Chapter 14

LAKE POWELL

Rizzo was sitting on his favorite rock; it was dark with a sliver of a moon. Cole and Aaron had just pulled in and rolled down the windows. “Trong, the drug lord is leaving Monday morning for a week at Lake Powell. We understand that you are the subject of the meeting. He wants to find out what happened to the dealers who were killed by you and what happened to his money. He suspects that most of the drugs were stolen and a little left for the police to find. He is taking his top organization with him. That will include at least the top 4 lieutenants. There will be the hired muscle and lots of girls. There will probably be 20 to 30 people in all. You might want to go for a drive in that “Tank” disguised as a motor home to see if there is some way to get to him there. He meets with his leadership on Lake Powell 3 or 4 times a year, but this is a special meeting.”

“I won’t ask you where you got all that information, but I think it’s time for us to take a drive and see the southern part of the state,’ said Cole.

The next day Cole said, “I’ve been looking at the maps of Lake Powell. That lake is huge. The stuff we got from Mr. X included some pictures. Good thing, at least we will know what he looks like. Most house boats come in at the main marina near Page, Arizona. We don’t know if he is bringing a boat in or if they’re renting one there. I’m guessing that they have rented one of the bigger ones. All we have to do is go down there, park the motor home and watch the people come in. When we spot our drug kingpin, Mr. Trong, we figure how to take him out.”

“I’m with you so far, but he is going to have a bunch of people with him. Those big houseboats are set up to sleep as many as 40 people. This is a pow-wow with his top people where they can meet without any danger of anyone overhearing what’s going on. If we could arrange to sink the boat somehow, we would make a serious dent in at least one drug distribution ring.”

“Usually, the people who stay at Lake Powell for a week or so will pull into a cove somewhere upstream from the marina. It could be anywhere from a couple of miles to 100 miles upstream from the marina. They usually have tents and camping equipment that they set up in the cove. They anchor the houseboat and use smaller boats to get back and forth to the beach. This is a wilderness area. There are no roads running along the lake. If we’re going to be able to get close enough to pick him off or do something to the boat, we’re going to have to get a boat.”

Aaron added, “So we rent a boat at Lake Powell. Then I suppose we go down the lake, find the house boat that our target is on, either shoot him, or sink the boat and drown him and come back. Sounds like a piece of cake.”

“If we rent a boat at Lake Powell, there would be a paper trail of us being there. However, I have an uncle that has a nice ski boat. I’ve used it for years. If I promise to bring it back with a full tank, he will let us borrow it. He knows that if I damage it, I’ll fix it. It’s always kind of dirty, and when I use it, I clean it up, so he likes me to borrow it. I’ll check to see if it’s available.”

“I guess that’s it. I’ll tell Rachel that we are going on a business trip. We are leaving early Monday morning and should be back by the end of the week.

Noon on Monday found Cole and Aaron sitting in the motor home watching people come and go into the marina parking lot. They had parked the motor home and the trailer in the long term parking in such a way that they could sit in the big, comfortable seats and watch the traffic coming into the marina. The electric generator was running the air conditioning at full blast. Their boat was in a rented space full of gas with spare Tanks, food for a week, ski gear with life preservers, and their rifles and scopes packed in plain cardboard boxes. The weather was getting warmer by the minute, but the motor home air conditioner was keeping them cool and comfortable. 3 black suburbans pulled into the parking lot. Immediately men and women from each suburban jumped out and began carrying boxes of food and other gear down to the biggest house boat. A pair of Mercedes pulled in and the occupants, 5 men and 5 women got out and walked down the pier to the same house boat. One of the 5 men was Harry Trong.

There he is,” said Cole. “The house boat will be easy to spot, its huge, its blue and white, and the name on the bow and stern said “ARIZONA TRAVELER.”

“If we were scuba divers and were expert with explosives, we could rig the house boat to blow up at any time.”

“Yeah, but we’re neither of those things. We’ll just have to improvise with what we have.”

All of the people and their supplies were eventually transferred to the house boat. The 3 Suburbans and the Mercedes were parked in the long term parking and the drivers also went down to the house boat. The house boat started moving as the last of the men stepped on board. Four of the men from the suburbans, had climbed into two smaller ski boats that followed the Arizona Traveler as it headed out into the main channel.
“There’s no hurry. We can go a lot faster than they can. I would guess they’ll find a cove with a nice beach in a couple of hours. We can find them and figure what our next step is,” yawned Cole.

