by Doug Ball
Robert lifted his head from the window sill on the right side of the cab, “What’s going down?”
“The Depot.”
Tan fired up the truck, exited the Harley-Davidson lot, turned right, and then left to enter the camp. The barricade dropped. Tan locked up the brakes and slid broadside to the long arm of the barricade.
The two men watched as one man ran from the first building inside the gate marked ‘OFFICE’ in the direction of the railroad tracks. Just as he arrived and started to throw a large lever, two shots rang out and the man dropped in the tall grass. “What do you suppose that was all about?”
“I’d lay odds it has something to do with the train that is coming down the tracks. From the sounds of that engine it’s not far out of sight in the trees. Good thing we brought the rifles, we are going to need them.”
Robert was on the side of the truck away from the depot gate and got out. Tan joined him through the same door. Leaning the seatback forward they retrieved the two M16 rifles and the ammo pouches. Their vests were on the floorboards just waiting for them to be picked up and donned. Both men had changed into camo gear during the night. Robert picked up his handheld radio. “Dispatch, Sergeant Jaegar. We are under fire at the main gate of Camp Navajo. Shots fired. Security guard down. Deputy Brown with me. Request assistance. Appears someone is hijacking a train from the depot. I suspect the train is loaded with ammo.”
Tan interrupted, “Train sounds like it has stopped.”
“Dispatch, train has stopped. Whatever that means?”
“Glad to hear your voice, Sergeant. Boss is dancing a jig. Don’t know what we can do for you, but he’s checking. Two county deputies rolling. Flagstaff Guard armory is being contacted.”
More shots came from the area south of the gate somewhere in the trees that blocked the view of the train.
At the train, two men shot the locks off a bunker, sounding the alarm. All over the depot klaxon’s roared, the signal of a security breach. Everybody already knew it, but that didn’t stop the klaxon. The two loaders, one limping, moved with stealth through the trees to the stopped train, coming up on the rear of the train.
Terry Pendleton, aka mama’s boy, leaned against the backside of a fir tree as he slowly swept the area looking for bad guys, namely ones looking like old movie Indians. Two shots came from behind them. “Sounds like someone’s still alive back there. If they stay in the bunker they’re probably okay.”
A loud explosion put short hope to that statement as a large plume of fire and smoke reached for the morning sky.
Georgie said, “They blew the bunker. Damn! How many rounds you got left?”
“Six in the gun and another clip.”
“I got 2 and the clip. This ain’t gonna be easy, mama’s boy.”
#
Tan and Robert heard the explosion and saw the fireworks display in the sky. “Damn, someone blew a bunker. What do you think is happening out there, Rob?”
Robert stuck his head up to see a bit better only to hear a bee whistle by. He ducked just as the sound of a gunshot registered in his brain. “Well, I’d say someone doesn’t want us here and has made us. The train is stopped to load ammo. The bunker where they took the train has been blown to eliminate the workers behind them. And, we are in deep doodoo under the sights of at least one rifle over behind that large dead tree.”
Tan popped up to check out things for himself. He dropped within two seconds. The sound of another shot rolled across their position. Robert added, “And a gun about a hundred feet to the right of the afore mentioned large dead tree. If there’s only two we can take them easily.”
“How so?”
“I stay here and cover, while you circle around the trucking outfit over there, through the tall grass to the railroad berm, crawl down the berm to the W sign down there, pop up, and kill them both. Easy, huh?”
“Sure if we had an hour. That train’s gonna be rolling again shortly. Something tells me there’s something over there where they killed that guy that will stop the train. I don’t know what would do that, just seems logical to me.
“How about I go the way you mentioned and you belly crawl across the road to the berm and go down to that culvert, under the tracks through the culvert, and sneak up on them from behind? Easy, yeah?”
After about two seconds of thought, Robert said, “Let’s do it,” and started crawling.
Five minutes later he was in position. He stood behind a pile of old ties, looked around for Tan only to see him still working his way down the berm about half way to his target position. As he watched, Tan looked back. He waved. Robert waved back. Tan jumped up and fired a burst at the large dead tree and dropped.
Two shots answered his, one from the dead tree and the other from the spot a hundred feet away. He had their attention. He popped off another burst of three rounds. Two more shots came back at him. They wouldn’t take their eyes off his position now. He moved.
Robert came to the end of the ties and had an open view of the targets, one about fifty feet from him and the other a hundred and fifty. He practiced the swing he would have to move the M16 through in order to get both of them. Just as he was about to go for it, Tan let fly again. The target closest did not return fire. Robert took out the distant man and then brought his gun in line on the closest who leaped to his feet trying frantically to get behind the tree for cover only to put himself in Tan’s sights. Tan took him out with a three round burst.
Both men scanned the area for more targets. Not finding any, they eased toward the two downed men. Each was dressed as a Navajo from the three quarter mark of the nineteenth century, breech clothes, leggings, moccasins, bright cloth head wrap, and a medicine bag. Their rifles were reasonably new, even though one was a lever action Winchester and the other a bolt action Remington with a scope. Both men were dead.
