Border Alert- Terrorist Penetration

by Glenn Ball

  How could he have believed in her? He did not know how despicable she was. Then in her mind she saw the man on the gurney, and she understood. It did not matter how great her sin had been; Christ’s purity is greater and could make anyone pure and immune to the plague of sin.

  Unconsciously she was fingering her pearls like rosary beads. As she did so the words of her grandmother came back to her. “You are not a monster! You are beautiful like these pearls!”

  A strange sense of euphoria was seeping into every dark crevice of her soul. The hopelessness she had felt her entire life withered away like grass in a fire.

  In the middle of her euphoria she was arrested by an urgent thought. Antonio is planning some kind of terrorist attack and had tried to make her part of it. If Antonio had his way, she would always be a monster. She would be the cause of destruction for millions and the elimination of God Himself if Antonio could have his way. But he would not!

  She must do all she could to stop him! “But how?” she wondered. Touching her shoulder where she’d been injected just before being brought into the States, she realized that she needed to inform the authorities of the zika virus planted in her and the other prostitutes. She could also disclose the location of the castle and her suspicions that Antonio had something else up his sleeve involving chemicals. She’d heard him talk about it.

  She was jarred out of her contemplation as bells clanged out the noon hour. It’s time…it rang through her being as if angels on high were announcing an apocalyptic doom. The hour had come; the sun had reached its zenith…the hour for light to remove all shadows. She could feel the darkness that had held her prisoner fleeing like roaches from the light. The truth now illuminating every dark crevice of her thinking—the truth that she had been a victim like all those poor corpses, a slave like those poor tortured women in the castle. She had been consumed by a plague, but now she was immune. Deep down she now knew she would no longer be a prisoner. Instead she resolved to be the one to warn the world of the destruction Antonio had planned for them.

  A ray of golden light came through a stain glass window high above her. It illuminated her like a halo as the hope of doing something courageous consumed her being like a flame…she would stop Antonio’s plan if it meant her life.

  From the shadows the man in hiding suddenly made his move towards her.

  CHAPTER 32

  Home Invasion

  Perle and Pedro glanced at each other, trembling with the cave at the assault of the helicopter blades on its tranquility. Both held their breath, as if their utter stillness was all important to avoid being seen through the thick rock walls.

  Susanna looked around surveying their preparations. They had known that they might be found out. No matter how far they went and how well they hid themselves the death squad was relentless and would likely find them. At least they were ready.

  Pedro turned from Susanna’s confident face. The buzzing in his ears and juddering in his bones seem to go on forever. Would they be killed on sight or kidnapped to be tortured? Pedro could remember vividly the glimpses he had of some of the torture devices the syndicate used for those who defied them. They had made a point of parading the illegals past the torture devices en route to their feast before entry to the U.S. He shuddered at the image of the man in the large chair: the man’s body had been spiked to the chair, his arms and legs blue and swollen, pierced in a thousand places yet unable to bleed out. The excruciation in the man’s eyes as they bugged and squinted alternately disclosed an inner conflict between terror of death versus unbearable pain.

  Pedro tried to block out the image that had haunted him. He had been relieved more than any other time in his life when they had put that house of horrors behind them. Had it been only a few days?

  He joined Susanna in glancing around at their preparations. He hoped they would be enough. They had to be!

  While trying to calm his shaky nerves he gradually became aware of the same thing that Susanna was noting: the helicopter was fading into the distance. It had passed them by. Maybe their hiding place had been effective.

  They elected to remain inside the cave the rest of the day. It was unpleasant hiding in the darkness when there was sunshine outside, but they felt it necessary to avoid any chance of detection. Their nerves were jittery from the close call.

  As the hours dragged on the sun settled beyond the horizon; night closed about them, wrapping them in its wings of protection. They would remain hidden, at least for the next few hours.

  ********

  Adam had stood in awe for some time at the immensity of the woods, considering what path his Perle would likely have taken. After having scanned the edge of the forest and his yard for clues, Adam returned to his house. Immediate action was vital. Of course, a search party was needed. But how much would the police cooperate? Would they provide enough men for an effective search party, and would the men be well-trained or inept like the deputy in his house?

  He looked ponderingly at the deputy who was carelessly putting his fingerprints on the door to the bathroom. Honestly, how much could he count on them to find her?

  It had been nearly dark when the detective arrived with a couple of other cops. They spent the better part of the night going over the house, gathering fingerprints and other clues.

  It was two in the morning when they finally left. There would be a manhunt first thing in the morning, but only three deputies could be spared. Adam was in despair.

  His eyes drooped as he meandered one last time around the first floor of the house groggily trying to take everything in. Valencia trudged up the stairs, nearly tripping over his own feet. In spite of his exhaustion he knew he could not sleep. The shock of the day’s events and the subsequent choices he had to deal with were flooding his brain like a raging river.

  Perle’s life, his own fate, and possibly the lives of millions depended on him making wise decisions. Trained in battle for making good decisions regardless of pain and exhaustion, he forced himself to concentrate. “Two minutes of clarity is all you need, then you can rest,” he told himself.

