Chapter 74

Chuck

When Steve called to tell me that men in black were at the patio to see me, I was almost apoplectic. I was really mad that they would come for me, especially knowing I was about to leave on an extended leave of absence.

When I found them in the patio having some iced tea and acting like gentlemen, I felt a little better. They did need to get a new wardrobe designer, though, as the black suits and black ties were a little much.

When they finished their iced tea, we went outside where they explained the problem. It was a big bad problem and I had already witnessed and been a part of something similar in the past. Before it was in Mobile, Alabama, but this time it was on some riverboats and barges in New Orleans. Just what we needed, another very nasty group of people.

I asked, "So isn't this a Bureau problem?"

Gus, the Secret Service leader, said, "It sure is, and it is also going to partly be Homeland Security's, and the U.S. Marshal Service's problem, along with the DEA and an ATF. We were asked to take the lead on it and when we looked up to see who had worked that deal in Mobile, low and behold, your name was right there."

I told the guy, "Look, if we can do this right now. I mean, I go there, we do what we have to do, and you get me back here. That's the only way I'll do it, otherwise, you guys can figure it out on your own. I'm totally done, and getting more done by the second. What's it going to be?"

Gus used his cell phone and talked for a long time. He handed me the phone and a voice said, "You know we can just put a hold on you, don't you?"

I laughed, "Sure go ahead. I can be a civilian too, and you can go pound sand. Whoever you are, I said I would help if we would do this right now, and I thought that's why I was talking to you."

The guy said, "We may not be ready. I want at least a hundred men to do this."

"If you have a hundred men, what in the hell do you need me for?"

"You're the only one who knows these people, and you have experience with what they will do and how hard they will resist."

I said, "Look, do yourself a favor, just blow everything and everyone on or around those boats up and let them sink. Let them stay down for a week, then salvage everything and life will go on. If these are the same immigrants of dubious status that we had in Mobile, you are probably in trouble. Like I said, just blow the place and contain the area so no one gets off the boat or the barge."

I could hear the guy take a deep breath, "We can't do that. We have to take the place in a conventional manner. There will be too many witnesses, and too much collateral damage, if we just blow it. As it is, we're going to have to have men on other boats with tourists and customers on them while we take down the one we want. It's going to be messy; there is no way out of it."

"Well then," I repeated, "Can you do it right now or what?"

"Okay, we'll do it now. How many people do you want and what kind of equipment do you need?"

"All hundred you said you had. I want the local guard troops, with live ammunition and full field gear, to contain the boat and maybe help inside if need be. I want the boats to be blasted with microwave so their cell phones don't work when we begin to close in. I want an active military or naval EOD team on hand, even if you have to get the faculty from the EOD school at Eglin AFB. Get me there and back by early AM Wednesday at the latest."

The guy on the other end said, "Give the phone to Gus."

I handed Gus the phone and he spoke a couple of minutes then hung up. He said, "Dress in your field gear and grab your arms. We will be flying out of Tampa as soon as we can get there."

I pulled out my cell and gave a call to Lisa, "I'll be home in a minute, I need to talk to you." I hung up without letting her talk.

When I went inside the house to change clothes, Lisa followed me into the bedroom and when she saw I was changing into fatigues, she said, " You said you wanted to talk to me. What's going on? You're not going anywhere without me. I'll get dressed and I'll go with you."

"You may not be able to be involved in part of this. It's going to be really messy if it's like the last time. You can come, but you may only be an observer or sniper."

"Fine, I'll do whatever you say, but I'm going," Lisa said, as she was stripping right then.

We quickly dressed, put our armor on under our shirts, and donned our field vests, as well. I grabbed my weapons case, as did Lisa, and we went out of the bedroom, said bye to the ladies, and were out the door.

When the Secret Service men saw Lisa, they were about to object, until I said, "She goes, I make that decision."

Gus drove to the airport like a crazy man, and we pulled up to another Citation X. We got on the aircraft while someone came to drive the car away. The jet was already spooled up and ready to leave. Like magic, I heard the pilot say he was ready to depart, and suddenly all other aircraft on the taxiways were told to hold their positions while the Citation made its way to the active runway.

We were off the ground and almost as soon, back on the ground. While we were in the air, the four men in black suits changed into fatigues with armor. They suited up the same as Lisa and I had, and began loading their pouches with ammo. Lisa and I pulled out extra MP5 ammo from our cases and filled our vests. I also made sure I had four extra magazines for my Glock.

I asked Gus, "Do you have any hand grenades?"

Gus reached over to what looked like a catalogue case, pulled out four M67 grenades, and handed them to me. Lisa looked at me with her hand out, and I just shook my head. "Naah. You throw like a girl," I said with a wink and a smirk. The expression on her face said she wasn't happy, but that was my decision.

A small bus took us from the airport to the riverfront area where casino barges and boats were moored. We met at a big black motor home parked close to the docks next to some tractor trailers waiting to load or unload.

Inside the motor home a man I had met before while out west began briefing the various agency team leaders. It was really close to what had been set up in Mobile, but this time, there were two craft, a large replica paddle wheeler that traveled out of the moorings up and down the river, and a large barge that had been converted into a luxury casino.

