The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (33 page)

His voice softened.

“
My heart will always belong to her.”

De Niro swallowed hard as he saw the impact of his words on her. Moriah was such a friendly, warm soul, it made him feel terribly to cause her such sadness. He wanted so badly to console her in his arms, but he was more concerned with sending her mixed messages.
What’s the matter with me?!

Her lip was quivering as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“
I think I’m gonna be sick …” she uttered then ran from him into the house.

He didn’t follow her. Instead he stood there feeling like his insides were shaking. In a fury he picked up the bottle of wine intending to throw it and smash it, but as he did, he noticed the label. It was one of his and Lisa’s favorite Barolos. In fact, it was the same one they had on their first date. Memories started rushing into De Niro’s mind … memories of Lisa … memories that made him smile and laugh … and then cry. He dropped the bottle onto the chair where Moriah had been sitting. He could still smell her perfume.

De Niro collapsed onto his knees. Even after 10 years, the power of his love for his wife and the pain from her absence in his life devastated him.
Lisa, I’m so lost without you … Father, why am I still here?!”

He heard the sound of a car pulling up in the front … it had to be William with the boys. He tried his best to dry his eyes before they walked in. Moriah must have heard them too because a moment later, she reemerged out back. She didn’t say a word to him as she collected her sandals and walked to the guesthouse.

De Niro didn’t follow her.

Chapter 30

U.S./Mexico Border

10 Miles Northeast of El Bajio, Sonora Mexico

Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation

Pre-Dawn 5:30a.m., Sunday, September 11, 2011

Charley Santappia was having a hard time following Agent Bryan Ahiga’s pickup truck down a pitch-black dirt road. With him Vic Rigoni, Karl De May, and Spiro Pescalitis bounced around in their Jeep.

Pescalitis: “Charley, where the hell are we? I think Cochise is leading us to Acapulco!”

Santappia: “If the GPS is correct, the Sky Tower that reported the large group is just ahead.”

As if on cue, Ahiga’s pickup pulled off the dirt road and stopped under a mobile Border Patrol observation post, otherwise known as a Sky Tower. Ahiga jumped out and pulled his pistol. He motioned to the others to do the same and to keep low. The four members of ARCHANGEL made their way over to him with caution.

Santappia: “Isn’t there supposed to be an agent on duty in that tower, Bryan?”

Ahiga: “Yes sir, there is. Something’s wrong.”

Ahiga held his hand to the side of his mouth and hollered, “Mike, its Bryan Ahiga. Are you okay?!”

Everyone’s nervousness increased from the lack of reply from the booth, atop the 25-foot portable tower.

Ahiga: “The controls to lower the tower are in that cabinet at its base.”

Santappia: “Guys, get your M-4’s and set a perimeter.”

Riggy, De May and Pescalitis crouched back to the Jeep, retrieved their automatic rifles and headsets then returned to Santappia and handed him one of each. Riggy then gave the other two, silent directions with hand gestures and all three men set out into the darkness. Within a minute Santappia heard from all three of them reporting that they were in position surrounding the tower.

Santappia: “Okay Bryan, they’re manning the perimeter.”

Ahiga nodded and set off towards the control cabinet. A moment later, Santappia watched the booth at the top of the tower lower to the ground before approaching it. He put his finger through a bullet hole in one of the tower’s windows as Ahiga joined him. The two men could hear the radio inside the booth set to a DHS frequency. The dispatcher was repeatedly requesting the agent to reply. Ahiga opened the door to the booth to find the border patrol agent lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor, brain matter and blood coated the opposing window. He carefully stepped into the booth and reached over to grab the mic.

“
This is Shadow Wolf one at the Sky Tower west of Sasabe. The border patrol agent stationed here is down. I repeat … Agent Mike Bellows, stationed at the Sky Tower west of Sasabe is down.”

“
Sasabe Station, roger Shadow Wolf one, emergency personnel have been dispatched to your location, ETA about 30 minutes.”

“
Roger Sasabe… will secure the scene but need to begin pursuit immediately.”

“
Sasabe Station, roger that … scene will be secured and unmanned until arrival of emergency personnel.”

Ahiga replaced the mic and then said a silent prayer for the family of the fallen agent. Standing behind him, Santappia prayed with him. When he finished, Ahiga turned around and shook his head.

“
I didn’t know Mike very well but I know he was married with kids.”

Santappia didn’t reply. His face expressed his sadness and anger.

While Santappia examined the crime scene Ahiga walked back out to the dirt path, knelt down and started examining the ground. After five minutes he stood up and remained silent facing northwest. Santappia joined him.

“
What did you find, Bryan?”

“
Mike’s last distress call was accurate. There’s a very large group, Charley, the largest I’ve ever seen in fact, heading northwest. I’m talking hundreds! The time of his call marks their passing here … about 90 minutes ago and there’s something else …”

With Santappia behind him, Ahiga followed the tracks in both directions for several minutes until he found what he was looking for.

“
Charley, some of them are on horseback. It’s almost impossible to see the tracks where they’re all moving. The army of footprints obliterates everything, but you can see here … several of the riders stopped. There are droppings from two of the horses and multiple prints of horses pretty much standing still.”

