Riding there with Carmen in the UTV beside him, Eric couldn’t help but dwell on thoughts of Megan and Shauna, and whether or not they had indeed been delivered back to Louisiana by the Army. He sure hoped so, because if they weren’t, he knew he’d be returning out West with Luke for the reckoning that was sure to come when the tracker made it back home. Luke was putting aside all of his business to help Eric find out, and for that, he knew of no way he could realistically repay him. Flying back to Louisiana in a private aircraft was an option Eric would have never dreamed of before today. Doing so by way of Mexico would have seemed even more preposterous when he’d assured Shauna he would be back to join them as soon as this mission was done. Eric had no idea how he and Luke would be received when they landed there but having Carmen with them was the only thing that would make either one of them consider it. He hoped it would work out the way she assured him that it would once those on the ground learned who she was, but he and Luke were going well-prepared and heavily armed in case it went sideways, as whatever Eric got involved in so often did.
They turned onto the dirt two-track that Luke had picked out on the way in, and with the Polaris in its lowest gear, climbed a winding, bumpy route up a series of switchbacks and over a low pass that took them into view of a small wilderness valley far-removed from the sight and sound of the main gravel road. Luke shut off the engine and got out to look around, taking several deep breaths to test the clean mountain air until he was certain that it was untainted by civilization and human habitation. Then, surveying the view in the moonlight, he announced that yes, this place would do.
Eric had asked before they left the compound if he wanted him to look for a couple of shovels, but Luke said no, that they would find a place to lay his brothers atop the surface of the earth, covering them only with enough stones to keep the scavengers away. Their spirits could then find their way to the other side, where they would hunt again in the land of their ancestors. Luke said it was a good place for them to start that journey; the kind of resting place that he would want for himself if he had been one of the fallen.
Carmen was clearly uncomfortable being there, frightened by the darkness and the whole affair of the solemn ceremony. Eric did his best to continue to reassure her, but this was Luke’s time to say goodbye to three of his closest friends, and Eric didn’t bother asking him to translate or divert his attention in order to make the young woman feel better about it. She was going to have to deal with her situation as it was for now, and Eric was sure that her spirits would improve when daylight returned, and she would see for certain that they really were taking her back to Mexico.
Eric had done a lot of things he hadn’t planned to do since he’d arrived in Florida to get Megan and Shauna and going to Mexico would be yet another. He certainly hadn’t intended to do more of the same kind of work he’d made a career of and lost his family for, but it seemed to keep happening again and again. It was ironic that the reason he got involved in operations like the one that had gotten three good men killed was that same family he’d so often left behind. But the skills he’d honed while being away from them for far too long were the best bargaining tools at his disposal now, and the only means he had to buy them safe passage. Eric knew going into it that the mission would probably evolve and that there would be delays and inconveniences. Most such jobs he did turned out that way, and it was to be expected. Such things as the botched extraction that had cost him so much time on his mission for Lieutenant Holton didn’t really surprise him. But in all the years he’d been working in unsavory places and sometimes in the employ of unsavory people, Eric had never been so thoroughly set-up and double-crossed as he’d been that day. It was unfathomable to lose not one, but three fine warriors and trusted friends to murder by members of their own team. Eric felt responsible for their deaths, no matter what Luke said, and no matter that he knew there was no way he could have foreseen this or prevented it once the perpetrators made up their minds. He knew as he stood there listening to Luke’s prayer chants in a language that probably hadn’t been heard in that valley for more than a century, that those three men he was sending off were dead simply because Eric Branson chanced into their life. It made him sad that like Bob Barham in Colorado, and Vic Guidry in Louisiana, these men that helped him achieve his goal of finding Megan had died because of it. And even after all that happened here, Luke was still determined to help him, despite the risk.
Eric was under no illusion that flying a small plane across the border was without danger. There was risk of being seen and shot down by the Mexican military or other authorities, and there was risk in entering territory controlled and subjugated by powerful drug lords who killed without mercy anyone they perceived as a threat to their operations. Eric knew and weighed the risks, but in light of all that he’d seen since he’d been back on U.S. soil, he had to believe that it was still a better option than attempting to fly across the no-man’s-land that was now Texas, where he was as likely to run into more C.R.I. thugs as he was the cartels south of the border.
When Luke had finished saying his goodbyes, the three of them returned to the compound to spend the few hours of darkness that remained preparing for a departure at first light. Luke double-checked the Cessna’s systems, saying it seemed to be pretty well maintained, but that even so, flying without GPS navigation and radio contact was going to be new to him.
“It will take both of us,” Luke said. “I’ll need you to help navigate and to fly the plane when I need a break. There’s nothing to the flying part once we’re in the air, and I’ll take care of the takeoff and landing, of course. But we’re going to have to navigate by compass and visual confirmation of landmarks on the ground. We don’t want to be lost when we start running low on fuel, and when we do have to go down, we’ve got to make damned sure it’s in a place from which we can take off again. I’m counting on Carmen to help us out with that part too, which is why you’re going to be doing a lot of the driving while she and I look out the windows and figure out our options.”
