State of Confusion (State of Arizona Book 4)

by Doug Ball

  New Mexico’s response was, “We’ll keep the border closed.”

  California just laughed.

  Josie stuck her head in the office. “Boss, the Governor of Oklahoma is on line two.”

  “Thank you.”

  Oklahoma said, “Send me all the details of what Arizona has done and how. I will try to get us moving in a direction similar to yours. You might want to talk with Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida.”

  Governor Reeves had Josie prepare packets of all the law changes, actions, efforts, results, whatever, that had been utilized in Arizona’s change and send them out to all the states including California. “When you are done, hand me a copy of all that. I need to read up on it.”

  “That’s gonna take a while, Boss.”

  “Get the legislator’s secretaries on board with you and publish a volume. We’ll get it bound and send it out. Three days maybe?”

  “Three months, for sure.”

  “It won’t get done standing there, Josie.”

  “Yes, Boss.” She spun on her heels and closed the door none too gently, stamping her foot as she stepped toward her desk. “Like I have nothing else to do,” she grumbled under her breath.

  Sierra Vista Steak House

  “Well, I need to talk to the grandstander in the Governor’s office.” Tan stopped and thought a moment. “I shouldn’t call him that, it was just my first impression at his inauguration. That speech and kissing up to the Fed again, I just can’t handle, yet. I’m trying. We are a part of the U.S. of A. and should be treated as such.”

  Abdul said, “I’ll have the largest rib eye, very rare, baked tater, and lots of butter.”

  “Who asked you?”

  “You did when you brought me to this place. I gotta go whiz. Order for me if she comes this way before I get back.”

  “You got it.” Tan reached for his phone.

  “Governor’s office.”

  “Josie, let me speak to the Governor, please.”

  “Tan?” she checked the door to the inner office, “He’s grouchy this afternoon cuz the President said Arizona would have to kiss his feet before they would live up to the Constitution.”

  “Won’t be any happier after I talk to him. There is no good news.”

  “Hold please.” She pushed the intercom button.

  “Yes, Josie.”

  “Your special investigator on line one, Boss.”

  “I’d rather you didn’t call me boss.” He grabbed the phone. “Whatcha got, Mr. Brown.”

  Tan thought, ‘What burr is under his saddle? I better keep it professional.’

  “Well, Governor, it’s worse than you first heard. Seventeen dead and one survivor. That survivor was a woman. Raped and sent back to Mexico in only her shoes, from what we found, carrying a message supposedly from you.”

  “From me?” the Governor interrupted. ‘El Presidentè was not making it up,’ he thought.

  “According to a Mexican Major.”

  “I sent no messages, tell me more.”

  “I know that, sir, but the Major was not easily convinced. You might wanna call El Presidenté and beat the rush.”

  “We’ve talked.”

  “It looks like four or five men with semi auto weapons, caliber 5.56, took out a party of illegals and sent a message in your name by way of the planned survivor. My gut feeling is this is only a beginning.”

  “I do not want your gut feelings. Your gut feelings led you to chase that cartel leader though my neighborhood and have a shoot-out behind the school my grandkids attend. I don’t call that good gut feelings.”

  “Whoa. With all due respect, sir; that man had kidnapped my wife and men on my team, and killed two women in our state, violating the border with every move he made. We still haven’t found his son or the chopper he escaped in. And, all the shots were fired inside a cave. Get real.”

  “I don’t trust your judgment much. You acted like a Marine on the attack.”

  “That was my first training, sir. I am a Marine.”

  “Mr. Brown, you will put a stop to incidents of this type, bring the perpetrators to justice, and mend our relationship with our neighbors to the south, or I will fire you and disband your office.”

  “I wasn’t looking for a job when I got this one. I do my best and so do my men. You really don’t have to threaten us. We exist at your pleasure.”

  “Right now it’s at my displeasure.”

  Tan heard the phone slam in its cradle and looked down at the phone in his hand, hit the end button, and shoved it into his shirt pocket.

  “Hi, my name is Louise. I’ll be your server tonight. What can I get you guys?”

