I did a click on my radio and received a double click in response, so we still had communication with Shelby. Carl and I switched off our lights again and prepared to open the door, suddenly a noise on the other side stopped us. Footsteps clearly getting louder, advancing in our direction; we pressed our bodies to either side of the door. We used hand signals to indicate how we should handle this threat.
The door opened in Carl’s direction. I was on the right side opposite the door when it opened. The first thing I saw was a large box being carried. As the man entered the room I stayed pressed to the wall, he didn’t look in my direction. He took several steps into the room and suddenly Carl was behind him. Carl subdued him with a sleeper hold and I caught the box before it fell and hit the floor. Carl quietly laid the man’s body on the floor, I follow suit by laying the box down. I examined the man, he was average height but big, very muscular, he had on dark pants, a white dress shirt and carried a semi-automatic pistol in a leather shoulder holster. I removed the gun, cleared the chamber and removed the clip.
Carl had moved to the open door and was looking into the last section. I crawled next to him; the room was divided into an open space in the front by the entrance and what appeared to be three separate offices in the rear. Two of the office doors were closed but one, the closest to us was open and the lights were on inside. I gave Carl the signal to cover me and I began crawling toward the open door.
I could clearly see into the room, a large desk in the middle and a few folding chairs, on the wall was a series of monitors and video recording machines. There was no one in the room, I moved to a crouch and entered. I signaled Carl to move forward and he moved toward the second door. No noise was coming from inside, Carl entered and also found it empty except for sparse furniture.
I moved to the third room, the door was locked, but it was quiet inside. We decided to hit the door and hopefully have the element of surprise if anyone was there. I gave one hard kick at the lock and the door opened. Carl entered, no one was inside. I hit the light switch and was amazed, the room was used as an armory, there were every type of weapon imaginable neatly stored in wall racks. There was also something else interesting, stacks of money on the end of the table, all hundreds nicely banded. It was time to deal with the guy Carl had handled.
I dragged his limp body to the first office and sat him on a chair; I slapped him until he began to come around. He looked up, saw us and reached for his pistol. I smiled at him and showed him his pistol which I had in my jacket pocket; “Is this what you’re looking for?”
He was disoriented but understood what I had said, “What do you want, you guys are nuts, you know who you dealing with here?”
I looked directly at him, “No, why don’t you fill us in on all the details.”
Carl was on the opposite side of the desk and had his shotgun pointed at him. He said “I guess the question should be do you know who you are dealing with?”
He looked at Carl and his shotgun, then back at me. “Man this is Lucio and Guzman’s place; you guys fucked up and hit the wrong place. Get the fuck out of here now and I’ll keep my mouth shut, they don’t have to know.”
I laughed at him, “Boy is Lucio gonna be pissed when he finds out you let someone sneak in here and disarm you. Ok enough fucking around, you gonna talk to us and you not gonna bullshit us. I need information from you, and if I don’t get it, well you don’t want to know.”
I could see the fear in his eyes, but knew he had to take a hard stand. “Fuck you guys, I’m giving you assholes noting. Lucio gonna find you and cut your nuts off. You have no idea how badly you fucked up.”
I continued to smile “I guess that is possible, we could get caught, but the fact is, you’re already caught. So maybe I should just cut your nuts off.” I looked at Carl and he nodded “That’s not a bad idea; I haven’t done that in at least a week, what was that guy’s name, oh yea, Halsey. He squealed like a pig and it took him a long time to bleed out.”
I saw the realization on his face; the name Halsey rang a bell, he now understood who we were. The mention of Halsey’s name startled him. “Oh fuck, you the guys from down south. Listen man, I don’t know shit, all I know is Guzman wanted you guys wacked and then heard Halsey and Frenchy weren’t coming back. That’s all I know, I swear.”
I continued to smile “Good, you understand. Now here is what I want to know, is Lucio coming here today?” He was visibly shaken, “I, I ,I don’t know, sometimes he does, I don’t know.”