The arrangements were that the barge had space below decks for the working girls barracks. It was estimated there were at least a hundred girls working from there. At least another thirty or forty girls were on the boat, supposedly working the gaming crowds and not in the forced pseudo whorehouse the casino barge had.

The Secret Service man said, "Now the fun part, there are probably a hundred plus workers in the casino, and nearly that many security people. Since the casino barge brings in such a great amount of cash, they have more security. Of course, that security also watches their investment in forced prostitution. We came on to this when a young girl of only sixteen showed up at a police station and began telling her story. She had been smuggled out of Russia into the United States, and brought directly here, along with a dozen other young girls."

He continued, "She said that there were at least a hundred enslaved girls working as prostitutes on the barge, and she knew that the girls who became easy to deal with, and wanted to stay, were given the opportunity for higher stakes prostitution on the riverboat."

"Now the nasty part," the man said. "The working people on the barge all appear to be imports that look to be in good physical condition, almost as if they are some form of military group that have been trained as card dealers, bartenders, chefs, and other service workers on the barge and boat. The security people are about the same, but they are obviously security. They are plainclothes inside the casinos, but some that patrol either on the outside deck or inside on the perimeter of the casino floor, wear security guard uniforms."

"We have just about been able to pin down the number of security people at about a hundred and thirty between the barge and boat. The problem with the internal workers is that only a very few go off the boat or barge. The rest stay in some kind of barracks on board the barge."

The man was pacing back and forth in front of us and when he came to me, he pulled me forward and said "This is Chuck Johnson of the U.S. Marshal Service. He also works with the Secret Service and has previously been involved in a situation like this. I want him to tell you what to expect."

I looked the men who would lead their people into a very messy situation over and said, "If these are all from the same mold as the Russians and Czechs we were involved with before, I can tell you they won't give up easily. They fought as if their lives depended on it. What we need is some kind of diversion and some way to force them into the open or we're going to suffer a lot of casualties. If we consider the enslaved women on board as collateral, then there will be collateral damage as well."

Having an idea, I looked at the men and said, "How about this, we open a hole in the barge big enough that it will sink fast? I'm sure they didn't install water tight hatches to shut in case of a large leak so if we open a big enough hole, this will force all of the guards, workers, and slave prostitutes on deck to look for help getting off of the barge."

"While that is going on, a contingent of men will distract the guards on the riverboat to come to the far end of the boat, therefore leaving the barge people vulnerable. If we act quickly, we can capture the barge people, or at least contain them in the open, so you can pick them off one by one if we need to."

"As that phase of this is completing, we will then take the riverboat with all available men and clear the place room by room, deck by deck, until it is clear. Once again, let me stress that these people have been trained to kill and will kill you. Be careful and make sure everyone wears their armor. You leaders, figure out a way to sink the damned barge and give us a time frame. It's getting late and I'd like to get this over with."

After a pause, I yelled, "Will the Marshal Service and Bureau leaders come here a second?"

As the others huddled to figure out how to sink the barge, the two men I had asked for came up. I asked, "Do you have sufficient cuffs, chains, and personnel tie-wraps for this. You'll need somewhere around four hundred if we get everyone alive."

The Bureau guy's eyes bulged, "Four hundred sets of cuffs? Who has that?"

I said, "You should, or you shouldn't have even bothered anyone to do this job."

He said, "I didn't, I thought it was Homeland Security that started this."

The Deputy Marshal grimaced at his Bureau counterpart and said, "No, the Secret Service started all of this because of a flood of phony money that's been showing up and it all leads back to here. The more information they found out, the more agencies they called in. And Chuck," the Deputy said, "As far as cuffs and restraints, we have a bunch of chains with us, but we also have two cases of a thousand personal restraints, or tie-wraps, if you want to call them that."

An ATF guy came up and told me, "I have two underwater teams here, so we'll put charges on two sides of the barge and as soon as the men are back on shore, we'll blow those and get set for the stampede to get out of there."

I asked, "What's your time frame?"

The ATF leader said, "It'll take us until midnight to one o'clock to get the equipment and come back. We should be able to have the charges set by two and then you can give the signal for the fun to begin."

I called for everyone there to listen up and told them that we would tentatively set the attack for three AM. They should all monitor the Bureau emergency frequency for updates and for the call to strike.

"One last warning, if you see anyone you suspect is involved near this command headquarters, you are to capture them at all costs so they cannot alert the barge or the boat. Let's keep a lid on this thing until it goes down."

As I left the briefing tent, Lisa caught up with me and asked, "What are you going to have me do?"

Answering, I said, "If that part goes the way it should, you can help get the prisoners rounded up and be some protection for the guys that have to shake them down and restrain them. Remember, just like out at that parking lot out west, these men are dangerous and ruthless. Shoot first and ask questions later. Don't take any chances, and make sure you have some cover."

Lisa asked, "Where are you going to be, and what will you be doing?"

