Sin City Assassin (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 3) (7 page)

“We’ll keep looking for evidence from the car. We also located a set of keys and cell phone, but they’ve been burned by the fire. It’d take a miracle to get something from the phone, and some of the keys are melted.”

Frazier thanked Hector for the update and the assistance with processing the scene. He asked if the police department crime scene investigators could also start processing the car.

“Yeah, they sure can. We’ll work together to sort this out. I’ll see if someone recognizes the keys, see if it gives you any leads,” replied Hector.

Dix nodded his thanks.

Frazier turned to Dix. “I’ll also have my cell phone whiz look at the phone. That still leaves the key around the first guy’s neck. That’s gonna be a doozy to figure out what the hell it means or what, if anything, it opens.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

Dix and Frazier started prodding through the burned out vehicle. They were looking for anything that survived the fire. Any shred of hope of cracking this case likely lay in what was left of the Range Rover.

“Bill, I’m going to give a call to the hospital to check on my UC. I’ll ask him about ‘Roy’s’ and Toronto as well.” Dix nodded and kept poking around the debris.

Before Frazier walked away he felt he needed to say something to Dix. “I’m with you on the whole suspect versus victim thing with these guys. I’m sure you know the political nonsense my agency has been dealing with lately, so between you and me, they’ll be suspects, but be careful using the term openly. The last thing we need is the media crawling up our asses.”

Dix smiled and patted Frazier on the back, “Agreed.” Frazier headed back to his car to make some calls while Dix went back to work. He handed Dix the key he’d gotten as he retrieved his cell phone.

Dix noticed mostly everything inside the car was charred from the fire or damaged by water. He used his foot to carefully move ash and soot. In the area where the two front seats used to be, Dix noticed what looked like a small lock box built into the frame of the front passenger seat. His heart began to pound as he hoped he’d found a lead. It dawned on him the box was small enough that the key located on the first suspect just might fit and open it.

Dix pointed the box out to the fire inspector and CSI officer. Together they worked to remove it from the car. Once they were done, they placed the box on a small folding table and grinned while looking up at Dix.

“Well, you gonna try that key?” asked the CSI officer as she pointed to the box.

“I guess I probably should.” Dix put on a pair of rubber gloves and retrieved the key from the necklace around his neck. He tried it in the hole and noticed it appeared that it would fit, but the key opening had melted and appeared clogged with debris. The CSI officer retrieved a can of air spray from her truck and used it to blast air on the locking mechanism. Debris flew everywhere and everyone stared at the lock almost as if they were willing it to open.

Dix retried the key, and after he jiggled it some, the key slid into place. “You guys ready for this? It feels like we’re opening King Tut’s tomb doesn’t it?” Hector and the CSI officer were captivated. Dix heard something over his shoulder and looked back to see Frazier walking up to them.

Dix lifted the lid just as Frazier made it to the table. Everyone moved away like they expected some spring snakes to pop out, but it was anti-climatic. The lid made a thud as it hit the table and the box appeared to have nothing in it. However, Dix looked at the inside and something seemed off. He grabbed at the sides and asked the CSI for her pocketknife. He carefully played along the edges of the box with the knife and was able to expose a second layer that was previously concealed.

“There we go,” Dix breathed. Inside the box they could see two leather wallets, a .45 caliber gun with a silencer, passports, a set of keys, and a stack of cash with a $25,000 band on it. Dix whistled and the CSI snapped photos. The group shared a quick moment of excitement while patting each other on the back.

Dix and Frazier carefully pulled out each item and placed them on the table so the CSI could snap her crime scene photos.

“Well, we have two passports here with the names Bruno Roy and Joseph Roy, guess that solves what one of the guys was talking about,” said Frazier.

Dix looked at the passports carefully. The stamps inside indicated the men had been to Afghanistan, Mexico, the United States, and mostly Canada. “Yeah, and they spend most of their time in Canada, which answers the other part of his statement.”

Frazier rubbed his chin. “I’m thinking this confirms these guys attacked you and Petersen and killed the two officers on the strip.”

