by Brent Towns
Salazar didn’t like it. In the short time since the theft of the money, Montoya had changed. All he could think about was revenge. He was sending a chainsaw to do something better suited to a surgeon’s scalpel.
“Let me go on my own, Jefe. I will bring you the proof that you need. Don’t let what has happened cloud your judgment.”
“Do you think that is what is happening?”
“Sí.”
Montoya was silent with his thoughts. He stared at Salazar and nodded. “Do it. But do not let me down.”
“I will see to it, Jefe.”
Retribution, Same time
Kane and the others, with the exception of Traynor, were seated around a circular table, drinking beers when Rich Horton arrived. Ferrero knew that he was on his way, but the DEA Administrator never bothered to announce his arrival, he just barged on in.
Behind him were three other agents, all sour-faced men who looked as though they’d woken up for breakfast and found that someone had shit in their cereal.
Horton screwed up his face and hissed, “I should have known this would be you. Of all the people in the department it could have been, I fucking get you!”
Ferrero lowered his beer to the table and stood. “How about we don’t do this here.”
“Why? You scared your people will find out how much of a fucking asshole you really are?”
Kane held up his half-empty bottle. “You want a beer? Nice to meet you, by the way.”
Horton’s eyes snapped to Kane’s smiling face. “Who are you?”
“Kane. Field commander.”
“Shut the fuck up, Kane. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He nodded, then switched his gaze to the other agents. “What about you fellers?”
They ignored him.
“Suit yourself.”
“How about we take this outside, Rich?” Ferrero suggested.
“The hell we will. You know, you could have come to me with this idea of yours instead of going over my head.”
Cara and the rest of the team vacated the table and walked away. But not Kane. He wanted to see how this played out.
“And what would you have said, Rich? You’d have shut it down.”
“Damned straight. You’re taking armed men onto Mexican soil. Not to mention using UAVs with Hellfires.”
“Did you talk to the AG, Rich?”
“You damned well know I did. And I told him the same thing. It seems to me he’d rather listen to low-level shitkickers than anyone with an ounce of sense. Just remember, when this all falls flat on its ass, and it will, neither you, nor your people will ever get another job with the U.S. government again.”
“Well, what the fuck are you doing here then?” Kane snapped.
“Excuse me?”
Ferrero gave him a slight shake of the head.
Kane went on, “If you knew all of this before you arrived, then why are you here?”
“I don’t have to damned well answer to you.”
“In case you haven’t worked it out yet, we don’t answer to you either. And just so you know, it’s working.” Kane pointed to a tarp-covered mound in the corner of the warehouse. “See that? Under there is the money we stole from Montoya to lure him out.”
Horton frowned. “How much?”
“Almost twenty million dollars.”
The surprise was unmistakable on the DEA Administrator’s face. “I guess the AG forgot to mention that, huh?”
“Maybe.”
“He’s right, Rich,” Ferrero explained. “At the moment, we’re waiting to see what Montoya will do next. The guys at Davis–Monthan Airforce Base have a UAV in the air right now keeping an eye on things. Normally we would do our own, but tonight is about the team having a rest. They’ve earned it.”
Suddenly, it seemed that all the bluster had gone from the administrator’s sails and a calmness settled upon him. He stared at Ferrero and said, “I might hang around for a day or so if it’s all right. Maybe you can catch me up on what’s happened? Show me around?”
Ferrero nodded. “Done.”
Horton turned to face Kane. “I’ve heard of you. The whole embassy thing in the Philippines. My wife happened to be on the embassy staff when it all went down.”
Kane nodded. “Small world.”
“Small world.”
Kane held up an unopened bottle of Coors. “Beer?”
“Why not?”
Kane walked outside into the skin-prickling cool of the night. The moon was full, and stars seemed to fill the sky. An old farm truck rattled along the street, spewing out smoke that was visible even in the darkness.
He saw Cara as she finished a call on her cell, and he walked over to her. In the false light, she smiled at him. “Jimmy says hi.”
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s good.”
“How are you doing?”
Her gaze dropped. “I miss him like hell but in saying that, I’m glad he’s not here.”
Kane touched her shoulder. “Doc will look after him. Once this is over, you’ll be able to go visit. How are you dealing with the other?”
“You mean being part of the task force? Being under fire and all the shit that comes with it?”
He smiled. “Something like that.”
“I’ve missed the buzz,” Cara told him honestly. “Is that bad? I love my son and all that, and being a deputy was great because I could be with him every day but doing this makes me feel alive.”
“I’m hearing you.”
“What do you think he’ll do?”
“Who?”
“Montoya.”
Kane shrugged. “The longer it takes, the worse it’ll be, I’m thinking.”
“They call it the war on drugs, but it isn’t like that, is it?” Cara commented.
“Nope. They say there are no rules in war. The cartels have taken it to a whole other level. I saw things in Columbia that no one should ever see. We were covert, but still, it is hard to miss. Judges assassinated, along with politicians. Police officers constantly wore balaclavas for fear of being recognized and their families being butchered. Their reach is at times unbelievable.”
