Echoes of a Distant Summer (100 page)

“You
puta
!” he growled, still slightly stunned. “I’m going to kill you! I’m going to cut you into little pieces!”

Elizabeth scrambled to her feet and ran to the storeroom door. She stooped, seeking the aerosol canister. She found it where she had left it and picked it up. She waited in silence by the door, hoping to squirt the insecticide into Alejandro’s face and blind him. Her left arm was practically useless. The insecticide was her only weapon. She had to wait until she had a clear shot. She heard him get slowly to his feet then stumble into the cot and fall to the floor again.

Alejandro cursed, “Goddamn you, bitch! Goddamn you!”

Elizabeth heard him get to his feet again. He moved cautiously to a wall and made his way to the exit door and opened it. A bright shaft of light fell onto the floor of the room, illuminating it. She saw him standing in the light. There was blood dripping from the top of his head. He turned to look around the room for her. Elizabeth knew she was now visible. It took him a moment to focus on her. Still she waited. She wanted a full frontal shot before she used the insecticide. She would have only one opportunity.

“I see you,
puta
! I see your black ass now!” Alejandro started toward her, his knife glistening in his hand.

Elizabeth waited until he had taken several steps then aimed the canister at his face. A stream of foul-smelling liquid hit Alejandro just above his left eye.

“What the fuck!” he exclaimed. Then the toxic fluid dripped down into his eye. “You bitch! You tried to put out my eye! Oh, you fucking bitch!” He wiped his eye with the sleeve of his shirt.

Elizabeth squirted him again, hitting him in the forehead and arm. He staggered toward her, slashing his knife wildly in front of him.

Elizabeth waited no longer; she turned and ran into the darkness of the storeroom. There was no place to hide. She ran past the shelves,
went to the far door, and opened it, hoping that Rex had been taken out on patrol. The dog hit the door with the power of its seventy-pound body. If Elizabeth had not braced the door with her shoulder before she opened it, Rex would have been inside with the force of his charge. The dog was only able to force its sleek head through the opening and it was struggling mightily to squeeze its whole body into the room. With only one arm Elizabeth was having trouble keeping the dog out. It tried to nip at her. She sprayed its muzzle with the insecticide. The dog snorted and shook its head a couple of times then backed out of the doorway. Gratefully, Elizabeth slammed the door shut, but it trembled as Rex threw himself against it again and again. She leaned against the door to catch her breath. While she was recovering, she saw Alejandro enter the storeroom through the other door. He held his knife in front of him as he searched the darkness for her.

“Where are you,
puta
? I’ve got a little present for you! Come out, come out,
puta
!”

Elizabeth knew that the light coming under the door would eventually reveal her presence. She waited until he was halfway into the room and squirted him again, but as soon as he heard the sound of the aerosol can he turned away. The insecticide fell harmlessly on the side of his head.

“I know your tricks now and I see where you are!”

“Then come and get me, you useless piece of shit!” Elizabeth taunted. “Let’s see how tough you really are!” She had to lure him closer.

Alejandro ran toward her. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill—”

Elizabeth waited until the last possible moment then opened the door and Rex burst into the room and saw Alejandro. The dog leaped on the man, who was unable to stop his forward progress. Both man and dog fell in a tangle of legs and arms and fur. The dog’s ferocious snarls filled the little room. Elizabeth slipped out the door and unhooked Rex’s chain then ran up the stairs. She pushed open the door and slammed it behind her. She heard the sound of running feet coming toward her and slipped behind some heavy drapes that hung beside a tall window. The footsteps ran past her and faded in the distance. The sound of machine-gun fire was much louder on the first floor. Elizabeth knew she had to get out of the building. There were shouts and cries of pain coming from outside. She didn’t know what or who was out there, but she knew she could fare no worse with them than with San Vicente.
She headed to the stairs that led to an upper-floor walkway, hoping against hope that Jackson would be there.

