The Shaman

by David Nees

  Dan hung up before Jane could respond.

  Chapter 36

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  L ater, in the early evening, Dan and Rodrigo met in the garage after eating a meal cooked by Miranda.

  “Miranda agrees to go north. She says it’s the best opportunity for Solana, even if it means leaving all we know behind.”

  “Good. You have a rich culture, but right now the current culture could kill all of you.”

  Rodrigo nodded, almost sadly. “You have torn up my life. Part of me wants to kill you and part of me is looking forward to a new life.”

  “You probably wouldn’t be alive five years from now if I hadn’t come along.”

  “I probably won’t be alive next week since you came along.”

  “Don’t discount Tlayolotl. He’s playing a part in this somewhere behind the scenes.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “I don’t think I have to tell you, but you can’t get involved with drugs or gangs when you go north. If you do, the government will drop you and you’ll be exposed.”

  “Maybe I can work for them. I don’t think I’ll do well standing behind the counter of a convenience store.”

  “Milk the government for all its worth. If you show some value, you could be involved for a long time. It will be more exciting than being a store clerk.”

  “Qué te den.” Up yours.

  Dan shook his head. He could tell Rodrigo was chafing under his demands and his fear of the cartel. He was probably feeling trapped and could react unpredictably. Better get this going. “Show me where the trucks are parked and where the guards are.”

  Rodrigo took out a sheet of paper and pencil he had brought with him from the house. He drew a map of the compound. “You are fortunate. The trucks are here along one side of the metal wall.” He drew some boxes along the side of the compound. “It’s dark there and out of the way. The guards stay around the entrance. When you get to the trucks, you don’t have the warehouse between you and the guards, but the trucks are pretty far away. If you don’t make noise, you shouldn’t be noticed.”

  Dan studied the map. “Can I get over the fence in the back? The building will shield me from the guards at the gate.”

  “You have two problems. One, a guard walks around the warehouse once an hour. You have to know when he’s going to come by and then you can climb the wall. If you put a box down you will be able to reach the top and leverage yourself over.”

  Dan nodded. “I can watch over the fence to see when he comes by.”

  “Your other problem is that the terrorist, Tariq, walks around at odd hours. You never know. The guards say he doesn’t like to be cooped up in the warehouse. They can’t lock him in.”

  “How late at night?”

  “The guards tell me often until one or two in the morning. After that, I guess he sleeps.”

  “So I have to go in after 2:00 am. It will take an hour to attach the bombs. I should be out by 3:00 or 3:30.” Both men stared at the map. “I will need a place, preferably a roof top to make the calls.”

  “Why a roof top?”

  “I want to see that it all goes well.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “I’ll finish the job with my rifle.”

  “Estás puto?” Are you mad? “You will get killed.”

  “No, they will get killed.”

  Rodrigo was quiet as he digested Dan’s commitment. He had killed many high level cartel leaders, including Don Jorge. He had killed the men sent to ambush him and outlasted the pursuit in the desert. He had killed Carlos and saved Miranda from being held hostage. And now he was going to kill all the terrorists. He was a very dangerous man.

  “What happens after the trucks are blown up?”

  “You need to have your alibi. You should be with some of the men or something. You should also have a place to hide with Miranda and Solana. Somewhere for a few days, maybe a week at most until I get things set up.”

  “You have the commitment?”

  “Yes, but they have to make arrangements. That will take more time.”

  “How will I connect?”

  “After tonight, they will have your name and you will have a name and number. A woman will be in touch.”

  “So you will come back here?”

  “Briefly. There will be something else. You can help me now and then not worry about me anymore after tonight.”

  “You want more help?”

  “I want you to draw me a plan of Mendoza’s mansion in Mexico City.”

  Rodrigo looked at Dan in disbelief. “You are not going there, are you?”

  Dan just stared back at the man, his eyes cold, the eyes of a killer, an assassin.

  “Hijo de puta!” Rodrigo exclaimed. “You are going to try to kill Don Hector as well? You are truly crazy, gringo.” He shook his head. “Just make sure you give me the phone numbers before you leave. You are a dead man if you go to Mexico City.”

  Among the many houses Mendoza owned, the one in Mexico City was a showplace. Just outside of town in a green suburb, it included twelve landscaped acres protected by a ten foot high concrete wall that looked as if it could withstand every assault short of a tank. The front entrance was bracketed by two large brick faced concrete pillars with a heavy iron gate. The gate, although ornate, was not for decorative purposes. It would stop a heavy truck. The house enclosed 20,000 square feet of living space. There was a whole wing for María and the children. A formal dining room with a fourteen foot high ceiling and a forty foot long banquet table served for official functions. Further into the building there was a party room with a balcony around three sides, giving the privileged guests a bird’s eye view of the festivities. In the basement were the storerooms for food, wine and weapons.

  Off to one side was Mendoza’s office and private bedroom. He used it when he was not sleeping with María, when she was out of town, or when he brought his mistresses into the house. The office was where he conducted business.

  “Don Hector, will surely have taken over this wing. He probably leaves María alone in her private suites. Having her present may be enough for him. If you can get to Mexico City, if you can get inside, that is where you will find him.”