  Two paths lay before him. It all revolved around his answer to General Hague.

  Path one, deny the offer to head up the Task Force for Operation Code: Border. Result: he would look for Perle on his own, collaborating only with the police. Chances were dim that they would succeed in finding her. Additionally, the nation would likely fall to the terrorist threat that he might be able to prevent. Millions could die. Susanna would die. And his career would be in the toilet.

  Path two, accept the post. By informing the general of Perle and making the search and rescue of her a condition of his acceptance he stood a chance of acquiring the aid of a whole troop of highly trained soldiers to scan the forest. Result: Susanna would have the best chance of being found and saved. Not only would they be the best qualified to find her, but they would be fully prepared for any combat and rescue situation that presented itself. The country would have the best chance of preventing the terrorists from carrying out their threat. Millions might live. Susanna might live, and the marriage be salvaged. And his career would be better than he ever dreamed.

  It was settled then. He would call General Hague to accept the post on the condition that the search for Perle be made part of the deal. Reaching for his cell phone on the nightstand his eyes landed a photo of Susanna with her dad Sky. What had he been thinking? He had not even informed Sky of Perle’s disappearance! Immediately he hit the speed dial.

  Staring into the dark abyss above him Adam listened for the satellite phone to ring on the other end. “Pick up Sky! Pick up!” There was no answer. Adam had a bad premonition.

  ********

  For days the sky had been an endless night of rain. In the pitch dark at two in the morning Van Horn and Winkler both sat pale in the icy water of the raft, shivering.

  Skip was mumbling something unintelligible. Sky was oblivious, staring at the river. Susanna was just under the surface of the water looking up
at him. She was talking to him by phone. He strained to read her lips, but the water blurred them. Listening, they were mere jingles.

  Inside the waterproof bag the satellite phone was ringing.

  ********

  Adam was finally safe at home, far from his dangerous missions. Funny thing was he never felt less at ease, his life more threatened. The house was disheveled and had been invaded by killers. Worse, his beloved wife Perle was missing.

  And now to top it off he was suddenly concerned for Sky and he didn’t even know why. Perhaps he shouldn’t make anything out of the satellite phone being out of range in the wee hours of the morning, but his impressions normally proved right.

  The darkness was swallowing him in oppression. Trouble was crushing in on every side. The people he most cared about were in danger and beyond his reach. And the worst terrorist attack the United States had ever known was hanging over his head. It seemed he was the only person who could thwart it.

  “Stay in this foxhole and you’re a goner Adam; Time to get moving!” Punching in another speed dial number he waited for another man to answer.

  “Sorry if I woke you General, but the situation here is urgent.”

  “Urgent? So, you’ve heard about our latest intel?”

  “What do you mean? What intel?”

  There was a slight pause. “The intel is classified.” The general retorted. “What do you mean by ‘urgent’?”

  “First let me say that I have my answer: I will head up the Task Force for Operation Code: Border, but only under three conditions….”

  “Okay, let’s have them.”

  Before I give you my conditions, I need to clarify one thing. I was not even considering taking the post till I got home. As important as it is my marriage can’t handle Susanna and I being separated any longer. She can’t take my being thousands of miles away without even being able to be in touch with me. She can no longer endure the secrecy or wondering if I am dead or alive.

  “And to be honest, now that I’m home I understand how she feels.”

  “I see. Now you’re in her shoes.”

  “Exactly….” Adam stopped, biting off the end of his sentence to hold back any unwanted tears. He could handle almost any situation; over the years he had faced more than his share; but he could not suffer being totally helpless to protect a loved one in danger. He was at his breaking point.

  There was a long silence as the general waited for Adam to continue.

  When he finally did, Adam’s resolve was clear. “Here are my conditions: Number one, containing the terrorist threat cannot be my sole objective; rescuing Susanna Perle has to be included. Number two, I get whatever resources I need to accomplish all my objectives, including Susanna Perle’s rescue...soldiers, weapons, airplanes, helicopters, armored vehicles. Number three, I get to pick the men for the operation.”

  “Of course, we want to help you find Susanna Perle, but we need you focused on stopping this terrorist threat.”

  “As long as I know the situation of my Perle is getting taken care of, I can promise you I will get the job done.”

  “Deal.

  “I will have the Air National Guard in Tempe send a detachment of soldiers in a helicopter first thing in the morning to assist you. You will have all day to look for her. But the following day I will need you to meet me in San Antonio at the Lackland Air Force Base. We cannot lose another day assembling a team and a strategy to take these buggers down.

  “Let me give you the skivvy and you’ll understand what we are up against.”

  ********

  The predawn air exploded in the blasting soundwaves of the helicopter’s rotors; the walls of the cave vibrated. It was back! Moment by moment the assault on their tranquility grew louder and closer, their capture more imminent.

  Was it a coincidence that the helicopter was passing so close again? Or had they been found. And if so, how…?

  The walls of their refuge seemed like they were being shaken to rubble as the helicopter passed directly overhead. Where would they be able to go to escape? How could they avoid capture with their pursuers scanning the entire countryside from the bird’s eye view of a helicopter? As fast as they could run the copter would catch them in a heartbeat.

