Today’s
excerpt is from Escape From Mexico, a stand alone book featuring Clyde Feegle,
Bob Becker and friends, including Jim Scott.
"Z" cartel about to take another blow. Enjoy
and have a fantastic day.
m.j.
Had Holly known
what was about to happen, she would have risked a border crossing—guns or no
guns. By the time the attendant was
marched out of the garage bay in handcuffs, his lady friend and two children
had already been gathered up by two of Ralph’s agents. Also by then, the man had called one of the
two border guards (who worked for the ‘Z’ cartel) who would pass through cars
identified as carrying arms.
The routine the
cartel used was simple. The attendant at
the filling station, and other attendants at other stations (unknown to the man
now in custody), would call ahead with descriptions of the car—including the
license plate number—after they had placed the arms in the trunks. The two border guards would “miss” seeing the
arms, and allow the cars to proceed.
The next step in
the process was to have other cartel members follow the car and, when it was
parked, they would steal it, drive it to a location where it would be relieved
of the arms, then returned. One man
would be left at the site from where the car had been stolen—and if the person
driving it across the border discovered the car missing, he would let others
know to just ditch the car someplace…rather than returning it to its original
parking place. That man would also do
his best to save the parking spot while the car was missing.
After their
captive made the call to one of the two border guards, he was turned over to
two of the other ATF agents, who would take him back to Tucson and put him “on
ice” for the time being. After a fast conversation
about how they would all cross the border was completed, Ralph got into the
rental and drove off, with Bob in the front passenger seat, and Clyde in the
rear. Michelle followed him with her
car, with two ATF agents following her.
On reaching the
border, Ralph showed his ATF identification to one of the two border guards,
and told the man he was coming to see the local Mexican head of arms
interdiction. He told the man that two
cars back were two more agents with him, besides the two in his car. He explained that the car in between had
managed to get in front of his other car, and had nothing to do with them.
He was waved
through, but Michelle was stopped and her car inspected. One of the two agents in the following car
was sitting in the rear seat. He trained
a video camera on the two border guards as they did their inspection. Ralph had intentionally flipped a corner of
the blanket covering the arms back, so the butt of one high-powered rifle was
showing. The guard looking in the trunk
flipped it back to re-cover the weapon, and Michelle was allowed to pass.
The car with the
two other ATF agents was waived right through the gate, after barely pulling to
a complete stop.
Then the
procession continued until it reached the main “tourist” section of the
city. Ralph drove down the main street
of that section of town, until he passed a parking space and was able to see
another one about five cars up. Everyone
in the first two cars was wearing communication sets, and Ralph spoke into his,
“Michelle, I just passed a parking spot—use it.”
“Gotcha.”
Clyde muttered,
“Damned tight spot you picked for her.”
Bob shook his
head. “No problem. That darn gal could park a semi in a spot I
couldn’t get a compact into.”
Michelle smiled
inwardly, but said nothing, as she whipped into the tight spot, with nary a
problem. She was out looking for places
to shop as she started walking on the sidewalk in the direction of where Ralph
was parking. About three shops past her
parking slot, Michelle saw a store she thought might be interesting and went
in. By then the three men in the rental
were out, and saw Michelle enter the shop.
Clyde groaned,
“I can’t believe she got into that tight a parking spot and is already
shopping.” Bob was already “window
shopping” as he headed toward the store Michelle had gone into.
This time
Michelle nearly laughed outright, but kept on looking the shop over. When Bob reached that store, he looked in the
window, shrugged, and walked in.
Meanwhile, Clyde walked off, away from Ralph, and went into a store
selling local artworks.
Ralph satisfied
himself with window shopping, doing so in a manner which allowed him to see the
rental. Less than two minutes later, he
whispered into his communication set, “Well, well—they’re on the ball. A panel truck just stopped next to Michelle’s
car and two guys are getting out. One’s
getting into the car; the other is carrying what looks like a small version of
the type of sign used to block traffic.
Hold on. I can see the side of it
now—yup, he has a sign on it that reads ‘No Parking’ in both English and
Spanish. Michelle, you’re gonna love
this. The idiot stealing the car is
having a hell of a time getting out of the parking spot you whipped into
without so much as a by-your-leave.”
Michelle,
looking at Mexican-style clothing, grinned slightly, but kept on with her
shopping. Bob, his chest puffed out
slightly with pride at his wife’s great ability to park, managed to not smile
while walking toward a section of the store not too far from Michelle. He spotted a sombrero-style hat and put it
on. There was a small mirror nearby and
he was admiring the look when Michelle walked by. She whispered, “Get that thing off your
head—you look like a dork.”
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