Chapter 17: Overhaul (Part 2)

Rogers Salvage & Scrap
Mutiny Road
La Puerta
90 Minutes Later

An hour and a half after Detectives Harrison and Xander had rescued Officers Michaels and Gwendolyn from the burning recycling center in La Puerta, Los Santos Fire Department and EMS units had arrived on scene, successfully battled and extinguished the blaze in the building's large warehouse-like room on the ground-floor, and were currently in the process of overhauling the burnt and damaged debris from inside the miraculously still-standing building. Unfortunately, it was during this procedure that firefighters found numerous bodies of several young men inside the building.

Meanwhile, with Michaels and Gwendolyn off to the hospital to be treated, Harrison and Xander remained at the scene. The two detectives sat beside one another on the back bumper of an ambulance, each wearing oxygen masks over their faces to prevent the dangerous delayed after effects of smoke inhalation by rapidly reintroducing fresh oxygen back into their systems. They were then surprised to see both Lieutenant Brian Wong and Captain Ella Gilligan arrive on scene.

Gilligan, who was dressed in a white novelty Vespucci Beach t-shirt, blue jeans and beige hiking boots, spoke first. "Are you two okay?" she asked.

Harrison nodded. "I'm good, Cap" he said, his words slightly muffled by the mask, "Sucked in some of the smoke, though" he continued, "The medics just want us to wear these for a bit and get some clean air back in."

Wong, meanwhile, was dressed in a dark brown trench coat with an exposed black button-down dress shirt underneath with khaki dress pants with brown leather slip-on loafers. "How about you, Adam?" he inquired to Xander, "How you feeling?"

"Hanging in there, boss" Xander replied, his words also slightly stifled by the mask. "Thank you", he continued, "You guys must've gotten here pretty quickly, huh?"

"Yeah", Gilligan replied, "I was actually with my family when your traffic went out over the radio. We were actually taking our boys out for ice cream at Vespucci Beach."

A now more attentive Harrison raised an eyebrow in response to that statement, electing to take off his oxygen mask so the captain could understand him better. "Your boys?" he inquired, "How old are they?"

Gilligan chuckled. "Eight, ten and twelve" she replied.

Harrison nodded. "Well, they must be excited that their mom is a police officer" he said.

The captain chuckled once again in retort. "You're half right", Gilligan replied, "I think my eight-year-old is more partial to my husband, though. Mark's a derrickman at Murietta Oil Field."

Harrison smiled. "That's cool", he said.

"How are Steve and Dakota doing?" Wong asked.

"They both seem to be putting on some brave faces", Harrison replied, "Steve's got a pretty badly twisted ankle and Dakota inhaled some smoke and passed out just prior to our showing up. EMS has them on their way to Mount Zonah Medical as we speak."

"Has anybody notified Dakota's wife?" Gilligan asked.

"I called her as soon as the ambulance took off", Xander replied, "I sent Officer Daniels to go pick her up and bring her to the medical center."

Just then, Anna Barakova emerged from inside the recycling center. She was dressed in her black LSPD Crime Lab coveralls and was also wearing a protective mask on her face, which she momentarily took off. "Hey guys", she said, "We found something inside I think you all should see."

With that, everyone got up from their respective positions and followed Anna inside to the now burnt out remains of the large warehouse-like room where Harrison had found Officer Gwendolyn. She showed them over to what looked like two neatly compacted cubes of recycled newspaper.

A burly and well-built brunette female firefighter appearing to be in her mid to late twenties was poking at one of the cubes with a long pike pole. Anna gestured to the firefighter with a gloved hand. "Everybody", Anna said, "I'd like to introduce all of you to my roommate Betsy Burton. She's with LSFD." She then redirected her introductory gesture back toward the four officers, pointing out each of them to Betsy. "Betsy", Anna continued, "This is Detective Xander, Lieutenant Wong, and Captain Gilligan. I believe I've already introduced you to Detective Harrison."

"Hi Betsy", Harrison chimed in.

"Hey Troy", Betsy replied, "Good to see you again, even with the circumstances. To the rest of you, it's nice to meet you all."

"Have you got something to show us?" Captain Gilligan asked.

