by Robert Boren
Richardson’s phone dinged again.
“I thought you said everybody replied,” Lita said.
Richardson looked at his phone. “Jefferson. Making sure we’re up. Shit rolls downhill.”
Lita smirked. “Everything’s ready, then, I take it.”
“Sounds like it. Let’s go. We can hit that coffee and Danish bar down in the lobby, okay?”
“It’ll do,” Lita said. They left the room and rode the elevator down. Juan Carlos and Madison were in line at the coffee bar. Brendan and Hannah were sitting at one of the round tables surrounding it, eating their Danish and coffee.
“Hope we can get a real breakfast tomorrow,” Hannah said.
“Seriously,” Juan Carlos said as he and Madison sat.
“Good morning,” Richardson said as he and Lita got into line. “Seen the others?”
“Kris and Roberto were finishing their breakfasts when we got down here,” Juan Carlos said. “I think they’re tending to the dogs.”
“Haven’t seen Gerald and Hector yet,” Brendan said. “Wonder how much they drank last night.”
“Not much,” Gerald said, walking up with Hector.
“Oh, good morning, guys,” Richardson said, watching as they got behind them in line.
“Hear from your boss?” Hector asked.
“Yep,” Richardson said. “All set.”
“Excellent,” Gerald said.
Everybody got their breakfasts and ate. Kris and Roberto came in.
“We leaving in a few minutes?” Roberto asked.
“Yep,” Richardson said. “You guys ready?”
“We are,” Kris said. “I’m actually excited about this.”
“I hope we can waste some bad guys,” Gerald said. Hector chuckled and shook his head.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Richardson said. “I hope we have a few hours with no action, so you guys can get used to the boats.”
“Me too,” Madison said.
“All right, let’s go,” Richardson said.
They got to their vehicles and drove off, taking I-69E to International Boulevard. The roads had light traffic for rush hour. They pulled into the parking lot at the US Customs Center.
“Nice building,” Richardson said as he and Lita got out of the rental truck. “Hope nobody blows it up.”
“Nice,” Lita said. “Trying to instill confidence?”
He chuckled as the others joined them.
“We going into the building to check in?” Kris asked.
“Yeah,” Richardson said. They went in through the back door. Jefferson was behind the big counter, waiting for them.
“Welcome,” he said. “We’ve got some paperwork to fill out. Everybody but Richardson, Juan Carlos, and Brendan.”
Juan Carlos chuckled. “Releases, I suspect.”
Jefferson laughed. “That, but also contractor info, so we can pay you.” He slid the forms onto the counter.
Richardson and Jefferson chatted as the others were filling out forms.
“Where are the boats now?” Richardson asked.
“They’re being launched down by the Fort Brown Resaca,” Jefferson said. “Pain in the butt. Wish there was a harbor we could use.”
“Is the river large enough for our boats?”
Jefferson shook his head yes. “Not the inboards. We’re using the outboards here.”
“Crap,” Richardson said. “They have the new guns on them?”
“Yes,” Jefferson said. “We also had the power heads on the outboards shielded at the rear with a metal plate, but they’re still vulnerable from the sides.”
“Well, that’s something, at least,” Richardson said. “Every hit we’ve taken to the power heads was from the rear.”
“Yep,” Jefferson said.
“So where are the inboards?”
“In the deeper water, over by South Padre Island,” Jefferson said. “There isn’t any action along there right now, but once we’ve made this corridor un-usable for the enemy, they’re likely to start hitting that area again.”
“This is going to be constant cat and mouse,” Lita said. “Wish we had a wall instead of the river along this part of the border.”
“Me too,” Jefferson said, “but then they wouldn’t need us.”
“There is that,” Richardson said, grinning. “How much river crossing are you seeing?”
“Gobs, especially at night. We can’t keep up with it using ground forces. We’ll miss some with the boats too, but we’ll catch a lot more than we have been.”
“I think we’re all done with the forms,” Kris said.