2 hours later, Cole and Aaron reluctantly opened the door and were blasted with air that felt like a sauna. They walked from the motor home down to their boat. In minutes they were cruising down the lake sweating like troopers.

The channel at the marina was a nightmare because of all the traffic, but once they moved out on the open lake, it was great. It was almost dark before they spotted the “ARIZONA TRAVELER.” It had anchored in an inlet, about 50 yards off a nice beach. The smaller boats were still carrying loads of supplies to the beach, while the beach was a beehive of activity. The beach was being combed and manicured with rakes; while others were setting up tents and fire pits.

Harry Trong was easy to spot as he and his lady friend were the only people sitting down. Cole kept on going until they rounded the next rock outcropping and pulled into the next inlet and up to a rocky deserted beach. Cole slowed down and said, “We need a plan, we have night scopes that gives us some options. It would be easy to leave the boat here. Hike up to the ridge, and go over to where we could see where Harry Trong and his entourage are staying. I didn’t see any guards up away from the tents. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any, but since we’re on the other side of the cove from where they’re setting up camp, we shouldn’t have to worry about any guards on this side.

If the guards were going to check both sides of the inlet where they’re setting up camp, they would have to walk at least a couple of miles to go around on dry land and come back on this side. Or I guess they could have taken some guards over to the other side of the cove in one of the smaller boats. We should wear our night glasses as well, just in case there are some guards hidden on our side. A man caught in night glasses glows as if he was an electric light in the dark. The night goggles will make it easier to see where we are stepping as well. There are lots of rattlesnakes around.
We could pick Trong off, go back to the boat and be on our way before they realized what was happening. I would bet that Trong and his lady friend will spend the night on the house boat. Assuming I’m right, and he goes back to the boat, we could shoot him out there. With our silencers, it would take them some time to organize any kind of search party to look for us. With the head man dead, they might not want to search much anyway.”

An hour later Cole and Aaron, wearing their night goggles and carrying their rifles with night scopes attached and power packs on their backs started up the beach. They looked like some kind of alien with their night goggles on. From the rock ledge above and across from Trong and his group, they could see that a party was in full swing, with music, dancing, and drinking. The chiefs were sitting up the beach about a quarter of a mile from the others where they could quietly talk without being overheard. Trong and 4 others were sitting together in a circle. Trong was facing Cole and Aaron. “Wow, this scope puts it up close and personal. I can see every hair on his mustache. I read range at 550 yards,” said Aaron. “It looks like he’s really chewing them out!”

“Why don’t we take all 5 of the chiefs out? That way, there won’t be any alarm for awhile. We could be all the way back to the marina before any alarm is raised.”

Aaron whispered, “Ok by me, let’s do it. I’m ready when you are.

”Let’s see, which one is Trong?”

Aaron said, “He’s the one in the middle with his mouth flapping. Let’s take him first. Let’s both hit him and then I’ll move to my left, while you go right. After we knock them all down, let’s take a second shot at each of them to make sure they’re dead. I’m ready.”

“On my count, 3, 2, fire.” The drug chieftains fell over like targets in a shooting gallery. None of them had the presence of mind to do anything in their few seconds of life left. Trong flipped back and the others opened their mouths and pointed as if laughing. Then the next 2 guys flipped over. The last 2 were starting to stand up when they were knocked over. 2 more shots from each of them, as they took the insurance shots, and it was over.

Cole and Aaron watched the killing zone for a few moments. Cole was turning away when he saw one of the bodies sit up and rub his chest! He centered the crosshairs on the gangster as he looked out in the darkness, then shook his fist and raised both arms.
“That’s one dumb SOB, he must really want to join his friends, he must have a bullet proof vest,” said Cole as he squeezed the trigger, this time hitting him in the head.
“Carefully check each one; there should be a lot of blood on the chest of each one.” The only one that didn’t have blood all over his chest was the one with most of his head blown away.

