Fernandez was short, stocky and mustachioed, with a weather-beaten face that had seen everything on the border. He sharply assessed the two before him and ushered them to their chairs.
‘Gentlemen, Gonzalez would have told you we’ve rescued many men and women from human-trafficking bandits, turned away many illegal Mexicans, busted many drug runs, but this beats them all. I’ve no idea whether to call you heroes or lucky fools, but whatever you are, our thanks go to you.’
Roger and Bwana nodded silently.
‘Now,’ rasped Fernandez, in a voice sandpapered by the sun and the border, ‘why don’t you tell me everything right from the start.’
Bwana and Roger narrated their story once again as Fernandez silently handed over a couple of sheets to Gonzalez. Our military records, guessed Bwana. When Roger had finished, Fernandez strode over to a large map of the border on the wall behind him, took a box of flag pins with him, and grunted, ‘Again.’
He started sticking pins on the map as Roger went through the events and walked them through the route they had taken. He turned around when they had fallen silent. ‘This route is known to us, and we routinely patrol it, but budget cuts have taken their toll on our ability to man it as well as we would like to.
‘This new gang, 5Clubs, is a lot smarter than all the others. They track us and seem to know when we are going to patrol the Corridor and lie low at that point. It wouldn’t surprise us at all if they had snitches in Nogales and Tucson who monitored our movements, our choppers, everything, based on which the gang moved people. I mentioned before — this is the largest people bust we have made — but this is also the first time we have busted a movement going to the other side. In addition to that, it’s the first time we’ve struck at this gang, and believe me, we’ve been itching to do this for a long time,’ Gonzalez chimed in.
‘Despite all our technology, all the choppers, sensors, satellites, all the geek shit we can throw at it, there’s no way in hell we can seal the border totally, and thus drugs and people still get smuggled across the border.’ Fernandez looked resigned for a moment and went quiet.
Bwana and Roger sat silently, allowing Fernandez and Gonzalez to blow steam. They had seen firsthand the enormity of the border and knew how difficult the task of patrolling was.
Fernandez collected himself, gave a last look at the map, sat down at his desk, and scribbled on a notepad. Tearing the sheet off, he handed it to Gonzalez and looked at the two men in front of him. ‘You will go with Gonzo and recover the bodies and your kit.’ It wasn’t a request.
‘We can leave once we’ve done that?’ Roger asked him.
Fernandez nodded. ‘Yup. No call to hold you guys. If it was me, I would have pinned a fricking medal or two on your chests.’
‘Speaking of medals,’ he continued, ‘you don’t have any shortage of those, do you? I made some calls when we first got your message. Got your sheets sent to me… you guys come recommended from so many places, so high, that my poor old head goes dizzy just thinking of those heights.’
Bwana shrugged. ‘All those medals, they’re a past life. We just got lucky in those days.’
‘Not so past, so I’ve been told.’ Fernandez looked at him shrewdly. ‘I’ve also been told not to ask you guys too many questions about what you do now.’
‘Why? We just fish now, sir.’ Roger laughed and stood up to leave, Bwana following suit.
‘One last point.’ Fernandez halted them as the trio was heading to the door.
‘This bust is so big that in no way can it be contained. The media will be all over it, and truth to say, we like our fifteen minutes. It makes the jobs of all these guys worthwhile and makes them feel recognized.’ He waved broadly, meaning Gonzalez and the Border Patrol.
‘Question to you — we can spin this to take all the credit, or we can share credit with you. If we share credit with you, your names will be public. The danger with that is that 5Clubs might hunt you down. They have a reputation for being ruthless and for meting out punishment… and seeing that you have wiped out a good amount of them and caused them a serious loss, they might want to treat you extra special.’
Roger grinned wide as he pointed at Bwana. ‘Heck, mention our names. We’re not shy. Besides, he’s getting fat and lazy with all that fishing and sleeping. Time we had some excitement in our lives.’
‘Are you sure? If they come after you, it’ll be open season. They’re known for it. There was this guy in Nogales who was suspected of being our snitch. He wasn’t — we take care of our snitches and hide them well — but the rumor mill and the media somehow made this guy to be a snitch who fed us juice on 5Clubs and other gangs.
‘This story broke out one evening. The next day, the guy was found dead at home, hanging from a ceiling fan. On closer inspection, his head was pinned to the fan with a stake. Driven through him when he was alive. Around him lay his family, all butchered, three generations of it.’
Fernandez paused. ‘So, think about it. It could mean war if you guys are mentioned as being responsible for this bust and killing all those bandits.’
Bwana replied quietly, ‘War is our business, sir.’
Chapter 16
Roger and Bwana followed Fernandez and Gonzalez outside the Border Patrol Office on Swan Road — a swarm of news vans and reporters awaited them. They spent the next hour answering the reporters and then made their escape with Gonzalez to the chopper awaiting them. They were accompanied by six more Border Patrol agents. To get the bodies back, thought Roger.
‘I’d rather face twenty hostiles barehanded than go through that again,’ grumbled Bwana as he belted himself in the chopper.
‘What, and lose the chance to be known all across the country as the baddest man not to be crossed?’ Roger grinned at him. Bwana gave him the finger and leaned forward to guide Gonzalez and the pilot, not that any directions were required, since they had coordinates to all the locations.
The chopper settled down at the same place that it had picked them up from, outside the canyon — that was the closest the chopper could get. Forty-five minutes later, as the sun was casting long shadows in the stillness of the canyon, they reached the bodies. What was left of them.
A few vultures lazily flew away as they approached, and Bwana shooed away the last coyote. Gonzalez went over the seven bodies again and discovered nothing — Roger and Bwana had handed over all that they had collected from the bodies. Gonzalez produced a camera and took several photographs of the bodies and the 5Clubs markings on all of them. He took a few other photographs of the surroundings and then beckoned to his agents. They’d brought large black body bags with them and in a short while had all the bodies wrapped. The six agents paired up and carried the bodies back to the chopper.
‘Might be quicker if we helped,’ Bwana murmured.
‘Not his fault. Blame his folks. They brought him up to never be idle, not even for a few seconds,’ Roger sighed, addressing the air, and followed Bwana.
An hour later, the bodies were stacked in the chopper, and Bwana led the way to the remaining bodies a hundred yards away. There was a risk that the gang would send more bandits to check on the missing, and Bwana and Roger were alert, but they were the only ones moving in the ravine. Other than the shadows.
Gonzalez approached the fallen women first and circled around them, his camera working rapidly. He knelt in silence next to one of the bodies, the woman who had been felled by the bandit’s rifle, and noted her deformed head. His face was grim when he arose, and looking over at Roger and Bwana, he uttered a silent thank you.