The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (36 page)

Ahiga focused his binoculars on something. It made him jump to his feet and started running in a crouched position south along the ridgeline. The rest of the men saw where he was headed; someone was stumbling towards their position. Ahiga made it to the man and helped him back to the others who saw that he was bleeding profusely from a shoulder wound.

“
Charley, this is Shadow Wolf Agent Kevin Steele.”

Santappia helped Ahiga set him down. Blood was pouring out from a bullet wound to his shoulder and he was on the verge of passing out. Santappia put the canteen to his mouth and he tried to sip from it as Pescalitis and Riggy examined his wound.

“
Pescy, get the first aid kit! Agent Steele, I’m Charley Santappia. Here, drink some water, just a little. What happened to you?”

Riggy: “Charley, the bullet went clear through.”

Ahiga knelt next to Santappia.

“
Kevin, what happened? I can’t reach the others on the radio!”

The wounded Agent reached up and grabbed Ahiga with bloody hands.

“
Bryan, they ambushed us … bullets flew from behind us and from the south, but no sound! I saw Ned drop and Felicia’s head exploded right next to me! Then I got hit … it knocked me off my feet and I rolled down the ravine a ways … my radio broke. I started running low until I thought I’d be out of sight … then doubled back after climbing back up to the top of the ridge. By the time I got back to them, it looked like everyone was hit! I don’t know how badly, but blood everywhere … no one moving! I called to them … no answer … I didn’t want to chance running out in the open to them. I couldn’t see who shot us … they had to be far off so I headed for your position”

Santappia stood up with Ahiga.

“
De May, contact Nogales and call in Emergency Services to their location! Bryan, what do you make of it?”

“
Charley, hold that order, would you … follow me.”

Ahiga ran to a position about 50 feet south along the ridgeline, hit the dirt and looked through his binoculars, Santappia joined him.

“
Bryan, what’s up?!”

“
Charley, Kevin said bullets flew from behind them and to the south. There’s a ridgeline that runs perpendicular to the one we’re on about a third of a mile south of where the Shadow Wolves had taken position … but to get to it, the bad guys would have had to climb the western ridge on foot. Why would they do that?”

“
I don’t know. Maybe they sent scouts out?”

Ahiga shook his head.

“
I don’t buy it. First, they would have had to cross the ravine in the open to get to this ridgeline. It makes no sense for scouts to risk that when they could have just scouted from the other side … the side they approached from. No, I’m getting a real bad feeling about this, Charley!”

“
What kind of bad feeling, Bryan?”

Ahiga stopped scanning and focused on a position south of them, down on the path at the bottom of the ravine. Then he pointed to the position so that Santappia could see what he spotted. Santappia looked through his own binoculars and saw a number of men on horseback riding single-file up the path about a quarter mile from them.

“
That kind of bad feeling, Charley …! The only thing that makes sense is that they knew we were going to ambush them here. They must have crossed the pass just south of where my unit could spot them and then set up an ambush of their own with a sniper. I think they’re monitoring our tach-one channel, the one we use to communicate with Nogales. That would explain how they were able to sneak up on Shadow Wolves.”

Both men made it back to the others as quickly as they could. Santappia started barking orders.

“
Gunmen approaching… Riggy, you and Pescy take a position down the slope near the path, just around the bend behind us. De May, carry Agent Steele down the back of this ridge, out of sight, then get back up here on the double!”

Ahiga continued to look through his binoculars as more of the horseman came into view.

“
Take a look!”

Santappia focused his binoculars where Ahiga pointed.

“
Charley, what is that?”

“
It looks like a road case, strapped to that horse. What the hell … It could be anything!”

“
Whatever it is, it’s as heavy as a man, I can tell from the way the horse is laboring and they’re being real careful with it.”

“
Do you think they know we’re here?”

“
I don’t think so, Charley. They wouldn’t be riding single-file up that path if they knew we were here. I think they believe they wiped out the Shadow Wolves and there’s no one left on this reservation to impede their advance. They probably only monitored our tach-one channel which means we can still communicate to each other, at least, on tach-two.”

Santappia continued to scan the riders.

“
We got another problem. I count 16 of them and they all look armed.”

De May returned.

“
Charley, I‘ve just been monitoring Nogales … they’re going crazy down there. Every available agent sounds like they have their hands full rounding up all those UDA’s. On top of that, DHS won’t put anymore choppers in the air until they determine that it’s safe to do so and between the crime scene at the tower and the downed Blackhawk, I don’t think we’re gonna see any help anytime soon! Even if they do get a chopper in the air, they’re too far south to spot us without our radioing them.”

The line of horsemen was almost directly below them. Ahiga was very concerned for his fellow Shadow Wolves but he remained calm.

“
What do you want to do, Charley?”

Santappia thought on overdrive.