“I just took a close look at each one of the bodyguards to see if any of them acted like they had seen the muzzle flashes, but none of them seem to have noticed. Should we take out a few of them on general purposes,” asked Aaron? “They stick out like neon lights through these scopes.”

“I think that it’s time to get out of Dodge,” exclaimed Cole, “as soon as we gather up the bullet casings.” The casings were easy to find. The residual heat made them glow through the goggles. Across the water, there didn’t seem to be any reaction from anybody. The chiefs had moved far enough away from the others to insure privacy, now they had complete peace and quiet.

They started back across the mesa. Cole cut down a bush with his survival knife. The knife was compliments of a drug dealer; he used the bush to erase their footprints by sweeping back and forth behind them as they retraced their path back to the boat.
“In this area it might be months before the next rain. No use leaving a bunch of footprints up here. It was only a few hundred yards across the mesa and then down to the boat. There was always the danger that someone would come along and park in the cove, but there were no other boats in sight. They got back in the boat and pushed off.

“We are going to drive on down the channel for a mile or two, then swing over to the other side of the channel and come back by here and on to the marina.” As they were coming back toward the marina, Trongs’ people were still having a great time. There were lots of partying noises but no indication of any alarm yet. I guess it’s safe to flip on the running lights.

“I think that I’ll wear the night goggles until we get closer to the marina,” as he flipped off the lights. “This is great; we will be back at the marina, load up and on our way back home before anybody is the wiser.” Just as Cole said that, he heard shouts and a woman’s scream coming from the shore. “It sounds like our handiwork has been discovered.”

As they came closer to the marina, Cole took off the night goggles and turned the boat lights back on. A light through the goggles is enough to blind a person. The marina was still busy with boats all over the place. They got in line and as soon as they could they backed the “Tank” and trailer down to the water, loaded up the boat and drove down the road toward Salt Lake City.

“I figure that it could take as much as early morning before the authorities are notified. It would be nice if we could get back home before then.”

All the way back, Cole and Aaron expected to see bright flashing lights, but there was none. They talked about what they knew about the next person on the list, the Judge.

“He will be a different challenge.”

“Do you remember if he has any hobbies,” asked Cole.

“I think that he’s a fly fisherman and does a lot of golfing. He also has some buddies who own some prime private Elk hunting property in Eastern Utah near Vernal.” They pulled into the secured parking area at the office and turned the lights off. We can take the boat back after gassing it up in the morning. I think that we should just sleep here, what do you think?”

“Good idea, I don’t want to go home now, Rachel would be asleep.”

When they woke up, there was a slip of paper under the windshield wiper. It was from Mr. X, “please meet me at the regular place and time tonight.”

“He must have heard about our little trip to Lake Powell already,” said Aaron.

“I would assume so. We have been talking about the judge. What about the terrorist guy? I’ve been thinking about him. If we could somehow whack him and make his people think that it was a local gang or something, we could help reduce the bad guy numbers somewhat.”

Aaron and Cole spent a good part of the afternoon gassing up, cleaning, and returning the boat, then cleaning and oiling the rifles, scopes, and goggles.

That night in the trail-head, “I didn’t expect you guys back for a couple of days.”

Cole paused, “I guess that the police and news agencies haven’t heard yet.”

I haven’t heard a thing from Lake Powell. Fill me in on your little camping trip.”

“To put it simply, we took my uncles boat, went down to Lake Powell. After dark, we climbed up on the mesa across the inlet from where the drug people had set up camp, and took a little target practice. We picked off Harry Trong and 4 others who looked like they were big shots. The 5 were sitting around in a circle talking, about 50 yards away from the others. The rest of the group, with the exception of some guards above them on the hillside, were having a good time and didn’t notice that their leaders had been whacked until some time later. We went back down the lake to the marina, loaded up the boat and came home. We were obviously seen there, but there were an awfully lot of boats coming and going. I would be surprised if anybody noticed or could remember us.”

“One of the bodyguards works for us, but I haven’t heard from him. This is strange, I should have heard from him by now. Whoever ended up in charge after those 5 were whacked must have wanted to talk to somebody with more authority before calling the sheriff. I’m assuming that when they did contact the heavy weights, they were probably instructed to clean things up and not to tell anyone. The head guys probably figure that it was done by a rival organization. You went out after 1 guy and ended up drilling 5, what am I going to do with you! I’m glad you didn’t pick off all the guards, if you had, you would have removed one of our men. I’ll bet the big dogs in Vegas are really pissed off.”