  “Another job.”

  “I’ll see if the chef can fix one up for you. I understand they are looking for a dishwasher in the kitchen, sir.”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  Abdul returned. “You order yet.”

  “Just in time. Tell Louise what you want while I sizzle my own steak. Order up.”

  An hour later the plates were empty and Tan was calm. Abdul asked, “What next?”

  “A long winter’s nap.”

  South of the border down Mexico way.

  “Atención,” the Mexican sergeant yelled as the Major walked through the door.

  “Please sit,” the Major’s voice was too calm and the sergeant knew this was going to be no fun.

  “I have come from the Yankee side of the border where I met a very disagreeable man supposedly investigating the shooting of our citizens and the rape of my cousin.” He went on for over an hour about how the Americano was covering all the evidence and making no effort at cooperation in finding the persons responsible.

  He ended his tirade with, “I will not rest until the ones who have raped my cousin are dead. The degradation and humiliation has put her in a state of shock. She is a vegetable, lying in her bed at the hospital. I will pay $2,000 American for the man who finds an Americano on our side of the border. I will then hang the Americano where the Yankees will be able to watch him swing. If they want war, they will get it. I will pay $5,000 Americano for the man called Tan, dead or alive.”

  Montezuma Suites

  Sierra Vista, AZ

  3 AM

  Tan’s cell phone chirped at least a dozen times before it was answered. “Tan.”

  “Tan, this is Sheriff Borkowicz, Sara, Santa Cruz County. We have a dead Hispanic and tracks all over the place. Man was killed by five rounds of 5.56 and we have at least twenty casings to prove it. You wanna join us on this one? I’m on my way. Border Patrol called it in. Dead man is a citizen.”

  “Yeah. Hang on while I find something to write on.” The phone went quiet as Tan got the 4x5 pad off the room desk. “Okay, give me the directions to this place. I’m sure it’s not on a main road.”

  “They never are.” She gave him all the info he needed to get to the Fray Marcos de Niza Historical Monument and the bit of not often traveled two rut dirt road to the body. “Watch out for cows, wild critters, and sneaky people.”

  “On our way.” He hung up. “Get outta bed you lazy ex con, it’s time to earn your pay.”

  “So I heard, O great investigator. The least y’all coulda done was talk quiet while I was catching the last moments of that great dream. Man, she was beautiful.”

  The two were on the road ten minutes later with a breakfast burrito in one hand and coffee in the other. After spilling his coffee twice on his pant leg, Tan put his tall container in the console rack until the burrito was gone. By that time, they were climbing Montezuma Pass heading west with the borrowed radio on the dash.

  Just as they passed Parker Canyon Lake the radio sounded off with. “Santa Cruz 1, Mr. Brown.”

  “Brown here,” Tan replied.

  “You can go back to bed. It was just a couple of drunks arguing over the last bottle of whiskey. Found the perp lying in the weeds two hundred yards from the body.”

  “Well, Sheriff. We’re up now. Any suggestions?”


  “You might wanna head toward Bisbee and see the Sheriff there. Might be some crime scene reports coming up soon. Like the autopsies.”

  “I don’t really think there will be any wild revelations on the bodies. They were shot. Everyday ordinary folks tryin’ to get to the promised land. Besides, it’s the middle of the night.”

  “Yeah, and ended up dead. The question is why and by whom.”

  “That’s the million dollar question.”

  Tan’s phone buzzed. “Gotta run. Other line is calling.”

  Tan noticed the signal getting weaker and told Abdul to stop the car. One bar wouldn’t cut it as the phone kept buzzing. They backed up. Three bars. He answered the call. “Tan.”

  “Mr. Brown, this is Tim Wilkins, Undersheriff of Cochise County. Can you drop by the office sometime this morning? We got a puzzle here.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Dope. There were enough balloons in the stomach of one man to choke a horse. If one had leaked, he’d have died higher than Mt. Everest.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Couple of hand drawn maps in his pockets.”

  “On our way. Coming east through Montezuma Pass. I hate that road.”

