Sin City Assassin (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 3) (25 page)

The team continually looked from left to right scanning for law enforcement in the area. None of the people they saw stood out to them. The leader waited a little longer than he wanted to before heading up the hill, but he wanted to make sure he wasn’t sending the team into a trap. Just before he was about to give the order to drive up the hill, he spotted something that bothered him.

A small sedan occupied by two men was parked along the south side of the market, but not entirely in the designated parking lines. The angle of the car gave the occupants a view of the dirt road leading to the ranch house, the house itself, and the main freeway.

“I bet them are cops in there.” The leader pointed at the sedan where Kunkel’s men sat in the parked car.

“Shit, what are we gonna do, eh?” asked one of the other men.

The leader nodded and pointed to the gas station just east of the sedan. “Park it over there. We’ll get out and check it out real quick.”

One of the men glanced at his watch. “Boss, we gotta get Laurin and get the fuck outta here. You sure this is a good idea?”

“I know, I know, but something seems off. If they’re cops, we could be walking into a trap.”

They parked at the gas station and stepped out. They were armed, but their weapons and tactical gear were concealed with cover jackets. They entered the gas station convenience store and peered at the men in the car. The men sitting in the car didn’t appear to be doing much of anything.

“Fuck it, let’s go have a talk.” The leader lifted his coat a little higher exposing the butt of his semi-automatic handgun.

The team followed and they walked directly to the sedan containing Kunkel’s men.

The leader tapped on the window. He looked inside and saw two white guys kissing. He noticed a forty-ounce of beer between them and a pack of condoms. They stopped kissing and rolled down the passenger side window.

In a slight lisp the passenger said, “You gotta problem big boy?”

The leader of Laurin’s gang turned slightly red. “You just a bunch of queers, eh, is that it?”

The rest of the gang laughed at the men in the sedan.

The passenger’s eyes widened as he noticed the gang leader’s weapon. “Ooh, nice weapon, big boy! You boys care to join us?”

The driver giggled and took a swig of beer.

“Piss off, queers!” The leader looked at his team. “Let’s get the fuck up the hill and leave these queers be.” He squinted his eyes and shook his head. He thought about yanking out the driver and beating him, but decided against it because he had more important things to do.

The team walked back to their SUV, shaking their heads and jabbing their leader about his hilarious mistake.

They climbed into the SUV and regained focus. While driving around the lot one last time, they checked each vehicle for signs of law enforcement. Satisfied no one seemed to be a cop, they turned to go up the hill toward Blass’s location.

*******

The two agents sitting on point had detected the car full of shooters before they detected them. They needed a plan quick and decided to take a huge risk and try to appear like they were a couple. They couldn’t leave and the team needed the surveillance information for the operation, so, they decided to do what they had to do. They fetched some condoms from their wallets and a warm forty-ounce beer they’d used as a prop in the past. As the shooters walked up and surrounded their car, the men embraced.

After the encounter with the shooters, and even before the shooters made it back to their SUV, they both spit and popped several pieces of gum in their mouth.

“Jesus man! Did you try to give me some tongue?” the passenger asked the driver.

“Hell no, you wish, pal!”

They laughed and couldn’t believe they’d just done what they did.

The passenger looked at his partner, “No one, I mean no one, ever hears about this, you got it?”

The driver nodded and laughed. “Agreed, I’m with you pal, this never happened!” The driver kept eyes on the SUV and was able to grab the license plate. They both assumed it was a rental car so it wouldn’t be of much use, but they grabbed it anyway.

The passenger called Kunkel.
“Boss, we have company. Eight men, armed, and headed up the hill toward Laurin’s ranch.”

Kunkel was confused, “How do you know they’re armed?”

“They picked us out and contacted us. We played it real cool.” He looked at his partner and shuddered. “And we could see a gun in the waistband of one of them.”

“Shit, all right. They got us beat, we won’t be there for another ten minutes. They have time to hunker down and throw everything they got at us. Stay put. When we arrive, follow us at the back of the stack.” Kunkel was hopeful his team could take down the ranch house, but with eight more shooters, he decided to call for even more backup.

