by Doug Ball
“How is that being blessed?”
“Easy. The governor likes me so much he has told me to find the perps and have an airtight case in the next day or two, or all eight of us is out of work.”
“No problem. I work for Santa Cruz County and not him.”
“Yup. Aren’t you lucky?”
“So what now?”
“A good night’s sleep. Look over your notes. Read all of this,” he handed here his pile of reports and notes, “and let me know what you think in the morning; 0700 at the Gathering Grounds, a little restaurant two doors down to the south.”
“10-4.”
“Good night.”
Tan moved to let her out of his room.
“Where do I sleep? On the couch?”
“Oh, yeah, I gotta get you a room.”
“It would help, sir.”
Tucson
He hated it when the phone rang while he was working out, but Brad answered it anyway. It was the Colonel calling. “Yes, Sir!”
“Got some more work for you and I need it done within the next 48 hours. You’ll need all your people.”
“Can do, Sir. Whatcha got?”
After twenty minutes they both closed out the call.
Brad hit the speed dial for his number 2 man and began giving out the assignments one after another. Some would take a day or so just to get the materials and equipment, while others took no time at all to direct and get moving. He saved the toughest job for himself.
He pulled his Remington 700 out of the closet and began cleaning it. When that was done he called a friend to use his shooting range. He’d need the 500 yard range on the man’s property for at least a half hour in the morning before the breeze came up.
‘I need more men, but recruiting too many, too fast, and things could break wide open.’ He just hated the thought of getting caught because someone got careless and/or squealed.
At 7 AM the next morning just as he was arriving at the range, the highway 60 tunnel just above Superior blew with the blast dropping the roof on a semi and two cars. The rubble rolling down the slope plugged the pavement for almost a quarter mile. Cars caught in the tunnel, but not crushed, were stuck as more and more cars piled up behind them. The loss of six lives and the material damage were bad, but the real inconvenience was the only way around the tunnel was a couple of hours drive.
Yuma
At noon and 12:15 PM the tops of two power transmission towers were blown at the point where the power lines crossed dropping the lines in a tangle on the ground. The sparks flew and fires started in the brush. The fireworks were fantastic, but no one saw the show. Two minutes later more towers were dropped with more explosives. Yuma and the surrounding area were without power. Emergency generators kicked in at various places, but still 27 people died from the lack of electricity to run their life support equipment in private homes. The town was in chaos with no traffic control, or water to quell the fires starting at private addresses in the suburbs due to the surging and strange power levels induced. One office building down town burst into flames as the natural gas line exploded after a hot wire hit the piping.
With every emergency responder in the state on hot standby, many on the road to help the affected places, and the populace in near panic, it made a great occasion for the opportunists to stop the unfortunate, perpetrating crimes on their person. This caused a serious increase in police calls on a phone system already near breaking. Cell phone service was failing more and more due to small explosive charges going off at the base of many critical towers.
All in all it was not a great day for Arizona or its governor who passed the burden to his investigator. Within an hour the only communications functioning reasonably well were the emergency networks powered by emergency generators. The batteries on handheld radios soon ran out with no way to recharge them except at the station. Mobile units became offices, and the offices got crowded as people learned to be patient with their complaints.
At 10 AM, the Sky Walk on the edge of the Grand Canyon in the Hualapai Reservation County came apart due to explosives planted and remotely detonated, with 18 people falling to their death. The tribe took up arms to protect its county.
The governor called out the Arizona Guard. Thirty four percent of the force reported in. With the blackout, the guard had a large generator running. A National Guard tank truck was filled with diesel and taken to the Capital where the generators were kept running by filling the reserve tank that was almost empty because someone had stolen the fuel sometime in the past. It then moved to the airport where the backup generator for the air traffic control tower was topped off. Then it and two other tankers began the rounds of hospitals and other emergency services. A bus was fueled and partially loaded with troops and transported to major intersections throughout Phoenix. Other buses were eventually loaded and dispatched to areas where traffic control or just plain muscle was needed. Almost all of the businesses were out of business and could neither buy nor sell due to the lack of electricity.
Tan sat in his unit/car/office questioning the few men he could reach trying to find out what was going on.
Bruce updated him on Naco with a short report that said, “Still nothing new. There is some rumor going around on the site that the wife of the driver is being questioned south of the border. One of the local deputies speculated that the truck was stolen with all the papers in it and the Mexican driver was paid to drive it over the border with someone triggering the bomb as it crossed. Sounds good to me, but no proof and no one claiming this pile of bodies and buildings.”
“Thanks. Keep me posted. I’m getting worried about the units and emergency generators. With the power restricted and more areas failing as the demand increases, how will we fill the gas tanks, eat in the restaurants, buy bread, and all that other stuff that requires electricity?”
Phoenix went black taking with it all the communities of central Arizona.
