Page 8 of All Twisted Up
“Good. I hope we can work together seamlessly this morning. We need to get this guy,” Turley said, holding out his hand.
Candy took it. “I want that too,” he said before stepping into the office.
We waited for Turley to follow him in, and I shut the door behind me, Rex, and Mickey. We left the lights off and walked through the reception area to one of the smaller offices. A picture window looked directly onto the street and the ancient brick building across from us which tallied with the pictures we’d seen the day before.
I counted twelve floors in all with a flat roof above. Candy had obviously chosen this floor because it was level with the building across the street where Gomez and his sicarios, no doubt slept peacefully. I knew he was there. I could almost feel his presence. But where?
There were a fuck ton of windows in the hundred-year-old building…meaning lots of apartments and alotof innocent civilians. I wondered if they had any clue who the man sleeping among them on the tenth floor really was.
“Please, tell me your plan then,” Turley said.
Candy nodded. “Your guys will go in the front,” he said, pointing down to the entrance at ground level. “I’ll have one guy in each alley to cover the side doors and two others at the back covering the loading dock and back door.” He pointed up. “Two guys on the roof. They’ll rappel down and shoot out the windows at the same time you signal you’re about to breach the door from the hallway.” He turned to us. “You and Way will take up position on the roof. Listen for the order to breach, then go.”
“Got it, Captain,” Mickey said. I nodded.
“Wait for the order,” Candy reiterated. “It’ll take you five seconds to rappel two floors to Gomez’ apartment. It’s going to be chaos but the distraction of the gunshots, breaking glass, and the breach on the apartment door should confuse the sicariosjust long enough to take out anyone armed.” He looked at Turley. “I have two snipers.” He nodded at Rex. “Monroe will be in this building so we can get eyeballs on Gomez and count how many guys are in there with him. If he can get Gomez in his sights, he’ll take him out. Does that sound good to you, Monroe?”
Rex grinned. “I reckon so, sir.”
Candy pointed to the street and everyone looked down. “I’ll also have a sniper on the roof of our BearCat which will be parked directly in front of the building. He won’t drive up until you guys are already on the tenth floor, ready to breach, just in case someone in the apartment happens to be looking out a window. We don’t want to alert anyone in the apartment. If Gomez somehow gets through your guys to come out the front, my sniper will take him out. No matter what, he won’t get out of that building, and if, for some godforsaken reason, he manages to do it, we’ll take him down outside. The plan addresses all contingencies.”
“What if he somehow makes it to the roof and has his own rappelling gear?”
Candy smirked. “I expect he won’t be able to do that since your guys will make sure the roof door is covered on the inside. Am I wrong?”
“No, but I—”
“But if he does get to the roof, the guys I have in the alleys, will be watching for him.” He pointed at Rex. “Then there are our snipers. Don’t worry. We’ll get him. Like I said…if he makes it outside, we’ve got it covered. You just worry about the inside of the building. That’s how the DEA planned this, right?”
I wanted to do a fist pump. The captain was awesome, as always.
Turley nodded slowly before turning to him. “That’s a solid plan, Sorensen.”
Candy nodded. “Before I take Monroe to find a sniper nest on this floor, may I say one more thing about the inside of the building?” Turley frowned as Candy went on. “I want to evacuate civilians, at the very least, the apartments on the tenth floor. Once the shooting starts, people…families are going to panic.”
“The safest thing they can do is to remain in their apartments,” Turley said, shrugging.
“Sure,” I said, “and civilians are mind readers. At the very least, the occupied dwellings on either side of the cartel’s apartment need to be evacuated. Bullets go through walls, you know.”
Turley turned his attention to me and actually bared his teeth. “What’s your name?”
“Twizzlers,” I replied, “but you can call me Twizz.” I smirked at him.
He sniffed then glanced at my boss. “That’s right. I almost forgot why everyone calls you CaptainCandySorensen. All your guys are sweet little saltwater taffy boys.” I balled my hands into fists.Who the fuck did this guy think he was playing with?When he didn’t get a rise out of the boss, however, Turley snorted and turned away, staring out the window. He sighed. “Leave the safety of the civilians to my team, Sorensen. We’re not here for them and provided no one does anything stupid, everyone will be fine.”
My com came to life. “Boss…we’ve got a bogie driving up the street.”
We all moved closer to the window to look down.
“Roger, Clifford. I see it,” Candy said.
A small, gray vehicle slowly drove up the block. He came to a stop immediately in front of the building, parking at the curb just outside the front door.
“Who the fuck is that?” Turley growled.
“Probably a resident,” Mickey replied softly.
I watched as two men climbed out of the car. The driver came around and stopped beside the other, seeming to say something to him. When the passenger started to turn away, the driver grabbed him by the bicep and leaned into him. More words were exchanged. The passenger pulled out of his grasp, saying something to the driver who grabbed him again, trying to drag him back toward the car.