“Copy that. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes.”

The two agents donned their ballistic vests and waited for the teams to join them on the assault on the ranch house.

*******

The SUV headed slowly up the hill toward the ranch while the leader continued to dial Laurin. On the third try, Laurin answered.

“Where the fuck are you guys?” He had woken up hungry, hung-over, and had a pounding headache.

“Nice to hear from you, boss. Look out your window.” The leader grinned after hearing Laurin’s voice. The driver mashed on the accelerator to get to the house quicker.

Blass stumbled up from the leather sofa and walked toward the window in the living room. He pulled the blinds down a little and could see headlights coming up to his location. He’d felt like shit prior to this, but after seeing his team show up, now he felt great. They were basically adopted children in his eyes, but he loved each of them like a son. The memory of his biological son flashed in his mind. He hoped to see him soon.

“It’s about time! Get your asses up here and get me the fuck back to Canada!” He gave them a lot of grief, but he knew they could handle it. He hung up and noticed he had over one hundred texts, phone calls, and messages. The time on his phone screen told him he had passed out for almost six hours.
Man, I’m getting too old for this shit
.

*******

Pierre finished a few paragraphs of his term paper then shook the mouse for the computer monitoring Blass’s phone. He whistled out loud when he noticed the phone had recently made an outgoing call to one of the other numbers now on his radar.

He frantically dialed Dix.

“What’s up, Pierre?” Dix answered right away. He hoped whatever Pierre had could add more to what Kunkel just learned from his agents.

“Blass’s phone is back up and he made a call to one of the other phones I’m also monitoring. I plotted the location of the number he called and it’s near the ranch as well. Whoever he called after the shootout at the federal building is with him now.” Pierre wondered if Dix was walking into a trap.

“Good work. That makes sense because some of the agents on point just saw eight men drive up to the ranch. We’re gonna be in a shootout real quick.” Dix paused a second. “Hey, Pierre?”

“Yeah?”

“If I don’t make it through this, can you do something for me?” Dix asked.

“Shut up bro, what are you talking about?” Pierre was stunned. He never thought he’d hear any officer say such a thing, and to him no less.

“Listen Pierre, I’m a realist, this goes bad, I need you to tell my wife I love her and tell Petersen everything about this case so he has a chance to survive if we don’t capture or kill Blass.” Dix didn’t like the sound of what he’d just said, but it had to be done.

Pierre shook his head frantically. “Man, okay, like I’ll do it, but this ain’t right! Just come back so I don’t gotta do it.”    

“You’ll be fine. I gotta go. We’re pulling over to rally up before hitting the house. If somehow people get away, stay up on their phones and give the Intel to Frazier.” Dix hung up before the kid could think or even reply.

Chapter 45:

Sergeant Kunkel retrieved a white drawing board and drew the layout of the ranch, based on county records. He designated two teams to assault the ranch house.  Kunkel and Dix agreed hitting simultaneously from two points would confuse the suspects and give them a better shot at taking the ranch with fewer fatalities.

As the teams prepared for combat, Kunkel took a phone call. He looked over at Dix as he listened to the caller and nodded. “Okay, copy that.” He hung up and joined the group. “Air support is inbound and will be overhead in ten minutes,” Kunkel informed the group. “We’ve got two more teams from Pahrump PD rolling code three this way. Their ETA is ten minutes. Once they get here, we move in.”

Agents and officers loaded and checked their weapons. They placed their trauma plates in their ballistic vests, front and back, and dusted off their ballistic helmets. Every man knew the risks they were taking and dealt with it differently. Some texted their loved ones, some rehearsed breaching techniques, and others wanted to hit the house without waiting for backup.

Dix and Kunkel stepped away from the group.

Dix spoke quietly. “I’d like to take this asshole alive.”

Kunkel smirked. “This asshole almost killed your buddy and ordered the hit on some of my people and you want him alive?”

