Chapter 14

Chuck

Lisa and I landed in Key West for customs and immigration inspection on the way home. Julie asked about shopping the beach stores, but Lisa said we should pass on that and get home. Giovanni and Mesa didn't care one way or the other as they had never experienced the wild frenzy of Key West shops.

Upon arriving in the airpark traffic pattern, I thought it was unusual for no one to be manning the radios. The ILS was up, but I was a little concerned that no one responded to my call.

Lisa said, "Let's make a pass and go slow to have a look see before we go in." As we passed over the airpark, we didn't see anyone outside, but a couple of student aircraft were sitting in front of the hangar and a 737 was hooked to a tow motor in front of the big jet hangar next to the charter office. The hangar doors were closed. The maintenance door was open, but from our height you couldn't see inside.

I said to Lisa, "The helicopter hangar is closed up, but that 737 bothers me, as well as those two student trainers. Part of our lessons is refueling and pushing the aircraft back into the hangar."

Lisa said, "You're right. Let me call the charter service. Why don't you do a touch and go like you're a training flight while I call."

A minute later, Lisa told me, "DeDe answered but said the airpark was temporarily closed and not to come out for a lesson today. Something is wrong. Let's go into Tampa and drive back here. I'll call Hap and Mickey to get some help. I think they should wait until we get here, though."

At the Tampa private terminal, one of our King Airs, and two of our student aircraft were parked in front of the operations building. John met us as we were about to enter the building, "I don't know what's going on, but we were all red-lighted when we were on final. The radios must not be working, but the ILS is fine. I didn't see anything wrong with the runways and when I called DeDe, she only said the airpark is closed. Do you know what's going on?"

I told John, "I have no idea, but I will find out." I then asked him, "Is that one of our helicopters sitting out there?"

He said, "Yeah, Joy was out doing check rides when she was waved off. We're all just waiting for me to be called with an all clear."

I looked at Lisa, "Let's get Joy to fly us to the house and we'll take a car from there. Before we leave, use your cell to check with Hap."

I was helping Joy get the helicopter ready when Lisa came out. She said, "Hap and several county cars will be already parked near the airpark waiting for you."

"Come on, Joy will get us home so we can get our equipment. We'll meet Hap and the others in about thirty minutes, tops. Let him know while we spool up."

It took longer to get clearance than to fly home. Joy set down in the large field behind our house. I told Joy that she could stay at the house or go back to the airport. She said she would just wait at the house.

Lisa and I grabbed our equipment cases, loaded up with extra magazines, and were out the door in record time. Thankfully, no one else was home, so we didn't have to tell anyone what was going on.

While driving to the airpark, I called Jan, "I think our airpark is under siege. All of the aircraft coming in were red-lighted and waved off. When we did our pass, we were not red-lighted so whoever it is may have thought it was me. The only thing I can think of is someone could be after Giovanni. He was with me, but he is at the operations building at the Tampa private terminal right now. Can you give us a hand and see if there are any deputies available?"

Jan said, "I'm on my way, and I'll get everyone I can find. Don't do anything until we're there."

I told her, "I can't promise that, but I'll be very careful as to how I approach the airpark."

I was trying to develop a plan for us, when Lisa said, "How about I drop you off at the end of the runway by those houses, and I'll go up toward the operations building. I'll try to get in there without being seen and see if there is anyone there. I'll get a deputy to cover my back. I'll also try to get a couple of men to cover you."

"That's a good idea, except you going into the operations building alone."

Lisa said, "It will be easier if I do go in alone as I will make a smaller target, and I've been trained to do that. You forget, the Secret Service gives a lot of training. I'll be careful, you be too. I'll use my silencer, and you should as well. I think everything is going to be close range, so leave your rifles. We'll put our armor on before I let you go."

Lisa stopped at the street where the end of the runway was. It was convenient as the runway fence stopped there as well. It would be about a half mile to the hangars, then another thousand yards to where our hangars were. I was going to have to clear each hangar on the way to make sure no one was in them.

After putting my armor on, I said to Lisa, "Put your phone on buzz and we'll text each other. Let me know as soon as you have the operations building cleared."

