“It’s even worse, John. There’s been some bad blood between them over this. Buddy is the County Sheriff, and he’s up for re-election. He feels like Bud’s behavior is a slap in the face and disrespectful of his position in the community. He’s also worried that before the summer is over, Bud will screw up his admission to Annapolis somehow.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Why do you think Bud is behaving this way?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know, John. I guess it isn’t much different from the way we behaved at that age, back before we became Christians.”
Chapter 3.
When Buddy came back into the kitchen, he had news.
“John, I think we’ve identified the family you’re looking for. Some are Taylors and some are Carlisle’s. They’re longtime residents of the county, going back to the end of the civil war. They have about three hundred acres of land, mostly timberland that they lease to hunters. They get their income from timber sales and the hunting leases. There are half a dozen homes, mostly trailers they live in, at the end of County Road 3802, right on the edge of LaSalle Bayou. That’s about fifteen miles south of town.
“Thanks, Buddy. If you’ll give me an address, I’ll set my GPS navigation and head on over there.”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s the way we want to approach this.”
“…Why not?”
“I have a deputy who is married to one of the Carlisle girls. She’d be a cousin to Diondro Taylor. I think we might want to go at this kind of sideways. My deputy or his wife should probably be the ones to make the inquiries.”
“Why is that?”
“These folks kind of keep to themselves, and they are extremely distrustful of outsiders. If you go driving in there asking about Diondro, they’ll most likely tell you they’ve never heard of him and be otherwise generally uncooperative.”
“Can we give them a phone call and set up an appointment?”
Buddy chuckled.
“John, you’re thinking like a business man. There are some folks who don’t do things that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most of them won’t even answer a phone call unless they recognize the number. They don’t like getting phone calls from sales people or bill collectors. If you call them, they probably won’t answer the phone. If they do answer it, as soon as they hear your voice they’ll turn ignorant and you’ll get nowhere.”
I nodded. I have had some experience with that.
“You let me handle it. If Diondro is over there with them, I’ll find out about it. Then we can figure out how we want to approach the family.”
I didn’t like it, but I realized Buddy was right. I figured if the Taylors and Carlisles were that distrustful of outsiders, Diondro would be safe for a little while, right where he was.
“I’ll tell you what, John; you come back over to the Sheriff’s office. I’ll introduce you to my deputy who’s married to the Carlisle girl, and we can do some strategizing.”
I nodded.
“OK, let’s do it your way.”
The deputy was a black man about twenty five years old. He was about six feet tall with an athletic build and a shaved head that shone like polished bronze. His uniform was crisp and tailored. It figured. Buddy would expect and accept no less from his men.
“John, meet Jermaine Jackson, no relation to the singer. Jermaine, this is John Wesley Tucker. John and I were in the Navy together.”
We shook hands.
“The Sheriff has told me some of this. As I understand it, you want to locate a black male, nineteen years of age, by the name of Diondro Taylor. He would be one of my wife’s cousins. That about right?”
“Yes, it is, Deputy Jackson. Diondro is not in trouble, or at least not in trouble with the law. He’s something of a hero, actually. He saved a lady in Tyler from being abducted by a gangbanger down there. That street gang wants him dead, so I believe Diondro came here to hide out for a while.”
He nodded.
“Uh huh, call me Jermaine, Mr. Tucker. Why you here?”
“Please, call me John, Jermaine. I’m here because the family of the woman, who Diondro saved, as a reward for his heroism, wants to pay for Diondro’s college education. I also want to make sure he stays safe. I‘ve learned the gang has hired someone to find Diondro. They mean to kill him.”
“Why they want to kill him? He the only witness?”
“They want to kill him because the guy Diondro jumped was the leader of the pack. They intend to send a message, ‘Don’t mess with us’. There are other witnesses, but Diondro is the only one they want to kill.”
“You locate Diondro, you planning to take him back to Texas?”
“I don’t know. That’ll be up to Diondro. It would be helpful if he would testify in the case, but it isn’t essential.”
“Why you think Diondro here in Columbia County?”
“I’ve been in communication with his mother, who lives in the town of Chapel Hill, just outside Tyler. She wouldn’t tell me where Diondro was, but she indicated that he was with family somewhere out of state. I did some investigating and figured this was the place.”
Jermaine considered all of this for a moment.
“Alright, I’ll talk to my wife. I don’t know him myself. I can’t promise anything, know what I’m sayin’?”
“Sure, Jermaine, thank you.”
“Uh huh. It may take some time, where you staying at?”
“I figure I’ll get a motel room, probably at the Holiday Inn.”
“No you won’t,” Buddy interjected. “He’ll be staying with us, Jermaine. You can reach him at my house.”
I could see there would be no point in arguing about it. I gave Jermaine my cell phone number so he wouldn’t have to disturb Buddy when he called me.