“
What do you make of it, Bryan? Is this the Noche del espantada … the fright night?

Ahiga nodded.

“
The night of the stampede … it’s odd, very odd.”

“
What is?”

“
The direction they set off on is northwest. That’ll take them away from Tucson. If they keep to that general direction, they’ll cross onto our reservation in about 10 miles.”

“
Maybe their idea is to cross onto reservation land then turn due north—“

“
Possibly Charley, but this whole thing just doesn’t add up to a normal illegal border crossing. First, such a large group … they know they’ll attract our attention.”

“
They might be thinking that they’ll overwhelm us.”

“
And they will … so my question is … why then head northwest? Wouldn’t it be better to make a bull rush towards Tucson? By heading in that direction, they’re just extending their trek. Time and distance work against them and for us … and they know that.”

Santappia removed his cap and scratched his head.

“
I see what you mean. What else?”

“
I’ve never seen a group like this, some on horseback, some on foot. Horses cost money. I don’t think this many banditos on horseback have cross the border since Poncho Villa … and then there’s what they did to Mike. What did you find, Charley?”

“
You’re not gonna like it. From the size of the hole in the glass, the head wound on Agent Bellows and the trajectory of the shot to inflict it … it looks like he was taken out by a sniper … one shot, one kill.”

“
A sniper …?! Charley, I’ve been at this a long time. That’s a border agent’s worst fear … but it’s a step we never thought the cartels would take. They know if they escalate violence against us, the U.S. will be forced to retaliate.”

“
Whatever they’re planning must be very big and bad … for the stakes to be high enough to warrant this. How do we track them, Bryan? You said they have about a 90-minute head start. Where would that put them?”

Ahiga led Santappia back to his pickup where he pulled a map out and laid it out on the hood.

“
It’s gonna depend on whether the group on horseback remains with the group on foot or not. My guess is they won’t. So that would put the large group on foot about 2-2.5 miles ahead of us. The group on horseback could cover twice that distance.”

Ahiga grabbed the mic from the radio in his pickup and tuned it to the Shadow Wolves frequency.

“
This is Ahiga. We have a very large group in the hundreds heading northwest from Sasabe. A dozen or more are on horseback, the rest are on foot. They have about a 90-minute head start on me. If they remain present course, I have them crossing onto reservation land somewhere east of Tubac. The group on horseback, perhaps both groups are presumed armed and dangerous, approach with extreme caution. Have all Shadow Wolves converge east of St. Ann Church and notify DHS-CBP Nogales Station to pass on my information to Omaha
²⁸
.”

“
Roger Bryan, all available agents to converge east of St. Ann’s Church in Tubac and we’ll notify Nogales Station to vector Omaha two-five miles northeast of Sasabe.”

Ahiga rejoined Santappia who was calling Riggy, De May, and Pescalitis back in.

“
We have another problem, Charley. We don’t have time to go back and get our ATV’s and in that direction we won’t be able to follow them for very long in these vehicles. So we can either stay on their tails or we can take the chance that they’ll remain on their present heading … and take to the roads to try to head them off. Chances are that Omaha will spot them long before they make it to the reservation anyway, but if they do make it, I think we need to be ahead of them. Otherwise, we’ll never catch up to the group on horseback.”

“
I think the choice is clear then, Bryan. Let’s try and get ahead of them.”

* * * * *

The Russians and Iranians on horseback were still leading the large group of Mexican immigrants on foot. They held up when the Iranian radioman waved to the Iranian in charge.

(In Farsi) “Hadi, someone finally found the dead agent at Sasabe. Sounds like one member of the Shadow Wolves, but he radioed in for all of their agents to rendezvous ahead of us near Tubac. He also told them to radio Nogales to vector their Blackhawk to our position here.”

The tall, dark-haired and bearded Iranian-in-charge thought aloud and in English so that the Russians could understand.

“
A single Shadow Wolves agent came across the dead agent outside Sasabe. I wonder what he was doing off the reservation? In any case, he’s having all the Shadow Wolves lie in wait for us, up ahead. That is what we wanted. Also, as we anticipated, he had Nogales dispatch their Blackhawk helicopter.”

He switched to Farsi. “Naser, you and Abbas take a position a few thousand feet from us with a Stinger
²⁹
. Wait for your prey and do not miss. Go now by foot! Aram, have all the infidels behind us remain where they are. We want to give the American helicopter a big, easy target.”

Switching back to English he addressed his men and the Russians, “We will wait here for their chopper. Once we down it, we’ll scatter the chickens on foot and put distance between us and them.”

The Russian in charge, former Spetsnaz Captain Oleg Marx spoke up.

“
What about the Shadow Wolves ahead of us? I thought we were going to ambush them closer to the airport?”

“
We were, but it’s of no consequence. The fact remains … the more of them they gather in one place; the easier it is for us to wipe them out. We know their location, we still possess the element of surprise, superior numbers and strength … and while they are trained to track, we are trained to kill.”

The two men with the shoulder-fired rocket, Naser and Abbas radioed in that they were in their positions just as the sounds of a heavy rotor could be heard off in the distance.

* * * * *