“Just do what we do,” Parker told Earl.
“I’ll try.”
Ford recalled seeing a creek that ran close to Home on the map they had studied the day before. They had circled to the north, found where the road they were on crossed the creek, and pulled off to park the pickup under the bridge where it wouldn’t be noticed. Then they set off, following the creek as it meandered south toward the town, several miles away. The banks of the streambed were high enough, and enough brush grew along them, that it was unlikely anybody would spot them as they moved along.
The creek ran to within five hundred yards of the edge of the town, then curved west before looping south again and crossing the state highway a mile or so west of the city limits. The four men stopped when they were north of Home and lay at the top of the sloping bank where they could look through the brush at the community. Callahan had brought binoculars from the pickup. He trained them on the town and studied it for a few minutes.
The rancher grunted and passed the binoculars to Ford. “Take a look for yourself,” he said. “I don’t see anybody movin’ around except some fellas car-ryin’ automatic weapons.”
“The FPS? “ Parker asked.
“No,” Ford said as he peered through the glasses and spotted some of the men Callahan had mentioned. “Civilians. Hispanic males, all appearing to be in their twenties and thirties.”
Parker frowned. “And they’re armed?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“That sounds like drug cartel goons. But we’re north of the border.”
“That doesn’t matter much anymore. The Rio Grande is less than fifty miles away. From what I’ve heard, the cartels have a lot of influence over here, and they’re getting more powerful all the time.” Ford passed the binoculars to Parker. “Whoever those civilians are, it looks like they’ve taken over the town.”
Parker studied the situation for a moment and then said, “Yeah. It looks like a military occupation, the way they’ve got guards posted and patrols moving around the streets. What the hell’s going on?”
Earl said, “This is just off the top of my head, you understand, but, uh, what if they’re transporting the first shipment of that nerve gas out of Casa del Diablo today? Wouldn’t that be something those cartel types would like to get their hands on? They’re always at war with each other, right?”
The other three men stared at the young scientist. Earl said defensively, “Hey, it’s just a theory. I don’t know anything about this kind of stuff.”
“It’s a good theory,” Ford said. “It would explain a lot.”
“How would a bunch of Mexican drug smugglers find out about Casa del Diablo?” Parker asked.
Callahan snorted. “Shoot, they got folks workin’ for ’em all over Texas. Most of the people who come over here from Mexico are just lookin’ for a better job, but some of them already got a good job … workin’ for the cartels. And some of ’em go along with it because they still got relatives below the border who’ll be in danger if they don’t cooperate. When somebody crosses the cartel, it’s not just them who pays the price. Their whole family usually gets wiped out, too.”
Ford nodded and said, “That’s right. There’s no telling where they have agents these days. They could find out when a shipment is scheduled.”
“But we don’t know they’re bringing out the nerve gas today,” Earl pointed out. “I just said they might be.”
“And that’s what we have to find out,” Ford said. “Earl, why don’t you stay here?”
“By myself?”
“No, Mr. Callahan will stay with you,” Parker said.
The rancher objected. “Wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute. I got shot at, too. I want to know what it’s all about.”
“Yeah, but somebody’s got to live through this so that the truth will have a chance to get out,” Ford said. “That’s gonna be up to you and Earl here. Besides, getting in and out of places where everybody wants to kill us is what Brad and I are good at.”
Callahan rubbed his jaw and frowned. “Well… I don’t like it. But I reckon you’ve got a point. The boy and me will stay here … for now.”
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Earl asked.
“No,” the other three men said together.
“All right, all right. Go do your secret agent, commando thing. Just don’t forget that we’re out here, okay?”
“We’ll be back to get you,” Parker promised.
“If we’re alive,” Ford added.
“Have you heard of a place called Casa del Diablo?” General Garaldo asked.
“House of the Devil,” Alex automatically translated. “No, that doesn’t sound familiar.”
“I am not surprised. Few know of it except the people who work there, and their masters at the very highest levels of your government. It’s a scientific research facility located in the mountains west of here. They’re developing nerve gas and other biological and chemical weapons.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Nerve gas?” she repeated. “The U.S. doesn’t use things like that on other countries. We never have.”
Garaldo laughed and shook his head. “You misunderstand, Chief. The gas is not intended to be used in a war against another country. It will be used here, in this country, against the enemies of the man who is now your President.”
The horror of what Garaldo had just said, the sheer enormity of it, was almost too much for Alex’s brain to comprehend. She shook her head and said, “No. That’s not possible. I don’t agree with the man’s politics, but he wouldn’t… he’d never get away with such a … it’s just not possible!”
“Of course, it is,” Garaldo said calmly. “If a man believes strongly enough in something, he will do anything to accomplish it. I have never met your President, but I have looked into his eyes in news broadcasts and seen what is there. He is like the Spanish priests of the Inquisition. He believes so strongly that he is correct in his thinking, he will do anything in his power to impose his will on the country. Do you not understand? You foolish Americans have put a man in office who truly loathes his own country and blames it for everything that is wrong in the world. Therefore, he must reshape it into what he believes is right: A country that is weak and defenseless, a country where a relative few do all the work and support the many who will not, a country where success is punished and lack of effort is rewarded. What is wrong with you people? Did you not see for yourselves what sort of man he is while he was running for election?”
