Gray Ghost (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 1) (22 page)

Bubba was worried. “Where do they go?”

His grandfather laughed. “Why, all over through the center of the town, I’d guess.”

“
Do you know the place where the police store stuff?”

“
You talking about the warehouse?”

“
Yes. Do the tunnels go under there?”

The old man paused. “I was down there years ago. Don’t remember for sure, but they probably do. Seems like they went all over. But some caved in. Don’t know exactly where they go today.”

Bubba smiled. “Thanks, Pops.”

He whistled and turned to Wilfred. “Man, Granddaddy thinks this is the way to some old tunnels that could still lead under the warehouse.”

Wilfred looked stunned. “I don’t recall anyone talking about tunnels under the city.”

Bubba quickly dialed Dix’s number. No answer. He tried Petersen with the same result, so he tried Dix again.

Bubba stared at his phone. He finally had something useful for Dix and no way of sharing it with him.

Wilfred raised an eyebrow. “Well, do we stay here or follow those guys? What do you think we should do?”

“
I’ll keep calling Dix. You continue trying Petersen. Then I say we just sit and watch. I don’t know where them dudes went, but we ain’t leaving.”

After five minutes of repeated calling, they both gave up. Wilfred shook his head. “We have to follow those guys. They already have a long head start. If we don’t go now, we may not find them in time. Call your granddaddy back and see if this is the only way in or out.”

Bubba punched in the number and asked his grandfather Wilfred’s question.

“
Like I said, it’s been a long time. But I think there’s only one way in.”

Bubba thanked the old man again and hung up. “This is it.”

They tried reaching Dix or Petersen again with no success.

Wilfred opened his door. “I’d sure feel better if I knew we had backup.”

“
Yeah or if someone else knew where we are.” Bubba opened his own door.

Wilfred said, “We don’t know the layout of the tunnels, and it’s been about thirty minutes since those guys went inside. We could probably take them out with the element of surprise on our side, but I sure wish we knew where we were going.”

As Bubba eased himself out of the passenger seat, his phone rang.

The incoming call was from Roger.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

The members of the DOG Unit worked efficiently and quietly. They were beneath the target and about a third of the way through the clay and rebar searching for the four-to-six inches of concrete of the warehouse floor. Blanco had been ordered to send a text message to Calhoun when they were ready to grab the narcotics. This would let Calhoun know it was time to disable the APS and cripple the surveillance equipment, creating a diversion.

Thirty-four minutes later, the drilling equipment finally broke through the warehouse floor.

Using a snake camera the size of a pen cap, Blanco examined the area closely. About fifty yards north of the speedboat, two Royal Bahamian Police Force officers watched the area. On each side of the facility, two more officers stood guard, making a total of six. But he knew there were probably more not far away. Blanco moved the tiny camera around to locate the cabinet containing the targeted duffel bags. He located it on the second pass.

Most of the guards he could see from his vantage point appeared to be out of shape and tired. He watched as a couple rubbed their eyes and shook their heads as if trying to stay awake. The team’s orders were to get in, retrieve the bags, and get out undetected. Blanco planned to do it all, and not have to fire a single round. He considered the dirty cops.
Someone else can deal with them
.

Blanco and Kemp continued drilling to create enough space to place small elongated C4 charges. The plan was to ignite them once the diversion was created by Calhoun. To prevent the large slabs of concrete from dropping to the floor below, a series of anchors were strategically placed and a large mesh net was positioned around the drilled and prepped opening into the warehouse. The team gave each other thumbs up indicating they were set.

Blanco texted Calhoun. The team prepared themselves to remove the concrete, enter the warehouse, and retrieve the duffel bags.

Right on schedule, the lights, surveillance cameras, and audio feeds went dead as Calhoun snapped the lock off the APS unit and disabled the main power line with bolt cutters. Shortly afterward, Blanco pressed the switch to ignite the C4 to dislodge the concrete to gain access to the warehouse. The pieces slid into the tunnels amidst dust from the detonation. One piece fell out of the safety net making a strong thud sound. Blanco popped his head out of the hole swiftly to see what was happening in the warehouse. Through night-vision goggles, Blanco saw the officers trying to get oriented in the warehouse, now without light. He watched as one ran directly toward him. Next to him, Timms popped his head up, picked up the same threat and downed the man with a beanbag round before he got too close. The guard was struck in the chest and lay motionless.

Blanco whispered, “Shit.”

Timms whispered back, “So much for stealth.”

Timms and Blanco quickly brought up 40 mm launchers and shot smoke grenades and flash-bang grenades into the warehouse. This disoriented the remaining officers and made a little cushion of open space around the speedboat.

With their night-vision goggles in place, the team entered the warehouse and scrambled to access the cabinet. They broke the lock and began unloading the duffel bags. They slid them to the holes in the warehouse floor and pushed the bags into the holes. When all bags were below, the team followed back into the tunnels. Once in the tunnels, the DOG Unit worked feverishly to get the cocaine into the Denali.

Six minutes later, the fatigued team members climbed into the Yukon and sped back the way they’d come through the tunnels.

Blanco finally allowed himself to breathe. “I’m extremely proud of you guys. So far, there are no casualties and we’re on schedule.”
I sure need to work out more. I’m completely winded.

Timms said, “Man, that was almost too easy. I heard a bunch of yelling and screaming, but no firing. We were met with little resistance, except the one guy I dropped with the bean bag round. None of the guards came to see what exactly was going on.”

He paused. “Something isn’t right. I get the feeling they wanted us to get away with the dope. You think this was just a training mission?”

Blanco calculated the situation. Right now, all he knew was he had duffel bags of suspected cocaine in the Yukon. As far as he knew, this was just a training mission. His mind began to play tricks with him.
What if Calhoun just played us?