Dix nodded. “I totally agree.”

They placed the .45 caliber handgun with a silencer on the table next to the bundle of cash. Frazier and Dix each grabbed a wallet and began sifting through the contents. They found identification cards for Bruno Roy and Joseph Roy from Toronto, Canada.

Frazier shook his head and whistled. “We sure got lucky here.”

“Why’s that?” asked Dix.

“We’ve got all this stuff about the Roys and Toronto. It’s a good thing too because my UC and the fellas had no idea what the name or location meant,” said Frazier.

Dix grinned. “We needed a break and we got it. Now we gotta figure out one more crucial thing.”

Frazier looked puzzled. “What’s that?”

“We gotta find the third shooter that Petersen and I saw in the Range Rover. He’s probably responsible for the two dead guys from this car.” Dix wondered how Frazier would have forgotten something like this.

“Oh, about that,” he said in an embarrassed tone. “The surveillance cameras on the strip clearly show that the driver of the Range Rover was a female.”

Dix raised an eyebrow. “Well, isn’t that interesting,” he mused as he thought about what it meant that the third shooter was a highly skilled female. “We need to find
her
ASAP, but I gotta say, based on all the damage she’s caused, we may have our hands full if and when we locate her.”

Chapter 15:

Robert Blass called people he’d trusted and used as part of his criminal enterprise for over twenty-five years. He needed to learn anything and everything about a narcotics detective named Bill Dix, at least more than he already knew. Before Blass saw the man with his own eyes, he’d assumed he was more of an urban legend. Turns out, he was a real narcotics detective and apparently the best of the best. Seeing Dix caught up with Marie and her idiot brothers freaked Blass out. Now he was uncomfortable and it pissed him off. He did not believe in chance and the sighting of Dix made him second guess his entire operation. He considered calling it quits completely and disappearing. He was confident no one would find him and the amount of money he’d stockpiled would allow him to live lavishly until he died.

But then something inside him, a voice really, told Blass he needed to look deeper into Bill Dix, see if he could outsmart him. It was as though Blass forgot about business, about making good, sound decisions, and turned the situation personal.
To hell with this Bill Dix guy
,
no one can outsmart me.

Each person he talked to told him specifically not to toy with Dix, but it only fueled Blass. All his common sense slipped away. A voice in his head told him Dix was better than him. But Blass knew one thing for certain—no one was better than him. No one. He felt an overwhelming urge to crush Dix—but not just kill him, he wanted to humiliate him. Blass shook his head and pitied anyone who would be foolish enough to get in his way.
No one messes with a Blass
.

Within minutes, Blass had concocted a plan to lure Dix into a trap so he could have his way with him. He chuckled as the plan required using Marie as bait. He was impressed with Marie, but she was, just like all the other women, expendable. He used them for sex and business, and then, when he became bored with them, he’d have them killed or he’d kill them himself.

The G4 pilot’s voice over the plane’s intercom interrupted his thoughts. “Mr. Laurin, we’re descending into Las Vegas. We’ll have wheels down in fifteen minutes.”

“Roger that.” Blass nodded.

The private stewardess sauntered down the center aisle and raised an eyebrow at him. “One more quickie?”

Her offer brought a smile to his face. She was voluptuous and pretty, and had a bit of a wild side. He grabbed her in his arms and began unbuttoning her blouse as she growled at him. Just as he finished having his way with her, the plane landed and Blass became more focused than he’d ever recalled being.
Time to hunt Bill Dix
, he mused.

Chapter 16:

Marie never had to rely on her stunning looks to get people to do what she wanted, but sometimes it did help. She didn’t fight this and used her looks whenever it seemed it would help. Today was no different as she stood at the information kiosk at Summerlin Hospital looking for the wounded undercover officer. This was the third hospital she’d checked, and she was growing impatient. To make matters worse, the security guard working at the kiosk refused to break protocol.