Lenny had nothing new.
There was no communication with Chuck.
Leon was a no go for a call due to a cell tower lying in the road a block away.
Abdul reported in and had nothing to report except Tank still snores like a dying elephant.
Tan was able to get to the border Sheriffs and ask them to close the border in their sectors.
Through it all, Deputy Gravit took notes.
Captain Frank pulled up just as Tan was stepping out of his unit office to go to the bathroom in his room.
“I’ll be right back.”
Frank walked around to the deputy’s side. “Who might you be, young lady?”
They were talking like old friends when Tan returned.
Frank said to Tan, “I need gas for my vehicles.”
“I’ll get right on it. Where you want it delivered?”
“Here’s as good a place as any to start.”
Tan grabbed his mike. “Oh, yeah. This is Deputy Gravit.”
“Yeah, Matarese and I have met.”
Tan looked at them both and went to calling the Guard.
Phoenix
The governor’s office was filled with yelling and screaming legislators who had made their way out of the dark buildings lit only by emergency lights. Only a few of the offices had windows that allowed light in and those were on the second floor of the office building. The screamers wanted action and the yellers wanted the screamers to shut up. The governor wanted them all gone.
His bodyguard of three made his want happen.
After four hours the power was back in most of Phoenix and the substations slowly kicked in to distribute that power to the various recipients.
In Yuma, the lights remained out.
The governor’s cell phone buzzed on his desk. At first he didn’t hear it. After four buzzes, it broke his concentration on the problems. He looked at the number. It wasn’t one he knew. He did not even recognize the area code. He answered it. “Governor Reeve.”
“Governor, hold for the President.”
1
7
“Why not? Everything in this day has been crappy, this will just be icing on the cake. What’s one more disaster?”
“One more disaster and I may have to send my troops in there, establish martial law, and kick you and your cronies out of there.”
“It will be a cold day in Arizona when that happens, and we’re a hot dry desert state, remember.”
“Governor, I will send you all the help you need to quell this series of misfortunes that have dumped upon Arizona. The only thing you need to do is tell me you will lead Arizona back into my favor.”
“Talk about a cold day in Arizona. The answer is ‘no’.”
“If you get back on the bandwagon with your education system, …”
“No.”
“If you return to the Affordable Care Act we wi…”
“NO.”
“If you will open the borders…”
“NO!” Governor Estabon Reeves hit the end button.
Department of Public Safety Director Desi Armistad stormed into the Governor’s office. “Do you even suspect what’s going on in this state? I have had fourteen calls of bomb threats from all over the state. None of them can be ignored. And, you just sit behind that desk without making any effort to get things moving.”
“Have a cup of coffee and sit.” The governor smiled and added, “I don’t think you have a good picture of what’s going on. Get your coffee or whatever, grab a power pill, break out your note pad and let me tell you how not to do your job.”
The man stepped back, looked around the room, saw the donuts and coffee, and just sat.
“Okay. Are you calm enough to listen?”
“My apologies. It just seems like the world is coming apart. It’s been a rough week. Again, my apologies.”
“I have been a recipient of vents in the past and I believe I will receive more in the future. None has killed me or even damaged me significantly.”
The Governor walked around his desk with coffee cup in hand, closed the door, filled the cup, and stopped in front of the now seated department director. “Now, let me tell you what’s really going on.”
Half an hour later, Dezi had heard the whole story, drank three cups of coffee, and agreed to furnish men to Tan and to the Capital security force. As he walked out he turned, “Again my apologies.”
“Accepted. Now let’s get busy and help clean up this mess.”
“Yes, Governor. It’s easier to understand now that I have the whole picture.”
Nogales
Tan and Deputy Gravit walked into the Sheriff’s office wondering what was going on. Sara met them with, “Three. I’ve had three bomb threats. Two on schools and one on the county building. My force is stretched so thin I was only able to dispatch one deputy to each. Can I have my rooky back?”
“No.” Tan walked around the cluttered desk and gave her a hug. “A mom with the boys you have should be used to this kind a chaos. Someone is trying to get Arizona to collapse. Or, that’s what your rooky and I have concluded. Who it is, is anybody’s guess.”
Sara’s head came up. “What else could it be? There’s too much all at once to be anything else. Do you think it could be the President trying to make us walk the line?”
“We’ve discussed that and thrown it out. He would be impeached and jailed for something like that. While I don’t like the man, I don’t believe he is capable of something like this. He’d be more likely to have college kids in the streets and other forms of social disturbances. He’s an organizer not a terrorist.” Tan took a seat as he nodded ‘go away’ to Matarese.
“Sara, there’s a plot afoot just like we’ve just talked about. It appears someone for some reason is out to destroy the structure of Arizona and maybe even a few other states. California, at least the southern part, is having a few problems like we are having only they may be dominoes tipping downstream. The electric systems are in trouble, water is scarce, and brush lands are ready for another series of fires. We need some action in the positive direction.”