Taking the dead men’s weapons with them, Robert and Tan walked to the depot worker lying in the grass. He, too, was dead from a clean shot through the head. The two officers looked at the lever the man had been trying to pull. It was connected to a split in the rails. They operated the lever a bit. The rails came apart which would not allow the train to continue down the rails. Instead the wheels of the train would be directed off the track into the dirt. “Trains don’t go very well in dirt, Tan. Matter of fact, they sink and stop.” He threw the lever all the way, locking it in the new position with a latch that was there just for that purpose. “That train is going nowhere from here.”
“Unless it’s the Polar Express.”
Both men looked up as the sound of a siren rolled toward them. The two deputies had arrived, followed by a van load of Guard members. The sound of the main engine pouring on the power rumbled through the trees. Four lawmen and six guardsmen, armed with various weapons which just happened to be handy wherever they came from, gathered quickly, talked, and split into two groups, one walking to cover one side of the track as the other group took the far side.
The train arrived at the derailer and promptly went into the dirt, coming to a quick halt. Armed dark skinned individuals dressed in the manner of their tribe in the 1870’s left the train, three from the engine on one side and six from an open box car to the other side to be shot down or surrender in a matter of moments. One of the new deputies grabbed his lapel mike and called for ambulances and a transport vehicle. The Guardsmen, most of which were armed only with Beretta’s, held the prisoners face down in the dirt while the other deputy cuffed each of the four survivors with large wire ties.
Two miles south of the Arizona Border
5:17 AM
Six men crawled like ants heading north. A seventh man was bound and gagged, dragged behind the front three men. He was obviously unconscious from the way his body was rolling and sliding. The prisoner was wrapped in a camo poncho with ties wrapped around the whole package.
“Hey, Sergeant, how about a break for breakfast.” The speaker looked overweight, but muscles rippled across his back with every motion.
“Louis, if you need to eat, do it on the crawl. You have eaten three times in six hours. We need to get this dude to the Major fast and the hard part is just up ahead with the sentry line of the enemy troops. Shut up and drag.”
“I ain’t on the pull, I’m pushing.”
“Then push and shut up.” The Sergeant signaled for all of them to go silent. His next motion was to the man on his right which said, “Move to point and scope things out”
The man moved out.
Guard Armory
Tucson
7:00 AM
The phone rang just as the General was finishing his wonderful, cold, gourmet MRE breakfast, the heater had been faulty and an old tradition was, ‘no heat, you eat.’ The Sergeant was outside routing another group of reinforcements to the border in a borrowed, or loaned, school bus. The civilian driver knew where he was going, but the Sergeant was having trouble with a couple of the volunteers who had their own ideas of proper deployment for them. The General answered the phone.
“Tucson Armory.”
“Hey, Sarge, tell the little fat Mexican General the battle of the depot is over. No casualty count yet, but they lost a few and a few of the depot workers died.”
“You just told the fat Mexican General, soldier. What’s your name, rank, and service number?”
“Wha . . .? You don’t know who this is?”
“No. Tell me.”
“Bye.” He hung up.
The General cracked up. Another small battle won, and one scared troop. Great day in his mind. Now for the border.
Whitehouse
7:15 AM
“They what?” Pause. “Damn, I was rooting for the Indians. Somebody needs to teach that Governor a lesson.”
Governor’s bedroom
7:15 AM
The phone rang.
“Governor’s house, how may I help you?” the male voice stated. He listened. “Not right now, she’s in the shower.” Another moment of listening. “I’ll tell her when she gets out. That will start her day on a positive note.” He hung up.
Moments later, “Who was that?”
“The General. The battle of the depot is over. We won. Some casualties on both sides.”
“Find out who died on our side and get me the phone numbers of the families.”
“Yes, dear.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Honey. I’ll get Josie to do that when I get to the office. I’m glad we won, but I hope there weren’t many dead, especially on our side.” She started tearing up.
“I understand and love you more for it. I hope the rest of your day is better.”
“Thank you, dear. Now, would you please put lotion on my back, it itches?” She paused as Art began his task. “Am I tough enough, Art?”
20
At the border
7:20 AM
One man belly crawled over a four strand barbed wire fence, or what had been a fence now a tangled mess of barbed wire lying on the ground, snagging his camos. “Damned barbed wire. Man that invented that stuff oughta be shot,” he mumbled under his breath.
“I think he was,” came a whispered reply. “You will be too if you don’t shut up.”
Another hundred yards or so and they would be safe. It had been a long night.
Governor’s Office
9:00 AM
As she left the private wash room off her office, the Governor heard the sound of the phone ringing in the outer office. The mumble of Josie’s voice followed until Josie entered the open interoffice door. “Governor, the General.” She gestured with the phone.
“I’ll take it.” She sat in her chair grabbing the phone on the way down. “Yes, General, what can I do for you this morning?”
“We have a count from the Camp. There are thirteen dead and three wounded. Eight and two for their side, five and one for ours. One depot guard was killed with a knife in his heart probably before the rest of the action went down. Four were destroyed in an explosion. Another guard has a wound to the ribs which is more painful than deadly. All in all we did horrible. They never should have gotten in there.”