Cole told Rizzo about the one guy that he had to shoot a third time in the head after he got up after being hit twice in the chest. “I forgot to ask if we had armor piercing bullets and I don’t know what one looks like.”

“We considered getting armor piercing bullets, but didn’t think that they were necessary. After your experience last night, we may have to rethink that decision. I’ll recommend that we replace your ammo with the armor piercing variety. With all of your shooting lately, you’re probably getting low on ammo.”

“We are down to about 75 rounds of rifle ammo,” said Aaron. ”How about a case or two of 9 MM Ammo too? We have skipped our practicing for the last few days.”

“I’ll see what I can do. If you need more before next week, I’m sure that you can get some at the range. I’ll talk to you next week, good night.”


LAS VEGAS

“What in the hell do you mean? My man in Salt Lake City and 4 of his most trusted men were killed at Lake Powell and you don’t know who was responsible,” whispered Louis D. Samboli? Samboli was the head of drug traffic in the Western United States excluding California.

“We have no idea who did it. We have asked all of the other groups including the Russians and the Mexicans and nobody will admit that they were behind it,” said Ricky Sanchez. Ricky was Louis’s right hand man and trusted advisor. When he spoke to any of Samboli’s people, they considered it straight from Samboli. Unlike some people, the volume of Samboli’s voice was inversely proportional to how mad he was. This is the quietest Sanchez had ever heard his boss.

Samboli’s voice level went up a notch. Sanchez felt lucky, at least now he could hear him. “Somebody is lying, and I want to know who it is. Over the past month, Trong lost almost a million dollars cash when 2 of his distributors were killed and now he’s dead. I suspected that he might be doing something against us. I no longer suspect him. Something crazy is going on in Salt Lake City. Put out the word to everybody, I want to know who killed all of them. I want my money and I want the people responsible dead! We have to get some more people up there now. There are regular shipments still going up to Utah every week. There is too much product going out and money coming in to ignore or let it slide. Go up there yourself and contact all of the dealers and make sure that they’re taken care of. Tell them that you’re in charge until other arrangements are made. The 2 gangs that are handling almost half of the entire product that we are sending to Utah have me worried. I’ve never trusted either of them. Make sure they’re in line and understand what has happened. Don’t allow them to think that we are weak or will permit any deviation from our shipment and collection schedules.”
“What do we do with the bodies and the rest of the people that were at the lake? Are they still at Lake Powell?”

“Yes, I had some of the boys go out to where they are and keep them quiet. They had enough food and booze to last a week. I sent out the Carson brothers and Jimmy. That will cut into their supplies.”

“There are too many of them to just kill them all, and it’s probably a little late to call the local sheriff and tell him that we just discovered the bodies. What did you do with the bodies?”

“The guys went up the hill from the beach a little way and buried them. I told them to bury them at least 6 foot deep, dig a big hole, throw in the bodies and fill the hole with the biggest rocks they could find. We don’t want them being dug up by animals and showing up in the lake. The water level goes up and down. This beach will be 200 feet underwater when the next wet winter hits in the mountains. That could be next year, in five years, 10 years, whenever.”

“Are any of the family members among the people left?”

“No families, girls for all of the men, the rest were body guards.”

“Some body guards; 5 of the people they were supposed to protect are dead. What the hell happened?

“We’re not sure; they couldn’t find any footprints anywhere. It looks like the shooters climbed up the hill across the inlet opposite from where Trong had set up camp. From there they had a clear shot over the water. They figured that it was about 500 to 600 yards. The body guards were stationed all around the hill above and beside where they were meeting and they didn’t hear or see a thing. From where we think the shooter was set up, it looked like someone had swept a pathway across the hill and down to the water on the next inlet. Couldn’t tell for sure and now our people have left footprints all over the place. ”

“If this was a hit done by some of our competitors we have a problem, but if this was done by someone else like the law or military, then we have a bigger problem. A 500 yard shot, in the dark means it’s a sniper weapon, a night scope, and an expert shooter. Who except the police and military has access to sniper weapons?”

