A squatty woman pushed through, talking quickly and carrying the little girl I’d toted in my pack for so long. She charged forward and was waist deep before any of us reacted, and in a moment of incredible strength, she literally threw the child into Perry Hale’s arms. Startled, he let go of the AR and caught the wailing little girl at the same time the boatman twisted the throttle and turned us away from the Mexican shore.
The now dark water grabbed the boat, trying to spin it downstream. The Rio Grande, like all rivers, have their own personalities. The stretch of the lower Rio Grande usually looked deceptively calm at first glance, but under the surface, it moved with great power, especially around bends in the river where it doubled its strength. Right then, we were between two bends and the water pulled at the boat like it wanted to slam it into the nearest bank.
We were chugging across the water when a flashlight on the Texas side flickered three times. Perry Hale held the crying little girl in the bow. “Uh oh, that ain’t good.”
Chapter 79
Good or not, someone was waiting on the far side of the river. Small clicks from my SRT members told me they were doing the same thing as me, reloading their weapons. The boatman in the stern leaned around me and spoke to Yolanda, who twisted to straddle the seat so she could see both of us.
“He says those lights are the men who pick up the migrants and take them to the safe houses.”
Perry Hale growled. “They aren’t gonna like finding it’s us.”
My mind raced. It was damned dark, and the moon wouldn’t be up for a couple of hours. With the night vision goggles, we had the edge on those guys, but we were easy targets if they lit us up. “With the baby crying, they won’t know who we are until we push up on the shore. When we do, you jump out quick and we’ll cover you. Hand the girl back here.”
Perry Hale passed her over his shoulder to Yolanda like a sack of potatoes, who handed her on to me. I sat the little girl on the seat and snuggled her up to my side. “It’s all right.”
I’m not sure what the boatman was thinking, taking money from us and leaving paid customers on the other side, but he steered us across the river. Instead of nosing the boat up against the bank like he did on the other side, he turned it and drifted the left gunnel up against the bank overgrown with willows and a thin screen of carrizo cane. I realized the Mexican side of the river was shallow, while the Texas side dropped off sharp and deep.
Somebody was waiting for us, but I couldn’t tell through the green water of the NVGs.
Hands reached down from the shore and I handed the little girl up to a man with a hat brim hiding his face. The boat rocked, and I grabbed the gunnel. She disappeared and the same strong hand took mine and pulled me out of the boat. The others were virtually lifted out by two other men with hats pulled low on their foreheads.
Perry Hale and Yolanda must have read my mind, because as we were on solid ground, our weapons came up and we forced the strangers back toward the road. “Hands up! Back up and let me see those hands!”
All three of us were shouting when I heard a laugh I’d known since high school. “Ethan?”
Sheriff Ethan Armstrong tilted the hat off his face and flicked on a flashlight. “Y’all take it easy. It’s me, McDowell, and Officer Rene Rodriguez, highway patrol.”
“What are you doing here standing around in the dark?” Laredo is well out of Ethan’s jurisdiction.
“We needed to play this close to the vest for a while, at least until we were sure it was you we were picking up. Nice shirt, by the way.”
I wanted to give him a smart-ass answer, but I was too tired. Rodriguez stuck out his hand. “Welcome back.”
I couldn’t figure out why the highway patrol deputy was there. “How’d you get tied up with these guys today?”
DPS officers cover a lot of territory in that part of Texas. It was nothing when I worked for the highway patrol to get a call about a car wreck and have to drive well over an hour to get to the accident scene, but it was a strange coincidence to find him with the other guys.
“I was here when they showed up, untangling a car wreck, and saw Sheriff Armstrong sittin’ on the side of the road with an FBI agent. There’s no way I was going to pass up that story.”
I nodded, studying on Rodriguez’s strange explanation. “You any kin to this gal, Yolanda? Same last name.”
“Naw, there are more Rodriguezes than Chins in a Chinese phone book.”
