Simon Says: Case of the Sin City Snatch (standard:mystery, 3830 words)
Author: pjlawton	Added: Oct 03 2004	Views/Reads: 3755/2514	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Something is rotten in Las Vegas. PI Winston Simon's daughter is kidnapped along with another young girl, the intended victim. They shouldn't have done that!

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


Oh no I thought. If they were willing to kill for the snatch then we had
a big, big problem. Our chances of seeing the girls alive again just 
slipped down a few notches. 

The numbness of my initial shock was wearing off and I was getting
angry.  “When were they taken? Why didn't you call my cell phone?” 

“It was two days ago. I did call your cell, at least 30 times. If you
had it with you then it must have been turned off. That why I kept 
leaving messages. I figured you would have to come home sometime. It's 
not my fault.” She was crying again. 

She was right. I just realized that I had not taken my phone. It was
sitting on top of my desk. Battery had probably run down anyway, never 
could remember to recharge it. 

“Look Trace, I'm sorry. I'll get the first plane out. I should be there
sometime today. Hang in there kid, okay?” 

In a very tired voice she said. “Okay, call with your flight data and
we'll have a car waiting for you. And uh, Simon, thanks.” I guess she 
was really tired, probably hadn't slept in two days. I made a couple of 
calls, packed a carry bag and grabbed a cab to the airport. Sin City 
here I come. 

*** 

I arrived in Las Vegas around 6:00 P.M. where a stretch limousine waited
to take me to the hotel. It was a short drive.  In about 30 minutes I 
was being shown into rear work area where most of the offices were 
located, including Tracy's. 

Tracy looked good, at least at first glance. She was slim and tanned and
appeared really healthy. At the moment though, a tall heavy shoulder 
man was holding her as she sobbed quietly. Seeing me enter she gathered 
herself and moved to her desk and lighted a cigarette. I though she had 
quit smoking, I guess that was something else I didn't know. 

Turning to me she said. “Simon thanks for coming.” Looking toward the
tall man she continued. “This is my fiancé James Hollis. James is a 
detective with the County Sheriff's department. James, this is my 
ex-husband Winston Simon.” 

We nodded to each other, neither offering to shake hands. I immediately
dubbed him Mister Detective. He had that air of self-importance about 
him. Although he didn't say anything I could feel the hostility just 
ooze out of him. Hey pal, I thought, who licked the red off your candy? 
Looking toward Tracy I said, “Can we talk, alone?” 

“James is familiar with all aspects of the case. That's why I asked him
to come by today.” 

Ignoring him completely I said, “I'm sure he is, but right now I would
like to talk to you. Jacki is my daughter after all.”  Then giving him 
a glance I continued. “Give us a minute will you pal, I'd appreciate 
it.” 

For the first time Mister Detective spoke. He had a good radio announcer
voice that kinda reminded me of that Mark fella, the guy from the LAPD 
that got so famous in that celebrity murder case.  “Trace asked me to 
come over here today. I will stay here as long as she wants me to, 
pal.” 

I turned and took a step toward him. My intentions were to toss his butt
out the door. He braced himself, and squared around to face me. Tracy 
knew me all too well. 

“Simon wait.” Turning to Mister Detective she motioned toward the door.
“James, could you give us a few minutes please. Thank you.” 

Mister Detective knew he had been dismissed and with one last sullen
look he huffed and puffed his way to the door. I guess he was the type 
that just had to have the last word.  “I'll be right outside if you 
need me Tracy,” he said as he quickly slid through the portal. 

In a second I had already forgotten him and turned back to Tracy. “Okay
Trace, let's start at the beginning.” 

“It all started almost two days ago. Jacki and Bonnie had gone to the
mall...” 