  “Why María? What does he need her for?”

  Rodrigo looked at Dan as if he were stupid. “The king is dead, the new king inherits everything. She is part of the trappings of power. He takes over Don Jorge’s role completely. She is important…and she is a beautiful woman. Any man would want her.”

  Dan thought about that for a moment. Oddly it made him a bit sad. He realized he had liked what he had seen of her at the hacienda, how she was so attentive to her children. Staying around would not be good for her. But could she ever leave once so far into the gang? Was she just going to have to accept being recycled to Hector as his mate? He hoped there was something better in store for her.

  “The wall, does it go completely around the property?”

  “In the back is a drainage area, kept natural. I think the back of the property is protected by a chain link fence topped with razor wire.”

  Dan digested the information and tucked it away in his mind for later. Now was time to execute the first part of his new mission.

  “Here’s what you do,” Dan said. “When Ortega gets here, the trucks will already have been blown up. You can profess ignorance. You just got back out of the desert and had to deal with Carlos trying to kidnap your sister and niece. Play it up. In the end you had to kill him. Before you could get everything back under control, the explosions happened. There will be no terrorists to smuggle, Hector will deal with this Tariq and then if Hector doesn’t think about it, you should tell him to get back to Mexico City and solidify his control. You will handle things in Chihuahua.”

  Rodrigo thought about it. “It sounds easy, but I can’t be sure Hector will do what I say.”

  “There’s nothing for him to do here once Tariq is gone. He’ll think he’s saf
er in Mexico City and his main task is to solidify his leadership and keep things from blowing up. If the trappings are important, he’ll want to do that from Mendoza’s mansion.” Dan shrugged. “I don’t have any other plan. I have to get to him there when his guard is down, where he feels safe.”

  “He feels safe there because he is safe.”

  “Not with me around.”

  Chapter 37

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  A t 1:00 am, Dan was getting his gear ready when Rodrigo came up to the garage.

  “You ready to go?”

  “In a moment,” Dan said.

  He packed the plastic explosives in his backpack along with the detonators and phones, separating the calling phones from the receiving ones.

  “You found a place for me to trigger the explosions?”

  Rodrigo nodded. “The building across the street is empty. You can get on the roof from the back door. I’ll go there and jimmy it open after you get into the compound. When you leave, drive down the alley for two blocks and don’t come back down the street in front of the warehouse. Go one block further and come down the road until you’re across from the compound. You’ll see an alley. Park in it. From there you can walk to the house. I’ll wait there for you and then I’m going to leave.”

  Dan nodded. “Got it. Let’s go.”

  He got into the pickup and Rodrigo went down to get the Nissan. Rodrigo led Dan to the backside of the warehouse. They parked a half block away and walked back to the compound. Dan brought his M4 and 9mm, both with their suppressors fitted and the backpack filled with explosives. In the alley they found some barrels and carried one to the metal wall. Dan climbed up to look over. It was dark. It was 1:30 am. If Tariq didn’t wander about by 2:00 am Dan would have to take a chance and assume he wasn’t coming out any more.

  Dan could get in, but how would he get out? He needed to find something to help him get back over the wall after setting the explosives. There was some scrub vegetation along the wall but he could see nothing to stand on.

  “How the hell am I going to get out?” he whispered turning back to Rodrigo.

  “Nothing to stand on?”

  “No.”

  Dan thought for a moment, then he got down and walked to the pickup. In the bed he grabbed a coil of rope and brought that back to where Rodrigo was standing.

  “If I can find something to tie this rope to on this side, I can use it to climb out. But I’ll have to risk leaving it hanging over the wall.”

  “That’s dangerous. The guard walks around every hour.”

  “I know, but I can’t see another way out. And it’s dark next to the wall.”

  There was nothing on the outside of the wall.

  “The barrel isn’t heavy enough to use as an anchor. He looked around the alley. “I’ll have to bring the pickup here and tie off to it.”

  “No. They will hear it inside.”

  “You have any other ideas?”

  Rodrigo looked around and shook his head.

  “After I start it, I’ll just let it idle in reverse and it will creep back here. It’ll be pretty quiet.” He set off back to the pickup.

  Slowly the truck backed up at idle speed. As Dan predicted it was quiet. The tires crunching in the dirt made more sound than the engine. Rodrigo watched the pickup and then climbed on the barrel to peek over the wall. He could see no one. It was quiet, like a graveyard.

  After Dan parked the truck and got out, Rodrigo stepped down. “If you have to shoot your way out, they will know something is wrong. They’ll examine the trucks.”

  Rodrigo had little doubt by now that Dan could shoot his way out. With the suppressed M4 he would probably kill half the guards before they knew what was going on.

  “Even if I have to kill the guard who walks around the warehouse, he’ll be missed and that will trigger problems. No, I have to be a ghost.”

  “And you can do this?”

  “It’s what I’m trained for.”

  Dan tied the coil of rope to the hitch on the rear bumper, then stood on the barrel and watched for either Tariq or the guard. He would go over the wall after the guard made his round.

  “When I go in, wait for a moment and then throw the rope over. Let me test it. If it’s working, you go set up at the house across the street.”

