.

Romero chimed in, “We need to beef up security at the warehouse ASAP. His people could hit it at any time.”

Dix was about to reply to Romero, but Kovach beat him to it, “Negative, we can’t do anything to let him know we suspect him of anything. We have to appear to be operating normally.” He realized he was going to have to work hard to drop clues to Dix and the team so a decent plan would be developed to catch Jose.
One thing is sure
, Kovach thought,
Dix won’t suspect me of anything now that he knows Jose went after my wife and daughter
.

While the updates from Kovach were sinking in, Sullivan got a phone call and apologized as she stepped out to take it.

Sullivan whispered over to Dix as she walked out, “The database people may have a hit for us. I’ll be back in a second.”

Petersen looked at Dix. “You certainly got us in the middle of huge mess this time.” He watched Sullivan leave and caught himself checking her out.
I gotta stop this
, he thought.

“Me! You picked San Diego for the vacation spot, this all falls on you.”

Petersen continued, “Let’s draw straws to see who has to call the lieutenant and give him the update. I’m pretty sure he’s going to blow a gasket.”

The two shared a laugh and noticed Kovach was oblivious to them and staring out a window. They wanted to check on him, but thought some quiet time was probably best. Dix assumed the amount of stress Kovach was under would crush most men.

He got the attention of Romero and motioned for him to follow him and Petersen out of the conference room. They left Kovach alone for a few minutes and headed to the cafeteria for a quick bite to eat before resuming the battle against Jose Calderon.

Chapter 27

Sullivan received the name and phone number of a task force agent who may have useful information from an operator working in a place law enforcement members affectionately called the “War Room.” It was an intelligence center where law enforcement officials would share and input data about people they were investigating in the hopes of finding other people who may be working the same person or people. The concept is known as deconfliction and when used correctly, it can be an invaluable tool for an investigator. Sullivan was a huge fan of using the war room because she would often get leads for a case that were otherwise dead in the water.