“General, it is ours to protect. Whoever did the deed just declared war on Arizona. Any ideas who?”
“All were Native Americans, near as we can tell a couple of Apaches, two for sure Navajos, a Sioux from his ID, and a Mojave. We also think there were two or three who escaped capture or detection back around the bunkers. We found tire tracks near the hole in the fence they entered through and a second vehicle still there. Two Suburbans were on that spot. Excuse me, Governor, the Radioman is signaling me of important traffic.” He hung up quickly.
“Well, that was quick.” The Governor laid down the phone and sipped her tea. “Wonder what’s up now?”
Flagstaff DPS Office
9:10 AM
Six people were in the conference room. Tan, Robert, the Sheriff, the DPS Lieutenant, and two stenographers. None of them looked too happy. All had coffee in front of them and three freshly filled carafes were strategically placed on the table.
“Deputy Brown, how about you going first.” Coconino County Sheriffs have never had the reputation of being jocular individuals and this one was not different.
Tan told his story right up to the time he called for ambulances.
“Sergeant Jaegar, let’s hear from you.” After finding out his Sergeant was still alive most folks would have been mighty happy, but not the Lieutenant. He had to call the Governor in a few moments and report that the dead was still alive. His boss was not happy.
Robert gave the same story from his perspective. He ended with, “I’ll call the Governor for you if you want me to, LT. Sorry to cause you grief.”
The LT mellowed a bit and sipped his coffee before replying, “It isn’t the calling of the Governor, it’s the leaving the Sheriff and I out of the picture.”
Tan broke in with, “We didn’t know who we could trust at that point. The bad guys had too much info for someone outside of our departments. As it is, we ambushed the ambushers and caught a couple of canaries who are singing like crazy right now.”
One of the stenographers grabbed a carafe and moved for the door. “Where you going, Elana?”
“Need more coffee.”
“Have a seat. No one leaves this room without an escort until we find out if there is a mole in the department or not.” She returned to her seat, slamming her notepad on the table.
The Sheriff said, “You got a problem with your orders?”
She mellowed, “No, Sir.”
Robert’s cell phone buzzed, “Yeah.” He listened
The conversation continued for a few minutes until Robert said, “Don’t you think we ought to get out to the Canyon Diablo bridge and check with our snitch, Tan?” Snitch was a key word they had set up to tell the other that is was something they should agree with and will be discussed later.
“Yeah, sure.” He stood and looked to the Lieutenant, “Can we resume this in a couple of hours. We got a snitch to check.”
“I’d rather not, but it was your snitch that gave us the break through. Go for it.” He turned to the ladies, “Not a word of what went on here gets out of this room. Understood? Stay together and get your notes typed up.”
Both the stenographers replied, “Sure,” and left.
As they walked down the hall, watching the backs of Robert and Tan heading for the front door, Elana said, “Gotta powder my nose. Be right out.”
The other replied, “Okay,” and proceeded to her desk in the Lieutenant’s office.
The Lieutenant arrived within moments. “Where’s Elana? You two were to stay together, remember?”
“In the powder room. What’s she gonna do in there that would hurt the case?”
“She has a cell phone doesn’t she.”
“Yes she does, and she likes to use it. I’ll go check on her.” She went down the hall with the Lieutenant watching her all the way. Stopping at the lady’s room door she put her ear to it, listened for a moment, and w
aved for him to come to her. “She just said Canyon Diablo Bridge to whoever she’s talking to. I don’t believe it, Lieutenant, she’s been with us for a long time, why now?” The tears started to roll down her cheeks.
“Brenda, she’s Navajo, or at least half. Those are strong ties. Get the Captain. I’ll wait here.” He leaned against the door knowing how funny it would look for another officer to see him listening in on the lady’s room conversation.
He listened as she finished with, “Yeah, the one who knows too much about us and our plans. That dumb Orlando told him about the Camp Navajo attack. He needs to be dealt with.” There was a pause followed by, “See you tonight?” Pause. “That’s a plan.” Giggle. “Goodbye.” He stepped back away from the door which promptly swung open.
Elana was startled by his presence and, from the look he gave her, knew that he knew. He moved toward her. She kneed him in the crotch. He folded, but grabbed her arm as he went down, dragging her down with him. “Let go of me.” She screamed, “Rape.”
He cuffed one hand, collecting another knee to the crotch and a handful of fingernails down the side of his face in the process. “Just stop, or I’ll mace you and I really don’t want to do that.”
“No, you’ll get it all over yourself,” she whispered in his ear as she tried to bite it.
Just as he was figuring he needed the mace, she lifted off of him like she had been grabbed by a tractor beam. “You just stop or I’ll use the Tazer on you, Elana,” came the Captain’s voice. The Lieutenant heard an “Oooofff,” followed by the sound of the Tazer firing.
Elana screamed and hit the floor and began doing a hideous horizontal dance.
It was over.
“Call Jaegar back. They’re going into an ambush.” The Captain was thinking on his feet as he tried to organize the mess that was his hallway.
“Can’t do it, Cap. They’re in a private car, no radio.”