I shook my head, “Now this isn’t a good start for us. Let me try again, cause if you lie to me, I am gonna cut you nuts off, believe me, I will do it.”
He was shivering and it wasn’t cold in the office, he sighed, “Ok, yea, he comes every day around the same time, right after lunch.”
I looked at Carl and he was smiling, “Good, now we’re getting somewhere, tell me about when he comes in, and remember, you lie to me and you are really fucked.”
He lowered his head, at that moment I knew he had given up any hope of lying his way out of this. “He don’t come alone, he always has two guys with him. The guys check in with me before he comes inside.”
I knew he was telling the truth because we had watched Lucio come and go days before. “Good, so what happens when the guard comes in, how do you satisfy him that Lucio is safe?”
He was speaking in a low defeated tone, “I tell him all is clear, that’s it, then he signals the other guy and they come in. That’s all there is, no more man I swear.”
I was hoping I had him where I wanted him “Ok, so here is what’s going to happen today. You are going to tell the guard everything is ok, we are going to have you covered and if you fuck up, you will die. Even if you run out the door when it opens there is another guy covering the front of the warehouse, he will drop you instantly. So, you gonna let Lucio come in and I will take it from there. If you want to survive today, you’ll do what I say. Now do we understand each other?”
He nodded, “How do I know you won’t kill me anyway?” I looked at him “Cause I said so, I have no beef with you, or with those body guards for that matter. My beef is with Lucio, so you do as I say and you will be able to report to Guzman that you did all you could to save his cousin, got it?”
He nodded yes; I was hoping he meant it. I gave him back his empty pistol and he placed it in his shoulder holster. Now we wait, Carl covered him while I went to take a look in the second section filled with boxes.
Chapter 33
The boxes were about two feet square and very light for their size. They had import tags on them indicating they were from Sri Lanka. I used my K-Bar to open the box the guard had been carrying. It was full of stuffed teddy bears. What was I missing here? I cut the toy open with my knife and there was nothing inside except stuffing, then an odor hit me. I held the stuffing close to my face and smelled the cocaine. I had carried enough of it in the last several years to know what it was. The stuffing was saturated with coke and I understood how it was extracted. I had seen it done several times over the years. The stuffing is soaked in alcohol; the alcohol is strained and allowed to evaporate, what is left is pure coke.
I brought a handful of stuffing and showed Carl, he was as astonished as I was. They had a warehouse full of this stuff, no doubt worth many millions.
Now it was time to wait, not my favorite thing to do. I radioed Shelby to test the radio and just be reassured he was still standing by. I found out the guards name was William. I tried to make small talk with him to try and keep him calm. I was hoping he would do as he was told when Lucio arrived.
The hours passed slowly, but at 1:20 PM Shelby made the radio call we had been waiting for, the Silver Mercedes was approaching. I walked up to William “William, this is your big chance, live or die, that’s up to you. Do this right and I promise you walk, fuck this up, I will kill you. And believe me Lucio won’t miss a minute of sleep if you die today.”
He shook his head and I motioned for him to head toward the
door. I had brought two boxes from the other section and placed them against the front wall not too far from the door, Carl was behind them. I went into the second section leaving the connecting door open. I was within earshot of the door and would hear everything said; it was ShowTime.
Chapter 34
Special Agent Ron Meyers and Raymond Snyder of the FBI New Jersey Office were assigned to follow Tony Lucio. Meyers wondered who he had pissed off to draw this shitty detail. They had been tailing Lucio for one week now and his routine rarely varied. Guzman’s warehouse in the morning, lunch around 11AM, his warehouse around 1PM, home around 6. He kept trying to tell himself that this duty wasn’t bad, the guys following Guzman hadn’t moved in a week. Guzman had locked himself down in his warehouse and hadn’t moved. At least Lucio moved around, still, the boredom was terrible.
Lucio had just finished lunch and was heading to his warehouse. Snyder, his partner, was sleeping in the passenger seat. Word was out that someone was hunting Guzman, but Lucio seemed jumpy also. His routine tightened the longer the week went on. He never stayed in the open any more time than necessary, at lunch, his guards sat between him and the door. His car was armored, his warehouse was a fortress, his home was guarded by three more body guards, and that’s the ones they could see. These guys were afraid, and it wasn’t of the cops.