Garaldo shook his head as if he were honestly baffled. “Elections are for fools. If a man is strong enough, he should seize power for himself! But I will give your President credit for one thing. The sheep you call voters may have put him in office, but now that he’s there, he will stop at nothing to stay in power. That is the reason for Casa del Diablo’s existence. He plans to wipe out his enemies and everyone who disagrees with him. There will be no more elections in the United States, at least not for this President.” Garaldo smiled. “That is his intention, anyway. But today will change all that.”
Alex struggled to make sense of everything Garaldo had said. “What are you talking about?” she asked now in a voice hollow with strain.
“Today, the first shipment of nerve gas will leave Casa del Diablo and be brought through your town on its way to Washington. My men and I will stop it and take it for ourselves.” Garaldo’s smile widened into a wolfish grin. “Señor Reynosa y Montoya, the head of Rey del Sol, believes that I will bring the gas to him so he can use it to eliminate his rivals and make himself the most powerful man in all of Mexico.”
“But… that’s not what’s going to happen?”
Garaldo made a curt, slashing motion with his hand. “Reynosa is a criminal, a common thug addled by perversion! All he wants is to make himself the boss of all the criminals. He lacks the vision a man needs in order to truly take advantage of this opportunity.”
“And you have that vision,” Alex guessed.
“Indeed I do, Chi
ef.” He closed his hand into a fist again. “The leadership of the other cartels will be wiped out by the gas, but so will Señor Reynosa and his inner circle. Then it will be I who seize power! I will be the one to truly unite Mexico for the first time in many years. Then it will be time to turn our attention northward, to the cruel giant who has dominated my country for far too long.”
“You’re talking about the United States.”
“Of course! With the weapons at my command, it will be my turn to impose my will on your country, and I will begin by demanding the return of the land stolen from us so long ago!”
“You mean Texas?” Alex asked.
“Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona …” Garaldo shrugged. “Your President will be glad to return them to their proper owners. Has he not already figuratively given away much of your country to foreign powers? Now he shall give some of it away literally, and the reconquista movement will not stop there. Eventually, Mexico under my command will become the world’s one, true superpower, as it should have been all along!”
Well, that cinched it, Alex thought. General Jose Luis Garaldo was crazy. Certifiably insane. He would never be able to make his mad plan a reality.
But in attempting it, he might kill hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of innocent people, in the U.S. and Mexico both. If he got his hands on that new nerve gas—the very existence of which Alex still struggled to grasp—there was no telling how much damage he might do before he was stopped.
And there was just the slimmest of chances that he might succeed, at least in blackmailing the U.S. into ceding the southwestern states back to Mexico.
After all, nobody with any sense would have dreamed that the President could get away with as much as he already had.
Garaldo spread his hands. “So, Chief Bonner, now you know what I intend to do. You can see that your only choice is to cooperate with me.”
Alex glanced again at the gun on the desk. Cooperating wasn’t her only choice, not at all. She could still make a play for the pistol. If she could get her hands on it, she could kill Garaldo, even though it would surely cost her her own life a moment later when his men rushed in. But without their leader, could the plan go forward?
That was a chance she might have to take.
Garaldo raised a finger. “I can see what you are thinking, Chief. I beg you, consider not only your own life, but those of the citizens of Home.”
“What are you talking about? “ Alex asked tightly.
“My intention is to leave them alive when my men and I pull out later today. But I would not have to be merciful. In fact, it might be good to have a small field test of the nerve gas….”
Alex went cold all over. “You wouldn’t,” she said. “That would be cold-blooded murder.”
“No. It would be the first act in a long-overdue war. “ Garaldo shrugged. “Anyway, what makes you think I would hesitate at cold-blooded murder?”
He had a point there. Still, every fiber of Alex’s being itched to make a grab for that gun….
And she might have, if the ground hadn’t suddenly jumped under them from the force of an explosion that shook the whole town.
It was a minor seismic disturbance, barely enough to make the needles on the gauges wobble. But on this particular day, that was just enough to trigger a red flag and send an e-mail. That e-mail prompted a technician in the basement room that didn’t officially exist to tap some keys on his computer terminal and call up current surveillance satellite footage for the area of West Texas where the ground had shaken briefly a few moments earlier. The tech frowned at what he saw as he zoomed in.
That resulted in a phone call to the Chief of Staff, one of the few people who knew this room existed. He was so disturbed by what he heard that he came down to the basement himself to look at the footage.
Then he rushed upstairs.
“Sir?”
“What is it, Geoff? I’m getting ready to go play golf with the Speaker of the House. She won’t like it if I’m late.”
The Chief of Staff swallowed hard. “It appears that something is happening in Home, sir.”
“Home? The place where we took away their guns?”
