Tank's Revenge Ch. 01

His thoughts were soon diverted as the SUV he was tailing went into a rest area before Midland. He also took the exit into the rest area but parked at the very end, watching what was happening. One of the men walked over to where the tractor trailers were parked, and he lost visual of him. After a few minutes, the man appeared with another carrying a large container back to the SUV. Patton took out his binoculars to look closer and could tell that the box was heavy but not from the build of it, but what was inside it.

Both men then entered the vehicle and it sped out onto the interstate again, with Patton a few car links behind. He picked up his phone and voice text Mark to inform him of the event that took place. The radio was playing one of his and Sandra's favorite songs, and he thought about their wedding day. How perfect it had been, and how something wonderful bloomed from that day with Mark and Maria. His smile went away as they entered Midlands' city limits.

*******

Agent Reynolds and Detective Robbins sat across from one another in the crowded coffee shop, both eyeing one another not sure if they could trust each other. Reynolds sipped his coffee, putting the cup down, leaned in folded his hands and spoke first. "I know you might not trust me, and if what I believe has happened to you, I wouldn't blame you. I am just asking we are both candid to each other and work together. Maybe we can find out what is actually going on around here."

Robbins sipped his coffee, eyeing the tall agent across from him. "You want me to trust you after your partner tried killing me?" He looked around to make sure that nobody was eavesdropping. "I was told not to come to this meeting by not only my superiors but my family."

"I completely understand as I was warned by my superior as well not to do this because we didn't know if we could trust you." Taking another sip from his coffee.

Robbins eyed him again thinking long and hard about something as he took a long sip of the hot brew in front of him. He leaned down and pulled up a briefcase, opening it and pulling out case files putting them in front of Reynolds. "This is what I was working on when your partner tried taking me out. I figured you weren't in on it after she did it, but we can't be too sure can we."

He looked at the young detective as his gaze came upon the files in front of him. The stack was substantial, and as he combed through them, he noticed one for Mark Lawson. "Why do you have a file on Agent Lawson's case? You surely don't think he had anything to do with Dawson or whatever she was mixed up with, .......do you?"

"No!" Robbins said quickly and decisively. "I do believe he might not be dead though." Reynolds jaw went slack, and he slumped back into his chair. "Hear me out Agent, I have been investigating a group of gang shootings across Dallas and Fort Worth. All of them make no sense, because in all cases, only the gangs who were attacked were killed and never took a shot of their own. It was quick and deadly precise."

Reynolds leaned back into the table again, brushing the cup of brew to the side. "Whose body was in the explosion at the Lawson's house?"

"That is a million-dollar question and since there wasn't a proper investigation due to your partners insistence, we may never know." Robbins sighed, then continued. "Listen I have done extensive background on Lawson, and from his military records that weren't detracted as well as the undercover work he did in your agency, I know he has the skills. He was a top military operative, and you can't tell me he doesn't have friends from his old unit?"

Reynolds scratched his chin as he thumbed through the file. "So, what do you suggest we do?"

Detective Robbins smiled, "Could you follow up with where and whom the trail leads from Agent Dawson to the gangs, and I will follow up my suspicions on Agent Lawson." Reynolds held his hand out and they shook on it, becoming an unstoppable investigating team that has yet shown its true potential.

********

The mangled car was flipped upside down in the field next to the interstate. Two men were thrown from the vehicle, the driver still sitting behind the wheel all dead, while the last of the passengers laid on his back with a handgun to his head. The operation was a success, and no civilians were hurt during the attack on the SUV. The DJI Mavic Pro drone modified with a mini machine gun landing by the midnight special black SUV on the side of the road had done exactly as it was programmed. The thin man picked up the drone and put it in the back of the SUV, while an additional black SUV pulled up behind it. The men knew each other and simply nodded signaling everything had been a success.

The man who had overseen the drone joined the other guarding the man lying on the ground. He tied his hands behind his back, and both men stood him up walking over to the first SUV where a red headed girl was in the driver's seat. Both men entered their vehicles and took off down the road as fast as they could go, and just in time. As they were about half a mile away, they noticed lights from emergency vehicles pulling up to the scene of the crash. The entirety of the mission took less than two minutes.

