KILLER DATE (SCANDALS) (19 page)

“
It looks like a video game,” I commented as we clustered around the laptop.  Dallas stood off to the side, watching the small video monitor built into the remote control.

“Yeah…
it’s pretty cool.”  Dallas guided the drone over the hill.

The machine suddenly dropped several feet, and we all gasped. 
Dallas scrambled to regain control, and the drone was soon back up to the level it had been before the plunge.

“Downdraft,” Dallas muttered.  “I’ve never flown this over hills.”

Since one of Dallas’ strong suits was his intellect, I had no doubt the wind currents wouldn’t catch him by surprise again.  He was the perfect pilot for this mission.

“So
, that’s the river bed there.” Nick traced his index finger along the image on the screen.  “Follow it and see how far it goes.”

Dallas made the drone gain altitude until we had trouble seeing it against the clear blue sky even though we knew exactly what we were looking for
and where.  He turned it south and followed the dry creek bed as it wound through the rocks.  The only way we could really tell it had once had water in it was that it was the only place in the area with full-grown trees.  The rest of the dry countryside had only stunted mesquite, scrub oaks and cactus.  It was probably prone to flash floods, but this was not the rainy season and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

“Look, there’s a deer and her baby,” Jenny declared with a smile.

“There’s plenty of cover for us there.”  Nick had superimposed Ricardo’s map over a Google map printout.  The river was barely detectable in the satellite view, so he watched the drone picture with great interest.

The drone followed the river for about a half mile before it took a sharp turn to the east.

“Keep going straight,” Nick instructed.  “The stone quarry should be just on the other side of that rocky ridge.

Sure enough, as the drone moved forward, a tall c
hain-link fence with several rows of razor wire on top came into view. 

“That’s new,” Nick commented.  “The Googl
e picture must be out of date because the old fence looked like it was about ready to fall down.”

We held our breath as the drone continued its flight over the fence and
above the compound.  Was anyone going to notice?  What if they looked up and saw it…or heard it?  Would they shoot it out of the sky?

But as the drone circled the quarry and no one showed any sign that they were aware of its existence, we relaxed and enjoyed the view.

“Look at that picture…it’s like we’re watching a high-def TV show,” I commented with enthusiasm.  Somehow from that altitude, the cartel dudes didn’t look so scary.  “That guy there… no hair and it looks like a Band-Aid on his head!  Amazing.” 

“
How high up are we?” Nick asked.

“Right at 500 feet,” Dallas replied and pointed to a small read-out on one corner of the screen that showed altitude and speed.
  “Not bad for a couple of thousand bucks, huh Nick?”

“
This would have taken six months and a hundred thousand dollars if the government was involved.”  Nick was clearly impressed.

“Any sign of Angie?” Jenny asked.  Her attention had never wavered from the screen.

We focused back on the screen.  The drone circled the compound and Nick studied the movement of the men as they moved around.  He continued to make notes on Ricardo’s map, including a tic-mark tally of how many different men we saw.  Whenever Nick would request, Dallas would make the drone stop and hover.

“What are those little black spots?” I pointed to an area behind one of the smaller buildings that looked like a shack that a strong wind would demolish.

“Let me zoom in.”
Dallas took the knurled knob between his thumb and index finger and twisted the dial, bringing the creatures into sharp focus.

“Rats!” Jenny
recoiled as if the nasty animals could jump through the screen.

“The
y’re wherever the food is, which would be the kitchen and the dining room, of course…and probably where your sister is being held.”

Jenny gasped.  “
Oh, God…do you think she’s in there?”

“
It’s too small to be a kitchen or a dining area, and that looks like plates or pans on the ground by the front.”  I told her.

“
Whoever’s in there, they’ve been taking food to them,” Nick agreed.

“
Yes…yes…that’s a metal pot…look how it shines in the sunlight.”  Jenny’s fists tightened with her excitement and anxiety.  “Angie has to be in there.”

Nick
pointed to another building where smoke was billowing out of an opening in the roof.  “I bet that’s the kitchen, and the one next to it the dining area.  That bigger building must be the barracks.”

We watched as the men moved back and forth between those two buildings.  “Kind of like a crazy ant hill,” I suggested.  “Just wandering around, looking for something to
kill.”  It quickly became obvious that no one was going to the smaller building except for one man who was leaning against the wall outside the door.  A rifle was slung over his shoulder, and he was amusing himself by throwing rocks at the rats.

“One guard there,” Nick acknowledged, “two more by the gate
, all with guns.  I’ve counted about two dozen men, but there are probably more inside the bunkhouse and the kitchen.

Jenny grew more agitated
.  “Why aren’t we going?  Shouldn’t we be heading out?”

“
Patience.”  Nick rubbed his hands together like the high rollers in Vegas did when they were shooting craps and had a lot riding on the line. “We need to plan a way to get in as close to that building as we can and we can’t cross all that open area in broad daylight.”  He indicated the area on the outside of the fence that had been completely cleared of brush, leaving a ring about fifty feet wide around three sides of the compound.  Only the right side offered any cover, but that was because there was barely enough space between the fence and the base of the mountain for a person to walk.  But to get to it, we would still have to expose ourselves for several long minutes.

“Those boards on the little shed look pretty old and weathered.  Since we probably won’t be able to go in the front door, we might be able to pry some of them off of the back so we can get Angie out.”  I looked around the back of the Land Rover.  “Did anyone see any tools back here?”

We looked around and found a screwdriver and a tire iron.  Not ideal for dismantling a building, but it would have to do.  Nick unzipped his backpack and put them inside.  Even though official sunset wasn’t for another couple of hours, the sun had already dropped behind the mountains, casting the eastern slope in deepening shadows.