Meyers hit a pothole and jarred Snyder from his nap. “Shit, what the fuck, where you going;” Meyers laughed, he had hit that same pothole every day for a week and got the same reaction. “Wake up sleeping beauty, our boy is about to make his daily entrance.”
Snyder laughed, “Entrance yea, you mean his sprint from the car to the door. That is one scared ass wop. If a car backfires around here he’s gonna shit his pants.” They both laughed.
They watched from a distance as the car drove down the river road and approached the warehouse. They found a vantage point they knew the car had to pass on the way out; unfortunately they had no view of the entrance, but what could happen?
Chapter 35
Carl and I were in position and William was standing by the door. I prayed his nervousness wouldn’t give him away. This routine never changed, day in and day out, so the bodyguards might be getting lax, I sure hoped so.
Since the building was soundproof we never heard the car pull up outside, but suddenly we heard three raps on the door. I was watching William from my vantage point and he was visibly shaking. He looked toward me and I made a sign for him to take a deep breath and calm down. He nodded ok, reached for the door handle, and opened the door.
The guard entered and slapped William on the back, “Hey Bill, what’s up.” William glanced ever so slightly in my direction and mumbled everything was ok. The guard replied, “Man, you look like shit, you not feeling well?” William hesitated but answered, “Naw, got a stomach ache.” The guard laughed, “Probably all the fumes from that shit stored in here.” He turned and gave a hand signal to his partner.
Since the door was open I could hear car doors open and close and suddenly the two body guards and Lucio were walking through the warehouse. The last body guard closed the door and that was our queue to move.
I stepped around the door at the same time Carl stood up from behind the boxes. I yelled “Hold it assholes, stop where you are.”
They all froze but the last guard reached inside his jacket, Carl and I had already planned, I was covering the first guard in and he was covering the last. Carl cut him down with one blast from his twelve gauge; “I told you assholes to stop, anybody else want to die. Let’s see the hands high in the air.”
They hesitated but did as told. Carl checked the guard that was down, he wasn’t dead, but not far from it. Carl disarmed him and walked away, nothing we could do for him now. I covered the other guard and Lucio while Carl disarmed him; Lucio was carrying a small semi-automatic pistol with pearl grips. Carl removed Lucio’s pistol and tossed it to me. Carl had them all sit on the floor with their hands on their heads.
I looked at William and the other guard, “Your buddy fucked up and is going to die, you don’t want to end up like that you do as you are told. Do I make myself clear?” They both nodded yes.
I looked at Lucio; he was dressed in a dark suit that matched his dyed black hair. He dress was impeccable, and his shoes were polished to a high gloss, obviously a man that believed, the dress made the man.
I nodded at the guards, “Carl, take these two into the office please. Mr. Lucio, you stay put.”
Carl escorted the two remaining guards to the office and I could hear him tying them up. Lucio looked at me; there was confusion and fear in his eyes. “Who the hell are you, what do you want; you’re committing suicide coming at me like this.”
I looked at him and smiled, “Come on, you know who I am, you must have heard Guzman talking about me and my friends.” Then realization struck him; “You the guys from down south, you were Perroni’s guys. Look, I’m taking Perroni’s place; I got a cushy spot for you and your partners. Make lots of money, much more than with Perroni.”
I shook my head, “Naw, got all the money need, what I really want now is just to be left alone, but you assholes come at me and my friends. So here we are; what now? Oh, let me guess, you promise to forget this ever happened and never want to see me again, am I right?”
By now Carl had finished tying the guards up and was standing next me. “What you think Carl, you think Mr. Lucio here can talk Mr. Guzman out of coming after us?”
Carl shook his head no “No, I think they gonna come at us no matter what they say, I think they would turn on their mothers to get themselves out of a jam.” I had agree; “I know they would, so I guess there is only one way out.”