Six
LUKE WARMED UP THE Cessna’s 230 horsepower Lycoming engine and performed his final pre-flight checks at the end of the rough runway, and then they were airborne moments later. Although the wind was near calm at that early morning hour and they could have taken off heading south, Luke pointed the nose to the north end for their departure to avoid the overlooking ridge to the south that would require a steeper climb to clear. Before leaving, they had emptied the storage compartments and cabin of the personal belongings of the pilot and Antonio, cramming their own gear and as much weight in ammunition and supplies taken from the compound as Luke said they could safely carry. Carmen had little in the way of personal possessions, other than a single small travel bag with a few clothes, and since she was petite and slim, Luke estimated that she and all her stuff combined came in under 125 pounds.
“I’d rather be carrying extra fuel if it were available, but since we have the capacity, it doesn’t hurt to carry more supplies and ammo.”
“I agree,” Eric said. “Anything that is hard to get is worth having, whether we need it for our own use or for bargaining power.”
“Well, dealing with that cartel, nothing we could carry but the girl is going to give us any bargaining power, and that’s only if she’s really who she says she is, the daughter of a big kingpin. What if she’s not? What if she’s lying about that?”
It was something Eric had considered, but only briefly before dismissing the thought. There were plenty of ‘what-ifs’ to go around with every single move he made. Eric didn’t have time to worry about them. He had to go with his gut on this one, and right now, it felt like the right thing to do.
“No one is watching the border there on either side,” Carmen had told Luke when he asked her what she’d seen on the way in. “We were low when we came across, and I was looking, because I was so afraid. I’ve never been to the United States before, and in Mexico we have heard so many stories about the fighting that has
been going on here. But Antonio said there were no soldiers on the border, and he was right. I felt better about it until we landed, but then when the two of you shot him and the pilot, all my fears came back. I thought you were American soldiers and that you would shoot me too just because I am Mexican, and you would think I worked for the cartel.”
Eric saw that she was right as Luke flew south beyond the last of the Animas range and finally over a desolate gravel road running in a straight line to the east and west. Eric knew the road was on the U.S. side, used by the Border Patrol in the recent past in their mostly ineffective efforts to stop mass immigration and the drug trafficking that enabled the cartels in Mexico to grow into the powerful empires they were today. It was ironic, he thought, that so much of the violence that had spread across the nation had been instigated by that line in the sand that seemed so insignificant when he looked at it now, gazing down on all that emptiness from an altitude of 2500 feet. No one was fighting over the actual demarcation line here, in this desolate stretch of desert wasteland, mainly because no one lived near it and there was no one to guard the line or watch the comings and goings across it from either side.
The landscape on the other side changed little as Eric stared down at more of the same sand and rock, accented by the twisting veins of waterless arroyos and scattered patches of dead-looking vegetation. Luke changed course soon after they were in Mexican airspace and locked in on a heading that would barely be altered for the rest of the morning. On this course, they would pass well to the south of the sprawling city of Juarez, a place that Eric knew had been a cartel war zone even long before the breakdown north of the border. Once they were past Juarez, they would parallel the big canyons of the Rio Grande, keeping north of other Mexican cities and towns until they were well within in the region under solid control of the Nuevo Día Cartel.
Carmen was visibly relieved when Eric pointed and made hand signals to her to indicate that they had crossed the international boundary and that she was back over her home country. Eric gave her another smile to reassure her again that they were indeed going to honor their promise. He and Luke would do their best to make sure she was reunited with her family, and he hoped like hell that her father would be as grateful for their efforts as Carmen promised them he would.
Luke had spent several minutes with her before takeoff, going over the map of Mexico and the more detailed ones of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon in order to get her opinion of the best town or village to set as their destination. Carmen’s family estate was in Monterrey, and that was where she said her father spent most of his time. But flying into a city that size was far too risky, in Luke’s opinion. While there was of course a large airport, it would also be heavily guarded and monitored by radar even with things the way they were now. And while Carmen assured them that the local military units there answered to the all-powerful cartel that really ran that part of the country, flying in there unannounced wasn’t something Luke or Eric wanted to risk.
“We need to find a smaller village in the campo that is not too far away from your father’s city,” Luke had explained to her. “The best kind would be one with a little airport that is only big enough for small planes like this one to land; an airport that would have fuel, but perhaps not a military guard.”
Carmen understood what he was looking for after this explanation and said that it would be no problem. The cartel used lots of small planes to move back and forth between isolated villages and operations centers they had established in the mountains. She didn’t know how to find the outposts they had built specifically for their operations, but she said she did know of a small mining village that she was sure that they used sometimes. It was a place called La Carroza, in a remote mountain area northeast of Monterrey near the border between Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. Carmen said she was sure that they would find Los Nuevos associates there, and that the airport would surely have fuel. If they could land there, the men in charge would know how to get word to her father, and he would make sure that Eric and Luke had everything they needed.