In the next few minutes she outlined what she knew of what happened. The
two girls had gone shopping after school. When they exited the mall, a 
van came out of nowhere. Three guys jumped out. Two of them grabbed the 
girls and threw them into the van. The third simply shot the two 
bodyguards that had rushed forward. No warning just shot them down. It 
was well planned and over in less than a minute. The police had a 
description of the van but unfortunately not the license number. Didn't 
matter, it was probably stolen anyway and the van was a common delivery 
type. 

The first word from the kidnappers had come in about eight hours later.
It was in the form of e-mail with a hotmail.com address. The police 
checked it out and found out that it had been sent with a made up 
account name from an Internet café a couple of blocks off the strip. 
The e-mail was from snatcher1@hotmail.com. I guess our kidnappers had a 
sense of humor. 

The message had been sent to Tracy's e-mail account but it was meant for
Jason. It had simply said, “You know what we want. You have 48 hours to 
decide.” Attached to the e-mail message was a picture of the girls, 
blindfolded with copies of the daily paper in their laps. That was all 
they had, and that was all she knew. 

We talked for a few more minutes. I told her I needed to get checked in
and would meet her for a late dinner in about two hours. She said she 
would ask Jason to join us. With that I left and went looking for my 
room. It took awhile; it was an awfully big hotel. 

*** 

Dinner wasn't overly productive. Jason joined us for a few minutes but
wasn't able to or didn't choose to provide any additional information. 
I asked him why the Feds were not here in charge of the case. He told 
me that all the local agents were called away to some standoff down in 
New Mexico and the County Sheriff had assured him that they were 
capable of handling the situation.  When I asked him about the e-mail 
message his attitude became a little strained. He said he had no idea 
about the meaning of the message. For some reason I didn't believe him. 


After dinner Tracy went back to her apartment and I stayed to have one
more drink and think things out a little. About 30 minutes later 
thoroughly dejected with no set plan of action I started back to my 
room. Rounding a corner I spotted Jason in heated conversation with an 
oily looking character near the employee elevator. The guy was Hispanic 
and dressed in a retro 70s disco look with bright green slacks and a 
pink silk shirt partially unbuttoned with a big gold chain around his 
neck. I thought I was in a time warp or something. 

Seeing me approach they quickly turned and walked through an employee's
only doorway. Like that would keep me from following, right. Just as I 
was about to enter, a security guard stepped out and asked me if he 
could be of assistance. He was very polite but made it very plain that 
I wasn't going through that door. I guess he figured I was some lost 
tourist. I declined his assistance and hopped the next elevator for my 
floor and room. 

Back in my room I sat in semi-darkness for a while sipping a drink from
the wet bar just letting my thoughts drift. Suddenly two items pushed 
to the top of my consciousness. 

It had finally registered on me the words Tracy had said when
introducing me to Mister Detective. She had said; this is my fiancé. 
So, she was going to marry another cop. Ironic wasn't it?  Then another 
thought surfaced. Maybe she hadn't divorced me because of the job. I 
pushed that little thought aside, I'd think about it later. 

The second item definitely carried more importance to the current
situation.  I realized that I knew Mister Disco. 

I had felt that he was familiar at first glance but it took my
overworked mind a little while to process. Mister Disco was Antonio 
“the Squeeze” Sabato, an enforcer and high-ranking member of the 
Galandez drug cartel. We had kept a thick file on him and his friends 
at the Metro Police Department. He got the name “the Squeeze” because 
he liked to slowly squeeze his victim's throat until he completely 
crushed the larynx and windpipe. The victim gradually suffocated. All 
in all, he wasn't a nice man.  Although I hadn't seen him for several 
years, his appearance hadn't changed very much. He'd just gotten a 
little more sleazy and greasy. 

Suddenly that little light bulb in my head went off. I had a pretty good
idea what the snatch was all about. It looked like Sabato might be 
trying to set up a little money laundering business. After seeing him 
with Jason I got the impression that they knew each other pretty well. 
Several thoughts jumped into my head. Maybe Jason had been in on the 
deal but had gotten cold feet. Maybe the snatch was just a way to make 
sure he carried out his part of the deal. Or, maybe they were just 
using his daughter to force him to work with them or maybe just insure 
his cooperation. That was a whole lot of maybes; I needed some facts. 