  “You can go around.”

  “Nah, it’s shorter. See ya.”

  “Have breakfast first on the way through Sierra Vista. Can’t really recommend a good joint to eat in Bisbee. Now for lunch, that’s a different matter. I’ll buy.”

  “I’m like a Baptist preacher, I never turn down a free meal.” Tan hung up and stuffed his phone back in the pocket of his shirt.

  “Back we go.”

  “Whoopee, I’ll go faster this time. It’ll be like a twisty windy rolly coaster.”

  “Miss a curve and we fly.”

  7

  Once out of the pass again Tan called Tank who had stopped in Tucson. “Get to Sierra Vista soonest.”

  “On my way, boss.”

  “What you gonna do with that boy, boss?”

  “You and that boy will be doing what you two do best, nosing around the joints and all that.”

  “Oh, goody. More bad enchiladas and hard-nosed waitresses.”

  “You love it and you know it.”

  “Not this hombré he don’t.”

  “Ya knew the job was dangerous when you took it.”

  “Beats that there prison in Florence.”

  The terrain shifted from dirt to pavement and fast moving pickup trucks. Breakfast was marginal. Bisbee had a stylish art deco courthouse that Abdul thought was, “Ugaly.”

  Tan replied, “All the style, my man, all the style.”

  Arriving at the Sheriff’s Office, they locked the car and walked to the door where they were met by Tim and escorted into the Sheriff’s office. After a bit of getting acquainted with Sheriff James T. Bartlett, they moved to the County Morgue to look at the reports. A stack of colored balloons, about the size of a large marble, were neatly arranged on a side board. One had been punctured and a white powder was evident on the tray.

  “How many?”

  “Fifteen. The man’s belly was distended by the load. The one with the powder near it, broke when I lifted it out. This man would have died no matter what. The bowels would have ruptured that faulty balloon and, bingo, dead man within minutes. Still running tests, but it appears to be uncut heroin. There’s enough here to do wonderful things for the users in the southwest. I cannot even come close to an estimate of what this is worth on the street. How it’s cut and what neighborhood it reaches are random determining factors. I’d say conservatively, it’d make us all rich.”

  “That’s a nice round number.” Abdul walked over and touched the white powder, stuck the finger to his nose, sniffed, and “Whoa, baby. This be some hot stuff. Cain’t even see the bit on my finger and I could be flying home.” He went to a chair and sat down.

  “Meant to warn you about that, but I really figured you’d all know about good heroin.”

  Tan looked around, “Anything else suspicious, out of the ordinary, wonderfully weird, or all of the above?”

  “Nothing. Each of the 17 was killed by 5.56 caliber weapons. Two have five rounds in them and the least was two. Four were given a final shot up close and personal in the head. None of them were slated to live any longer. This was a flat out killing to make a statement. None of the bodies were armed. None of them had much cash on their person. Some had $200 or so, and the one lady had a grand. None of them showed signs of ill health or disability. They were just plain, flat out, killed for the sake of making them dead. If you want my total opinion, someone was making a statement with these 17 bodies. If one was left alive, there was a message sent.”

  “Bingo. You are one hundred percent correct. The woman was raped, beat up, and sent south with a message. This was an example and a threat.” Tan’s voice got harder and harder as he spoke. Looking at the bodies didn’t help one bit.

  Abdul was giggling in his own world, “Yeah, dey’s gonna be mo killin’ before dey’s less.”

  Tim said, “Let’s get back to my office and look at the rest of what we know. I’ll drive.”

  Governor’s Office

  “Josie, get Mr. Brown on the line please.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Josie punching in the number and listened to the ring which told her Tan was talking to someone. She hung up and waited.

  “What’s the hold up?”

  “When Tan is on the phone he will not answer a second call. He’s talking to someone and will call back whe…” the phone rang. “Mr. Brown, the Governor would like to speak with you.”

  “Put him on, Josie. Is he smiling?”

  “No.” She looked up, “Line one, sir.”