  Rodrigo nodded. Dan watched, peaking over the top of the wall. Patience, it always involves waiting. He smiled.

  As Rodrigo had reported, the guard came around the warehouse just minutes after 2 am. From what Dan could see, he looked bored and tired. He wasn’t very alert, not looking around the yard. That was a good thing. To the guard, it was a chore and he fulfilled his duty by doing the lap. It looked like he was relying on the guards at the gate. Dan had seen many sentries come to a bad end doing much the same thing.

  After he rounded the corner, Dan gave him five more minutes to get back inside and then threw his leg over the wall and dropped to the ground. A moment later the rope came uncoiling over the wall. Dan caught it and put all of his weight on it and jerked. It held.

  “Es bueno,” he whispered to Rodrigo.

  There was no reply, but Dan heard the footsteps recede down the alley. He turned and quickly walked along the wall to his left. He stuck close to it where the shadows helped to hide him. When he got near the side wall, he began to crawl towards the trucks. He took his time, keeping quiet and low to the ground, pushing the backpack in front of him. The M4 was strapped to the pack and his 9mm was tucked in a holster at his side.

  When he had made it under the last truck in line, he rolled on his back. It was even darker underneath but Dan could see the shadows and outlines of the frame. He started at the rear and stuck a brick of the C-4 plastic explosive to the underside of the truck floor. Next he strapped a receiving phone to a frame rail. He then stuck an igniter into the C-4 and ran the wires to the phone. With the clip ends on the phone he connected the circuit. When the phone received a call and began to vibrate, in that instant, a current would run down the wires to the igniter and trigger the explosive. Moving further forward, he stuck a second brick of the explosive to the underside of the floor and pushed an igniter into the putty-like material. He ran the wires back to the phone and connected them into the circuit. He didn’t worry about the cab; the driver would be taken out by the explosions from the back of the truck.

  Dan crawled forward and quickly moved from one truck to the next in line, attaching two bricks of explosives to each one, repeating the process as he went. He was working on the final truck, the one at the front of the line, closest to the men at the gate, when he heard footsteps. An hour had gone by. Must be the guard.

  Dan looked out and saw him start for the trucks. If the guard peeked underneath, he would be seen. The guard was headed for the rearmost truck. Dan grabbed the unattached parts of the bomb and, forcing himself to go slowly and quietly he crawled towards the wall side of the truck. His only hope was to hide behind a wheel. He crouched in a small ball behind the front wheel as the guard walked forward, taking a look under each truck as he went.

  “Hey Juan, what’re you looking for?” one of the guards called out when he noticed him.

  “I thought I heard something.”

  “Maybe a big raccoon, or a big rat,” the man replied.

  “Maybe it’s the chupacabra,” another said. The men at the gate laughed.

  “Vete al demonio idiota,” go to hell dumbass, the guard replied.

  There was general laughter and the guard quickly finished giving the remaining trucks a cursory look. He then went up to the gate and cigarettes were lit, their tips glowing in the dark. Make good targets, thought Dan as he watched.

  When the guard went inside, Dan finished attaching the explosives under the first truck and then worked his way back to the rear truck, going down the gap between the trucks and the wall. He was shielded from the front gate and could move faster than crawling underneath. It was already after 3 am and he didn’t know how early th
e caravan would set out.

  At the end of the line, he took off his backpack, now relieved of most of its contents, and pushed it in front of him as he crawled along the fence line. After turning the corner, he continued to crawl along the back wall until the building shielded him from the front gate guards. At that point Dan moved in a crouch to the rope. Slipping on his backpack, he pulled himself to the top and swung his leg over the edge. He pivoted the rest of his torso over and slowly let himself down, dropping the last two feet to the dirt.

  Dan gently pulled the rope back over the wall and untied it from the hitch. He laid it in the back of the pickup, walked around to the driver’s door and quietly opened it. The light went on and he threw the backpack into the passenger seat and slid in. After gently closing the door enough to shut off the light, he reached up and took out the overhead bulb. Then he reopened the front door, placed the shifter in neutral and stepped out. He pushed hard against the door frame and finally got the truck to rock. It kept increasing with each push until the truck began to roll forward. Trying to keep his puffing quiet, Dan pushed the truck until it was clear of the warehouse compound. Then he got in, started the motor, and idled down the alley.

  When he got to the alley across from the warehouse, Dan parked the truck. He checked all his phones and his Barrett sniper rifle, and started down the alley. Soon he could see Rodrigo standing in the shadows behind the building. When Dan came up to him, Rodrigo pointed to the door.

  “The stairs go to the roof. I don’t know if that door is locked. You’re on your own. Now who do I call to arrange pickup?” He whispered.

  Dan gave him Jane’s number.

  “Use a burner phone and don’t stay on the phone too long; it may be monitored and she may not know about it. Just give her a pickup address or coordinate. Don’t make it the same place you are hiding out. Tell her to get a burner phone and call you with instructions. When she calls, get her number and use another phone to call her back. Change the pickup location. Make sure you leave the first phone far away from the meeting place. Then you have a good chance of being secure.”