Relieved to be back in the states, I laughed at that tired old dried-up joke like it was the funniest thing I’d heard in years. “I get it.”
FBI Agent McDowell spoke up. “Where’s that prisoner I’ve heard about. I have the papers you asked for. They cost me a lot more skin than you can imagine.”
My heart sank. “She jumped into the river when we had that little altercation over there y’all probably heard. I don’t know if she swam over to this side during all the shootin’ or went back into Mexico. I had her, and now she’s gone.”
Chapter 80
Their cars were parked half a mile down the road, at a crumbling cinderblock station that hadn’t pumped a drop of gas in over a decade. While we waited in the darkness by the river, Rodriguez hurried back down the road to get his truck so we could all ride back instead of walking.
A couple of minutes later, a Border Patrol SUV came around the bend from the opposite direction. Its headlights caught us standing there, dripping with automatic rifles. It squalled to a stop in the middle of the lane, fifty yards away.
Both doors flew open and the agents knelt behind the doors, shouting orders. “Border Patrol! Put your weapons down! Hands in the air! Hands in the air!”
We complied.
“Easy boys! Badges here! I’m Sheriff Ethan Armstrong.” He pointed at the vehicle approaching with its bar lights flashing. “That’s Officer Rene Rodriguez coming back with his truck. Don’t shoot him, neither.”
A badge magically appeared in McDowell’s hand, glinting in the headlights. “FBI Agent Landon McDowell.”
I pointed down with one finger to my vest. “Sonny Hawke. These other two with me are also special Rangers, Perry Hale and Yolanda Rodriguez.”
Rodriguez’s DPS Ford pickup rolled up with his emergency lights on. The door opened and he stepped out. “What are you doing pointing weapons at these officers? Bill Tyler! Diego Morales! It’s me, Rodriguez. Highway patrol. Holster your weapons!”
The agent on the driver’s side of the vehicle was Tyler. He recognized Rodriguez’s voice and rose. “We saw all those guns and a bunch of people standing around in the dark. What else were we supposed to think?” He dropped down behind the wheel and they pulled up, parking sideways with their lights on to block the empty road. “Nobody told us y’all were here.”
Now that we could lower our hands, we relaxed and Ethan explained what was going on. His story covered most of the details but not all of them. He paused when the little girl in Yolanda’s arms tuned up again.
“They had to bring this kid across, because she’s in danger.” I had to raise my voice over her wails. “We need to get her medical attention and food and water right now.”
Agent Tyler leaned inside and spoke with someone on his radio. “We’ll have another car here in a minute. There’s one just a couple of miles down the road that can take her to a processing station. You want to put her in our back seat while we wait?”
Yolanda walked past. “Only if I can sit in there with her.”
“Go ahead, ma’am.”
She opened the back door and sat with one foot on the ground.
Chapter 81
Tish Villarreal was standing on the side of the dark highway when a Border Patrol car appeared in the distance with its lights flashing. She unconsciously touched the tiny transmitter under her breast and smiled.
It had worked.
She waited there in full view as it drove much too slowly down the road. She was frustrated enough to chew nails by the time they picked her up in the headligh
ts. Seeing her, the car accelerated and pulled up quickly, keeping her in the headlights, but still not getting too close.
The officer in the passenger seat stepped out. “Tish?”
“Miguel, it’s really me.”
Relief was clear in her brother’s voice. “I thought it was, but your hair doesn’t look anything like you.”
She came around on his side and gave him a quick hug, wetting his uniform shirt. Her face hardened when she glanced inside and saw the second agent still sitting behind the wheel. “He is our first agende trans?”
Miguel laughed at the newly minted phrase, “trans agent.” “Yes. Relax little sister. He’s one of us.”
“Does he know who I am?”
“Of course.”
“Then he should show some respect and get out of that damned seat!”
Raul Lopez quickly unsnapped his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. “I’m so sorry, Jefa. I did not know what to do. My apologies.”