*********

Detective Robbins and Agent Reynolds came upon the scene, noticing the throes of unmarked vehicles and many different jackets representing their agencies including the ATF, DEA, FBI, State police and the local police. Both men stepped out of their vehicle and walked over to the mangled steel. Robbins noticed the two white sheets over to his left, as he elbowed Reynolds in his side. They stopped at the back end of the wrecked SUV and noticed the investigators collecting bricks of heroin and stacking them on some tarp laid out.

DEA Agent Wesley noticed the two men hovering near where the drugs were being taken out of the vehicle. The director of the DEA had given him the lead on the case with the large amount of heroin found. The other agencies were still fighting to try and get jurisdiction or a joint investigation, something Wesley did not care about. All he wanted to do was solve this case. "Afternoon Fellas, I'm DEA Agent in charge Jim Wesley. Welcome to the party."

Robbins and Reynolds both turned around and looked the man over. Robbins shook the man's hand as he replied, "I'm Detective Robbins from the Dallas Police Department, and this here is Special Agent Reynolds of the FBI."

Wesley looked at the men nodding his head. "So, tell me gentleman, why are you here at my crime scene? As you can tell I have enough FBI agents trying to take over and I do believe this is not your jurisdiction Detective."

Agent Reynolds spoke next, "Sir if I may, we are working on a case together, and believe this might be related to some violence in this state and across the border. We would like to just look around and if it is linked, we could share what we have with you."

"Making my job easy? Damn I guess I did wake up on the right side of the bed." He takes out a cigarillo and lights it, puffing three long draws. "What do you have that makes you think that this is related to anything back in your neck of the woods?"

Reynolds coughed slightly from the smoke as he sidestepped to his right of way from the wind. "Agent Wesley, we are chasing what we believe are mercenaries trying to take out cartels and local gangs working for them.

Wesley coughs on his own smoke for a minute, bringing a tear to one of his eyes. "Say what!? Why chase them when we should be thanking them. Those cartels traffic more things across the border both ways, and none of our resources seem to stop them let alone slow them down."

Robbins and Reynolds looked at each other with a little confusion but ad smirks on their faces. Robbins chuckled, "In some ways I agree with you, but it might also include an FBI agent and his family being killed in the process. We want to find out who these people are. We do need to stop them whether we want to or not."

Wesley takes another long draw, blowing the smoke towards Reynolds on purpose this time. "I reckon you might be right about we have to catch them, and what you say makes sense. This car belonged to Chavez Tejada." He watched as both men looked at each other, the Detective shook his head, taking his glasses off. "To answer your next question before you ask, he is not one of the victims, but someone witnessed what happened. The state police took her to the police station not far from here. I will allow you in the room when I question her."

Detective Robbins looked at Wesley, "What are we waiting for?"

********

"I'm sorry Mark, I have to get back to my family. I hope you understand." Patton was saddened to abandon his friend, but hoped he understood the importance of his departure.

Mark who was not one to show any emotion, brought his friend in for a half hug, "I understand brother, let me know how things go, don't be a stranger."

Smiling, Patton patted the man's broad shoulders. "I have to let you know when your Godchild is here, so I'll be talking to you soon."

As he watched his friend get into his vintage Malibu and drive off down the dark silent street, he realized he could never repay his friend for everything he had done in the past several months, and just hoped that he could make his friends family safer by ridding the monster in his care. As the taillights faded in the night, he turned and entered the abandoned warehouse just on the border of Mexico. Walking through the halls, taking the metal stairs down to the boiler room all he could hear was the echo of his footsteps.

Swinging the boiler room door open, he witnessed the red-haired girl with the gun to his hostages' head whispering in his ear to tell her where her sister might be found. She was shaking and telling him she was not afraid to kill him. "Kelsey, look at me," Mark calmly spoke. "If you pull that trigger, we will be no closer finding her than we were yesterday. Just lower the pistol sweetheart."

