Chapter 30

Chuck

I was pissed as soon as I received the call from Sarge. I thought we had accounted for all of the men from the Alcam group. Apparently not, as Orlando reported that a group of men had broken into an Alcam hangar and when they were discovered, shot their way out. They had gotten away but were spotted by a state trooper an hour later, at a gas station on I-4. There were at least eight men in two Suburbans, so the trooper didn't attempt to try to capture them by himself.

The trooper was following the two Suburbans at a distance and they were headed straight toward the airpark. After telling John what I knew, he called Orlando to find out what was happening. The Bureau was covering evening duty, guarding the hangars and was now in full battle mode as they had lost a man and had two more in the hospital. John and I couldn't believe that trained men could be surprised like that.

John said, "This is getting hairy, isn't it? Wish we had time to get the strike force team down here. Sarge says that, with us, and the men he was able to scramble out here, we should be okay, but I can tell you, this is getting old. I thought I would be down in Key West by now."

"Me too, John. I need to get down there and begin changing the titles for things and to have the housekeeper or manager, whatever she is, call me by my correct name. She needs to be able to call me for advice or direction."

"I saw you say something to that Ben guy," John said. "Can he keep his mouth shut?"

I said, "I hope so, I trust him more than most. He has contacts all over the U.S. and in South America, so it should be the right move."

John offered me some advice, "Don't give him a lot the first go around. Feed him one deal, then if he is good to go, let him have all of them. Have you figured out what you're going to do with the money?"

"The houses will all go to the people who are living in them if they want them. I'll make them pay something, but it will be affordable. I'll even have Ben set it up so I'll carry the mortgages. That way if they get into trouble, I can help them."

I took a breath as we drove out to the airpark, "I think I've found several families that can use some help. I'm going to make sure they get on their feet, are working, and stable. I'll keep the cash available to help where I see I can. There's enough to do some good for a lot of people."

"Good man," John said. "I figured you to do something like that, especially after coming up with, and turning over the thirty mil from that aircraft. Almost any other guy would have kept the money and been gone. That's why you ended up with that Learjet, plus a total rebuild. Everyone in DC thought you were nuts to have turned that money in. I think that is why you're still a deputy after all the wars you were in."

We pulled into the parking area of the airpark operations building and shut down on the side of the building, out of sight. I called Sarge on my cell phone to let him know it was us that had pulled in. He said to come across the tarmac to where the van was parked.

I popped the trunk and handed John a vest, a combat vest that would hold spare magazines, an MP5, and five magazines. I put a protective vest and a combat vest on, and loaded up with a full magazine in an MP5, plus five extras. I handed John two additional Glock magazines for a Glock 22. They would fit in his smaller pistol, but stick out some.

We quickly walked across the tarmac, to be intercepted by Sarge. He led us to the office between the hangars and into a back room that had lights. He showed us a drawing of the airfield. Sarge said, "I can't imagine why they have come over here, unless there is something on one of the aircraft you brought over here today. It almost has to be something like that, since there is no way they would just want to get some form of revenge. They don't have an organization anymore, so they can't be in business. There's got to be something on one of the aircraft that were brought over."

"You're probably right, Sarge," I said. "So how do you think we should do this?"

Sarge said, "I have a guy at each end of the runway to make sure no one sneaks in that way. The only other access is through the main entrance. Everything is shut down so no civilians are in jeopardy. I have three men behind a van out front here and three behind a van down a ways. The vans look like they belong here so we'll be able to surprise whoever it might be. All of our cars are behind the hangars so no one can see them. There are always a couple of cars in front of the charter office so that doesn't look out of place."

"Uh oh, someone's coming," I said, making sure a round was in the chamber on the MP5.

We watched as a pickup truck pulled up to the gate. The gate began sliding open, the pickup pulled through and the gate began closing. One of the airpark guards said that it was Steve Sharp and Hap, he had called them. I said, "Go have him get into his charter office and to keep the lights off. He may not like it, but I don't have any way to protect the man."

The guard ran out to intercept Steve. I could see that he parked on the far side of the charter office and both he and the other guy, probably Hap, went into the building.

