Birds of a Feather

by Don Easton

Jack started the engine and pulled away. As he drove, he sat low in the seat and leaned toward the middle of the vehicle. He hoped if the snipers tried to take him out that they would aim for the windshield directly in front of the steering wheel. It left him in an awkward position, but he was still able to grip the steering wheel with both hands while eyeing the snipers’ SUV on the far hill.

  When no shots came after about half a minute, he handed Big Al’s cellphone to Lily and gave her the number to call Adams. “When he answers, tell him who you are and that you’re with me,” he said tersely. “If they start shooting at us I’m going to need both hands to drive.”

  In the tunnel, the loss of lights was only temporary. Berto still had the flashlight he had taken from the kitchen drawer earlier. While he and Sanchez examined Big Al and believed he had died of a broken neck, the two mercenaries were each using their own cellphones to alert the security teams outside. The teams on the American side were also called to cover the border in the event Jack tried to drive cross-country.

  As Jack told Lily the numbers to dial, he saw a figure emerge from the SUV on the hill and hustle around to the other side of the vehicle to join the other man who was looking out over the hood of the vehicle. He knew they were likely using the SUV to steady their aim. They know …

  “It’s ringing,” said Lily. “Is he near here?”

  “How the hell …” Jack stopped, trying to control the panic he felt and said, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Where should I tell him we are?” she asked, bringing her head above the dash to look around.

  “Stay down!” yelled Jack.

  Jack didn’t want to tell Lily he didn’t know where they were. Her body was shaking uncontrollably and her voice was shrill with panic. He wanted her to keep it together in the event they ended up ditching the vehicle and making a run for it.

  “I’m sorry,” she cried, ducking back down.

  “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have yelled. Tell him we’re driving southbound toward a paved highway from Casa Blanca.”

  “It’s ringing, but nobody is answering,” cried Lily.

  Damn it, John! Where are you? Answer!

  Seconds later, Jack drove out of the hollow where Casa Blanca was situated and it gave him a better view as he scanned the area. His first thought was to turn around and drive over the rough terrain to the border. He knew it had to be close as he had been told that the tunnel was two miles long, but also remembered Big Al saying there was as much security on that side.

  Jack realized that not only would the men on the American side know the layout of the land, but by the time he tried to drive the distance over rough land, they would have a reception waiting for him, while the men on the Mexican side closed in behind.

  He tried to remember when he was blindfolded as to what happened when they turned off the highway. He remembered the vehicle stopping almost immediately as Sanchez spoke to someone who was obviously providing security. Was it the same guys who are on the hill looking down at us? It wasn’t long after when we reached Casa Blanca …

  He looked to the east. The land was rugged and he did not see any roads, but a reflection from the sun on a far-off hill told him there was likely a security vehicle there.

  Jack clenched his jaw and continued to drive south while keeping a watchful eye on the snipers. They didn’t move and slipped from his vision for a few seconds periodically when the dirt road dipped in and out over a few small knolls.

  “It’s rung, like, twenty times … he’s not answering!” said Lily.

  Jack grabbed the phone, hung up, and pressed redial. Why haven’t they opened up on us yet? He saw that Lily had dialled the number wrong and quickly punched in the correct digits.

  As the phone rang, he came over a small hill and saw another road branching off to the right. It looked less travelled and would take him directly in front of where the snipers were. Is this why they haven’t shot yet? Hoping I’ll turn off and drive by in front of them?

  He thought it was an easy decision to stay on the road he was on. It also looked hillier up ahead and offered a few more hidden spots where he would temporarily be out of sight of the snipers … if he could make it that far.

  As he approached the intersection, he grabbed the rear-view mirror, twisting it down and using it to see the road ahead while looking up from below the dash. He expected the windshield to explode with bullets any second.

  His driving slowed, but he still accidentally hit the ditch, causing his vehicle to slide sideways. He sat up in panic and regained control of the SUV, but decided against trying to use the mirror to drive.