“The town that’s sitting right on the route out of Casa del Diablo. You know what’s happening today—”
The President turned sharply and held up his hand to stop the Chief of Staff. “I don’t know anything,” he said.
“Yes, sir, I realize the plan is maximum deniability, and that’s why we’ve committed so few resources to the operation, for the sake of secrecy and not calling attention to it, but—”
“But nothing. Don’t tell me anymore.”
The Chief of Staff knew what he was risking, but he had to do it. He had to speak.
“Sir, it appears that a military force of some kind has occupied and taken over Home.”
The President was so stunned that he sat down. “A … a military force? Our military? The FPS, maybe?”
The Chief of Staff shook his head. “No, sir. I wish that was the case. I don’t know who these people are, but if they’re able to stop that shipment and take control of the cargo themselves—”
The President held up a hand to stop him again. “This is unacceptable. How could anyone have found out about this, after everything we’ve done to keep it quiet?”
“I don’t know, sir. I truly don’t.”
But the Chief of Staff had just had a terrible thought. It had to do with Julia Hernandez, and the fact that the Mexican border was less than fifty miles from Home….
Deal with that later, he told himself. One crisis at a time. And this was a real crisis, no doubt about that.
The President took a deep breath. “All right, Geoff. You know what to do.”
“Sir…”
“Execute the emergency plan” the President said heavily. “When will the trucks reach Home?”
The Chief of Staff checked his watch. “A little less than two hours from now. I’ll get in touch with them immediately and have them turn back to Casa del Diablo.”
“No.”
The Chief of Staff stared at his boss. “No?” he repeated. “Did you say no, sir?”
“That’s right.”
“But … that’s the emergency plan, and we have plenty of time to implement it.”
The President shook his head. “No, I’m talking about Operation Omega.”
The Chief of Staff was shaken to his core. “Sir, we can’t—”
The President seemed oddly calm now, as if he had accepted the inevitability of what had to happen. “We knew we’d be taking this step someday, Geoff. It’s the reason for Casa del Diablo’s very existence. It’s happening sooner than we expected, that’s all”
“But if we stop the trucks—”
“Whoever those men are who have taken over the town, they know what’s coming. They must, otherwise they wouldn’t be there, today of all days. If they know, then it’s possible some of the citizens of Home have found out by now, too.” The President shook his head again. “No, Geoff, I’m afraid this is the only way. I want a team of General Stone’s special operatives in the air ASAP. They’ll intercept the trucks before they reach Home and take charge of the canisters. They’re to bring all but one of them back to FPS headquarters.”
“All but one” the Chief of Staff repeated hollowly.
The President smiled. “I think one canister of the gas will be enough to make sure no one in Home ever reveals what they know, don’t you?”
CHAPTER 43
Ford and Parker waited until what looked like a hundred or more armed men rushed out of the police station and headed down the street toward the site of the explosion.
Finding that gasoline tanker parked at the edge of town had been a stroke of luck. Neither agent knew for sure what it was doing there, but they could make a guess. There were several places in Home that sold gas. The truck had probably been stopped at one of them when the invaders came in and took over. Nobody would want stray b
ullets flying around anywhere near a tanker full of gasoline, so they had moved it to the outskirts of town to get it out of the way.
For men with their specialized skills, it wasn’t that hard to rig the truck’s fuel tank to blow, and when it did, the gas in the big tank went up, too. That made one heck of a nice distraction. The invaders had to figure that they were under attack, so most of them would rush to the scene to repel that attack. They wouldn’t find anything except a burning tank trunk.
But by that time, Ford and Parker would be in the police station. They wanted to get their hands on some communication equipment, on the off chance that the invaders weren’t jamming everything. If that were the case, at least they could grab some more weapons and maybe find somebody who could tell them exactly what was going on here.
They ran along the alley toward the police station’s back door. The guard who had been standing there before the blast had ducked inside, probably to check for new orders. He reappeared just as Ford and Parker reached the door. Parker’s hand shot out and grabbed the front of the man’s shirt. The guard was too startled to put up a fight as Parker jerked him forward and head-butted him.
Ford slammed the butt of his pistol into the back of the guard’s head a split-second later. The double blow, front and back, was enough to knock the man out cold.
Parker lowered the guard to the ground and took his rifle. They had left the rifles they’d brought from the ranch with Callahan and Earl, since the weapons would have been in the way while the agents crawled into town.
Parker looked at Ford and nodded, then went into the station, moving fast. Ford was right behind him, pistol gripped tightly and ready for use.
They were in a hallway that led past an open door into the station’s lobby. Several men armed with rifles were in the lobby, looking out the windows and the open front door. One of them must have spotted the two American agents from the corner of an eye, because he yelled a warning in Spanish. The men whirled around and raised their rifles.
Parker had already dropped to a knee and brought the rifle he had taken from the guard to his shoulder. He opened fire with it as Ford began shooting over his head. Their bullets raked the lobby and sent the gunmen tumbling off their feet, except for one who dived through a window in a shower of glass to escape the hail of lead.
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