J
ackson stood at the prow of the
Sampson
, a seventy-five-foot motor cruiser, as it rocked slowly back and forth on gentle waves. A soft summer breeze rose out of the west. The distant coastline of Baja California lay to the east like a thin layer of chocolate icing on the shimmering blue of the temperate sea. It was a warm and easy twilight. The red-orange sun had just set on the shining, magenta horizon of the Pacific Ocean. The sky was cloudless, yet filled with shades of red and purple. A pale half-moon rose in the southern sky. Jackson leaned over and studied the rolling water, lapping in rhythm against the cruiser’s hull. He was lost in thought. What if each one of these waves had its own individual sentient, pulsing life and not one had a clearer picture of its destiny than a mortal human? The waves could no more change their direction than he could. He wondered whether he shared the same destiny, whether his life too would break apart on some foreign shore. He chuckled to himself. So be it. He could not turn away this time and abandon the one he loved. If death should come, he asked only to die bravely.

The trip from San Francisco down to Playa Rosalía had been long and arduous for him. The private plane had taken off from Oakland at five-fifteen in the morning, which had been particularly ungodly because he had been unable to sleep at all the night before. He had spent his sleepless time taping pairs of M16 magazines together so that when the first was spent the second could easily be flipped around in its place. Then, because they were taking over eighteen hundred pounds of guns, ammunition, and equipment, he and Carlos had to be at the airport at three-thirty to make sure everything was loaded properly. The flight to San Diego had taken ninety minutes, at which point they had transferred all of their gear to the
Sampson
, which was anchored in the yacht harbor. Tavio and Diego, who had flown down the night before, met
them on the tarmac by the plane with a truck and a small bus. All the equipment was offloaded into the truck and driven to the harbor, where it again was picked up and hauled aboard the motor cruiser. The
Sampson’s
captain and his two-man crew had the cruiser nosing out of the harbor and heading south toward Baja California at eighteen knots before eleven o’clock.

At twelve o’clock the attack team had a two-hour briefing on assignments over sandwiches. Jackson laid out the general plan of attack. The raid was designed to take a maximum of forty minutes. After that time had elapsed, everyone would be transported back to the boat, with or without Elizabeth.

At five-thirty Jackson came out on the prow to be alone and to think. He directed his thoughts to Elizabeth, to the times that they had made love. He remembered the unending softness of her dark brown skin, the firmness of her lips, the flashing brightness of her large, brown eyes, the rise of her breasts, the flatness of her stomach, and the strength in her legs; but the most consuming memory was the sense of exaltation and completeness that he had felt as he rested in her arms after they had both climaxed. Further thoughts were interrupted by the sound of powerful outboard engines drawing near.

When the motorboat drew alongside, Jackson went down to greet Julio and Reuben. He exchanged hugs with both men and afterward, Julio leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Blood bothers until we die.”

Jackson replied, “Let us hope that when our time does come, we’re as old as my grandfather and tired of living.” Jackson led the way to the conference room and introduced the Ramirez brothers to the rest of the team. There was a brief overview of the plans once more and then the equipment was offloaded into the motorboat. The darkness of night had finally settled and the thirty-minute ride to the coast was guarded over by millions of stars twinkling overhead. Jackson was reminded of his first boat ride as a child to see his grandfather, yet other than the presence of the stars there was no similarity.

They docked at a dilapidated pier in a small, dark, deserted cove. While they transferred their equipment and gear to the waiting panel trucks, two dirt bikes for Tavio and Diego were rolled out of the back of one of the trucks. As the men donned their motorcycle helmets and strapped bags holding the rocket launchers to their backs, Jackson thanked them for their assistance and wished them luck. Shortly after they roared off, the trucks got under way. Jackson rode up front with
Julio while Carlos and Reuben drove the other vehicle. A mile from San Vicente’s mansion, Julio pulled off the road and drove to a construction site. When he got out Jackson slid over behind the wheel. He watched Julio walk over and climb up on a big bulldozer. Once Julio had the big machine started, Jackson pulled the truck back on the main road and followed the other truck to San Vicente’s mansion. Within a half mile of their objective, the headlights were turned off and the remainder of the way was driven in darkness.