Grabbing up my recently charged cell phone I placed a call to my friend
Willis. In less than a minute I had the number of a sleaze bag lawyer 
that worked for Galendez. Another call and I was speaking with the 
lawyer. 

“My name is Winston Simon. I need to talk to Mario Galendez right away.”


“I'm sorry Mister Simon, I'm afraid I can't help you. Mr Galendez is
unavailable. . .” 

I cut him off. “Look friend, I don't have time for this crap. Call him
and tell him that Simon needs to speak with him ASAP. Tell him it's 
about “the Squeeze”, Las Vegas and my daughter.” 

The lawyer was silent for a moment. “I'm not sure I can help, but, how
can he reach you?” 

I gave him my mobile number, closed the phone and settled back to wait.
The wait was only about twenty minutes before my phone rang. 

“Simon.” 

“Hello Simon, it's been a long time.” 

“Yes it has Mario. I thought you'd be dead by now.” 

He gave a slight chuckle. “Some find that I am pretty hard to kill,
though some have tried. They don't get a second chance. Now, I am a 
rather busy man, what can I do for you?” 

I quickly outlined what had gone down and what I suspected. He was
silent for a moment. 

“Look Simon, I am sorry about you daughter. First let me say that we
have absolutely no business dealings in Las Vegas at this time. With 
the Feds and the Banking Commission looking over everyone's shoulders 
it just isn't cost effective.” 

“So, you can't buy anyone off to look aside while you launder your money
huh?” 

He laughed again. “Someone told me you had a brain in that big blond
head. Seriously, Antonio is supposed to be on vacation, and even if he 
was doing business for me. . .; I don't hurt families, period.” His 
tone had gotten hard and dangerous. I believed him. “Give me 12 hours 
or so, I'll get back to you.” 

“Thanks Mario,” I said closing my phone. Mario Galendez may be a lowlife
drug-dealing thug but he was honorable. He did not lie. If he said they 
weren't involved then they weren't involved. 

*** 

The next morning while waiting for Mario's call I decided to go see
Mister Detective. Since he was the lead detective on the case I thought 
he would like to know what I had learned. Besides, I figured we could 
bury the hatchet since he was going to be my little girl's stepfather. 
No use making it any harder for her than necessary. Yeah, I know, we 
didn't have her back yet. She was going to be safe, we were going to 
get her back and anything else was unacceptable. 

Pulling my rental car into the visitors slot in front of the Sheriff's
Station I saw Hollis, Mister Detective, leaving the building. Before I 
had a chance to call out he turned and quickly walked around the 
corner. Rounding the corner after him I saw something that made my 
blood turn to ice. Hollis was getting into the back of a stretch 
limousine. Through the open door I caught a glimpse of the cars other 
occupant. It was “the Squeeze”. As the door closed I could see them 
shaking hands like old friends.  As they drove off down the street I 
turned to run to my rental but knew it was too late. They had gone 
already around the corner. There was no way I was going to be able to 
tail them. 

I realized that I had no more business to conduct so I drove back to my
hotel. Now I had two problems, how to get my daughter back, and how to 
tell Tracy that her fiancé was a scumbag cop on the take. 

*** 

Back in my room I had time to think on how I was going to handle this
little predicament.  I thought so much my head hurt. Try as I might I 
couldn't come up with a way that would save Tracy's feelings. I finally 
decided to be honest and straight up. I would just tell her the truth. 

The ringing of my cell phone woke me up. I realized I had been dozing. I
attempted to shake the cobwebs out and opened my phone. 

“Simon.” 

There was no greeting, no preamble just the information I needed from a
voice I didn't recognize. “Look in the old abandoned Lucky Strike 
Casino, two blocks north and east of Freemont Street,” and the 
connection was broken. 

