| |
Slade McKane squatted behind a trashcan near the empty guardhouse at the Port of Richmond and watched the trawler make its way up the James River. The night was dark and a dense cloud cover added to the poor visibility. Even though most of the snow and precipitation had moved out, the weather remained bitterly cold. The wind off the water was freezing, and he pulled his coat closer around him. He spoke softly into his headpiece to the men, “Here she comes... looks to be a couple of miles out.”
Silence. He stared over at the surveillance van and spoke again into his headpiece, “Big Dawg?”
Monty “Big Dawg” McGraw was tracking the trawler on his monitor and answered. “Yeah. It’s a pretty big vessel. We see her. Got it covered, Detective. As soon as she gets a little closer, we’ll have eyes and ears on deck.”
“Roger that, Big Dawg.” Slade smiled. Monty McGraw was the best eyes and ears a RPD crime team could ever wish for. Scottish by birth, Big Dawg commanded an amazing girth, a great sense of humor and was a brilliant technician and analyst. He had fifteen years of active police service and was a computer genius. Slade always felt good when he had the Big Dawg on his team.
“Who’s ridin’ shotgun with you in there, Dawg?” Slade asked.
“I got Smitty tonight, and we got us a fifth of Black Jack we’re gettin’ into as soon as this dance is over,” Big Dawg informed him.
Slade grinned. Things couldn’t be better. Big Dawg and Smitty were the best. Between the two of them, they didn’t miss a trick. Big Dawg himself was the architect of Richmond’s impressive police security van, considered “heavy artillery” in the surveillance world. Dawg had designed the RPD van to provide for the upmost safety for surveillance operatives and police officers to get the job done and capture the bad guys. Dawg’s van appeared like any other van from the outside, but it had a secret door hidden between the front and back seats. The “working” part of the van had its own heating and cooling system, and the technology in the van was capable of monitoring the four corners around the van to cover and protect officers from blind spots. The van boasted extremely sensitive listening equipment, night vision capabilities, thermal imaging, GPS and video surveillance. There were side and back state-of-the-art cameras capable of medium and long-range surveillance, and the video camera had wide-angle lenses with panning capabilities. The Richmond Police Department van was equipped with riflescope advanced night vision that lit the night like daytime. Photography, and video recording with superior performance and image clarity helped identify perps. The dashboard control center had a camcorder capable of taking night shots at 450X. A periscope located on top of the van was cleverly disguised and rotated 360 degrees to offer surveillance operatives greater vision.
“Hey, Slade,” Big Dawg crackled, “let’s take these perps down like we did couple of years back when that Turkish Trawler came through here with all the cocaine. We did good, ‘member?”
Slade smiled. “Yeah, man. That was a great take down. We got over eight mil worth of coke. Our drug-sniffing dogs were amazing that night.”
“Yup,” Big Dawg said. “It was one fine night. We didn’t find anything at first but when both dogs alerted, one in the captain’s cabin and the other behind the kitchen galley, it was all over but the shoutin’.”
Slade checked in with Lt. Stoddard about the vehicles he’d arranged for back up. Each vehicle was equipped with sensitive sound detection equipment as well as night scopes to easily enhance shadows on this dark, dreary night. Two officers manned each vehicle. Everyone was on high alert and ready for action. The canine van was parked in a grove of trees, and it would only take the two dogs a few seconds to attack if needed.
The minutes ticked by as Slade waited and his anxiety increased.
“Detective, we got a white Chevy panel van, Maryland plates, headed your way. I’m thinkin’ it’s the exchange vehicle.” Big Dawg’s voice hummed with excitement.
“Copy that,” Slade said as he spotted the headlights reflected off the snow-covered trees as they approached the entrance into the port. He watched as the van passed the “Port of Richmond” sign and entered the gates. Slowly, the van moved closer and closer to the darkened port building. He watched as his officer dressed in overalls and a winter jacket moved into the shadow of the building, holding a snow shovel with thick heavy gloves.
“Thermal images suggest four bodies in the white van.” The voice crackled through his headset.
“How about on the trawler? Can you tell whether it’s armed and the number of bodies?”
Big Dawg shook his head. “Nah. Too far out. I’ll let you know soon as I can tell,” Big Dawg promised, his voice calm and steady.
Stoddard’s voice crackled in his ear. “Slade, we got another van, dark color for a total of two vans. This one is over on the west end of the port, coming through the west gate.”
Slade’s heart pumped hard and adrenalin rushed blood through his brain. “Okay, can you see it, Dawg?”
“Yeah, I see it. No visual yet. Heat sensing suggests three images. Two in the front and one in the back. I’ll keep sneakin’ and peepin’ and get back.”
Slade repeated Big Dawg’s update to his men. His heart was hammering in his chest. He in no way had expected a second van. This was getting interesting. They were ready to rock and roll.