I hated to split up and hated letting Lisa go in alone even worse. This was serious enough, though, and these people were Lisa's friends as well.

I walked across the open area until I had the fuel shed between me and the first hangar. Hoping no one would be there, I moved as quickly as possible toward the first hangar. No one was in or around the fuel shed, and in either of the first row of hangars. There was a back door to our office from the hangar directly behind the first two Steve had built, so I went to the window to look through. I saw Star and the clerk tied and gagged, sitting in the lobby waiting area chairs. DeDe was standing next to a man wearing a ski mask. He was holding what looked like a regular M1911.45 or some other caliber that would be in that frame. I watched closely to see if there were any more men attacking the offices. After waiting about ten minutes, I pushed the door open very slowly until I had a good sight line to the man. Without thinking about it, I put two rounds in the guy's head and burst through the door holding my finger up to my mouth.

I whispered to DeDe, "Are there any more in this building?"

She said, "One upstairs in the front office to watch the approaches and around these hangars."

"Stay here, I'll be right back." I slid a fresh magazine into my Glock and slowly slid my feet up the stairs so as not to make any noise. When my head was at a level I could look over the edge of the floor, I held my breath and peeked. A guy was leaning over the counter in front of the window intently looking out, but holding what looked like a hunting or sniper rifle of some kind. Hoping the guy had a hard head so I wouldn't shatter the glass on the other side of him, I put a single round in his head.

The man fell dead. I ran up, grabbed the rifle and checked him for other weapons. He had a nice Smith and Wesson .45, so I took it and the rifle downstairs.

DeDe had untied the two women and had taken the gags from them. I said, "DeDe, Star, take these two pistols and make sure you know how to use them. I know you both shoot, so watch the office."

My cell phone buzzed, the message read, "Too many, counted six, may be more, will get help. Don't try to cross runway, rifles."

I asked DeDe, "Where is everyone else? There's no one at the fuel shack and no one in these back hangars."

Star held her hand to her mouth, "Forgot, they tied up everyone else and put them out in the jet hangar. Let me go get them."

I said, "Let them loose, but tell them to stay in the hangar until we get this taken care of."

I texted Lisa, "When you are clear, call me."

Almost immediately my phone buzzed for a call. When I answered, Lisa said, "Got two of them. They came out while I was still beside the building. Had to neutralize one, but was able to take the other back to the county cops. There are also a bunch of FBI and half of our Marshal station is here. What should we do?"

"Interrogate him, and find out how many more there are. There were two in the charter office, both are down. Most all of the other people from the park were in the jet hangar, so we know where everyone is. I'll wait for a few minutes before I do anything else to find out if you can crack the guy."

Lisa said, "Not to worry, I know how to make him talk."

Tank and another of the helicopter techs came out of the hangar with an indignant look on their faces. Tank said, "What the fuck, you gonna tell me I can't help? I've been through two wars and I'm gonna back down from a bunch of yahoo's that storm the place? I was too far from my piece, or I would have lessened the odds. Give me a piece, or better yet, give me that rifle I see. I'll see if I can pick off a few."

The other man said, "I'm with Tank. Find me another rifle or something to help with."

I told both, "Look, I don't have any body armor for either of you, so anything you two do, do it behind good cover. Take the rifle, I didn't check the guy upstairs for extra magazines for his pistol or rifle. One of you who doesn't have a queasy stomach, go check him out."

The other guy took the stairs two at a time and quickly reappeared, holding two handfuls of magazines and a small nine millimeter Beretta. He said, "The guy had a backup. That'll give me at least something to fight with."

I asked, "How do you do with a forty-five?"

"What I learned on, I used to be damned good, but time may have taken its toll."

I turned to Star, "Trade the forty-five for the Beretta. You are the last line of defense for those people in the hangar. Tank, you and your buddy, go to the light aircraft hangar and peek through the opening between the doors to see if you can get a shot. Don't shoot unless I shoot first."

Tank scoffed, "How in the hell am I going to know when you've shot? I won't be close enough to hear the slide or shell casing hit the ground."

I said, "Give me your cell phone number and turn it on buzz. I'll tell you when to take a target. Buzz me if you spot anyone."