I decided I'd better check it out before starting something. If it
panned out I would go to the Sheriff and outline what I knew about the 
case to include the information about Mister Detective. Although I 
would like to be included in the bust, I figured I had better stay away 
and let the locals handle it. I changed from my suit to some loose 
fitting inconspicuous clothes and headed downtown. 

From the outside the Lucky Strike looked to be exactly what it was an
old boarded up abandoned building. There was a long dead neon sign 
above the main padlocked entrance but no other indication that this has 
once been a thriving bustling gambling house and entertainment parlor. 

I found a side door that had been jimmied. Curiosity aroused, I quietly
went in. I'd just have a quick look and then call the cavalry.  Inside 
was a different story. The building was packed with slot machines and 
gambling tables covered with a grimy dust film. It looked like someone 
had simply locked up the place one day and walked away. I had heard 
that the Feds had taken it from the Mob. It had been closed for several 
years. I guess the Feds weren't into the gaming business. 

BAM, BAM, suddenly two loud gunshots in quick succession. I didn't even
think about not being armed, I simply ran for the sounds. My daughter 
was back there somewhere. I'd kill the snatchers with my bare hands if 
necessary. 

As I rounded a sharp corner I tripped over the legs of Mister Detective.
He had been shot twice in the chest at close range. He wasn't dead yet 
but he knew he was finished. A frothy redness appeared around his mouth 
as he tried to speak. I squatted near so as to hear the quiet rasping 
words. 

He said, attempting to point to the rear of the casino, “Back there,
last room on the right. Simon, I'm sorry. She wasn't supposed to be 
part of this.  You, You've got to stop him. Don't let him hurt the 
girls he ..” 

That was it he was finished. I looked down at him for a few seconds. He
may have been a lowlife dirty cop but he did care about Jacki, I could 
tell. I reached down and pulled his weapon from his cooling hand. It 
was a Glock .45 caliber, a good gun. I got up and quickly sprinted for 
the back. 

I could hear sobbing and low talking as I neared the half open door.
Glancing inside I saw “the squeeze” pointing his weapon at the 
terrified young girls. They had been handcuffed together to the frame 
of a hard looking cot. Both girls were blindfolded. I could hear him 
talking I think more to him self than to them. I knew he was a 
hard-core killer but something was a little different about this. I 
guess he had never killed any kids before and was having a hard time 
getting it done. 

“I'm sorry girls, it's nothing personal just business. Somehow the boss
found out so I have to cut my losses and get out of town. You 
understand right? Come on, don't cry, I'll make it fast, you won't feel 
a thing.” He leaned over and placed the gun barrel against the side of 
Jacki's head. 

That was all I could stand. I made a coughing noise and when he whirled
around to investigate I shot him twice in the chest. He was a tough 
guy. Even with two in him he still tried to raise his gun toward me. I 
walked over and shot him right between the eyes. He didn't move again. 

Out of habit I always carried a handcuff key on my key chain. In less
than a minute I had the girls loose and headed out to the front of the 
building. Once they were safe I placed a call to the Sheriff's 
Department, Tracy, and Jason. While I waited for them to arrive I made 
up my story. 

The story was pretty simple. Detective Hollis and I had been following
up on a lead when we walked into an ambush. Hollis was hit immediately 
but managed to wound our attacker. After he went down I grabbed his gun 
and after a short standoff I was able to take out Sabato and free the 
girls. 

We sat out front on the dirty steps waiting for police and parents to
arrive. I held both girls close. They were overjoyed and relived but 
wouldn't let go. They appeared to be in good health and not to have 
been harmed in any manner. I suppose I should thank Mister Detective 
for that.  I thought about it awhile and decided not to bring up the 
association of Sabato and Tracy's boss Jason since I really didn't know 
the extent of his involvement.  I also decided to forget what I knew 
about Detective Hollis. For old times sake, I guess I could spare Tracy 
that much. 

End 


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