The fire in her eyes went out and was replaced by those dimples that melted men’s hearts. “It is okay, mi vida. I understand, and now you do, too.”
At the edge of his flashing lights, Miguel saw a dark figure rise from the riverbank and drew his service weapon in a flash, shouting in Spanish, “Do not move!”
Tish recognized the figure when he stepped further into the light. She held out a hand and gently pushed her brother’s gun hand down. “His name is Esteban.”
Miguel relaxed. “I have heard about you. You’re famous.”
“I shouldn’t be.” Esteban shrugged. “I simply do what La Jefa orders. That is all.”
Miguel opened the back door. “Both of you get in, but Esteban I need to cuff you.”
“Why?”
“In case someone sees us. It is procedure, but I can’t cuff my own sister, can I?”
Esteban shrugged. “Bien.”
He was cuffed, and they climbed in the back seat. Raul Lopez dropped down behind the wheel at the same time their radio squawked. He picked up the microphone. “Lopez.”
“This is Bill Tyler.”
“Hey, Bill. What’s up?”
He told them where to meet him, only two miles westward. “I need you to pick up an individual for transport.”
“I already have two in the back now. Why can’t you do it?”
“We’re tied up with something else. This one won’t take up much room. I need you now.”
“Roger that.” Lopez replaced the microphone on the hanger. “Señorita, I have to do this. Please sit with your head down and your hands behind your back, as if you’re cuffed like Esteban.”
The Devil Woman’s eyes flashed. “No. You cannot let anyone see me.”
Her brother turned in the seat. Miguel grinned. “It’s okay. You are just another illegal to them. We see dozens a night. Don’t worry. More of our people are there.”
Chapter 82
Yolanda was still seated in the back of the agent’s car when another just like it approached from the opposite direction. It pulled up and stopped in the middle of the lane and the two agents got out.
I was standing beside Ethan when they approached. The tallest of the two gave us a good going-over before he spoke. The name on his shirt was Miguel Villarreal. “What’s this?”
State Trooper Rodriguez waved a hand. “Something a helluva lot above your pay grade, starting with this FBI agent here. We have a kid you need to take to processing. Ranger Hawke, these are agents Lopez and Villarreal.”
Rodriguez sure was ordering those guys around. All Rangers had served the DPS as highway patrol officers, and at no time did I ever issue orders to Border Patrol.
My head spun at the name. Of course, Villarreal was like Rodriguez or Gomez or Smith on our side of the river.
That sixth sense of mine kicked in, telling me something wasn’t right. I didn’t like that feeling, especially when Rodriguez held Villarreal’s gaze way too long.
Border agent Villarreal’s partner, Lopez, came forward. “Like he said, we have . . .”
“Two in custody.” Rodriguez sure did act like he was in charge all of a sudden. “I know, but this one’s no bigger’n a minute, Villarreal. Break the rules and put her in your lap if you want to.”
Rodriguez sure was using Villarreal’s name a lot. Something was out of place, but I figured it was probably because I was worn to a frazzle, hungry and damned thirsty.
“Yolanda. You want to bring the baby over?”
She rose with the sleeping three-year-old in her arms and my heart ached watching the little one, so limp and innocent. Yolanda walked to the driver’s side, waiting for one of the agents to open the back door. It was an odd sight, because she still had her rifle slung under her shoulder.
The dome light had been deactivated to eliminate issues in the dark, but when the back door came open, a young man slid out of the seat. It was probably to make room, but we all reacted like any other officer when someone in cuffs and presumably under arrest pops out of the back of a police car.
Voices rose in unison, speaking a mix of languages.
“Whoa!”
“Get back in there now!”
“Alto!”
My hand was on the butt of my .45 when I recognized Esteban in the flashing lights. “Hang on a minute. Everybody stand down. Bring that man to me, would you?”
Villarreal and Lopez, the border agents who brought him didn’t like that one bit. Villarreal waved his hands. “Wait a minute. This is our prisoner.”