  “Thank you.” The Governor walked back to his desk after closing the door.

  “Mr. Brown, Governor Reeves here. What do we have on this case?”

  Tan gave him the short list and added, “Someone is trying to start another war or is in competition with whoever is trying to run the drugs. This was a lot of drugs and somebody south has lost a pile of cash on this deal.”

  “Who?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine at this point, sir.”

  “I don’t guess, Mr. Brown, I know or don’t know. Right now I don’t know who or why someone is sending messages in this manner in my name. I want it stopped.”

  “So do I, sir.”

  “Make is so.” The governor hung up.

  Tan looked at his phone before putting it back in his shirt pocket. “That was fun,” he said to everyone present.

  Tim asked, “You gonna get fired?”

  “Looks like it.”

  “We need a training officer.”

  “Gee, thanks. We just got the house in Phoenix the way we want it and you want me to move.”

  “Just an offer if you need it.”

  “Thanks. Now about your office and then that lunch.”

  “Follow me.”

  During lunch Tan called Leon in the office. “Get ahold of DPS, Santa Cruz Sheriff, Cochise Sheriff -oops, I’m sitting with Cochise - Arizona Border Patrol, and inform them we will be having a meeting at the AzBP office in Sonoita at three PM today. Invite them all to send a rep if at all possible.”

  “When you gonna let me out of this jail cell and allow me to work at what I do best?” Leon whined.

  “When you can walk upright like a real human being. Now, get on them calls. You are a very important link in our office at this moment. When things change, you’ll get your chance. Beside all that, I don’t want to have to rescue you again. That was no fun and my wife would kill me.”

  “You got such a tough life, Tan. I’ll get on the calls. Call Lenny if you get a chance.”

  “Did he find something?”

  “I don’t know. He just called an hour or so ago and said for you to call him whenever.”

  Tan wondered about that, but didn’t get any sense of urgency about it. Lenny was prone to be easily excitable, so if he said ‘when
ever’ it probably was nothing. Tan went back to his steak.

  As Tan was getting in his car for the trip to Sonoita, he decided to go through the pass and check out the site again. Something about it was rattling in his head, trying to tell him something he had missed.

  Tan said, “You up to driving?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Through the pass to the site. I want to think.”

  Abdul took the driver’s seat.

  Tan’s phone buzzed.

  “Tan.”

  “Lenny here, boss. Got some info I wanna run by ya. You got time?”

  “I’ll make time. Wait one.” He nudged Abdul. “Don’t leave the pavement till I’m done with this call.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “Okay, Lenny, what do you have?”

  “Well, boss, I was wandering around checking places that sell guns, ammo, or camo gear and military type paraphernalia when I found a place that specializes in stuff for the survival folks. You know what I mean, preppers?”

  “Yeah. Go ahead.”

  “Fella behind the counter told me he sold 4 brand new Bushmasters in 5.56 to a tall fella about two weeks ago. The man also bought a dozen magazines to add to the two that came with each gun. Then the man came back the next day and bought 1000 rounds of 5.56 NATO ammo. Three days later he bought five sets of military type camo along with a few odds and ends. He asked about night vision sights and goggles. That would all fit with our current case.”

  “He has the man’s name and bonifieds, check him out.”

  “And, that’s exactly why I called you rather than waiting for you to call me. I just found out the address is an abandoned store in Glendale. The driver’s license he used was reported lost a year ago. Funny thing, the FBI check came back unusually fast for a multiple gun purchase of this type. The owner figured it was another Fast and Furious thing. The credit card for the guns is a prepaid, sold for cash at a Circle K. Man at the Circle K says the man paid cash, thus no ID. The Circle K man says all he remembers is that the man was nicely dressed, well spoken, tanned, and tall. The buyer paid cash for his follow up buys, all in good hundreds. In every case the buyer was in and out as fast as possible. The Circle K has surveillance cameras, but they are broken. The prepper place has a camera outside the back door. Lotta good that’s gonna do if the joint is robbed. Oh, yeah. Neither of the salespeople saw the vehicle he drove.”