He realized no one checked the bags to see what was actually inside. Blanco slammed on the brakes.
Son of a bitch.
He jumped out and ran toward the rear of the Yukon.

Blanco smiled and looked at his team. “Guys, relax. Timms called it. This was another training mission.”

Timms responded, “Then why’d we stop? And why are you ripping open that duffel bag?”

Blanco didn’t pay attention to Timms. He frantically opened the sealed duffel bag with his knife. White powder poured from the side.
Oh shit. I wonder if that’s cocaine.

He shook his head. “I’m not going to bullshit you. We may have a major problem here.” He pointed at the white powder pouring out of the duffel bag he’d ripped. “That may be pure cocaine. If it is, we just opened up a serious can of worms.”

The team members looked at each other then back at Blanco.

He continued, “For argument’s sake, let’s assume…” The thud in his chest from the bean bag round knocked him to the ground. Blanco’s head hit the tunnel floor as unconsciousness claimed him.

The rest of the team looked at Timms, who held a less-than-lethal shotgun. “What? He was about to figure out we’re working for Calhoun and we just stole a shit load of cocaine from local police.” Timms threw the shotgun behind him and pulled out his sidearm.

He walked over to finish off Blanco.

Kemp jumped between Timms and Blanco’s body. “Stealing cocaine for a big payday is one thing. Killing Blanco is another.” He looked at the rest of the team and then back at Timms. “We aren’t killing Blanco. You guys got us sucked into Calhoun’s trap and we all need the money. But, a murder case of a fellow unit member is bullshit and something neither of us needs.”

Timms was pissed and wanted to finish off Blanco. “Just because Calhoun put him in charge, doesn’t mean I won’t kill him. There’s a reason Blanco wasn’t included in this part of the plan. He’s weak and he’ll spend the rest of his life looking for us after he learns what we did.”

Kemp agreed Blanco was weak but pointed at Timms and the rest of the men. “Get in the car and drive. We’re behind schedule now. End of discussion.”

Timms hesitantly got into the driver’s seat as the other members filed in. They sped away, leaving Blanco lying in the tunnel.

Kemp kept his eyes on Timms as they neared the tunnel entrance. He clicked the Bluetooth in his ear and dialed the boss. Calhoun needed to know the mission might have been compromised. However, the concrete and steel in the tunnels made it impossible for Kemp’s call to get through at that moment.

* * * *

As planned, Calhoun left the storage yard after causing orchestrated chaos. He casually worked his way back to the airport in a rental car his son had obtained and delivered earlier in the evening when everyone was out drinking. He’d parked the car a few blocks from the APS and left an assault rifle and ballistic vest under the passenger seat. There was also a change of clothes.

He had no idea if the DOG Unit had been successful or if they’d had to kill anyone. Since he hadn’t heard from Blanco or Kemp, he figured everything was okay. He realized playing Blanco against Kemp by not letting him in on the secret was a risk. But, he needed Blanco’s brains and leadership. Then it hit him. Calhoun began to wonder if things, in fact, had gone too easily. Not knowing the status of the cocaine really bothered him. He considered ditching the rental car and taking the small Cessna he’d had moved to the small, unimproved runway along the south end of the island.

Calhoun chuckled.
You’re overreacting
. Greed forced him to believe everything was fine, and he contemplated ways to spend all his money once his buyer paid for the cocaine. He was confident it was still untraceable, but replaying what had just occurred at the storage facility made him start to worry again. Things were going as planned, but he remained anxious to get out of the country.

Taking the pre-planned route from the APS to the main airport, he was cautious of people on the street, on bikes, or in vehicles. He was weary of the locals as well since he assumed the men on his payroll had been hauled in and may have provided investigators with information point them in his direction. The constant worry about his secret identity consumed Calhoun. He just couldn’t be sure he was still in the clear. Before he had a chance to test the theory, he made a right turn and saw two local police vehicles coming right at him. Their emergency lights were spinning and the sirens were blaring. Calhoun’s heart seemed to stop from nerves. It was an feeling he hadn’t had in a long time. Now was definitely not the time for this to happen.

He frantically looked for a way to dodge the local police cars. Buildings lined the street. No alleys. In a matter of seconds they would be on him. Calhoun saw a parked car and maneuvered his vehicle behind it so he could use the vehicle’s engine compartment as cover when he opened fire.

The aggressive maneuver got the attention of the two policemen who had no knowledge that Calhoun was the Caller. As they braked hard to investigate, Calhoun popped up and riddled their cars with high-velocity rounds. The police vehicles and officers were shredded. Calhoun was no stranger to dead bodies. He believed the ones in front of him were clearly dead but scanned the area for further threats and detected none.

He slammed on the accelerator and drove directly to the airport. He still wasn’t sure if the locals or the Miami detectives were on to him, but he’d just murdered two cops. He assumed someone must have witnessed it. As soon as he could, Calhoun was going to get the hell off the island.

* * * *

Bubba called two of his friends who were dump truck operators on Andros Island. They agreed to bring their big vehicles to the tunnel entrance and block it, in case they needed to stop the suspects.

He then phoned Roger back. Putting his phone on speaker, he asked Roger to put Dix on. When he answered, Bubba told him, “Mon, we got a situation here.” He quickly relayed what they’d seen. Wilfred nodded his agreement.

“
How did we miss something like that? Do you guys have a visual on the men in the SUV? All hell broke loose at the warehouse.”

Bubba replied, “We watched them go through the gate. I called Pops, my grandfather. He said there were underground utility tunnels throughout the city. This is the entrance. The guys haven’t come out yet, but everything went black a few minutes ago. We figured there must have been an attack at the warehouse.”