  Adams clung to the tower, occasionally wiping the sweat from his eyes as he used his binoculars. “We got some activity,” he reported down to Rubalcava. “The guys at the ambush area beyond the fruit stand are out on the road talking. Looks like the truck that was blocking the road is pulling out. Probably coming back to pick them up.”

  “Good. Maybe Jack is finished and on his way out.”

  “Yeah, hope so,” replied Adams, refocusing the binoculars to look at the snipers on the far hill. “Fuck! What the hell is going on? The two snipers are out of their vehicle again. One has a sniper rifle laid across the hood and the other is spotting with binos.”

  “Aiming where they did before?”

  “Yeah … hang on, my cellphone is ringing.” Adams fumbled with the binoculars, not wanting to put them down as he watched the snipers. Eventually he looped one arm through girder and was able to use that hand to hold the binoculars while fishing in his pocket for his phone.

  “Am I glad to hear your voice,” said Jack when Adams answered the call.

  “Where the hell are you?” Adams’s voice was sharp with relief.

  “I was hoping you would know. I’ve been burned. They know who I really am. I’ve got Lily. We stole Big Al’s SUV and we’re southbound from Casa Blanca on some dirt road.”

  “There’s a sniper on a hill lining up on you right now!”

  “I know. I see them. They’re to the southwest of me. I’m surprised they haven’t shot at me yet. Maybe they don’t think I see them and are waiting for me to get closer. Where are you?”

  “Watching from a radio tower south of you.”

  “I can’t see any tower.”

  “I can’t see you, either,” replied Adams, swinging around to take another look toward the fruit stand. The group of men were setting up the ambush again, only this time in the opposite direction.

  “I’m leaving a lot of dust behind,” continued Jack. “You should see something soon. If the sniper doesn’t pop me in another minute or two, I’ll be out of his sight.”

  “Don’t come south!” screamed Adams. “A bunch of guys have set up an ambush. There is no way you could survive it.”

  “Explains why the assholes on the hill haven’t shot at me yet.”

  “You gotta turn off. Don’t come this way!”

  “There’s a small hill up ahead. I’ll be out of the sniper’s sight. Guess our only hope is to try and drive overland to the east, but I know there is someone there, as well.”

  “There’s a farmhouse to the east where the bad guys were. Also a road leading south from it. They’ll have a lot of guys there waiting for you long before you reach it.”

  “Leaves us to try and sneak out on foot,” said Jack, as he glanced at Lily. The ground was splattered with small cactus plants and the ground was extremely hot. Lily was barefoot and he thought of shredding the T-shirt she was wearing and using it to wrap her feet, but he knew in her condition he would still end up carrying her.

  “Christ, I’m coming in,” said Adams. “You two will never make it on foot on your own. Maybe I can distract their fire or something.”

  “Not yet. You’re my eyes right now …” Jack glanced toward the snipers and saw that a hill was blocking his sight. “I’m out of sight of the snipers,” he reported. “Don’t know for how long.”

  “I can see dust!” said Adams excitedly.r />
  “Mine or someone else’s?”

  “I hope yours. Coming from the same direction they took you down.”

  So close, yet so far, thought Jack.

  “Wait! The snipers on the hill are mobile!” yelled Adams.

  “Where? Which direction?”

  “Give me a minute … okay, I think they are moving east toward another hill where they were earlier. It will give them a view of the ambush.”

  “How long will it take them to get there?”

  “Five or ten minutes.”

  “I’m going back. There was another road that went to the west,” said Jack. “I didn’t take it earlier because it would have passed right in front of the snipers.”

  “They’ll see your dust. They’ll know you turned around.”

  “It’s not like I have a choice. Here, meet Lily. I’ve got some driving to do,” said Jack as he handed the phone to Lily who was crouched under the dash.

