Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [51]
Behind his sunglasses, Pizarro's expression darkened. Ahead of them stood the many tiered tower of the Babylon Hotel and Casino. A banner fluttered from the building's mammoth portico, proclaiming the resort as the site of the Pan-Latin Anti-Drug Conference. The Cubans also fell silent as they passed the target of their impending operation.
In just a few hours Pizarro Rojas would return, along with his brother Balboa, and his team of Cuban assassins. He would return to this majestic place to exact a measure of vengeance for the crimes committed against his family — not just vengeance against America, but against other Latin American governmerits and law enforcement agencies who dared to oppose the Rojas cartel.
After the daring assault and the multiple assassinations to come, the defeats of the past would be forgotten. With their honor and respect fully restored, the other cartels would clamor to join a new alliance forged and ruled by the Rojas clan. Soon his family would control all of the cocaine production and distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, just as the Saudi Arabian sheiks controlled the oil flowing out of the Middle East. Even America, with all of her military might, would be paralyzed with the dread of another cartel attack. Their leaders would make speeches, promise to wage yet another war against drugs, while sitting on their pristine, perfectly-manicured hands and doing nothing...
* * *
6:48:17 p.m. PDT
Tunney and Sons Quality Tool and Die
Browne End Road, Las Vegas
For nearly an hour, Curtis Manning saw no one enter or leave the multiple-block compound of Bix Automotive, though the mysterious activity inside the garage clearly continued. Occasionally Curtis would see the flash of a welder's torch visible behind the garage's oily windows, or someone would step outside for a smoke or a breath of fresh air, only to be ordered back into the enormous garage by Roman Vine, Bix's strong-arm man. Manning noted that today Vine was carrying an illegal sawed-off shotgun, and he wasn't shy about flashing it.
Curtis was about to report in when he observed a Saturn minivan roll up to the garage door. Roman Vine spied the car and waved it forward. Curtis quickly counted four men inside the car before they drove into the garage. He didn't get a good look at the faces, though he did notice that one man wore reflecting sunglasses. Curtis noticed this because the man stared directly at the abandoned Tool and Die factory as if he were looking right at Curtis.
Dutifully, Curtis snapped a digital image of the men with his PDA, then forwarded it to Morris O'Brian at the Cha-Cha Lounge. While he performed that task, another SUV — this one a Chrysler — pulled onto the Bix lot. Curtis had no time to snap digital pictures of the men inside that vehicle. They all appeared to be Hispanic males in their late twenties or early thirties. Curtis counted six men in the car.
Curtis had just pulled the cell phone out of his pocket when his PDA sounded. He checked the display and discovered his data drop to Morris had not gone through.
Suddenly alarmed, Curtis then checked his cell phone and found he could not get a signal, no matter how hard he tried. That should have been impossible, because he'd used the cell phone when he last checked in with Morris, less than thirty minutes before.
Someone was jamming the signals in the area, which meant that Bix or his men probably suspected someone was in the vicinity, spying on them. Curtis tucked the devices into his pocket, then reached for his jacket. It was time to go...
* * *
6:55:57 p.m. PDT
Bix Automotive Center
Browne End Road, Las Vegas
Carlos Boca looked up from the liquid crystal display screen. "You were correct, Pizarro. There was someone in that building across the street. I believe they are still there."
Pizarro stood in the middle of the crowded garage. Hugo Bix had come down