Kelsey looked at Mark, but her eyes were like cold bricks of ice. She heard him speak but really did not hear him. She looked back at the man tied to the chair and stuck the gun harder to the man's temple. Mark held out his hand, slowly walking toward the young woman, understanding completely how she felt. After all he wanted to do the same thing to this person. She looked back at him, and her eyes were clearer, as she looked to the floor than back at her prey.

"Kelsey, this won't bring her back to you. Please give me the gun, let me help you and together we will find her." Her hand was shaking now as she started to sob. Her other arm tightened around the man's shoulders. Her sobs became louder as the gun lowered enough, and her grip loosened enough for Mark to grab the gun out of the young woman's hand. As Mark safely made sure the gun was clear, he looked at the hostage. The young woman left the room crying as she slammed the door behind her.

"Chavez, I just saved your life, so if I was you, I would do some soul searching and when I come back tell me what I need to know, or I am going to unleash her on you. Understand?" Chavez just stared at the large man in front of him with blood still dripping from his brow, his body aching from the car accident. He simply closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath. As he opened his eyes, he watched the man leave only to see a shorter man walk in holding a rifle at his chest. Trying to escape would be futile, as he hoped the tracker in his arm would lead his men to him soon.

Mark found Kelsey sitting at the top of the stairs of the boiler room. Her chin rested on her knees and both of her arms wrapped themselves around her legs tightly crying quietly. Without moving her head or body, she watched as he climbed the stairs, sitting next to her. She felt a shiver run through her body as his arm embracing and pulling her tightly against him. She slightly turned her body toward him, settling her head into his chest, and his other hand coming up to stroke her hair.

Mark laid his chin on top of her head, listening to the light sniffles coming from her. Whispering Mark said, "It will be ok sweetheart. I hope you trust me enough to take care of you and we will find her together." Without any words being said, Kelsey raised her head and looked him in the eyes, and looking back were the most sincere, caring, and honest look she had ever witnessed. Her hand came up and stroked his cheek as she nodded at him. Laying her head back into his chest she relaxed, and after a few minutes he heard her breathing change to a low soft rhythm, and he knew she was finally asleep.

**********

November 9th, 2018 Early Morning

"Detective Robbins I think I have a lead on those black SUV's you were looking for," one of the young FBI agents yelled from across the room. All evening into the morning, several agents were using satellite images, traffic cams, and dash cams to try and get recognition on the suspects. Agent Wesley and Reynolds had just left to get coffee, so Robbins walked over to the young man. Looking over his shoulder the agent pointed out to the top two images. "Right here sir, I have an image of the incident, and after twenty minutes, both vehicles are heading west."

Detective Robbins looked at the map, wondering if they were heading to Mexico. Another agent reported that he found two black SUV's matching the description on a street cam near a small airport in the outskirts of El Paso. They maneuvered a drone borrowed from Border Patrol toward that area and found a warehouse district near the airport, with several being abandoned. Unfortunately, the drone could not spot any vehicles matching the description when it was over the district.

Reynolds and Wesley walked in witnessing the drone flyover, noticed it might be a lead so were surveying the pictures in silence. There were in total fifteen warehouses in total, with ten being still active on the northwest side of the airport. The drone scanned across the buildings with no notice of anything being out of place. On the southwest side of the airport were five buildings that looked deserted but had tire tracks through the dirty road recently.

As the drone flew over the buildings, the agents couldn't tell which building the tracks led to or from. Wesley spoke up and asked if the drone had thermal capabilities. Robbins never looked away from the screen asking the agent piloting the drone to switch to thermal. It was then they found four heat signatures from humans in the fourth warehouse. Detective Robbins leaned closer to the screen, studying the building.

"Reynolds, grab Lawson's file for me," Robbins called out. Reynolds went to the conference room where all their files were, rummaging through Robbins stack until he came upon Mark Lawson's file. He ran back to the video room and handed it to Detective Robbins. Robbins opened the file, rolling his fingers through the mountain of documents until he found the one he was looking for. Looking at the document, he then glanced at the screen, again looking at the document. "Son of a .........," under his breath, "it's Lawson."