Tank said, "I think there were ten of them total. There were these two and two who were going to go to the far hangars where Marty and Moleson are with Wes and his men. The rest, six of them, took off for the operations building. I don't think there are any more."

I texted Lisa who called me right back, "There are two possibly in the back hangars; you have the rest in operations. I'll go find the two in the back hangars while you figure out how to get in operations. Be careful."

I went out the back and around the far end of the hangar near the practice field. These hangars are really big, so it took me a while to get into the open side door of the helicopter shop. I cleared it, the office areas upstairs and down. After clearing the maintenance hangar, I checked the big helicopter hangar, then the LSA shop. The six men who worked there were trussed up and gagged. I untied them and told them to get into the corner and to not get up until they were given the all clear.

Now I had to figure out how to get to the last two hangars. I peeked out the window of the office across from the new office where Marty and Moleson would be, and saw someone in the upstairs window. I was thinking about taking a shot when I saw another head peeking over the window sill out the window. That was Moleson and Marty. Wonder how he got upstairs?

I took a sheet of paper from the fax machine and waved it trying to get the two men's attention. Marty pointed at the window where I was, so I showed him my phone hoping he had the number.

My phone buzzed, I didn't recognize the number so I answered it, "Johnson."

Marty's voice said, "We took care of the two that were here and have Wes and his other two men downstairs keeping watch. I think there are only two over there at the charter office, but there has to be perhaps eight in the operations building."

I told Marty, "Later, I want to know how you two did that, but you're right about the eight possible in operations. Lisa said she thought there was only six and took down two of them, so that leaves just four or six left. Tank said there were only ten altogether." I had a sudden thought, "Did you check the ones you took for hideout guns? They may have ankle holsters."

Marty said, "No need to worry, neither of the two over here will cause trouble, and one won't use up any of our air."

"Spoken like a true GI," I told them, "I'll call with the all clear."

I called Lisa, she answered just like me, "Johnson."

I told her what I knew, "Marty and Tank said there were only ten total, so that means there should be only four left in operations. I'd bet our two people from there and the snack shop person are tied up. These guys act like they only want one thing. I'm guessing it's me or Giovanni."

Lisa said, "Figures. You haven't stirred up any shit recently, so this is probably a welcome home party for Gio. The guy over here is jabbering like a three year old. He has confirmed the ten figure. There is now someone in the little tower above the ops building. The other three are possibly still downstairs, but I'd bet they are crowded together up there. I can walk right up to the building without being seen because of the fence. Let me go in. Four of them shouldn't be a problem, at least not for Jan and me."

Damn, I can't stand that I'm letting Lisa take that chance. I asked, "Aren't there any snipers you can use over there? Have them put the guy down that you can see in the tower. That will bring the odds down to three to two. Take a couple of deputies with you for backup."

Lisa said almost angry, "I can do this, Chuck, I'm not a wimp, neither is Jan, besides they have pissed me off."

Lisa

After I let Chuck out at the end of runway, I drove to where a whole bunch of cars were staged. There were County Sheriff cars, FBI cars, Hap's security vehicles, and about eight Deputy Marshal units. As soon as I got out of Chuck's car, Sarge and Jan came over to me.

Jan asked, "Where's Chuck?"

I told them, "He's making his way up to the hangars on this end. He's going to text me his progress. I'm going to get up to the operations building to see how many are inside. One of you cover me while I do some recon."

About a dozen handguns and rifles came out, leveling toward the rear door.

I was able to use the tall fence as cover to where no one would see me scaling the fence and getting to the door. I could see there was no one in the low tower on top of the building right then, but kept low anyway. When I reached the door, I could see two of the regular people from operations building, but they were tied up in the corner. At least they were out of the line of fire, if it comes to that. I kept seeing more movement until I was thinking there might be as many as eight in there. That was more than one person can safely take, so I thought I might go back and regroup to figure out how to do this.

I was backing away from the door when it opened and two men came out. Both had smokes in their hand and proceeded to light up. I had ducked behind a trash can and stood up with my silenced Glock pointing their way, "Put your hands on top of your head and be very careful. I'm a pissed off Babe who'd love to kill you. Now do it."