“When they reach him and tell him I am there, you won’t need fuel for this little plane, because my father will ensure that both of you are given proper transportation to wherever you want to go. Los Nuevos has the ability to move people and product almost anywhere in the Estados Unidos—and the rest of the world—so you won’t have to worry about how you will get home.”
Luke still had his doubts, but Eric felt good about aiming for this particular village after looking at where it was in relation to Monterrey and the direct route to the coast. If nothing else, they could refuel there if the airport was indeed still functioning. If they could fill the tanks, they’d be set regardless of whether or not Don Carlos was willing to help them get to where they were going. From that location, they would be close enough to the Gulf that they could reach someplace along the Texas coast before they needed fuel again, and that would be good enough, as far as Eric was concerned, because he was sure he could find another ride from there, on a boat even, if it became necessary. It would be less than ideal for Luke though, as he had no reason to go farther east than they could travel in the Cessna, so if Carmen’s father really could help them out, that would be all the better. Perhaps then, Luke could quickly return to his people in northern New Mexico, bringing word of what happened to Nantan, Red and Wolf, as he made his plans to pay a visit to Dan Burkett and Major Langley. Eric knew Luke would make the latter business his new mission in life. The tracker was determined to avenge his brothers, and no one could blame him. If Eric didn’t have Megan and Shauna depending on him, he would be right there at his friend’s side. Luke was sacrificing a lot for him now, going in the opposite direction so far out of his way, and for that, Eric couldn’t thank him enough. But with every mile that passed beneath them, he was convinced that good fortune was on his side now—the good fortune of an airplane like this one falling into his lap—and the good fortune of having a trusted and loyal friend who was capable of flying it.
When they reached the border of Nuevo Leon and followed the rugged ridges and canyons south, the sparsely populated terrain below looked like the land that time forgot. But just as the map indicated, they found the little pueblo of La Carroza nestled into an isolated valley with only one road leading in. Seeing how far off the grid this place was gave Eric a good feeling about the choice they’d made. It was so isolated he had serious doubts that anyone outside of the settlement would be aware of an aircraft coming or going there. They had seen no other planes or helicopters for the entire duration of the morning’s flight, and down below, the single road leading to the village seemed deserted, empty of traffic even at midday. Luke banked the plane to turn and make a pass over the area before they made a final decision. When they came in low after dipping down between the ridges to the east and west, Eric saw the small runway, situated some distance to the north of the houses and other buildings of the town. There was one metal-roofed building there that was probably a hanger, and if there were any airplanes present, they were all inside it, because none were visible out in the open.
“What do you think?” Luke asked, as he began climbing again, getting the elevation he needed to either leave the valley or turn and make his approach to land.
“I say we go for it! I didn’t see anyone at the airstrip at all. It’s worth checking out, but we won’t know until we’re on the ground.”
Eric looked back at Carmen and gave her a thumbs up as Luke brought the Cessna back around and dropped into his final descent for landing. Their rifles were locked and loaded behind the seats, but Eric and Luke both had their pistols concealed on them as they wanted to be prepared, yet not appear threatening when they greeted whoever came out to meet them. And if he had any doubts as to whether or not someone would, they were dispelled when Eric caught a glimpse of two pickups barreling down the road from the village in a cloud of dust, just as they touched down. By the time Luke had brought the plane to a stop and turned it around, facing back
from the end of the runway in position to take off again if necessary, the trucks were side-by-side in the middle of it, coming their way and blocking any possibility of escape.
“I hope these guys are your father’s friends,” Eric said, turning back to look at Carmen even though he knew she couldn’t understand him. “I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?”
“What do you want to do?” Luke said, as they watched the two pickups close in, seeing now that there was a driver and a passenger in the front seat of each.
“This is where we introduce ourselves, I suppose; unless you have a better idea….”
The drivers of the trucks stopped when they were within sixty feet of the nose of the plane, and Eric and Luke watched as the passenger doors opened and the two men riding got out with rifles in hand.
“M4s,” Eric said.
“Yeah, but those guys don’t look like Mexican soldiers to me. Maybe they really are Los Nuevos hired guns. I guess this is where we find out how much influence our new friend’s daddy really has down here. Shall we get out and have a chat?”
“I don’t see that we have a choice,” Eric said. “I’m glad your Spanish is better than mine. I’ll let you do the talking. Tell her to sit tight for now until we know what’s going on.”
Luke did and then the two of them got out, showing the two gunmen that their hands were empty as they did so. It was a tense moment, because they were putting all their trust in these men, who were now braced behind their truck doors with their rifles pointed at them from a range at which they couldn’t miss. Still, Eric knew that with no risk, there was no gain, so he stood there exposed and waiting under the wing, while Luke did the same on the other side. The other two men that had been driving the pickups had gotten out too by now and one of them was yelling in Spanish in their direction. Eric understood him well enough to know that he was giving them an order, and this was confirmed when Luke translated: “They want us to walk forward, in front of the plane and get down on the ground, face down.”
Feral Nation Series (Book 7): Feral Nation [Sabotage] Page 6