“And this bastard Montoya has files on us all,” Cara pointed out.
“I tell you right now, Cara, if you get a chance, you kill him. We don’t want him left alive. He’s too dangerous.”
“But the AG’s office …”
“I don’t give two shits what they want. If you get your crosshairs lined up on his head, you blow his brains out. I’ll give the others the same instructions. OK?”
Cara nodded. “OK. After this is all done if Ferrero gets his taskforce, are you going to stay?”
“Are you?”
Cara smiled. “I asked first, Reaper.”
“Maybe. I’ve no one except my sister to worry about. Frankly, the more distance between us, the safer she’ll be.”
“O’Brien,” Cara breathed.
“Yeah.”
“You sure have pissed a lot of people off lately, Reaper. It’s a wonder you still have any friends left.”
“I’ve got you.”
A brief silence hung between them before Cara stepped closer to him and touched his arm. “Yeah, you’ve got me.”
Her voice was soft, alluring. Coupled with her touch, small sparks of electricity surged through him. Suddenly, he no longer looked at her as a team member, but as a woman. She came into his arms, and their lips met. He pushed away from her.
Cara was confused. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to?”
“Yes. Hell yes, but not yet, not now. Maybe after all this is done. I need to have my head in the game. You understand?”
She stared at him, not knowing whether to be hurt, angry or relieved.
“Can we revisit this at a later date, please?” Kane asked her.
Cara nodded. “OK. But make sure you do.”
“I promise.”
Chapter 16
Retribution
“Zero, we have movement at Montoya’s compound,” Reynolds called to Ferrero.
He looked around from where he sat discussing several operational options with Horton and nodded. “Be right there.”
The shout drew Kane and Cara’s attention, and they arrived at the station at the same time as Ferrero and Horton.
“What are we looking at?” he asked.
Teller said, “Salazar is about to leave in one of the SUVs.”
“On his own?” Kane asked.
“Yes.”
“No sign of Montoya?” Ferrero asked Teller.
“None at all, sir.”
Reynolds turned her head. “Do you want us to follow him?”
“No. Stick with Montoya. I don’t want us off chasing one asshole and have the other give us the slip.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do we know how he gets his drugs in?” Horton asked. “Where he stores them?”
“Not as yet,” Ferrero allowed. “Although he does have a helicopter as you will see. Sergeant, pan to the rear of the compound.”
“Sir.”
The camera on the UAV zoomed out to the rear of the house where a helicopter sat on a concrete helipad.
“I doubt it is big enough to ship much at all,” Ferrero pointed out.
Horton nodded. “And there are too many ridges and not enough flat areas for a landing strip.”
Teller suddenly frowned, deep in thought. He turned to stare at Kane. “Reaper, could you get me the aerial photos off the desk behind you, please?”
“I’ve got them,” said Cara.
“What is it?” Ferrero asked.
Teller took the pictures from Cara. “It may be nothing, but the other day we did a broad sweep of the area and …”
He flicked through the pictures and found the one he wanted. He handed it off to Kane. It was a picture of the desert country with its copper sands, large rocks, and any amount of cactus you could want. Towards the center of the print though, were two small adobe buildings. Alongside them was a gravel road.
“Reynolds, how long would it take for you to reposition the bird over this area?”
“Ten minutes.”
Kane turned and stared at Ferrero, who nodded.
Kane said, “Do it.”
“Copy. Repositioning now.”
“What did you see?” Horton asked.
“My question, exactly,” Ferrero put in.
Kane handed the picture to Horton and asked Teller, “Can you put the picture up on this big screen here?”
He motioned to the thirty-six-inch monitor to his left.
“Sure.”
His fingers danced across the keyboard in front of him, and the picture appeared in front of the group.
“What do you see?” Kane asked them.
“A road and some old buildings,” Swift spoke for the first time.
“Take a closer look at the road.”
“I see it,” said Cara. “The section of road that runs past the buildings is straight.”
Horton took a pair of glasses from his pocket. He went to put them on and almost poked himself in the right eye. Once they were in place, he leaned forward and squinted. “So it is. The road is straight. But that doesn’t have to mean much.”
Kane nodded. “Granted. But look beyond the road itself.”
They stood staring at the picture, but nobody expressed an opinion on what they were supposed to glean from what lay before them. Finally, Kane said, “Teller, I know you see it.”
The air force man nodded. “If you look at the end of the straight piece of gravel road, you’ll see that all of the desert plants and rocks are closer to the roadside. However, along the straight piece of road itself, you’ll notice that it is fractionally wider, and the desert has been cleared back some.”
Teller turned back to his monitors and worked the keyboard again. A live picture appeared which was much like the shot they’d been looking at. “Now, here’s the kicker. If I do this –”
They all watched the telemetry change on the screen as Teller worked his magic. He turned back, a broad smile on his face. “The measurements of the road come in at just under eight-hundred meters. Just long enough to land any drug smuggler’s light aircraft of choice.”