Betsy nodded. "Yes ma'am", she cordially said, "Let me ask you all something. What do you see in front of me here?"

Intrigued, each of them curiously eyed each of the two compacted newspaper cubes. "They look like two smushed up cubes made from recycled copies of The Daily Globe and the Daily Rag", Xander said.

"Right", Betsy replied, "That cube is just that, like you said." She then crossed over to the second cube and lightly poked it using the sharp end of her pike pole. "Now", she continued, "Check out this one." When Betsy poked the top half of the second cube, it seemed to partially split apart from the bottom, revealing two large plastic freezer bags inside that all seemed to contain a powdered white substance.

A now very fascinated Harrison knelt down beside the second cube. He then grabbed a pair of blue nitrile exam gloves out of Anna's crime scene kit and put them on his hands before manually palpating one of the revealed freezer bags. "I'd say based on the density of this white stuff", he said, "I think we may have stumbled on to the workings of a cocaine smuggling ring, guys."

"What's the body count from tonight up to now?" Lieutenant Wong asked.

"Twenty-seven bodies, sir" Anna replied, "All black males in their twenties, all shot. It appears that some of them were blasted by a shotgun, while others were killed with forty-five-caliber rounds. Based on their tattoos and attire, I can safely assume that they were all members of the Ballas."

Harrison then stood up and looked to Xander. "Just like our Vespucci Beach case from a few days ago", he astutely said, "Some of them were capped by forty-five calibers…"

A similar feeling of realization then came over Xander as well. "…And so was that one guy who was shot off that yacht you were pursuing when you got into your accident on the freeway", he said to Harrison, "Could we be looking at the same shooter for all of this?"

"There's only one way to find out", Wong said as his gaze turned to Anna. "Anna", he continued, "We're going to need a ballistic comparison from all of those cases."

Anna nodded. "Got it", she replied, "The coroner should be starting the autopsies on our victims from tonight as we speak. I'll collect the bullets as they come out and hand deliver them to Ballistics. I'll keep you posted." She then exited the room.

"So, ladies and gentlemen" Gilligan said, "Where do we go from here?"

With that, Xander turned to Harrison. "Hey Troy", he said, "Didn't you tell me that you made some progress figuring out who was trying to steal Michael De Santa's yacht? Some Serbian dude, right?"

Harrison nodded. "Vlado Marks", he replied, "He's some sort of gun for hire or something. After my accident, I reached out to a few of the federal agencies who have immediate jurisdiction over the docks. They're all on the lookout for him now."

"As are we", Gilligan added, "I read the memos you guys sent out. I'll call Chief Sacco at Headquarters and check on the progress of the manhunt."

"Sounds good, Captain" Xander replied, "Thanks."

"In the meantime," Wong cut in, "I want you both to go to the ER and get yourselves checked out. Then, I want you both to head home."

Harrison frowned. "Lieutenant…" he said.

Wong then raised a hand in retort, abruptly cutting him off. "That's an order", he sternly said, "For both of you. I'm very proud of you guys for what you did for Steve and Dakota tonight. Nevertheless, you're dismissed, Detectives."

Conference Room
LSPD South Central Station
Mission Row
The Next Morning
7:30 AM

Chief of Police Reynard Sacco and his assistant, Brooke, entered the conference room of the LSPD's South Central Station to find Detectives Harrison and Xander already working diligently. In front of them at the head of the long conference table was a large wheeled cork-backed display board littered with photographs that depicted some very gruesome crime scenes.

"Good morning gentlemen", Chief Sacco announced.

The two detectives then turned to see the chief and his lovely assistant into the room. "Ah", Harrison said, "Good morning, Chief. Thank you so much for coming in so early this morning." He then nodded to Brooke. "Hello again, Brooke" he added.

Brooke grinned. "Good morning, Detective Harrison" she warmly replied before nodding to Xander. "Hello Detective Xander", she just as cordially added.

"Brooke", Xander replied.

"Okay fellas", Chief Sacco said, "Would either of you mind telling me why Detective Harrison called me at home and asked for this important conference so early in the morning?"

"My apologies for the urgency, sir" Harrison replied, "but I think Adam and I may have inadvertently stumbled onto some murder cases that are connected to a major drug dealing operation that's active right here in Los Santos."

