by Unknown
“Aye-aye Captain.”
Lindsey and Randy munched on tuna fish wraps with cranberry and a romaine salad with cranberry vinaigrette.
They laughed and talked through lunch and a dessert of fresh fruit; it was any easy conversation. Lindsey was amused by funny stories of Randy’s open water travels and racing in international Regattas. He was amazed by how her trends analysis influenced business clients and even government decisions.
After lunch, the two got underway again. “The wind has died down Randy, lets’ go wing-on-wing to take advantage of what little wind we have.”
“Smart move Captain, I like how you’re beginning to think like a sailor.”
“Thank you Sensei,” Lindsey replied to her teacher.
At the slow pace at which they were traveling Lindsey and Randy had a better view of the beautiful shoreline.
“Hey, what’s that?” Lindsey asked.
Randy looked where she was pointing and saw someone with two burning pieces of cloth on sticks, waving them like flags, in a crisscross fashion in an attempt to get their attention.
*****
“I think someone’s in trouble,” Randy said. “Let me call it in. Base this is Randy on boat 11, come in please.” There was a short pause then the radio came to life with chatter.
“Randy this is Carl, go ahead.”
“Hey Carl, I have a student with me. We’re in boat eleven. We are down here near Oberlin pass, and there seems to be someone waving a couple of burning distress flags at us. Can you alert the authorities? We’ll move in a little closer, letting them know help is on the way, but I won’t be putting them on the boat until I confirm it with you—over.”
“Roger that Randy, be advised, do not make contact, a closer assessment is okay, but nothing more, you copy?”
“Copy that Carl, Randy out.”
Off the radio, Carl said, “That doesn’t sound good, especially after those other drug busts in the mountains above the lake. I hope it’s not another case of hikers running into drug mules. Those damn meth heads are messing up the lake and the mountains for everyone. Now they’ve got the Mexican Cartel moving meth through the tourist spots.”
“Man I watched this documentary about how the Mexican Cartel moves drugs from Mexico through the U.S., as far as 1,800 miles away from the border in Chicago. But I am surprised that they came back so close to a tourist area. My gut says our people are in trouble, but I hope I’m wrong,” said Carl’s boss, after overhearing the radio transmission from boat eleven.
*****
Randy took the helm and instructed Lindsey to get in the cabin and stay there until he told her to come out. The frightened Lindsey jumped through the companionway and into the cabin in a single motion.
“Randy I’m scared, what’s going on?” Lindsey whispered from the cabin as if the person on shore could hear her.
“We’re okay Lindsey, I’m just being extra careful. I need to check out this situation but I also want to keep you safe. There’s an extra radio rolled in that aluminum warming blanket do you see it?”
“Yes, I’ve got it.”
“Good, turn it on to channel seventy. When you want to talk push that button on the side, release it to listen, okay?”
“Okay,” Lindsey said holding back tears of fear.
“You only need to use it if something happens to me and I can’t use my radio okay?”
“Okay.”
“Are you scared, Lindsey?” Randy asked calmly.
“Yes,” Lindsey replied.
“Good, because the fear will help you if you use it and don’t let it control you. You’re a smart woman. If, and that’s a big if, but if, we’re in danger you’ll feel it in your gut, use your head and think your way out of the situation. Don’t let the fear control you, okay?”
“Okay!” Lindsey said, she regained her composure and calmed her nerves.
“That’s my girl.” Randy moved the tiller away from his body and tacked the boat into the wind and toward the shoreline. Lindsey sat below, having found a hunting knife, which she hid in the key pocket of her skort.
“Randy, your knife is in the back waistband of my shorts; having decided that he wouldn’t know what a skort is, for safe keeping. There’s a mini-flashlight in the front of my bra, and all of your protein bars are in my jacket pockets—just in case.”
The closer they got to the shoreline the more Randy’s senses told him they were in trouble. He decided to prepare for the worst.
“I copy Lindsey. Listen, if we get into a situation I want you to use my cell phone,” which Randy tossed into the cabin. The passcode is 8732, call my buddy Jake, he’s my best friend in the world and he’ll help us.”
“I copy Captain.”
The wind slowly carried the little J/22 toward the shoreline. Then suddenly Randy saw something that made his heart skip a beat. “Lindsey we’re in trouble now! Call Jake then radio Carl.” Randy said without adjusting the boat’s course, but he gently trimmed the sails in a bit in order to slow the boat down and buy them more time.
“Jake, my name is Lindsey. I’m Randy’s student. He said we’re in trouble and for you to get eyes in the sky over Oberlin pass.”
Jake jumped up, grabbed his camera-equipped drone, and headed out the door before Lindsey was even finished with her brief message. “I copy, Jake replied.”
“Good, hang on and listen,” Lindsey said.
“Base this is Lindsey on boat eleven do you copy?”
When the scared female voice of a student came over the radio the Texas Sailing, base communications office fell silent and thick with a collective rush of adrenaline. They all knew there was only one reason for this scenario—and it wasn’t good.