Buddy had some official business to attend to, so since I had a little time on my hands, I set out to do some research. At the book store on the Southern Arkansas University campus I bought a plat map that showed all of the PLSS Sections in each Township and Range in the county. It showed all of the land in each section with names attached to individual tracts of land. It also had all of the county roads on it.
It was a little complicated to figure out where CR 3802 was because of not knowing exactly which Township and Range it was in, but once I found it, I was able to get a general idea of the layout of the Taylor/Carlisle land. On a hunch, I went to the local Wal-Mart and sure enough, they had a county atlas for sale. Not only did the atlas show all of the roads, it also showed other points of interest like the bayous, lakes and rivers, which were not clearly indicated in the plat map. With my air card that functions as a Wi-Fi hotspot, I used my laptop to access Google Earth. Once I typed in the appropriate data, I had an excellent satellite image of the property in question. I was able to zoom in and out on the various buildings, logging roads and fence lines, etc. that made up the Taylor/Carlisle property. I printed off the most useful images on my portable printer. This gave me very useful and comprehensive mapping and visual images of the entire area where Diondro might be holed up. All of that had only taken a couple of hours. The next step was to do some actual reconnaissance of the area.
Southwest Arkansas is much like East Texas in that it’s heavily forested. North America’s southern forests know no state boundaries. They stretch from Virginia in the East, to Texas in the west and spread across most of the southeastern U.S. In that part of Arkansas, as in other similar areas, timber is the primary industry, in conjunction with oil and gas drilling.
Within two miles of the city limits, I was out in the deep back woods. I drove south out of Magnolia on a State highway for about five miles, and then I turned onto a smaller black top road. I drove past where CR 3802 branched off and I noticed, just as I had found in my research, 3802 was a dirt road. A little farther on, I turned left on the next blacktop road and drove for about two miles before the road crossed over LaSalle Bayou. I stopped on the other side of the bridge and got
out of the car to have a look at the bayou.
I was here because I’d learned the Taylor/Carlisle land had this paved county road as a southern boundary. From here, the family homes were less than a mile away, as the crow flies. From the other side of the bridge, a person could hike over there through the woods and not have to cross the bayou. It wouldn’t be an easy hike because here the forest was not plantation pines, but mixed native timber, thick with brush and vines. It was more like a jungle than a woodland park. In places, all the thick brush and vines made it virtually impenetrable. There were green briar vines, poison oak, Devil’s Club, honey locust and other plants that could put a hurt on you, all through the area.
From where I was standing, both the bayou and a stretch of nearly impassable woods were between me and the place where Diondro was most likely located.
At this point, LaSalle Bayou was only about thirty feet wide. The water was dark and muddy, like coffee with just a touch of milk, or weak hot chocolate. As is common in most bayous in this part of the world, the water was probably only a few feet deep, even in the deepest parts. There were Cypress trees lining both banks, with Spanish moss hanging down like living tinsel and the Cypress knees jutting up out of the water, here and there. This was the time of year when the water level in the bayou would be at its highest point. Later in the summer, there would be much less water, leaving the Cypress knees looking like miniature mountains, towering above muddy plains.
As I watched the water, I could see an occasional swirl on the surface, evidence of the gar, catfish, bass, bream, and other aquatic life that inhabited these southern waters. I couldn’t see them, but I knew there were also alligators and water moccasins keeping a wary eye on me from their nearby hiding places
I was sweating profusely now in the afternoon heat and humidity which naturally follows the thunderstorms. The air was more stagnant than the water of the bayou. I was several stages past uncomfortable. When I got back in the rental car, I turned up the AC to high, and drove on more slowly. I was looking for a feature I had seen on the satellite image. I found it about a quarter of a mile farther on.
Chapter 4.
Because hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities are such a big part of the culture and the economy in that area, there was an up-scale sporting goods store in Magnolia, Arkansas. On the way back into town, I stopped and bought a few items that might come in handy.
I drove back to the Sheriff’s office and met up with Buddy, just as he was getting ready to head home. I followed him as he drove his official Chevy Tahoe through Magnolia and out into a pretty new subdivision on the eastern edge of town.
I noticed a dark grey Toyota sedan that seemed to be following us. It had kept behind us on every turn. It could’ve been a coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidence. As we turned into the subdivision, the Toyota kept on going down the road. It had Texas license plates, not unusual this close to Texas, but not typical either.
We had just gotten to the house when Wilson Livesque, Jr. came driving up in his pickup.
Buddy looked at his watch as Bud approached us on the porch.
“Getting home from school a little late aren’t you? It’s nearly six O’clock.”
Bud shrugged, as he attempted to go past us into the house.
“Hang on a minute, Bud. I want you to say hello to John Wesley Tucker. You remember him don’t you?”
Bud stopped and looked me over.
“Say, are you “Old Mother” Tucker?”
I grinned.
“As ever was.”
Bud shook my hand with a firm grip.
“I was just a kid back in Virginia the last time I saw you. Over the years, my dad has talked about you a lot.”
“Yeah, what have you heard?”