“I want to speak to him for a minute. Rodriguez, I believe I might be above your pay grade, right? We can hash this out later, but right now I’m talking to that man, and I’m not asking permission. I’m telling you.”
A look passed between the agents that almost made me draw my weapon right then. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I crooked a finger at Esteban. “You. Come here.”
Still holding the sleeping child, Yolanda must have felt what was going on. She slowly backed away from the vehicle, keeping an eye on the situation. Always watching her, Perry Hale saw her body language and lowered his hand to the rifle he’d re-slung over his shoulder.
Highway patrol officer Rodriguez didn’t like the sudden tension in the air, either. “What’s going on here?”
“I just want to get a good look at this guy. I might have seen paper on him at some point.”
“He’s nothing but an illegal. We get them all the time. Hey you in the camo, take your hand off that rifle! Get your hand off that weapon, Hawke!”
Who’n hell was he telling me what to do? To my left, Ethan matched my stance and the air became thick as syrup. I held out my left hand to calm things down. All of a damn sudden we were in the middle of a Mexican standoff and for no reason I could identify. “Easy boys.”
Esteban smiled like he didn’t understand a word we were saying and stepped forward. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I intended to get to the bottom of it. It was that nest of snakes thing that had been haunting me from the outset. Was he really still one of us or a true sicaro who was playing all the angles?
“Stop right there, Esteban.”
He did. His eyes flicked to his side. Seeing that I’d noticed, they also flicked up and back, as if jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
He hadn’t done me wrong one time, and suddenly that first domino fell and I knew what was happening. The sudden thought that the other shadowy person in the back seat might be Tish Villarreal made the hair on the back of my neck rise. Had these two agents arrested them after they swam the river?
My eyes flicked to the agents. Border Patrol agent Miguel Villarreal’s shirt was wet. Maybe from a hug, Villarreal to Villarreal.
The dominos clicked faster as they fell. Rodriguez was on the cartel payroll, as were Villarreal and Lopez. I was staring at the Devil Woman’s work, law enforcement agents who worked for the Hidalgo cartel. This was the thing I’d been chasing from the outset, officers forced to protect their families by submitting
to the cartel.
Men protecting their families are the most dangerous animals in the world. The Villarreals were related.
My .45 came out smooth and fast. Seeing the movement, Perry Hale’s rifle rose and he crouched with the stock against his shoulder. He had no idea what was going on, but like Ethan and Agent McDowell, he was backing my play.
Keeping my voice even, I tried one more time to defuse the ticking bomb. “I want everyone to stand right where they are, hands in plain sight.”
Esteban’s knees bent, and he knelt in front of me, intentionally twisting to reveal the butt of a knife in his belt. His actions spoke volumes.
“You two didn’t pat this man down? Villarreal, you and Lopez stay right where you are. None of this smells right!”
At my order directed at the two officers, Rodriguez swelled with anger. There was no reason for the DPS officer to get mad about the same thing he’d been doing only a minute earlier. “What in hell is this all about? You men stand down!”
All the air was suddenly sucked out of the night. You could feel men tense and I felt, rather than saw Ethan’s weapon come up. McDowell’s Glock materialized in his fist and the Border Patrol agents Bill Tyler and Diego Morales froze, looking left and right, not understanding what was going down.
It was one of those oh shit moments and I knew in about half a second the dance none of us wanted was going to start. I registered the vehicle’s emergency lights flashing in the darkness. Border Patrol Agent Villarreal moved his gun hand as slow as molasses, not taking his eyes off of me. It was that thing I’ve seen in the past, with men thinking that if they gently continued what they were doing, they might get away with it.
My voice snapped loud and sharp. “I said everyone freeze!”
He paused.
I ignored him for the moment. “Prisoner in the back. Slide across and come out the open door.”
Agent Villarreal, with his hand now on his own holstered weapon shook his head. “She’s cuffed. Leave her in there. What are you doing?”
Hawke's Fury Page 30