The one guy dropped his cigarette and lighter putting his hands on top of his head. I guess the other guy thought that would be enough of a distraction that I would miss what he was trying to do. When his hand went inside his jacket, I put one in the center of his body mass and followed it with two more in the head. The other guy was frozen in place with fear on his face. I said, "Don't be stupid and you'll live. You've already outlived your partner."

The guy was so scared he couldn't talk, but was nodding rapidly as he kept both hands on top of his head. I used one hand to frisk him while keeping the silencer against his chin. He had a revolver and a small automatic in an ankle holster.

With my gun still pointed at the guy, I checked the other guy. I did check for a pulse, but there really wasn't a need. This guy was loaded for bear. Besides the piece under his left arm and shoulder, he had another under his right. He had two ankle holsters, so I checked his crotch area to make sure he didn't have anything else. I kept stuffing firearms into my waist until no more would fit. The scared prisoner did have a very nice K-Bar in a clip-on sheath, so I took that and clipped it on my waist.

Making sure the guy was not close enough to swing around, I led him around the fence and back to where the other law enforcement types were staged, still holding their weapons at the ready and pointing at the operations building.

After my prisoner was cuffed, I buzzed Chuck to tell him I had taken two down, only neutralizing one. He explained his position and told me to wait for him to finish on that side of the area before we did anything else. He wanted me to interrogate the prisoner and I said I would be happy to do that.

Jan and I went to where the man was sitting on the ground with a set of cuffs on his hands and ankles, with a chain between the two. Jan said, "This young lady enjoys other people's pain. I'm going to ask you some questions and if we think you're lying, I'll let her have some fun."

I took out the K-Bar and wiped it on the guy's shirt then did what I had seen Chuck do before. I flicked the side of his nose making him almost yell, but put a napkin up to catch the blood.

Jan said, "Now that you know we're serious, how many men do you have here?"

The guy was totally terrified as I brought the knife toward his face. He almost screamed, "Ten, there are ten of us."

Next Jan asked, "How many are in the operations building?"

He didn't even hesitate, "Six, the boss and five more of us, or, ah, only four total now." The guy said in awe, "The boss is going to take a couple of you out. He is ruthless and if he could see I was captured, he would shoot me just for getting caught."

Jan said, "I'm going to let some other people question you, but if I find out you're not being cooperative, I'm sending Lisa back to play with you."

The man nodded that he understood. He cautioned again, "The boss is probably watching us from that tower thing on top of the building right now."

I told him, "We're out of sight, so if he's looking for us, he can't see anything."

Sarge was standing there with some binoculars, and said, "There is a heavyset guy in the control tower. He's waving a gun around, yelling at someone I can't see. The man looks crazed, so we're going to have to be careful. The glass on the tower is too thick for our snipers to go through."

I told Sarge to hold that thought and went to the car. I opened the trunk and Chuck's equipment case. I assembled Chuck's fifty caliber sniper rifle, loaded it with a magazine of non-explosive rounds and went back to the waiting man. "Let me get to where we can see the tower. If he's up there, I'll neutralize the guy and you can rush the building for the last three."

Sarge was looking at the big fifty with bulging eyes; "Holy shit, where did you get that?"

"Don't ask; just get your men ready to rush the building as soon as I fire."

He assembled a large group made up of County deputies, FBI agents, and a bunch of Deputy Marshals, putting them on the edge of our cover.

I really didn't know how much this thing was going to kick, but I had been trained to fire heavy caliber weapons. This thing was not that heavy in total weight and felt perfectly balanced. I put the rifle over a trash can near the entrance to the airpark where the guy in the tower wouldn't be looking. After ranging the man, I sighted in on him. He was standing upright with a pair of field glasses looking to where the men were at the ready.

I didn't hesitate; I squeezed the trigger and automatically ratcheted the bolt ejecting the spent brass and sliding the next round into the chamber. When I focused on the man in the tower again, he was pushed all the way to the other side of the tower room, lying back against the glass and not moving.

The men who had been waiting took off running toward the back door of the operations building. I could see them stream in, but kept the rifle aimed at the tower. I didn't hear any more shots, and three men were soon led from the building. I could see Sarge in the window of the tower waving at me. I'm sure he was hoping I identified him and didn't fire again.