He gathered the file and documents, turned and motioned for the other two agents to follow him to the conference room, before shutting the video room door, he told the pilot of the drone to keep overhead and let him know of any changes. He also told him to surveille the perimeter for any movement to and from the warehouse. He also asked to mobilize an FBI CIRG team to that area immediately, as well as calling for air support for travel from Dallas to El Paso.

Upon entering the conference room, Reynolds and Wesley were quiet and looking at the Detective Robbins as he entered the room. Closing the door, Robbins set the file on the table, then slid the document he had taken out along with two photos across the table to the other agents. "Mark Lawson had an operation at this very location five years ago that involved the FBI, DEA, and ATF. They were taking down a drug and gun smuggling group that Lawson had infiltrated for over eight months. Lawson picked this site for several reasons, but the main one was the several levels inside the building. He had an area there that was untraceable to any scanners where he hid agents waiting to take down the smugglers."

Robbins took a drink of his lukewarm coffee, "He also had surveillance surrounding the area as well as the BOTA. He knew when the smugglers were on their way, it was a perfect setup." He looked at the still confused agents as they looked over the documents. "Chavez's son was killed during the take down gentleman. Doesn't this all make sense? He has Chavez in the very same warehouse his son was killed. He is expecting trouble, we need to get there now."

Wesley looked at the Detective suspiciously, "You are talking about a dead man like he is alive and well. Why are you so sure about this?"

Reynolds answered for the Detective. "It's valid Wesley, let's move on this."

"I have CRIG mobilized as we speak, and air support to take us there now." Robbins announced, as all three agents left the conference room heading toward the helicopter pad.

********

Mark and Kelsey leaned against one another as they slept. Justin had let them take the first round of rest, as he watched over the screens before him. Chavez would be asleep hopefully for another hour after the dose of valium they gave the cartel leader. Justin knew this could be the end of the road for both he and Mark, and although he understood why Kelsey was there he didn't feel easy about involving the young woman in any of the madness. The fight that was to come would make it tough for both trained men, but now they had to also protect her.

Meanwhile Chavez opened his eyes in the adjoining room, even though he had been awake for thirty minutes, his eyelids felt so heavy. As he sat in the chair, his legs feeling slightly numb, he wiggled his wrists once again, feeling the zip ties loose then before. He wiggled his left hand free and then started to pull at the ties around his ankles which were also loose.

Looking around the room he noticed a knife on the table opposite of him, so he grabbed it going to the door closest to him where the two men and girl went out. He looked through the small pane of glass and noticed the huge man and small girl who wanted to kill him against him in the stairway. He tried opening the door, but it was locked from the other side. Looking over his shoulder he noticed another door. When he tried it, the door opened into a hallway leading away from his captors.

From one of the cameras Justin monitored, he watched as three SUV's crossed the border into the United States with license plates owned by a shell corporation of Chavez Tejada's. This is what Mark was waiting for, and he only had about twenty minutes before they would be in striking distance. As Justin went to wake up Kelsey and Mark, Chavez ran up the stairs to the main floor of the warehouse and hid behind some machinery, than ran toward the light shining through the glass window door across the huge open space. Running across the warehouse to his freedom, unaware of what was to come.

Justin reached Mark and Kelsey shaking them. "Tank, it's time, they're on their way."

Mark investigated the room below him, "Chavez found his way out I see?"

Justin chuckled, "Took him long enough, unless red didn't follow your instructions on keeping those ties loose." Kelsey just snickered and shrugged her shoulders.

Mark stood and helped Kelsey up, and with Justin following them went into the room where Chavez had been. He moved a box in the corner and tapped a switch and a keypad appeared. Punching in the code for entry, a false wall was revealed and then locked back into place to reveal an underground steel bunker. After the three had entered the bunker, Mark hit the keypad on the opposite site and the wall reversed itself hiding any evidence of the false wall.