  Jack spun the vehicle around and drove back from where he came. The SUV bounced over the potholes as Jack wrestled with the steering wheel to keep it on the road. Twice it became airborne over small dips in the road. The first time it caused Lily to bang her head on the dash and drop the phone, but she didn’t complain, scrambling to pick it up again while wedging her body tighter between the seat and under the dash.

  From the conversation Jack heard, he knew Adams was trying to soothe her.

  When Jack approached the intersection, he saw another cloud of dust approaching from Casa Blanca. The men were obviously out of the tunnel.

  Jack cranked the wheel and headed west, trying to keep his eyes on the road while taking occasional glances at the hilltop where the snipers had been parked moments ago.

  “Tell him we’re westbound, but I have no idea where the road will take us,” said Jack, trying to keep his voice even so he would at least sound like he was in control of the situation. He estimated about three minutes passed before the white SUV from Casa Blanca sent up a wave of stone and dust as it turned on to the same road to follow him in hot pursuit.

  Lily relayed back and said, “He says he can’t see your dust trail anymore. He is going to come down off the tower and head west on the highway and see if he can join up with us.”

  “Good idea. Right now we’ve only got one vehicle chasing us. It would be nice to know what to expect farther up —”

  A click sound came from the door panelling behind him and he swore to himself, realizing that the snipers had returned to the hilltop. Most people would presume being in a vehicle struck with a bullet would sound like you were in a tin can being beaten by somebody with a ball-peen hammer. In reality, a high-powered bullet, providing it doesn’t hit a cross-bar, passes through the tin on door panelling like it was made of paper and sounds more like somebody flicking their fingernail against metal.

  Jack also knew the same was true for the human body. If hit, the head or body is not flung back like action sequences in a movie. The bullet passes through at such a high velocity, that for a person sitting hunched on the floor like Lily, the first indication she may have been hit could be her silence.

  “Are you okay?” asked Jack anxiously.

  “No! I’m scared,” she replied, turning to look up at him.

  “Good,” uttered Jack, feeling relieved.

  “Good? What do ya mean, good?”

  “If you weren’t scared it would mean you were a moron,” replied Jack.

  Lily screamed as the rear passenger-side window behind Jack exploded and the bullet passed through the front passenger side of the windshield, making a large, spider-webbed hole.

  “Well I must be a fuckin’ genius, ’cause I’m really scared now!” Lily cried.

  Jack didn’t know if she was intentionally being funny or if it was something she blurted out in panic, but he had no time to respond as he crested another rise in the road and saw it swerve sharply to the north. It gave him some relief as the dust trailing out from behind would act as cover. Some, but not completely. He heard another click in the roof above his head.

  Seconds later, the road came to an abrupt end and Jack came to a sliding stop as the dust overtook and billowed around him. They were at what had once been someone’s home, but all that was left was a cement pad and a few concrete blocks from where the floor had been.

  Behind the ruins was a gully zigzagging its way down from the hills and Jack had abruptly driven up to it. He estimated the gully to be about twice the depth of the SUV and about as wide as the length of an Olympic swimming pool. There was a dried creek bed in the bottom, but the gully was far too steep for him to drive in and out of. Even if he made it to the bottom of the creek bed, there were too many boulders, rocky outcrops, clumps of brush, and collapsed creek banks for him to attempt to drive along it.

  Jack glanced to his left and right. To go overland would make them like slow moving ducks at a carnival … only with trained sharpshooters who could pick off their body parts as they pleased.

  The gully itself contained enough hiding spots that it would take four or five men to form a line to clear it. But then what? Once we’re discovered …

  The dust was settling around him and he knew the SUV from Casa Blanca would soon be upon them. A bullet took out his side mirror, prompting his next move. “Hang on!” he yelled, while stepping on the gas and driving nose-first into the gully.

  The vehicle slid down the bank and came to rest with the undercarriage hung up on a boulder. It hadn’t quit rocking yet when Jack was out and helping Lily climb out.

  “I’m okay. I think I can walk,” she said, still gripping the cellphone.