“Damn it, you could be right,” Ferrero allowed. “Can we get in closer on those buildings?”
Once again, Teller’s fingers did the work. The buildings grew larger on the screen. They looked just like normal rundown buildings. Nothing special, a hole in one of the rooftops, tufts of desert plants growing around them.
“How big are those buildings, Teller?” Kane asked.
“About fifty by fifty; both of them.”
“I doubt they’re much use for anything,” Horton observed.
Then, on cue, just to prove the DEA Administrator wrong, an armed man emerged from the building closest to the road.
“Well, I’ll be,” Ferrero murmured.
“I guess there might be something to it after all,” Horton conceded.
Kane said, “There’s only one way to find out.”
“You want to go and have a look, Reaper?” Ferrero asked.
“It’s the only way to know for sure.”
“Who do you want to take?”
“Me, Cara and Hawk,” Kane said.
“What about Traynor?”
Kane shook his head. “Truth be told, I’d rather just go with two of us. But in case there is something unexpected there, I’ll take one extra.”
“I don’t mind,” Traynor said. “I’ve been shot at too much lately, anyway.”
Ferrero let out a long, slow breath, then he nodded. “All right, Reaper. Go and have a look. Be aware, you won’t have any direct air support. I intend to leave it where it is. If the need should arise, then I’ll redirect it to you. It’s the best I can offer. Other than that, if something happens, you’re on your own.”
“It won’t be the first time. If we leave in the next hour, we can be there before dark. Once the sun goes down, we’ll go in and take a peek.”
“What do you want to do if you find something?”
“Can I make it go bang?”
Ferrero glanced at Horton who said, “This is your show, Luis, I’m only here as an observer.”
Ferrero nodded. “Make it go bang, Reaper.”
“You two all good?” Kane asked Cara and Hawk as they finalized their equipment.
Hawk nodded. “Sure.”
“Cara?”
“All good,” she acknowledged as she placed some spare magazines in a large duffel.
“You both have extra ammo, silencers, flash-bangs, night-vision kit …”
“… and extra batteries for comms, maglite,” Cara continued.
“What weapon did you pull from the armory?”
“The M110.”
“Grab yourself an HK416 with laser sight instead. Up close and personal tonight. Both of you be ready in twenty.”
“Copy.”
Sonora
“Zero? Reaper One. Reaper team moving in.”
“Copy, Reaper One.”
“Cara, on me. Hawk, cover our six. Only fire if you need to.”
“Copy.”
Kane moved forward through the darkness. With his night-vision goggles down, the desert turned from a burnt-orange arid landscape into a green-hued moonscape. Above them, the dark cloudless sky was full of stars. He raised his silenced HK, and immediately the laser sight’s beam reached out across the desert.
Somewhere out there amongst the rock and cactus, a coyote howled, a low, mournful sound that would send a shiver down anyone’s spine.
They were all decked out in their tactical vests, pockets filled with spare magazines. Each carried a flash-bang grenade and, in a holster strapped to their thigh, they carried an HK USP also with a laser sight.
All three wore combat helmets with the NVGs fixed to them, and each had their own personal cameras.
Before he move
d off, Kane toggled the radio. “Bravo Two? Reaper One. All cameras should be up. How are they looking? Over.”
“Reaper One? Bravo Two. Confirm all cameras are up and operational,” Swift came back.
“Copy. Reaper One, out.”
They had two miles to trek to reach their target. It was all over rough terrain. Dry washes, rocks, gravel, cactus, even rattlesnakes. It was a harsh and merciless landscape that could kill the careless.
The team traveled in silence until they were no more than three hundred meters from their target where Kane stopped them.
“OK, listen up. This is my world. We don’t know what we’re walking into or how many Tangos we’ll find on the inside. If possible, they won’t even know we’re there until it is too late. However, if things go hot, pick your targets and put them down the first time. Any questions?”
Hawk said, “Yeah. Can I go home?”
“Just make sure you don’t go home in a body bag, Hawk. That would inconvenience me somewhat. Because I ain’t humping your dead ass out of here. Come on, let’s get it done.”
Kane toggled his comms. “Zero, Reaper One, copy? Over.”
“Copy, Reaper One.”
“We’re moving in. Out.”
“Copy, you’re moving in. Zero, out.”
Retribution, That same time
The black SUV rolled slowly into Retribution, its tires crunching on the intermittent layers of gravel which had been used to fill potholes. Its headlights swept across the facades of darkened stores each time it turned a corner.
Behind the wheel, Salazar’s face was lit a luminescent green by the dash lights, his eyes darting left and right as they looked for any sign of trouble. He took a left-hand corner and from his mental notes, knew that one more right a little further on would have him close to his destination.
He squinted as the headlights from an oncoming car filled his windshield. When it passed, he could see that it was a state trooper’s cruiser.