“Anybody who wants a sniper rifle can buy it if he has enough money. They’re expensive. Some of our people have sniper rifles and night scopes.”

“Can any of our people shoot 5 guys, in the dark, fast enough so that none of these guys have time to make a sound and do it from over 500 yards away?”

“No way, maybe it was more than one shooter.”

“Do we have 2 people who could duplicate the kill?”

“None of our people by themselves, or with anybody else we have, could have done it. In my opinion, there are only a handful of people in the world with that ability. Those people are experts and work alone. None of them work for us or any of our associates. I think this was done by a specialist who works for a secret government organization.”

“We were told that all of those secret government groups were disbanded when our friends the liberals took over congress,” sneered Samboli.

Ricky laughed, “How can we believe someone who lies to everyone. These politicians will do anything to get the money to get elected. It cost us a lot of money for those promises, but it looks like they couldn’t deliver. Even if they tried, there are a lot of people who can’t be bought.”

“Are you telling me that we’re facing some super patriots that our people and the politicians don’t know about and can’t control?”

“It looks like it to me. We would know if any official government operation was established to go after us. Plus there would be some word from somebody if one of our associates were going to come after us. The only way this operation could have been done, without someone telling us about it before it happened or at least right after it happened, is if it’s outside our organization and outside regular local, state, and federal government operations. Think about it, when is the last time we were surprised by anything from any government operation?”

“There have been no surprises since we started paying off key politicians or should I say increased our political contributions. The next question is, how can find out who these people are?”

“We must go to these key politicians and demand that they find out who these people are so we can kill them. These slimy turncoats will demand that this information be given to them. They will swear by all that’s holy that it’s their sacred right as elected officials and as true patriots that they must know what’s going on.”

Samboli sat and considered where their discussion had taken them. “You know Ricky, we have benefited greatly by our agreement with these politicians, but as an American citizen these people make me sick. I respect the ones who are killing our people because they’re strong in their belief in America and want to eliminate the criminals. I have no respect for these elected officials who accept our money in secret and then lie, cheat, and betray their trust to America so that we will give them more money. Does that surprise you Ricky?”

“Not at all Mr.Samboli, I believe ever man who swears allegiance to a country, an organization or a man and is loyal and trustworthy to his allegiance deserves respect. I also have no respect to those who accept our money and betray their sworn allegiance.”

“When we find those who are now our bitter enemies, we must tell them, if possible, of our respect for them before we kill them. Set up a meeting with the senior Congressman from Nevada, we have a problem to discuss.”

CONGRESSMAN HARRY REYNOLDS

Congressman Harry Reynolds was all smiles as he greeted Louis Samboli in a hidden room in the Arabian Nights casino. Samboli was a known drug lord and Reynolds couldn’t be seen with him in public. Reynolds had told his aides that he needed to go home and get some rest. He would see them in the morning. On the way home he turned into the Arabian Nights Casino and parked. He started up toward the best dining room and ducked into the bathroom. When he was sure that nobody else was in the bathroom, he twisted the coat hanger that was against the far wall. The wall rolled to the side and Reynolds walked into a luxurious dining room, the wall slid back to its original position and locked shut. The coat hanger only worked when it had been unlocked from the inside.

The aides knew that Reynolds had a private meeting with somebody. After all they were budding politicians and they were not stupid. They also thought that he was getting huge sums of money from someone, they didn’t know for sure, but to assuage their own conscience, the told themselves that if he was, it was for a good cause.

“It is good to see you old friend,” Reynolds said as he shook Samboli’s hand.

“Likewise, it’s good to talk to you again. You’re looking well. How is your golf game?”

“It would be better if I could practice more. Those damn conservative bastards won’t cooperate with me no matter how hard I try. It’s just a good thing that with a majority, I don’t need their support.”

“Enough of politics, how about a drink and something to eat? My friends here have arranged for the very best food available in Las Vegas.”

Reynolds and Samboli discussed the weather, family happenings, football, and finally the upcoming elections as they drank, feasted and drank some more.