“Good,” Jefferson said, gathering them up. He handed them to a clerk. “Let’s go down to the boats. They’re by the south side of the parking lot.”
“Did I hear you say we’re getting the smaller boats?” Brendan asked.
“Yep,” Jefferson said as he led them out the door. “The inboards draw too much water for this stretch of the river.”
“I expected that, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “This stretch of the river has some issues. At least with the outboards the engines will kick up if we run into something.”
The boats were sitting in a row, engines idling, the techs going over them one last time.
“Where are we gonna gas up?” Brendan asked.
“Here, for now,” Jefferson said. “We’ll pull up a gas truck, have a long set of hoses. We can fill five boats at a time.”
“The enemy is going to blow it up,” Brendan said.
“It’s temporary,” Jefferson said. “We’re putting an underground tank in, about a mile south of here.”
“We aren’t leaving the truck down here all the time, I hope,” Richardson asked.
“Nope, we drive it away when we’re not using it,” Jefferson said. “I know this is risky, but we don’t have much choice at the moment. There’s more than one truck, and quite a few locations where we could use it, so they’ll have a hard time shutting us down completely.”
“Hey, Chief, the boats all check out,” one of the techs said as he walked up the bank. He was a tall skinny man with a shaved head and a goatee. “Whoever came up with that bullet shield was genius.”
“Thanks, Terry,” Jefferson said. “The others get off okay?”
“Yep,” Terry said. “No problems.”
“Bullet shield, huh?” Juan Carlos asked as he looked at the boats. “That’ll help.
“Yeah,” Jefferson said. “Not total protection, but a lot better than it was.”
“You have to adjust the trim tabs a tad for the added weight back there,” Terry said. “There’s a small impact on speed, but in here it won’t matter. You’ll rarely be going full speed, with all these damn curves.”
“Shall we?” Richardson asked.
“Climb in,” Terry said. “Who’s in which boats? You need at least three in each.”
“Shoot, we forgot the SMAW,” Hannah said.
“We’ll get it later,” Brendan said. “Are we still going together?”
Richardson looked at them. “The four of you? Sure, I have no problem with that.”
“Cool, dude,” Juan Carlos said. He climbed onto the bow of the boat from the bank and then extended his hand to Madison and helped her in.
“I’m going to run over and get the SMAW,” Hannah said. “I’m nervous. That will help.”
“Okay,” Brendan said. “I’ll go too and carry the ammo.” They took off running for the parking lot.
“What’s a SMAW?” Terry asked.
“Hand-held grenade launcher,” Richardson said. “It’s okay.”
“You guys still have that thing?” Jefferson asked.
“Yep,” Juan Carlos said. “It’s saved our butts more than once.”
“I’ll say,” Madison said.
“Gerald, are you riding with us?” Richardson asked.
“Yeah, if that’s okay,” Gerald said. “I have piloting experience.”
“Good, then take the helm,” Ric
hardson said.
Gerald smiled and climbed onto the boat. Richardson followed, then Lita.
“That leaves the three of us, I guess,” Kris said. “Who does what?”
“You were good at driving the boat,” Hector said. “Maybe you ought to do that.”
“That was a ski boat,” Kris said.
“These have a very similar feel,” Terry said.
“You forgot to mention that you drove a ski boat in competitions,” Roberto said. “Take the wheel, honey. You’re a pro.” He got on the bow and extended his hand to her, pulling her on. Hector struggled a little to get on, but made it okay.
“I need to lose some weight,” Hector said, breathing hard as he sat in front of the port gun.
Hannah and Brendan were back with the SMAW and ammo. Juan Carlos helped load the items on the boat, and then stood aside as Brendan and Hannah climbed on.
“Okay, looks like you’re all set,” Jefferson said. “Stay together, at least for today, and take it slow. Observe. Learn the river. You probably won’t see much in the way of enemy fighters after they got whacked so badly last night.”
“There’s still a few bodies floating around, so watch out,” Terry said.
“Eeewwww,” Madison said.
“Sure these folks are up to this?” Terry asked Jefferson.