Carl’s tranquil voice on the radio was a comforting sound to Lindsey. Randy had already silenced his radio so he softly relayed a message to Carl, through Lindsey.
“Randy says he saw the scope of a high-powered weapon trained on us. There are two men, one has an olive complexion, he’s wearing black pants and a black tee-shirt, street-wear, not like a hiker. No other boat in sight. There’s someone concealed but he can clearly see the rifle scope reflecting the sun.”
“I copy that. You’re doing great Lindsey. The Sherriff is already on the way to Oberlin pass, we’ll update them with the new information, over.”
Lindsey went on to say, “Randy said if these guys are who he thinks they are they’re probably using an AR-15. If that’s the case, we were already within their range even before we decided to head towards shore to give them help.” Lindsey’s trembling voice repeated.
The AR-15 can hit a target at nine hundred yards, a half mile away, under the right conditions, and in the hands of a good shooter
“Copy that Lindsey. You guys keep your heads and we’ll update law enforcement. Be safe Randy and Lindsey. Base out.” Carl said as he ended the transmission.
“Jake, did you hear all of that?” Lindsey said into the cell phone.
“I copy Lindsey, I have a drone in the air and should be over the pass in a minute or less. Hang on.”
“Roger, Jake.”
Lindsey repeated what Jake said and she saw Randy let out a sigh of relief.
A few seconds later Jake said; “Lindsey, I see two Tangos. One’s waving two burning flags, the other one is partially concealed but he’s dressed just like the flag waver and he’s definitely lying in a prone position and has an AR-15 trained on your location, over.”
Lindsey felt a lump catch in her throat, and her bowels turn to water in her gut, because of the fear.
She felt a sudden need to use the bathroom when the fight or flight adrenaline hit her system. She thought back to seeing animals in the wild and how they evacuate their bowels to gain speed by reducing their body weight. In that moment she understood how they felt.
Jake began to speak again and she relayed the message to Randy. “Jake said he’s concealed with Betty on the high ground and he’s got eyes in the sky on us and the Tangos.”
“Thank you, Jake! And thank God for friends with fire-power—Betty’s his AR-15,” Randy said with a smile. “He’s probably got enough ammo with him to rain fire on those guys for thirty minutes or more.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Tell him to hold fast and engage only if we’re in imminent danger. Tell him don’t give his position away unless he absolutely has to.”
Lindsey repeated Randy’s message to Jake. “Copy that Dude, I got you. I’ll keep eyes on you. I got your base on speed dial and can give them a sitrep (situation report) when you go radio silent. Be careful Dude, I only have one best friend. Jake out.”
Hearing Jake’s final words to them made tears stream down Lindsey’s face to hear the love Jake had for Randy. She knew instinctively, that Jake and Randy had served in the Special Forces together, and she felt amazingly tranquil in that moment, knowing that Jake would fight to keep his friend, and her by default, alive.
*****
Lindsey informed Carl, back at the base, about Jake’s presence on the scene and the information he relayed to Randy.
A wave of fear for Randy and his student rushed through the communications base again.
“I copy. Hey, you’re doing an amazing job Lindsey and we’re all working with law enforcement here. They should be arriving soon okay?” Carl tried to reassure Lindsey as best as he could.
“Okay.”
“God is with you Lindsey, and Randy too, Carl out.”
With the cell phone, back inside its waterproof bag, and the radio on silent, Lindsey hid the phone in the back of her skort and the radio in her inside jacket pocket.
The boat reached the shoreline and the flag waving stopped. “Here we go Lindsey, you keep quiet, we’re about to meet our new best friend.”
“You mean our frenemy,” Lindsey whispered.
The flag bearer began to speak, slightly accented English, with a bright smile on his face.
“Thank you for stopping. I was on a hike and I got separated from my friends and now I’m lost. Can you take me to where I can get to a phone to call somebody for a ride please?”
“Ahh Dude, that sucks,” Randy said, “if you want I could radio for help and get somebody to bring a truck and take you where you need to go.”
“Nah man, that’ll take too long and I got bit by a spider and I don’t feel too good. Can’t you take me to a doctor or something? I could pay you for your gas and time.”
Randy laughed loudly, holding his belly, then said, “No Dude, see I’m all earth friendly, I don’t have an engine, I’m wind-powered, and right now there’s not much wind. But thank you for the gas money offer. That’s real nice of you.”
The man laughed a little and said, “My bad, I didn’t know you don’t have an engine, but can you take me to safety.?
“I’m really sorry Dude, but this is a training boat and I have a student on board and I’m not supposed to let anybody else come on board, you know for safety and insurance and stuff. I’m really sorry man—for real.”
Suddenly the flag waver’s voice changed from pleading to demanding, and his friend popped up with an AR-15 pointed at Randy.
The flag waver said, “No I’m sorry Dude, but you are going to take me and my friend up the lake. Then we’re going to let you go on back to your school. Tell your student to show herself.”
Randy knew the man had seen Lindsey long before they noticed the burning flags waving.
Knowing that he stalled as long as he could, Randy couldn’t pretend that Lindsey wasn’t there and run the risk of pissing off those two guys.