“
We may not be able to stop them but maybe we can slow them down. De May, take a position south of us and prevent them from climbing the ridge and coming up behind us.”

Santappia spoke rapidly into his mic.

“
Riggy, we count 16 gunmen and one large road case heading north on the path. They’re right under our position now. They’ll be on you and Pescy in a few minutes. I want you two to shoot anyone that comes around that bend. Make sure to fall back if they try to overrun your position. We can’t afford you guys getting hit. We’re gonna try and keep them pinned down in this pass.”

“
Roger.”

Ahiga was troubled by what he heard.

“
I’m a law enforcement officer, Charley. I’m supposed to announce that fact to them before we just draw down on them!”

“
Bryan, I make them about 600 meters away, right at the maximum effective range of our M-4’s. If we give them even the slightest warning, we’ll lose what little advantage we have. Keep in mind, they outnumber us and at least one of them is a sniper.”

“
I understand that, but I’m still—“

“
You know what they just did to your unit and there’s a very good chance that there’s a weapon of mass destruction in that road case of theirs. We may be the last line of defense for our country.”

The two men’s eyes locked.

“
Bryan, if you don’t want to be part of this, you could go back and check on your unit… stay with them until help arrives, but we’ve got to do this.”

Ahiga looked back in the direction of the ambushed Shadow Wolves and thought a moment. Then he dropped the magazine from his M-4, locked the charging handle, checked it then reinserted it and released the bolt, reloading the weapon.

“
It’s my country too, Charley.”

Santappia nodded patting Ahiga on his back, then dropped to his belly and took aim. De May and Ahiga took prone positions a few yards on either side of him.

“
Let Riggy and Pescy take the first shots. That should drive them back below us … and guys … try not to shoot that road case!”

Chapter 33

Backyard of Main House

Estancia De Niro

Henderson, NV

6:30a.m., Sunday, September 11, 2011

(In Farsi) “Payam, a police car just pulled up!”

The report came from one of Payam’s men keeping watch at the front gate.

“
Do nothing,” Payam replied into his headset.

He walked over to William Brett sitting at the kitchen table with two of his men on either side of him. There was blood coming from the back of his head as one of the men had used the back of his rifle to compel the old gentleman to take a seat.

Payam motioned for his men to lift the butler and turn him to face him.

“
The police are at the gate. You will speak to them and tell them that everything is okay.”

Another one of Payam’s men came running in.

(In Farsi) “Payam, there are three horses missing from the stables! There is a main path that heads south. They had to have gone that way! And we found out why we lost their transponder frequencies. All of their computers and cell phones are lying at the bottom of the pool.”

Payam cursed in Farsi.
So, De Niro knew we were coming. At least we know he didn’t get a big head start.

Payam motioned for the two men to escort William to the intercom before replying.

“
Take one of the SUV’s and six men and go after whoever it is. If it is De Niro or his boys, bring them back here. If it’s anyone else … kill them.”

The man nodded and ran out the front of the house.

Payam walked over to William in time to hear his conversation through the intercom with one of the police officers at the gate.

“
This is the Henderson police department. Would you let us in please?”

“
This is William Brett. I’m Mr. De Niro’s Executive Assistant. What can I do for you, officer?”

“
We received a report, Mr. Brett, that there may be a problem. Apparently, Mr. De Niro was on the phone with—“

“
Officer,” Brett quickly cut him off, “Mr. De Niro is not on the ranch. He took his children to … Hawaii. It was I who was on the phone and there is no problem. The phone system was temporarily out of service, as was the power.”

There was a pause.

“
Sir, would you please open the gate?”

Payam gave William a cold stare, causing the old man to raise his bushy eyebrow.

“
I certainly will not, officer. I have explained to you what has happened and I’m about to call back the party to whom I was speaking and explain it to him. I will not have you place me in a position of having to contact Mr. De Niro on his holiday to tell him that the police were here because the phone system went down. Now, have I made myself clear?”

There was no reply. Payam’s nostril’s flared but William held his hand up to calm him.

“
Officer, perhaps you don’t know who Mr. Cris De Niro is … perhaps I should contact your Chief of Police or the Mayor and have one of them speak to you.”

There was another pause, this one a bit longer than the first one, followed by a simple reply.

“
Have a nice day, sir.”

Payam waited a moment until he heard from his man at the gate.

“
They’ve driven away.”

He walked up to William and put his pistol to his head.

“
You are a good liar old man, but you better not lie to me. So De Niro
is
here, where is he?”

“
I don’t know.”

The terrorist cocked his pistol and returned it to William’s temple.

“
Where are his boys?”

* * * * *

De Niro and Martin Fierro crouched down next to the pool house on the far side of the pool, across from the main house. From there, they could see past the back porch and the two men standing guard there, and partially into the kitchen. They saw two men lead William from the kitchen table.

“
Look Martin, that’s William! Well, at least we know he’s alive.”