Earthbound : A gripping crime thriller full of twists and supernatural suspense by Fynn Perry (popular romance novels TXT) 📗

Lazlo was shaking his head angrily. “Five years, I’ve worked El Gordito!” he exclaimed. “Tracking every murder he was suspected of and every drug bust he avoided being connected to. Now you guys get lucky with a truck full of drugs overturned by one of his top men! I’m the one who put him under pressure and caused him to make mistakes! I get my badge and gun taken away from me. That’s the fucking thanks I get, while you guys breeze in on the back of my fucking work?”

“You did what you could, Lazlo,” Chapman said calmly. “We’ll be bringing in Vargas under a federal arrest warrant. Drug trafficking and falsifying identities are federal crimes, so we won’t have to deal with any state judges that El Gordito may have compromised. It’s a different ball game now.”

“At least tell me when you plan to raid the fulfillment center! I need to be part of it!” pleaded Lazlo.

“You can’t be,” said Chapman.

“Forget the suspension! That’s bullshit! You need me on this raid! I know how his mind works,” argued Lazlo. “I need this, I can’t just sit around in this house all day. Policing is my life!”

“It’s not the suspension, Dan.” Chapman paused awkwardly. “There’s a contract out on you. A hit has been ordered.”

“Go on,” said Lazlo with a mixture of shock and anger on his face.

“An assassin known only as Shadow Dragon was contracted via the dark web yesterday. We tried to take him out an hour ago at a location in Hawaii when the full upfront payment went through, but––”

“But what?” snapped Lazlo.

“We were sure we had him. George here burst through all his encryption and we know the assassin was there just minutes before the raid. So close!”

“What fucking good is that now, Lee? You guys don’t know anything about this assassin. You didn’t see anything, did you? Christ! You don’t even know if it’s a he or a she, right? What’s his or her kill efficiency?”

“A hundred percent and at least twenty kills that we know of…” Chapman paused awkwardly. “He’s responsible for around eighty that we suspect him of. True, we don’t know if it’s a she, but very few assassins have been female.”

“Just great guys! Assuming it’s a ‘he,’ and you missed him an hour ago—he was probably heading to the airport to come for me. What’s his nearest airport?”

“Honolulu. Nine and half hours to JFK,” came the response, also pre-empting the second question.

“Wait a second, why did you come here with your guns drawn? You thought he might already be here!’

“It was unlikely, but we didn’t want to take any chances,” Cromwell admitted. “In addition to all the location cloaking that I broke through, I couldn’t rule out that he hadn’t used a remote method of controlling his computer that I hadn’t been able to trace.”

“Perfect! How much for the hit?”

“It’s a seven-figure hit. You’re NYPD and a detective, for God’s sake––anyone with a shield will want to avenge your death.”

Lazlo raised his eyebrows, slightly mollified and flattered at this proof of his value.

“With administrator’s privileges I could get the buyer’s IP address––” Cromwell interjected.

“Yeah, I know you’re clever, George. Just tell me who ordered it, for Christ’s sake!” interrupted Lazlo.

Cromwell continued. “The buyer used the name ‘La Tarántula,’ meaning Tarantula in Spanish.”

“I know what it means, George!” Lazlo muttered impatiently.

“It came from an IP address located in an exclusive loft complex in Manhattan.”

“Fuck it, George! Whose?”

“We know that El Gordito and his lieutenants have condos there. I narrowed the address to somewhere in Victor Sanchez’s condo. The trail leads to Sanchez, but it’s obvious that he was doing it on El Gordito’s orders.”

“So, El Gordito thinks he can just order a hit on me now?” Lazlo said, his anger rising.

“We have a plan, including dealing with the hitman,” said Chapman.

“Well, thank God for that! I feel better already! Is it a hundred percent efficient?”

“Try to stay calm. There’s better news. We’ve taken over the communication between Shadow Dragon and Tarantula by assuming their identities. We’ve made the real Shadow Dragon think that Tarantula has called off the hit while leaving Sanchez and, by extension, El Gordito thinking that it’s still in play,” explained Chapman.

“But the assassin’s been paid everything upfront, a hundred percent,” Lazlo countered. “Shadow Dragon doesn’t sound like the kind of assassin that gives refunds.”

“No...and from what we know––” started Chapman.

“Which isn’t a lot,” Lazlo interrupted, frustrated.

“It’s true that he might do the job just to seal the contract,” Chapman continued. “You know, under some kind of hitman code of honor. We figured the only way out is to pay him more.”

“Pay him not to kill me? That’s great! And the FBI has money lying around to pay hitmen for not killing people?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. We hijacked some unrelated transactions on the site and transferred the Bitcoins into the assassin’s account. We made it looked like it was coming from El Gordito’s man, Sanchez. You know, under his name, Tarantula,” said Cromwell.

“OK, so you think you’ve called off the hit with the assassin, but you have Sanchez and El Gordito believing it’s still going ahead. Now what?”

“We want to get more on Sanchez than just an intent-to-murder charge. We need to place him, and maybe even El Gordito, at a murder scene that we will stage.” Chapman added.

“How do you figure on doing that? The whole point of him hiring a hitman is for him not to be anywhere near the body!”

“We’re counting on the fact that because of your illustrious relationship with him, Vargas will want to see the body, to satisfy himself that you’ve really gone. His type always does. We’ll need you to play dead and then we’ll take photos of you in a staged murder scene. Then, when Vargas wants to see the body, you’ll be safe somewhere else, while we’ll use an agent as a stand-in for you. At that point, we’ll arrest him and whoever else he