San Vicente’s compound was a quarter of a mile off the main road and was built on a small knoll behind shrub-covered ridges of low, rolling hills. The main house sat on the apex of the knoll while the perimeter walls were built around its base. From a distance, its lights made it look like a small Mediterranean city. The trucks turned onto a narrow, rutted road and drove into a small gully, where they parked. Guns were checked and plans were gone over once more while they awaited the arrival of the bulldozer. They climbed the small hill, making their way through the thatch and brush carrying crates of rockets and ammunition. Once they reached the crest of the hill, three pairs of binoculars were passed around as time was spent studying the compound, which was three hundred yards away. In the far distance colorful fireworks could be seen exploding in the night sky.

Carlos crouched down and began drawing a diagram of the compound in the dirt with a short stick. A particularly bright firework flared briefly. He commented, “It looks like they’re partying even in the suburbs of Tijuana.”

“Let’s hope they’re partying as heavily at San Vicente’s house,” Pres replied as he knelt down beside Carlos. “Where do you want us to fire the rockets from?”

“Right here would be good, but remember, they have rockets too. Once you get off four or five quick shots, you’ve got to move. You’ve got to cover the distance between here and the outer wall in three minutes. If you don’t hit the tower by the arch above the gate, they’ll turn the exterior lights on you. If that happens, you may not have even three minutes. Make sure your second round of shots hit the antenna and the satellite dish.”

“Don’t worry,” Dominique said as she hoisted her rocket launcher. “We won’t miss. I’ve used these before. We’ll take out the tower and the whole front side.”

“Good!” Carlos said with a nod. He pointed the stick at the diagram.
“We’ll come in from here and hit the barracks, the power plant, and the communications room. We don’t want to be hit by your rockets, so confine your targets to this area until you enter the gates and see where we are.”

Pres nodded, “No problem! Once we get inside the gate, we’ll provide a crossfire for whoever needs it.”

Reuben walked over and asked, “How are you planning to handle the dogs?”

Jackson, who was stooping over Pres and Carlos, questioned, “How many are we talking about?”

Reuben exhaled. “I’ve heard he has as many as ten and they are all trained killers. In fact, he brags about setting his dogs loose on people who’ve crossed him or just generally pissed him off.”

Jackson began, “Well, if they’re in a kennel—”

“We’ll make sure that no one lets them out!” Dominique concluded firmly.

Dan said in a subdued voice, “Sounds like the ’dozer is close.”

Carlos stood up. “All right! Let’s get to our positions!”

Jackson said, “Just a minute!” He stretched out his hand, palm down, and asked, “Please put your right hand on mine!” Pres clapped his hand down on Jackson’s with a smile. He was followed by Carlos, Lincoln, Reuben, and the rest. Once all hands were in, Jackson put his other hand on top and said with a determined tone, “We don’t know what this evening brings. So I swear you this oath now, to each and every one. No injured will be left behind! We come together. We shall leave together. May God smile upon us and may this evening’s end see us all rejoicing!” There was an emphatic pressing down of hands, and members of the team turned away to move through the shrubbery toward the south gate.

Dan, followed by Lincoln, walked up to Jackson and Pres, who were shaking hands, and Dan said, “I love it when you speak that urban Shakespearean shit!”

Jackson put his arm around Lincoln and Dan’s shoulders and said, “Alamo Square Rangers forever!” The men released and turned away.

The attack began as planned. Pres and Dominique destroyed the first guard tower, the antenna, the dish, and the front wall with their rockets. The bulldozer broke through the south gate. Julio and Reuben fired their rockets into the power plant, reducing it to rubble within minutes.
Next they turned their fire on the second guard tower and knocked it out of commission with direct hits. Things were moving on schedule until a large-caliber machine gun began firing down from the roof. No one had foreseen that San Vicente would mount a heavy machine gun in one of the attic dormer windows. In the darkness, the continuous discharge of the big gun could clearly be seen. The sounds of explosions, the whistling of bullets, and the deep ack-ack of the heavy machine gun filled the air. The heavy gun covered the interior of the compound and it poured an endless stream of bullets down on the Caterpillar which ricocheted off its raised shovel blade. Bullets were flying everywhere, kicking up the dirt, deflecting off the walls and chipping away their stucco finish. All seven of the attacking party were pinned behind the Caterpillar for precious minutes by the south gate until Pres and Dominique were able to hit the dormer window with rockets. A huge plume of flames flared into the air as the roof exploded.