  Perle and Pedro found themselves searching the other’s eyes, like miners digging deep into the earth to ferret out its secrets they looked for clues in the other’s thinking: should we make a run for it, or stay here? It was truly a conundrum. To run for it would be like running into the waiting arms of their captors. But if they were to stay in the cave it would only be a matter of time till they were found. Could they trust in their traps and devices to leverage their escape? They might be enough for a few men, but a crew equipped with a helicopter might very well have a small army looking for them. And once they had been spotted capture would be inevitable.

  Their nerves were turned to pulp as if by a giant playing the drums on them with a pair of sledgehammers, the incessant beating of the helicopter rotors leaving their every thought, their every plan frayed and bare like the exposed roots of a fallen tree. Why was it not moving on? Had their hideout already been guessed? Maybe the helicopter was acting like a sentinel calling its army to surround them. Maybe they only had minutes, seconds left to live.

  ********

  Adam lay his head on his pillow. He was frazzled but struggled to pay attention. Too much still depended on his attention to fall asleep till he’d heard the general.

  “We have recent chatter that an air attack is imminent. We were previously concerned mostly with the Dallas metro area. According to the chatter the attack planned is on a much larger scale. The cities they name are Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Atlanta.”

  Captain Valencia sat up, suddenly alert.

  The general cleared his throat and went on, “There are Zika outbreaks in all of these cities, and they have quickly become reclassified as an epidemic. The World Health Organization is baffled at its rapid spread and due to the gravity of the disease are considering the need to upgrade it to a pandemic should it escape the U.S. border.

  “RAH biologically engineered this epidemic by altering the zika virus to behave more like hemorrhagic dengue, yet more virulent. The virus liquifies the internal organs, causing the victims to cough up blood, or bleed out through the eyes, nose, or the pores of their skin.”

  “Let me see if I’ve got this right,” the captain interrupted. “The chemical attack we’re worried about is imminent and is programmed for eight major cities. What’s more this is all being preceded by a deadly biological attack of zika?”

  “That’s it in a nutshell.

  “As a result, we have taken aggressive measures to eliminate the spread of this zika virus. We cannot wait for the local governments to deal with the threat. Now that we have identified it as spawned by terrorists, the federal government has superseded local authorities in handling the threat. We have succeeded in landing a contract with Waste Patrol, a large pesticide company capable of dealing with the problem on a massive scale. The company comes highly recommended by several key government figures. They have a fleet of twenty planes ready to blanket the affected cities with a pesticide guaranteed to kill the mosquitoes and their larvae, a pesticide that has been proven safe for humans. Furthermore, we are leasing fifty more planes to them to accelerate the process.

  “Nevertheless, it is urgent that we find the lab where these horrid weapons were developed and stop the attack at its roots.” General Hague paused for a response.

  “This puts everything in a new light.” Adam was fighting a yawn as he tried to take it all in.

  “This new information changes everything.” The general went on. “Based on the cities mentioned we can surmise a number of scary scenarios. They probably intend to cripple our federal government with the attacks on Washington D.C. The major airports we use as hubs in the continental US will be made inoperable, causing air traffic to come to a standstill
. As a result, our economy will be put in a stranglehold. Worse yet, controlling the epidemic they release may be unachievable with the airports unusable and the cities where the plague is released being quarantined. It is conceivable we would spend years as a nation isolated from the rest of the world for reasons of the quarantine spreading. Should this happen, the US as we know it would cease to exist. Now can you see why it’s urgent that we get your mission underway?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “You have one day to search for your wife. Good Luck. I will see you at o’ nine-hundred hours at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.”

  “Sir, yes sir.” Adam’s head was swimming as it dropped to the pillow, instantly asleep.

  ********

  It had seemed like an eternity, but the helicopter had finally moved off. The ensuing silence was as still as the eye of a hurricane, the air heavy with anticipation as if the worst was yet to come. With the roar that had blasted their eardrums now gone Perle and Pedro were reeling out of balance, feeling isolated for the kill in the dead calm of the dim cave’s light. Even the sound of birds and animals had disappeared; they had all been scared off by the drumming of the helicopter.

  Susanna’s voice at last broke the silence. Her whisper sounded like it was shouted through a megaphone. “They’re gone. I wonder if we should make a break for it.”

  “No understand.”

  “Run? Or stay and wait?” Her eyes seemed to frame her question.

  Pedro’s eyes scanned the cave for a moment, taking in the traps they had prepared, then came back and rested on Susanna’s. In those eyes she had her answer.

  “Okay, we wait and trust in the traps to help us get away.” Susanna spoke slowly, enunciating each word distinctly.

  Pedro nodded slightly but firmly in affirmation.

  After a few minutes reviewing their traps and stoking the fire slightly to make sure their stones were good and hot they gathered everything into their backpacks. If they were attacked, they wanted to be ready at a moment’s notice to high tail it with all their valuables, including the flame-grilled rabbit.