“It’s getting dark fast
, isn’t it…how long will the batteries last?” Nick asked.

“We have about
25 minutes left, but it’ll take most of that getting it back here.  I have a back-up battery, but no way to recharge either of them.”

“
Maybe we should look for the cave entrance before heading back…just in case,” I suggested.

“10-4
.” Dallas was really getting into his role as he piloted the drone to the far side of the compound and then slowly moved it along the hill while we searched for an opening.  He switched the view from daylight to night vision to see if that made a difference.  “You guys see anything?”

“No
t me,” I said.  I was hoping to see it because in my line of work, trap doors were important.  We definitely needed an optional exit.

“There’
s a small area where the temperatures look different right there,” Nick touched a spot on the screen in a fold of the mountain.  “But that could be anything…an animal den or a snake pit…who knows?”

“
We need to conserve the batteries and head back,” Dallas reminded him.

“F
ollow the river bed back.  I want to see it again, so we can keep under cover after dark.”

We watched as
Dallas flew the drone along the curving route.

“Stay zoomed in.”

“Okay, Nick.”

“It looks like
some of the sides are six or eight feet deep, doesn’t it?” I asked.

“Except for
the first quarter mile at the beginning and again near the compound where it turns off, we should be hidden,” Nick agreed.

Jenny
squinted and leaned closer to the screen.  “Are those bones?  Do you think there are coyotes or dogs down there?”

“
Could be either…or hogs,” Nick answered.  “Zoom out.”

Dallas complied, and we got a good view of the entire
area, including the compound on one side of the screen and the dirt road we had traveled up on the other.

“Any si
gn of Ricardo’s men?”  I didn’t see any vehicles for miles in all directions.  After our visit with him yesterday, I hoped he would keep his end of the bargain.  He had a lot of pay-back to deal out.

“If they’re out there, we won’t see them,” Nick told us.

The laptop displayed our vehicle and as it grew larger on the screen, the motors on the drone grew louder.  Dallas landed it near the spot where it had departed, the propellers kicking up little swirls of dirt and leaves.  The engines shut down.

“I’d feel better if we put it back into the
Land Rover,” Dallas said.

“Sure.”  I shut the laptop and put it on the backseat, then
helped him pick it up and carry it to the vehicle.  We settled it safely on its Styrofoam bed.

Nick
opened a cardboard box he had stowed in the back.  “Gather around boys and girl…I checked our junk drawers at the office, and I’ve got a few toys to help us out.”

“Our tax dollars at work
,” Jenny joked.

“Yeah…
sort of.”  Nick grinned as he handed out small jars to each of us.  “This is camouflage for your skin.  Spread it on your face, ears and neck.  Don’t leave a single square inch of your lily white skin exposed.  In the dark, you’ll glow like an albino.”

We dabbed the greasy black goo on our skin.  Nick, of course, was a pro and didn’t need any help, but Jenny and I took turns touching up the bare areas we’d missed
on ourselves.  With her face so close to mine and her fingers stroking my neck and my ears, I wished I had missed more spots.  We had all worn dark clothes with long sleeves, so it was only the area above our collars that we had to cover.

“Our hands too?”
I asked.

“No, use these.”  Nick handed us
each a pair of black gloves. 

I
took my pair and when I tried to put them down, they clung to my fingers.  It wasn’t that they were sticky, but they sort of held on to whatever touched them.  “What are these?”

“
They’re military grade versions of the best receiver gloves the NFL uses.  They’re thin enough that it won’t affect your flexibility.”

“Cool,” I said.
  I tried one on and wiggled my fingers.  It barely felt like I was wearing anything.

Nick reached into the box and pulled out black
skull caps made of the same material and handed one to me, one to Jenny and kept one for himself. He pulled his on to demonstrate. “Stretch this over your head and strap it under your chin…be sure every hair is tucked inside.  Just trust me on this.” We both followed suit and pressed the Velcro straps together.

Dallas was lounging against the back of the Land Rover laughing at us.  “I’m not excited about sitting back here and monitoring you guys, but I’m really glad
not to have to wear all that crap.  You guys look like SWAT cat burglars.”

“
Last, but not least, each of us will wear a pair of Night Owl night vision tactile goggles.  They weigh less than a pound and will turn night into day.  But they take a little getting used to, so be careful when you have them on.  It’s easy to misjudge distances.  Just don’t lose them.  They’re like $800 each…okay?”

I had to admit that I was pretty excited about
trying them out.  It was like
Mission Impossible
takes on the Mexican cartel.  It was pretty bad ass.

Nick took one of the goggles out of its case.  “They’re made in Russia and are
incredibly high quality.”

“Russia?” 
Jenny’s eyes looked huge against the black of her face.

“They were seized
, but don’t ask for details, okay?  I didn’t actually sign them out.  They’re like me…not here.  If, by some weird quirk, you’re caught by U.S. authorities, you got them from a Russian in a poker game.”  Nick added, “They’re really bad poker players.”

We thought he was joking, but he looked each of us square in the eyes in a sort of non-verbal pledge.  Jenny and I nodded solemnly. 

Nick held the googles up and pointed out the features.  “This is a throat mic…and this is the ear piece.  It has a range of about a hundred yards.  You can basically whisper, and we’ll all hear you.  These are all on the same frequency, but we don’t know what frequencies the bad guys are monitoring, so keep the chatter to a minimum…right?  Only what’s essential.”  He handed them out.  “Take the mic and strap it to your Adam’s apple.” He glanced at Jenny, “…or where your Adam’s apple would be.  Tighten with the Velcro strap in the back.