“If Richardson said they are, I believe him,” he said. “They’ve seen a lot of action already. All of them have fought the enemy.”
“How far should we go on our patrol?” Richardson asked.
“Go as far south as Veteran’s Bridge,” Jefferson said. “Go as far north as the Free Trade Bridge. We’ve got other boats to the north and south of those spots. Come back here at noon. We’ll let the other crew take over and learn then, and you guys will be done for the first day.”
“Cool, then maybe we can find a place to live,” Lita said.
“Yeah,” Madison said.
“Okay, let’s take off,” Richardson said.
“Wait,” Roberto said. “If we’re going to be gone this long, I want to get the dogs. You mind?”
“No, we can wait for that,” Richardson said.
Roberto nodded and bounded off the bow of the boat, running over to his camper.
“Dogs?” Jefferson asked.
“Rottweilers,” Richardson said. “Sorry, forgot to mention that. They’re valuable.”
Jefferson shook his head. “Okay, man. Hell, if we can have civilians driving DPS boats, I guess we can have dogs too.”
Juan Carlos and Brendan snickered. Roberto trotted back with the dogs, a bowl, and a bottle of water.
“Onward,” Richardson said. “Lead the way, Juan Carlos. You’re the most experienced on these boats, and you know this area.”
“Roger that, Captain,” Juan Carlos said, putting the boat into reverse. He backed it off the bank, then turned towards the north and cruised forward a dozen yards, then waited for the others to back out. When they were all in the middle of the river, Juan Carlos took off.
“Keep your heads down as much as possible, or behind the gun shields,” Juan Carlos said. “Especially where there is a lot of foliage on the Mexican side.”
“Seriously,” Brendan said.
“You know how far the north bridge is?” Madison asked from behind the starboard gun.
“It’s over an hour going at this speed,” Juan Carlos said. “The southern bridge isn’t too far from where our base is.”
“I’m worried about that base,” Brendan said. “It’s so close to the river. The enemy could nail that place easily.”
“What are we looking for, exactly?” Hannah asked.
“Enemy fighters trying to take small boats across the river,” Brendan said. “Or even swimming over.”
“Also enemy activity on the Mexican bank,” Juan Carlos said. “Keep your eyes open and learn what the banks look like. That way you’ll be able to tell when somebody tries to hide something.”
“Hide something?” Madison asked.
“Like staging for smuggling or movement of people,” Juan Carlos said, “or set up for an attack. Trust me, you’ll get to know these banks like the back of your hand after a couple of weeks. You’ll notice when there are things out of place.”
“We’ll only be doing this for a couple of weeks,” Hannah said.
“That might be true,” Juan Carlos said, “but who knows.”
They cruised through the sweeping turns of the river, picking their way along.
“Watch areas like that,” Brendan said, pointing the port gun at the Mexican bank. “See how dense the brush is? That could hide enemy fighters with guns.”
“Exactly, dude,” Juan Carlos said. “I’ve seen drug smugglers swimming across this part of the river with boxes.”
“When?” Madison asked.
“When I was visiting my cousins, about ten years ago,” Juan Carlos said. “Hasn’t changed much around here.”
“This river is much smaller than I expected,” Hannah said. “I thought it was like the Colorado river. It’s not nearly as wide.”
“Depends on where you’re talking about on the Colorado,” Juan Carlos said.
“Laughlin,” Hannah said. “Went there a few years back. It was much wider.”
“It is pretty wide there,” Juan Carlos said, “but this river is that wide in some places, just not here.”
“They used to run paddle-wheel steamboats on this river,” Brendan said.
“Really?” Hannah asked. “Hard to picture that.”
“Somebody just looked out from between those bushes over there,” Madison whispered, pointing.
Brendan swung is gun over there. “Hold your fire. It’s just kids.”
“What about just plain folks trying to cross over?” Hannah asked. “We aren’t shooting them, are we?”
“I doubt we’ll see much of that, if any,” Brendan said, “but we don’t start shooting unless we’re pretty sure.”