  Jack considered telling her that walking was not really an option, but the sound of Adams yelling into the cellphone changed his mind. He grabbed the phone and said, “John, I ditched the wheels and am in a gully. Give me a sec.”

  Jack figured he had about three minutes before the men from Casa Blanca arrived. I left these guys a false trail before … will they be tricked again?

  “Head that way,” ordered Jack, pointing to the south.

  If a person was careful, they could thread their way along the stones in the dried creek bed without leaving much of a trail. He was also hoping their pursuers would think they would want to head north to the border.

  As Lily scrambled away, Jack followed her and purposefully dislodged a few fist-sized stones while speaking on the phone with John.

  “You still there?” asked Jack.

  “Yeah, I’m coming. I’ll find the gully and come and get you. I’ll bring you a piece and we can shoot our way out.”

  Jack knew that anything but a small army would lose against the number of professionals they were up against. He glanced up at the sides of the gully. Talk about shooting fish in a rain barrel … but up above would be worse.

  Jack grimaced as he stared at the cellphone. He knew John would risk his life for them without question.

  “Did you hear me?” asked John.

  “What the fuck is it with you Americans and guns?” said Jack, hoping his voice sounded angry and not scared like he really was. “Stay the hell away until I need you. I gotta shut the phone off or the bad guys will hear. I’ll call you when I need you.”

  “What the fuck! If you don’t need me now, when the hell will you need me?”

  “When I call you back. Until then, wait on the highway someplace to the south of me,” said Jack, before hanging up.

  When Jack came to the first bend in the gully, he came upon a waist-high cactus plant. He ripped his back pocket off and was sticking it on the spines of the cactus when he heard the men from Casa Blanca arrive.

  Jack saw that it was too far to make it undetected to the next turn in the gully. He grabbed Lily and took cover under a clump of dried brown reeds that hung over the creek embankment. It was only a couple of steps past the cactus plant from which his pants pocket hung, but it was the best spot he could find in the time he had available.

  He jammed Lily in a prone position tig
ht to the bank and crouched over her and tried to arrange the reeds to cover them. He knew it would only stand for a cursory glance before he was seen. These men were professionals. His hiding spot might remain undetected from above, but for anyone approaching from below, once they walked alongside them, they would be clearly visible.

  If he attacked, he knew he would be shot, but if he succeeded in crushing the skull of even one of them, it would give him some satisfaction. He wrapped his fingers around a rock and waited.

  Besides, being shot is better than being taken alive …

  chapter forty-four

  * * *

  Adams climbed down from the tower and clamoured over the fence to his car where he updated Rubalcava on the situation as he drove. Moments later, they turned onto the highway and headed west. Several minutes later, Adams spotted a large culvert that ran under the highway. “Ya think this is it?” asked Adams.

  “I don’t know,” replied Rubalcava. “Not what I would call a gully. Let’s drive farther.”

  A ways down the road, they came to a dip in the highway that crossed a bridge over a more promising gully.

  “This has to be it,” muttered Adams as they drove past and scanned the gully below.

  “He wants us to wait in the car?”

  “The asshole is trying to protect me. I’ll park and go in and find them. You better stay in the car. They don’t know me, but they sure as hell know you and your family.”

  Rubalcava sighed and said, “No, wait. I remember a bridge on this highway, but I don’t think this is it. A little farther ahead there is a bigger bridge. Also, there are more gullies after that.”

  “Christ.”

  Two minutes down the road, Adams discovered that Rubalcava was right.

  “What do we do?” asked Rubalcava.

  “I don’t know. I guess we wait until we hear from him,” replied Adams bitterly. He found a place to park, opened the windows and shut the car off to listen.

  Jack listened to the voices of the men as they looked down over the edge of the gully. He was hoping they would sound excited. Excited people make mistakes, but these men sounded calm. He heard one of the mercenaries give an order. Berto, Eduardo, and the second mercenary scrambled into the gully and he heard them yell back that the vehicle was empty.