“Oh, you know…my dad’s war stories mostly. The things he can talk about. I thought you got killed or something.”
“Naw, just shot up a little. I would have died, if your dad hadn’t gotten me to the chopper. Say, I’ve heard about you, too.”
“Really, what have you heard?”
“Oh, you know just the usual stuff. You’re an honor student, Captain of the football team (sorry about the state championship), your father’s pride and joy, and one other thing. Let me see…what was it? Oh yeah, now I remember, you’re going to Annapolis!”
Bud glanced at his dad.
“Uh, yeah, I guess. Where did you hear all that?”
“Your dad can’t stop talking about how proud of you he is.”
Bud glanced at Buddy again.
“Huh, you could have fooled me.”
Buddy stiffened up.
“I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. You’ve grown into a fine young man. I can see why your dad is so proud of you.”
“Well…thank you, sir.”
“You can call me John.”
“Yes, sir…uh, I mean, John.”
Bud went on into the house.
Buddy stopped me on the porch.
“I never said any of those things about Bud. How did you know?”
“Josie told me. If you don’t mind my saying so, Buddy, you should have told me yourself, but even more importantly…you should have told Bud.”
He nodded.
“Yeah, you’re right. I just have a hard time with stuff like that.”
“You don’t have a hard time showing your disappointment.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“I noticed it. I expect Bud notices it every day.”
I left Buddy on the porch to think about it.
That night, I took everyone out to dinner at a pretty good Mexican restaurant. Since there were only four of us, we all went in my rental car.
When we walked out of the restaurant, I scanned the parking lot and the street. I was sort of looking for a dark grey Toyota.
“Are you expecting trouble?” Buddy asked me quietly.”
I shrugged.
“Yeah, I’m the same way,” he said.
“I thought maybe I was being followed, earlier today.”
“Good grief! You men sure make a girl feel safe. Being married to a cop, I’ve gotten to where I take notice of everything around me, too,” Josie said.
“Situational awareness is a good habit to develop.”
Buddy nodded.
“No harm in that,” he agreed.
“Better safe than sorry,” Bud chimed in.
Buddy scowled at him.
“A stitch in time saves nine.” I added, with a wink.
“He who laughs last, laughs best,” Bud said.
“You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks,” Buddy chuckled.
“You can with the right incentive,” Josie said, batting her eyes at Buddy.”
“Oh, yuck!” Bud observed.
We all laughed.
Later that evening Buddy and I sat and talked, alone in his home office.
“I expect Jermaine has had a chance to talk to his wife by now. Chances are some phone calls have been made and we’ll learn something useful in the morning.”
“I’m about ninety percent sure Diondro is here.”
“Yeah, about that… look, I don’t want there to be any trouble. Folks around here don’t interfere in each other’s business. As long as no crime has been committed, the Sheriff’s Department stays out of it. I don’t have to be involved. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“I can’t promise you anything. I’m telling you, Diondro is in real danger. If I can find him, so can whoever else is looking for him. If they get to him before I do, he’ll be killed. Do you want to deal with that?”
“No, I don’t. I just want you to know where I stand in this.”
“Where exactly do you stand in this?”
Buddy was thoughtful for a moment. Then he grinned.
“I stand with you, John. You remember what we used to say on the teams? ‘Whenever, wherever, whatever, we stand together’. I’ve got your six.”
I grinned back.
�
��I already knew the answer. I just wanted to make sure you knew it too.”
Buddy chuckled.
“Just like old times, huh?”
“We won’t have a whole SEAL team with us in this thing, though.”
“I sure hope we won’t need one.” Buddy said, with a shake of his head..
“You were busy this afternoon, so I did some recon of the area. I also have satellite imagery of the land, access roads, and topography around the property where I believe Diondro is.”
“You seem extremely concerned for his safety.”
I nodded in affirmative.
“I am, more concerned by the minute. I’m not the only person looking for him. Whoever they are, they mean to kill him. I don’t know who’s coming for him, how many there are, or how good they are, but we need to plan and prepare for contingencies.”
“Like I said, just like old times, huh?”
“Let’s hope not.”
Chapter 5.
In the old days, we would have done some mission specific training. We would have done some dry runs in scenarios and locations designed to most closely replicate the situations we might face in the actual execution of the mission.
In the old days, we would have been part of a complete team of highly skilled operators. We would have had the full resources of the United States Navy providing logistics and support.
This was not the old days. This was not an overseas mission that would almost certainly involve combat with hostiles. In this case, there was every possibility we could avoid direct conflict, especially anything approaching armed combat.
Buddy and I both understood this, but “Live Screw” and “Old Mother” were trained to consider and prepare for any eventuality. We still thought in terms of infiltration and exfiltration. We thought in terms of plans A, B and C, ready to adjust for changing or unforeseen circumstances. We thought about managing aspects of the fallout from the action.
The first thing to be accomplished was to verify the location and make contact with the subject. Plan “A” would be to simply meet with him and take him to a secure location without any drama.
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