"I'll help with the riverboat, since that one will be really messy as customers will probably still be on board as well as the crew cleaning up for tomorrow's cruises. Hopefully, the distractions will be enough to cause some confusion so it can be a clean take down. I'm planning on flooding the boat with Marshals and the National Guard so we can end it quickly. I heard that this Guard unit just rotated back from Afghanistan, so they are seasoned and won't hesitate to fire."

Lisa looked at me and said, "You know I should be with you don't you?"

"Not on this one, Lisa, it's too dangerous, I know from experience. It's going to be hairy enough where you will be. Keep your eyes open. This time you won't have Nightfox's eyes to help you. Like I said, keep some cover, and don't hesitate to shoot. These people are better trained than the terrorists we met. These are all probably ex-Russian soldiers and you know what their rep is."

Lisa nodded, but was looking down, "It's just that it's my job to watch out for you and I can't do that if I'm somewhere else."

"Not this time, please don't ask. It will hopefully all go smoothly and the riverboat people will give up before it gets out of hand." As I said this, I gathered her into my arms and told her, "Look, Honey, you have to stay out of the line of fire as much as possible. I know you've been trained well and you've now had some face to face experience, but a live firefight is different. It's so damned scary and happens so fast that you just don't have time to think. Everything is a reaction from what you've learned from previous live firefights."

Lisa said, "I was in that printing plant where you two were both down, and I was doing what I had been trained for. I was in the middle of it up in Seattle, so I know what can go wrong."

I wasn't holding Lisa any longer and was pacing next to her trying to figure out how to keep her out of the mess I was sure was coming. "If I let you get close to this, will you stay under cover? In the printing plant and up in Seattle you had cover. If you stay down, you can stay on the perimeter and back me up, but do not come into the fighting theater. I sincerely mean for you to stay there and back me up."

Lisa was a little more relaxed and said, "I'll do that, but I'll feel a lot better being where you are, watching you."

We walked out to the groups of people to see if the team leaders were planning how to position themselves when the people began streaming off the barge. One of the men from the Secret Service said, "How about we set up something like you did with the wedge? We can be in a loose situation before the barge begins taking on water then as they come off the barge we can begin funneling them into the wedge. I was thinking we could use a lot of the Guard to do part of that."

Agreeing with his plan, I said, "That will work, but your men that are close to the riverboat need to be aware that fire could begin coming from there. They will have to concentrate on the people coming off the barge, so they need cover from the riverboat. Make sure your men understand that when you set them up. Don't start putting them into place until about two thirty. We don't want a bunch of people loitering around, attracting attention." I closed with him by saying, "And make sure you tell your men to not hesitate to fire at any strange movement."

I told Lisa, "Let's get a couple of sandwiches and a Coke or some coffee from that canteen tent."

This project didn't feel right. Something was missing, something was wrong with what we were planning, but I didn't know what else we could do. A full, all-out, frontal assault would cost a lot of lives. This was the only way I could think of that could possibly get the people off the barge without getting a lot of casualties.

Lisa and I found a place to sit down and take it easy for a few minutes while we waited for the other contingents to get their men in place. Lisa nudged me and said, "Don't worry, Chuck, you gave them an idea when they didn't have any, and some of the men who were with us in Seattle are here to help out, so this should go okay. We can direct the men on how to close up as necessary."

"Let's go see if we can find a recon position near the riverboat so we can watch it for a while. Maybe we'll see something. Before we go, let me talk to the ATF team leader a sec."

We found the man sipping a cup of hot coffee. I asked, "Do you think your men might bring enough charges to do the same thing to that riverboat? If we did that when we begin attacking, they might give up easier. You know the people below decks will be coming out fast. What do you think?"

The guy said, "I called for both UDT teams to come and they'll bring the van with all of our field explosives, so we'll have enough. That might be a good idea to keep in reserve. If the boat people give us a problem, we can blow it too."

He asked, "Should we set all the charges at the same time?"

"Please do that, but set the remote detonators for different frequencies. I want to wait to blow the boat. If we don't have to blow it, we could hold off."

When he agreed and left for his people, Lisa and I walked down a dark alley, trying to get close to the riverboat.

The riverfront in this area was lined with bars, restaurants, and tourist stores all along the street fronting the boat and barge moorings. All of the stores were at least two stories, and many had nice balconies facing the river and craft moored there. Close to the front of the building we were next to, was a stairway that probably was some kind of fire exit from the second story. Lisa and I quietly went up the stairs to check out the dark store below. The windows of the building were all dark, and you could tell that the balcony was used as additional outdoor seating for whatever was inside.

We sat in the chairs and looked out over the balcony railing. The riverboat we were interested in was tied to the dock and appeared to be finished for the night. We watched as a couple of guys came out, staggering a little. A little later, three couples came out a little wobbly, having a great time. Taxis were on the street and came up to quickly gather the late night revelers to drive them to wherever they needed to go.

Lisa and I were keeping track of the time, and when it came to two fifteen, we went back to the rendezvous point. The agencies were setting up their wedge, and the men who were going to take the boat were formed and ready to move through the alleys to attack the boat.