“You tell me what you want out of me and my force and we’ll get it done.”
“Call up all your reserves and able retireds. Set up teams of two or three with one of your trained and experienced troops in charge. Hit the streets and businesses for information. Check out every firearms purchase in the past six months, explosive purchases, ammo buys, you know the routine. Somewhere there has to be a break in all this.” He stopped and stared at the ceiling. “Get your community PD’s doing the same thing. Then, call all your Sheriff friends and ask them to do the same thing. We need a break. The info is out there, all we need to do is find it.”
His cell phone buzzed.
“Brown,” he answered.
“Tan, Frank here. We got some folks sneaking into the area between Douglas and Naco and they are headed directly for a bunch we been watching for the last 12 hours that have AR type rifles and haven’t done much but sit.”
“Take them. I need one of them alive. A bit of toe twisting might get us some answers.”
“On it.” The phone went dead.
“Here I am in Nogales and the action is going down the other side of Naco,” he said to Sara.
“You want a chopper?”
“Yes. But, I need my car more. Let me find my able assistant and get out of here.”
They both said the useless, but meaningful ‘be careful’s.’ Sara gave him a hug.
He ran out of the room, yelled, “Gravit, let’s get,” and ran out of the building to see Gravit sitting behind the wheel with the car running and pulled up to the steps.
“How’d you know?”
“I was listening.”
“Naco. And don’t spare the horses.”
Tan grabbed the cheap phone. Hit the speed dial and waited.
“Santa Gabriela.”
“San José. We got a group coming north between Douglas and Naco. There appears to be a group waiting for them. I have troops north of the waiting group. Wanna send a runner north and tie in with my boys?”
“No. I have three men tailing mules in that area working north. Our info is that they are working for someone in your country out of Phoenix. He is pushing for drug routes without involving the cartel. I think we both need a live one.”
“I agree. Tell ya what. I’ll tell my men to wing one and drive the rest south. When your men open up they can drop one just bad enough to capture alive. Drive them west and we will take care of the rest. That work for you?”
“Si. I will contact my three and tell them the plan. They will follow until they hear your men shoot and then wait for the mules to come back their direction and then drive them west, all but one that is. It could be tricky, but worst case is that one or two get away to tell the story.”
“Great. Call when it’s on. I will be on the road.”
“Ya no héy mas.”
The phones went silent as Deputy Matarese did a four wheel power slide around a corner of the dirt road. Tan watched in awe as the deputy put the car through its paces. “You are a danged good driver on these dirt roads.”
“Thank you, boss. I was taught how to drive on these roads. The pavement might be smoother, but there is more traffic to slow ya down and here there are no speed limits that are enforced. We will have to slow down after the pass till we hit the pavement.”
“I know.”
They passed two AzBP officers in a parked truck at Washington Park, waving as they did.
Tan called Frank on the radio telling him to go up two channels by just saying, “Up 2,” and telling him the plan.
Frank came back with, “There will be six of us waiting. We should be able to wing one, kill a couple and send them running south. I have a man there that can shoot the eye lashes off a fly one at a time.”
“I used to be able to do that,” ended Tan.
The car caught air at the next dip. Tan bounced almost into the back seat. Matarese was laughing as she continued toward the pass. Tan put his seat belt on.
Phoenix
The governor finally got some good news. Utah and Nevada were interested to join in the Federal Dollar Rebellion. He assured them the info, copies of the new laws, and the budget changes would be on the way Monday.
After the calls, he called Josie in and asked, “How long before that book you are making on the changes that we have implemented will be ready for distribution?”
“Three or four weeks, sir.”
“I want it out Monday.”
“But. . .”
“No buts. Put together all you can. Work Saturday and Sunday if you need to. I want that thing to be a best seller on Monday. Four states are on the line and who knows how many others.”
“It’d be cheaper if we emailed it.”
“Do what you gotta do. I want that on the desk of all states west of the Mississippi River by noon Monday. And, yes, I will pay overtime. Whatever it takes.”
“Can I get a helper?”
“Yes. Who?”
“My husband. We had plans, but this way we can still be together and we do need the money with the baby on the way.”
“Do it.” He sat down. When he looked up she was still there in her thinking pose. “Get moving.”
“Uh, sure,” she said as she headed for her desk and the phone.
Between Naco and Douglas
Frank had explained the plan and found a position that was directly in the path of the shooters returning north after killing the mules. He positioned his men so the shooters would have no choice except to retreat straight south when they began to withdraw to the vehicles which had been under watch for almost 20 hours. The only other route was a charge straight ahead and he didn’t think that would happen. You can’t pay people to charge into concentrated firepower.