Sarge continued with his plan, "We're going to have a couple of men over by the operations building and when the group tries to come across the tarmac, we'll get them in the open. The men by the operations building will disable the two cars and take care of anyone that is left with the vehicles. The rest of us will take care of the men coming across the tarmac. If they decide to come across one at a time, we'll disable each one as they get to this side. Actually that would be the easiest. I think they'll come all at once though. Especially if they see there are no lights or other cars."

I asked, "How close are they now?"

Sarge said, "As of just before you got here, they were about fifteen minutes out."

"You've told your guys what's happened in Orlando right?"

"You bet, they will all be careful," Sarge said, nodding.

"Okay, John and I will be set up on the end of the hangar to capture anyone that comes across alone. Give me a couple of those personnel tie-wraps. If they come across all together, we'll wait for your announcement and signal. Any shots fired will get our response."

Sarge nodded again. We both reached for John's MP5 at the same time. I let Sarge do it and just smiled. Sarge put a round into the chamber, checked the firing position then pointed at the safety. He said, "John, you're on single fire, and this is the safety. These rifles have a real low pressure trigger pull, so keep the safety on until you need to use it."

John was a little embarrassed, but probably appreciated the help and warning. The three of us went out to get into our positions. We were ready, and it was a good thing, as two Suburbans came into the parking area and drove right up to the gate to the tarmac. A guy got out and tried to force the gate open, but couldn't. He went back and leaned into the lead truck.

The two trucks emptied out and we could see a total of ten men. The drivers doors on both vehicles stayed closed so that meant there was a total of twelve men over there.

All of them were clustered together for a minute then two men came trotting across the runway directly at where John and I were standing in the depression for the hangar door. Both of the men looked to have some form of combat rifle. Shortly after they started, the other eight men began walking across runway. All of them looked to have small rifles or machine pistols.

I pushed John back deep into the door depression and waited. When the two had come abreast of us, in the dark shadow of the hangar, I swung my MP5 at the head of the first guy. He crumpled as the other man stopped and was swinging around at me. I leaped at him using my hand to chop him in the throat.

I followed through by wrapping my arm around his neck and twisting quickly feeling the snap of the neck. The man folded without a sound. John quickly tie-wrapped the first guy's hands, while I tore off the guy's shirt sleeve and stuffed it in his mouth. I put a tie-wrap around his head to hold the gag in.

John and I dragged him to the building then did the same to the dead guy.

We were just crouching down, getting a sighting on the group coming across the tarmac when one of the deputies announced, "You are surrounded. Put down your weapons and put your hands on your head." He said it three times as the group of men stopped still looking to see where the announcement was coming from. There was some hesitancy, then as if by some command, they all began firing at the hangars but turned and began running back toward the Suburbans.

The rounds shot at us were our signal, so I began picking off the running men from the front first. While sighting at the third man, I saw our men over at the operations building going to take out the two drivers. They didn't fire at the men coming toward them, as they didn't want to hit any of their own men.

John said, "Got two so far. You keep going from the front, I'll work from the back. We were down to two men when they stopped, dropped their weapons and put their hands up. The one guy was slow, and the deputies knocked him down before the man could put his gun down. The single man left was standing very still, yelling, "I give up, I give up."'

There was a shot over by the Suburbans and I saw a deputy stagger back but brought his handgun up and fired three times. The deputy stood there and you could here him cursing from all the way across the tarmac.

Deputies ran quickly to the downed men and the man standing in the middle of the runway. Sarge didn't stop there but went across to his man who had been hit. We could see the guy point to his middle and gesture at the Suburban. The guy I had hit with the butt of the MP5 was groaning. I cut the tie-wrap from his mouth and pulled out the shirt sleeve. John asked, "Can't I shoot the son of a bitch so we don't have to fuck with him?"

The prisoner's eyes got real big, but I said, "I'd rather watch what happens when we give him to Orlando. They might want to play with him."

The man asked, "What did you do with my partner?"

"I hit him wrong and he's dead," I said. "Sorry, the guy didn't give me much of a chance to not hurt him."