“I don’t
want
him alive, I
need
him alive. We need someone to pay for all the deaths, and he may be able to provide information on the terrorist cells working in the United States.” Dix found it difficult rationalizing why Blass should be allowed to live, but he, and many other federal agencies, needed answers and he believed Blass was the only person who had them.

Kunkel nodded. “I can’t promise you anything, but I see your angle. This is gonna be hairy, so let’s just say I’ll pass the word along to the agents to
try
to take him alive.” He finished the statement and looked to his left. Two Pahrump PD tactical vans pulled up to the teams.

After exchanging greetings, Kunkel went over the plans for taking down the ranch. With the extra bodies, he doubled up the two original teams. Once everyone was set, Kunkel confirmed two tactical radio channels. The tactical dispatchers were online and the teams got into their vehicles and formed two lines. Once they met the threshold of the dirt road, the vans lurched forward and drove as fast as they could up the hill toward Blass’s ranch. They would have no element of surprise because they were exposed on the single dirt road, so they chose an aggressive and swift attack.

About a hundred yards from the large clearing that served as an improved driveway for the ranch, numerous shooters in the main ranch house fired upon the lead van. The van swerved and almost drove over the embankment. It plowed forward and pressed on, then turned sideways in an effort to give the other vehicles room to join the assault.

From another structure east of the main house, a man jumped out and aimed an RPG at the lead van. The sparks and flames from the rocket propelled grenade being shot burned brightly and all the men in the van could see it coming. They jumped from the van as it ignited from the RPG round. An agent lay motionless on the ground near the destroyed van. The remaining agents saw the fallen officer and grew enraged. Gunfire and radio traffic rang in the air as the teams split up and poured hundreds of rounds into the main ranch house and at the suspect trying to reload the RPG.

Someone shot the RPG from the suspect’s hands, forcing him to grab for his rifle slung across his chest. Another officer shot the suspect several times and he slumped over dead. Kunkel and another officer lobbed four flash bang grenades at the front of the main house. They exploded and provided cover for the teams to advance. Dix found a spot for cover and looked for Kunkel.

He saw him motioning to his team to move forward. A round from a suspect caught Kunkel in the shoulder. He grimaced but continued advancing. Dix grinned and motioned for his team to move forward as well.
We’re gonna take this damn house one way or another
.

Fewer rounds came from the house, but no one had eyes on Blass. The police helicopter fought the swirling wind, maintained overhead support, and noticed two suspects running out of the back of the main house. The suspects looked up, stunned to see the helicopter. Within seconds, they trained their weapons on the helicopter and tried to shoot it down. The sniper inside the helicopter shot back at the suspects while the pilot used some of the mountain terrain as cover.

“We got two running out the back. Take the house now,” ordered Kunkel excitedly. The teams breached the front and side doors. Several suspects had barricaded themselves inside and continued to shoot at the teams as they made entry. Another agent fell to the floor after being shot.

Dix saw the shooter had momentarily exposed his arm and he took a shot.

The gun in the suspect’s hand jumped, then fell to the floor. Others from his team saw the location of the shooter and filled the area with rounds. Glass, furniture, and debris flew everywhere. The teams advanced further into the house, encountering armed resistance the entire way.

Kunkel counted five dead suspects and advised over the radio, “Five down. Should be at least one more and Blass inside. Work slowly and attempt to take them alive.” He shuddered at the last part of his statement, but he had given Dix his word so he wanted to make good on it.

The teams moved deeper into the house until they encountered a tactical problem. They stopped at a long hallway with several closed doors on each side. With hand signals, Dix and Kunkel lined up the stacks to prepare to breach each door and secure the last part of the ranch home. Each stack indicated they were set and ready to attack.

“Laurin, it’s the police! We have a search warrant, come out with your hands up!” Dix yelled down the hallway.

A door to the right opened up and a man, not Blass, came out. He wore a shotgun slung across his chest, full body armor, and he looked at peace with himself.

Both and Dix and Kunkel looked at each other incredulously
.

“Stop right there!” Kunkel ordered. The man complied as he looked at all the faces staring at him. He seemed unconcerned, given his current predicament.