Reynolds asked for another drink but Samboli stopped the waiter, “please leave us, I’ll ring the bell when we are ready for additional drinks.” The waiter disappeared.
Samboli waited until the door closed and the signal light indicated that they were alone. The room had been swept electronically and the room was guaranteed to be free of any kind of eavesdropping. In fact, the owners of the casino recorded all meeting held in the Secret Room for future use if necessary. The occupants who had used this room would be very surprised if these recordings were revealed. “I wanted to talk to you because I have a serious problem that you may be able to help me with.”

“You know that I’ll do anything I can to help you with any problem you have. What’s the problem?”

“Over the last 2 months, 2 of my distributors were killed in Salt Lake City. And last week my right hand man in Salt Lake City and 4 of his most trusted lieutenants were eliminated while at a business meeting at Lake Powell.”

“I knew about the 2 distributors in Salt Lake City, but I’ve heard nothing about the Lake Powell business. How could there have been a shooting at Lake Powell with no publicity?”

“After the shootings, the head of the body guards that was there contacted us and we decided to keep it quiet. 5 men killed near the main marina at Lake Powell would have made major headlines nationwide for much longer than we would have liked. Many sensitive questions would have been asked.”

“I’m amazed that 5 people could have been killed at Lake Powell with not a word reaching the news media. That in itself is an enormous achievement. Who could have done such a thing and why?”

“That’s my questions to you. We have asked everyone in our industry, competitors and rivals. There has been no acknowledgement or word about the killings. I put out the word in the most forceful manner possible that I wanted to know who had killed my people and stolen my money and drugs and I have not heard a word.”

“How much money was stolen?”

“It was almost a half million dollars. If you count the amount of drugs that was also confiscated by the police or destroyed, the amount is double.”

“Whew eeeeeeeeeee, no wonder you’re concerned. What can I do?”

“We have discussed the matter in length. In our opinion, there is a secret government unit of some kind set up to come after us. The men at Lake Powell were killed from a distance of over 500 yards, at night, leaving no trace except for the rifle slugs in the bodies. Each person had been shot two times with the exception of one individual who had a bullet proof vest on. He had also had been hit twice in the chest. His vest would have saved him except for a third bullet that hit him dead center between the eyes. Now you tell me who has the ability to kill from that distance, at night, and with that efficiency. How did they know one man had a bullet proof vest? Anyway, these people were professional. There was no rifle casings, no footprints, nothing except the slightest indication that the area had been swept with a bush or something to erase all footprints.

It was a first class operation with undoubtedly first class planning. It would seem to me that somebody in the government service somewhere must know something about this operation. Too much planning would be necessary to pull off an operation like this without somebody somewhere knowing about it. Somebody saw something out of the ordinary. Your job is to find out who is responsible and who has my money. With that information, we will take care of the cleanup.”

“I can go to the federal officials for Utah and try to find out what happened with those 2 murders in Salt Lake City, but obviously, since the 5 men murdered at Lake Powell were murdered in secret, I can’t know about them because they never happened.”
“I understand your problem. Do you think that we are correct in assuming that it had to be some kind of secret government unit?”

“You may be right. I’ve been assured by everyone in the secret operations business that there are no secret units still functioning. The unit set up to go after the drug industry was eliminated by your people after I identified them for you. Replacements have not been authorized. I’m the ranking person on the committee in charge of secret government operations. I should know if there are any out there still causing problems. If there are government secret units out there, I’ll find it. You can count on me.”

“That’s exactly what I am doing, we have exhausted every other avenue of information that we have.”

“My good friend Louis, another election is just ahead and…”

“I’ve instructed my people to place a briefcase with unmarked bills in the amount of $250,000 in the regular place.”

“Thank you Louis, I’ll furnish the information to you in the standard manner when I get it. Thank you for dinner, it was fantastic as usual. I’ll go back out the way I came in.”

They shook hands, Samboli forced a smiled and said, “Good bye for now.” Reynolds went back to the door and looked at the bathroom through a closed circuit TV monitor. When the bathroom was empty, he opened the door and stepped inside.

Samboli went over to the sink and vigorously washed his hands.

Sanchez came in, “hard to get the filth off?”

“It would please me to put a bullet between those greedy, lying, pig eyes! Thank our friends here for their hospitality. I’m going to go home and take a long hot shower. I still feel dirty.”