“No matter how many times you ask, I can’t tell you. If you aren’t family or a friend of the family, I can’t tell you who’s here.” The security guard couldn’t stop his gaze from roaming her body while he spoke.

Marie pursed her lower lip and rolled her eyes. In an overly flirtatious voice she said, “Ok, here’s the deal, I was screwing a cop and I heard he got shot up. He’s married, so I don’t want to cause a scene, but I’d like to see him, just for a second.”

The security guard didn’t budge. “Ma’am, you mean to tell me you were having relations with a married man, and you never bothered to ask him his name?”

She made herself appear shocked. “Look, we hooked up three or four times, he’d call me for a booty call, we’d have sex, and then he left. I never bothered to ask him his name because I didn’t think it was anything more than sex.”

The security guard rolled his eyes. “Do you hear yourself right now? You should be ashamed. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Marie was frustrated, but persistent. She began to tremble and forced herself to cry. She collapsed on the floor and sobbed.

The security guard came around the desk to look at Marie. He wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but he didn’t want the lady to lose it on his shift. He was about to say something to her when she blurted out two words.

“I’m pregnant.”

The security guard wasn’t surprised, but now he understood what the drama was all about. He knew he wasn’t supposed to say anything about patients admitted to the hospital. He also knew the undercover officer that had been shot the day prior was, in fact, in the hospital. The security guard weighed what to do, either kick her out or possibly help an unborn child at least have a chance of a decent life by knowing who its father was. As he processed what to do, the woman began to flail her arms while rolling on the floor.

“Get up, and follow me outside,” the guard said with disgust. “We can talk out there.”

Marie slowly controlled her antics and walked with the security guard to the front of the hospital. They exited through the automatic doors and walked toward the parking lot. Marie wasn’t sure what the security guard was doing, but she played along with him because she had no other lead on locating the undercover officer.

The security guard used a magnetic card to open a gate to the underground parking. “Come on.” He pointed to the area beneath the hospital.

Marie followed him with a look of skepticism. As she walked around the corner, she saw seven or eight police cruisers parked in a row.

The security guard watched as the sight of the cars registered on Marie’s face. “Does that answer your question?”

“Oh thank you, thank you, you didn’t have to do this.” She hugged him and shook his hand. “I’ll never forget this.” She leaned in for another hug, but this time she rubbed her breasts on the man’s chest and gyrated. As he blushed from the contact, she grabbed his magnetic card without him knowing.

“Stop. I didn’t do anything. Let’s get out of here now.” He pushed her away from him and turned to walk to the security gate that had closed.

Behind him, Marie realized the security guard would need the magnetic card to get them back out. As he reached for the card, Marie reached for her gun. She began to pull it out and noticed the gate open again.

She put her gun back as she saw the security guard stopped reaching for his magnetic card once his brain registered the fact the gate was opening.
Well, that was close
, she thought.

Two men in an unmarked car slowly drove into the underground parking structure. They both eyeballed the security guard and Marie. It appeared they were having a conversation, but had stopped to look at Marie and the security guard.

Marie tried to look normal and continued to walk with the security guard to the front of the hospital.

The security guard’s cell phone suddenly rang and he answered it. A few seconds later he hung up and turned to say something to the pregnant hot chick looking for the undercover cop, but she was gone.

Marie had slipped between several vehicles and was already changing her clothes and appearance. She added a wig and a scarf to complete her transformation. She slowly walked to the main street in front of the hospital and slipped into the rental car she’d previously staged.

Confident that she’d located the undercover officer, she placed a call to a weapon and equipment supplier in Henderson, just outside of Las Vegas. She chuckled after she realized she needed very little to assault the hospital.

“I’ve got what you need,” the supplier informed her. Meet me in an hour at our normal spot. It’s gonna be five thousand this time.”

“Five thousand? Why’s that?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, things are really hot around town. Lot more cops than normal, so my exposure is higher.”

Marie smugly replied, “Not my problem. I’ll give you four, that’s it.”

The man whistled. He hated she was so ruthless, but he needed the money. “Ok. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” They set a time to meet.