“Most of the time they fire at us first,” Juan Carlos said.
Brendan chuckled. “True that.”
“Wonderful,” Madison said.
They went a while longer, silently watching the bank.
“Look out,” Brendan said, pointing. “Body in the water.”
“Crap,” Juan Carlos said, moving around it. “His clothes were burned. You see that?”
“Must have been hit with the napalm,” Brendan said.
“I don’t see any burned foliage on the bank,” Madison said.
“We aren’t there yet,” Juan Carlos said. “It might be beyond where our boundary is.”
They continued on, going around another tight bend.
“Look, more bodies,” Madison said, pointing up ahead. “There’s a lot.”
“We’re getting closer,” Brendan said. “The river is washing them down here.”
“There’s going to be some bunched up at some of the curves, I suspect,” Juan Carlos said.
“They smell bad,” Hannah said.
“Yeah, liked burned barbeque,” Brendan said.
“That’s kinda sick, dude,” Juan Carlos said.
They went around another bend. There were more bodies. A clean-up crew was on the US bank using grappling hooks on ropes to drag the bodies in. There was a pile of bodies on the bank, up about fifteen yards. The crew waved at the boats as they cruised by.
“Wow, what a nasty job,” Madison said.
“There’s quite a few more up ahead,” Brendan said. “This is fairly disgusting.”
“I’ll say,” Hannah said.
Brendan got a text. He looked at it.
“Crap, Richardson’s short range app just buzzed him. We got company.”
“Dammit,” Juan Carlos said. “Keep your eyes peeled, and stay behind the armor.”
Suddenly gunfire erupted, further up the river.
“Crap, dude, should I head up there?”
“Duh,” Brendan said. “Girls, stay behind the shields or the sides of the boat and be
ready.”
Juan Carlos waved to Richardson. He gave a thumbs up, so Juan Carlos sped up. They went around two more bends.
The gunfire intensified, and there were small explosions.
“Careful, dude, these curves are way tight,” Brendan said.
“Piece of cake,” Juan Carlos shouted above the noise of the engines as they slalomed around the curves. “There’s our northern border. Going past.”
The gunfire was still going, their boat flying around the curve and seeing three boats engaged with a ground force on the Mexican bank, one of the boats on fire.
“Geez,” Hannah said, getting ready on the SMAW.
Juan Carlos drove the boat closer and opened fire with his big gun, shocking the enemy fighters, who now turned in their direction and opened fire. Richardson’s boat pulled up, then Kris and Roberto’s, and they all opened fire, pounding the enemy positions. The enemy started to retreat.
“Keep on them,” Brendan shouted as he used the machine gun, then the grenade launcher, then the machine gun again.
Several shots hit them from the US bank.
“Look out, we have enemy on the US side!” Juan Carlos shouted, spinning his gun around and firing. Madison joined him, sweeping machine gun fire along the bank, dropping several enemy fighters there. Richardson’s boat drove up closer to that bank and Gerald opened up with the main gun from the pilot’s seat as both Richardson and Hector fired.
“Richardson’s got that, let’s go get the guys on the Mexican side,” Brendan shouted.
“You got it, dude,” Juan Carlos said. He sped over to the other boats, the burning boat drifting towards the US side of the bank.
“Fire!” Juan Carlos shouted. Madison and Brendan fired the big guns as Hannah aimed the SMAW and fired, hitting a vehicle she could barely see through the bushes. It exploded big.
“We just got their ammo!” Brendan shouted. “Nice work, baby.”
“Aw shucks,” Hannah said as she reloaded and looked for another target. “Look, here comes another vehicle.” She fired, hitting it broadside, causing it to roll onto its side. Brendan smiled and fired a grenade from his gun, turning the bank into a curtain of fire, forcing the remaining enemy fighters to flee in the water, where the other boats were waiting, firing their machine guns, killing all of them. The gunfire stopped.
“Was that all of them?” Madison asked, face flushed from the action.