Before we even thought to read the guy his rights, he was asking, "I want to call my lawyer. You have to let me call as soon as I ask."

John said, "We're in the field. We haven't advised you of any rights yet. When we get you in confinement and have read you your rights, we'll be glad to charge you with murder, and then let you call an attorney. There will be no bail for killing a federal agent. Plus you'll pull conspiracy murder charges on all your dead friends out here."

You could see the guy look nervous. I said, "What are you looking for? What do you want?"

The guy looked back and forth between us and said, "Can I make a deal?"

I added, "Yep, you can make a deal. Tell me what you're looking for and who you're working for, and I'll make sure you only get charged with one count."

"That ain't good enough. Make it manslaughter. I wasn't inside in Orlando, anyway."

I smiled, "But you were here and it looks like of the twelve of you, only three are able to talk. That means nine counts of murder right here."

"Make it manslaughter and I'll make your day," the guy said.

John said, "Go ahead. I can make that deal with the prosecutor."

The guy was still sitting, so I pulled my Glock and put it under his chin, "Tell me, tell me everything or I will say you were making a play for the peashooter you have in your ankle holster. I've already seen you have a chain around your neck and what do you want to bet that it's a handcuff key. Won't work with tie-wraps, but who knows what could happen when we get you in cuffs. Tell me."

The guy held his breath as I pulled the chain from around his neck and found keys for the two types of handcuffs on the market. One was the standard in the U.S., and the other was the European style. I pulled his little 9mm from his ankle holster and put it in my back pocket. After patting him down and pulling his wallet, I asked again, "Tell me."

"We were trying to get at the cash that was supposed to be shipped up on that jet from Brazil. The boss said it was there and we had to get it. He's having a fit because you guys have taken down all his operations and are selling off all his stuff. He has a big boat he's going to leave on and he wants his cash. There's one more guy that you're going to have to watch out for. He's another hired gun. He's about your size with a bushy beard. The guy is cold, real cold. He was sent after some Mexicans, and we heard he totally destroyed a house, a helicopter, and all the main guys from a couple of big drug cartels. When he gets back here, he's going to be tough to catch, but I can tell you, he's gonna want his money and he is dangerous."

John and I looked at each other, and John asked, "What's his name and what is your boss' name?"

"No one knows that shooter's name. He goes by the 'Master.' That's what he wants everyone to call him. He doesn't deal with anything but cash and dead people."

John asked again, "What's your boss' name?"

"You better get him, or you can bet I'll be dead as soon as I hit the pen. The man's name is George Marcockos. He's the Greek that has been putting your mafia guys to shame for a long time. The man is virtually untouchable."

I asked, "Where's his boat?"

"If he hasn't left yet, it's in Miami. He's waiting for us to bring his money to him. He's promised us each a million, so it must be a lot of money. I'm figuring that he was going to pop us when we turned over the ca sh. I was planning on trying to take it all and skip. I'd bet he has the Master down there on his boat ready to do us all."

Thinking about everything, I asked, "How many more people are out there that we need to worry about?"

The man looked at me sadly, and said, "We're all that's left. All the rest were killed or captured. Like I said though, Marcockos, the Greek, wants his money and if we don't get there, he'll send the Master to get it."

"What's the name of the boat," I asked.

The man actually laughed, "It's a great big sailboat called the 'Pure Greek.'"

I pulled the man to his feet, "Don't say another word to anyone. If you stay quiet, I'll get you a deal with the prosecutor. If you begin talking to anyone else, you will probably get dead while in jail. Come on, John, let's get this guy to a deputy then see if we can get an airplane out of here."

While we had been asking questions, Sheriff's cars had come to the airpark. Two cleanup vans from the Bureau and Marshal's office arrived, and the crime scene investigation had begun. I asked Sarge, "I need two men, two good men. We're going to Miami to see if we can finish this. You need to keep guards here tonight, and tomorrow, take that Brazilian plane apart. What these guys are looking for is probably behind the interior paneling. Begin there."

"I'm going to get an aircraft and take us to Miami. I might take Steve Sharp, the S&S owner. Let me borrow a couple of vests."