With that, both Brooke and Chief Sacco sat forward in their seats with interest. "We're listening", Brooke said.

"I take it you both heard about all that went down at the recycling center in La Puerta last night", Xander said.

"Yes", Sacco replied, "That was some nice heroics you guys displayed there."

Harrison gave a very pleasant half-bow to his superior in response to the complement. "We appreciate that, Chief" he said, "But respectfully, sir, that's not my point. LSFD found a few bricks of cocaine hidden inside a mashed-up compactor cube of recycled newspaper."

"Considering how unique that method is", Xander began explaining, "I reached out to a friend of mine in Narcotics and asked her about it. The only name she could come up with is a guy named Martin Madrazo."

Chief Sacco sat back in his seat as he apparently realized something. "That's funny", he said, "Believe it or not, that's not the first time I've heard that name recently. Apparently, some crazy idiots forcibly yanked down the balcony of his mansion with a truck yesterday morning. No motive has been determined as of yet."

"No kidding", Xander said, "Anyway, my friend told me that Narcotics has been trying to build a solid case against Madrazo for cocaine trafficking over the last eighteen months. Neither Troy nor I could sleep after last night, so he called me up and we came in early to do some research on this dude."

"…And I take it all these gnarly crime scene photos are the fruits of your labor?" Brooke asked.

Harrison nodded as he motioned to the first crime scene photo. "Yes ma'am", he said, "Four murders across the Southwestern United States over a four-year period between Two-Thousand-Seven and Two-Thousand-Ten. This first unfortunate soul is twenty-seven-year-old Rick Dante. He was a low-level crack dealer from Jerome, Arizona."

"That is", Xander added, "Until June of Two-Thousand-Seven when someone permanently put Mister Dante out of business. Officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety found his body in the desert not far from Jerome. He took a single bullet to the back of the head and five one-hundred-dollar bills were stuffed in his mouth."

Chief Sacco scoffed. "Heh", he said, "I guess we can rule out robbery."

"Right on", Harrison replied as he motioned to the second crime scene photo, "That brings us to July of Two-Thousand-Eight in the small town of Spring City, Utah. This guy is thirty-year-old Dario Romero, a heroin dealer who dealt his stuff in Salt Lake City but resided in Spring City."

"He was found laying dead in a field of sunflowers just outside Spring City", Xander added, "Same modus operandi as Rick Dante in Arizona. Bullet to the back of the head, five Benjamins stuffed in his mouth. The Utah State Bureau of Investigation handled the case, but as with the Arizona case, they weren't able to come up with a whole lot of tangible leads."

With that, Sacco pointed to the two photos. "It seems to me like Madrazo doesn't like competition", he said, "Please continue, Detectives."

Harrison then motioned to a third crime scene photo. "Marble Falls, Texas" he explained, "August of Oh-Nine. The ill-fated fella in that case was thirty-year-old Judah Rosenthal. He was a local meth dealer who lived in a ramshackle trailer just outside of town."

"Marble Falls PD found his body in a vacant lot on the edge of town not far from where he lived", Xander commented, "Same MO, same story. Diligent cops, but no real leads."

"I think we get the picture, guys" Brooke chimed in, "It looks like this Martin Madrazo guy is whacking all his competitors so he can be king of the drug-addled castle."

"Hold your horses, there, Brooke" Xander replied, "Troy found one more case to tie to this thing."

On cue, Harrison motioned to one more crime scene photo. "Truth or Consequences, New Mexico" he explained, "September, Two-Thousand-Ten. Twenty-nine-year-old Manuel Cunningham, local coke dealer. New Mexico State Police found his body in the desert near there. Same MO, blah-blah-blah."

"Do we even know if Madrazo was even near there during those times?" Brooke asked.

"We put the word out to all the law enforcement agencies that worked each case", Xander replied, "Floated Madrazo's name to each of them. We're awaiting call backs."

"All right", Sacco said, "Brief Lieutenant Wong when he comes in. I'll reach out to Lieutenant Curtis in Narcotics and have him send you guys any information regarding any dealers they're looking at. If Martin Madrazo has this habit of whacking dealers he competes against, it could spell out a war right here in Los Santos. I'll be damned if I let that happen."