Lucio was panicking now, he was mumbling and crying not to hurt him, to let him go, he wouldn’t hurt anyone. I had listened enough, but there was one thing I needed him to know before this was over.
I bent over close to his ear “Eleven years ago you murdered a good cop, so I want you to take this name to your grave, Rosie Santos.” I let the name sink in, placed the shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger.
I went into the last room used as the armory and grabbed an M4 assault rifle, filled two large bags with money, and filled my pockets with shells.
I walked into the office; the two guards were tied to their chairs. “Boys, this is your lucky day. Your boss is dead, and by now your friend over there is probably dead too. He fucked up and didn’t have to die. So I’m tired of killing for today. You should be able to get out of those chairs in thirty minutes or so, but I have a message for your boss Guzman, tell him Jessie Carr said hello, and I’ll be seeing him soon, now don’t forget that name. By the way, my buddy is starting a fire in the other section of the warehouse, I know that’s a fire wall, but if I was you I’d work hard on those knots, just in case.”
I turned in time to see Carl exiting the section of the storage section of the warehouse. He had piled cardboard among the boxes and started a blaze. I wasn’t sure how much damage it would do or if the sprinklers would come on, and I didn’t care. Damage to that shipment would hurt Guzman’s bottom line. Carl grabbed one of the M4s and a bag of money.
I radioed Shelby to pick us up on the South side of the warehouse, took one last look around, and headed out the door.
Chapter 36
It was 2:20 PM when the phone in Captain James O’Shea’s office rang. It was a uniform officer on the scene of a warehouse fire near the Delaware River. The fire department had responded to a fire alarm and smoke billowing from a warehouse and found two bodies when they entered.
O’Shea grabbed his coat and gun and headed to the scene. The uniform officer had said it was the first warehouse off Clinton Street. That was Lucio’s warehouse. He made the run to the warehouse in record time. When he arrived there were already several marked units and two of his homicide units.
He was greeted by Sergeant Bill Reilly. “Hey Cap, man you not gonna believe it. We got two dead in there, not from the fire, we got the
Fire Department still pouring water on the other mess, but they need to wear breathing equipment, the fumes from the drugs will kick your ass. We got a room full of weapons, this is fucking amazing I never saw anything like it.”
O’Shea looked pass Riley and asked “You got ID on the dead and cause of death?” Riley pulled two sets of ID from his pocket, “One is Marcus Matranga, the other is gonna make your day.” He showed the ID to O’Shea, “None other than Mr. Tony Lucio himself. Of course the ME will need to verify that, his fucking head is blown off. Shit I can’t believe it, someone had to guts to take these guys on; my day is made.”
Just then an unmarked Crown Victoria pulled up. Two men in suits jumped out with badges in their hands. “What the fuck is going on around here, FBI, who’s in charge here?”
O’Shea couldn’t help smiling, “I’m Captain O’Shea, Camden Homicide, and you are?”
Both men were visibly stunned. “I’m Special Agent Ron Meyers and this is Special Agent Raymond Snyder of the FBI New Jersey Office. What the hell is going on here?”
O’Shea didn’t have much use for the FBI and he just couldn’t pass up this opportunity. “Well from here it looks like a fire, but I’m not the FBI so that’s just a fucking guess mind you. I haven’t been in the building yet, but my Sergeant tells me there are a couple of stiffs inside, again, hearsay since I haven’t seen it myself. So what brings the FBI out to a fire call?
The Agents looked at each other, Meyers answered, “We were assigned to tail Tony Lucio, we followed him here about forty minutes ago; we never saw him leave.”
Sergeant Riley responded “The only way Lucio is leaving here is in a body bag, you two agents see anyone enter or leaving this building?”
Meyers had a deer in the headlights look, “No, we couldn’t see the front of the building, we were waiting for his car to pass.”
Riley laughed; “You two douche bags have gotta be shitting me. You’re tailing someone and you can’t see the place he entered. That is amazing, simply fucking amazing. Did they teach you that in Quantico?”