“Lindsey, come on up, slowly and with your hands in view. It’s okay.”
Lindsey slowly climbed out of the cabin and into the cockpit. With every step, she felt more like she was climbing out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire.
Randy and Lindsey didn’t know that Jake was giving Texas Sailing’s, communications base a play by play of what he could see from the camera on his personal drone.
Everyone, even Lindsey, outwardly seemed relatively calm at this point. They all knew that for now Randy and Lindsey were safe because the bad guys needed them to sail the boat.
*****
By now, Randy was fairly certain the two guys were either with the Mexican drug cartel or Americans working for them. Either way, he and Lindsey were in bad company. Randy was pissed with himself that he allowed danger to get that close to Lindsey, but he didn’t have any options at the moment.
Knowing that Jake had eyes on him, he slyly moved his thumb below his chin, from one side of his neck to the other. Signaling to Jake that these are bad guys and that he and Lindsey are dead if he or law enforcement didn’t do something.
Jake saw the signal and looked for a clear shot of the Hispanic man with the rifle. But on such a small boat there was no way to shoot the gunman without risking shooting Lindsey or Randy; the way they were currently positioned. For now, all that Jake could do was to keep his eyes on the situation and wait for an opportunity.
The taller Hispanic, the burning flag waver, became charming again. “I’m Jose and this is my friend Juan. He’s the strong silent type. Probably your type pretty lady,” he said, while looking at Lindsey as if he were a starving man and she were the last ham sandwich on the boat.
Jose continued to say, “We just need you to take us a little further up the lake to our ride and then we’ll let you and your student go back to school, okay?” Jose said with sarcasm and disdain.
“Okay, how far up do you need to go?” Randy asked.
“Just drive the boat and I’ll tell you when to stop.”
“I want to let my student out here with a radio. She can call somebody to pick her up after we’ve gotten up the river a bit.”
“I was born at night, but not last night. No, your student stays here with us.”
Randy noted that Jose was born, or at least grew up in the U.S., and may have spent some time in the military, because of the expression he just used, about being born at night.
His nearly perfect English, mannerisms, and the fact that he barely rolled his letter Rs, when he spoke, were all tell tales.
A native-born Mexican would have a very prominent rolling R when he spoke Spanish, and his hand gestures would be—different.
And it’s doubtful someone born and raised in Mexico would be able to understand American idioms well enough to maintain the English banter that Jose and Randy had going.
Randy carefully used hand signals to relay intelligence to Jake. Randy had a feeling that he and Lindsey stumbled upon compadres (compatriots) of La Familia (The Family).
La Familia (The Family) or LFM, is one of Mexico's newest drug cartels. What Randy knew about La Familia is that it’s a Christian fundamentalist, narco-gang based in the western part of the State of Michoacan, Mexico. In the past few years they have been moving and selling Meth in a few of the campgrounds in the area, transporting through mountain trails; but never on a well-traveled tourist trail like Oberlin pass.
The LFM is extremely violent. They’ve cut off the heads and limbs of their perceived enemies and even lead massacres against Mexican police, Army, and Marines.
If these guys are with La Familia, he and Lindsey are already dead. Randy signaled LFM to Jake. Jake received the message loud and clear and whispered a desperate, “shit, La Familia,” to himself.
Jake and Randy might be just regular guys nowadays, but they keep on top of what’s going on around them. Force of habit, training, the realization that something dangerous could pop-off even in the most bucolic of locations were some things that they talked about and planned for.
That’s why Jake’s go-bag was prepared, and he was able to react to Lindsey’s call so quickly, and without losing his head.
Jake used Carl to lead the local law enforcement to his position. He was surprised to see not only the Sherriff but also DEA and FBI arrive on the scene together.
For safety, they had Jake put down his weapon and handcuff
ed him for a few minutes. They took his ID, name, and address, to make sure that he could recall the details on his driver’s license, and ran him through the database.
While they were checking him out the Sherriff said, “You’re pretty sharp Jake, getting a drone in the air, and monitoring the situation. Are you law enforcement?
“No,” Jake replied. Randy and I were in SF together. We went through the Special Forces (SF) selections course and did tours in Afghanistan and Iraq together. Randy’s my best friend.” Jake said.
With Jake’s name coming back clean for warrants and his address checking out, the Sherriff took off the handcuffs and deputized him so that he could continue to help with the operation.
The FBI also ran an ENTNAC (personnel security investigation) check and saw that Jake and Randy’s security clearances were higher than theirs. Having retired from the military and still occasionally working for Department of Defense (DoD) contractors, Jake and Randy were privileged to high-level intelligence. The FBI Agents were impressed with the two civilians and were happy to have a trained combat veteran like Randy on that boat.
The reason the FBI and DEA got there so fast is because they planned to raid a local campground in Comal County, just outside of the Oberlin pass where the LFM Cartel’s American contacts had been selling Mexican methamphetamine.
“These guys that hijacked the boat and kidnapped your friend and his student, must’ve gotten tipped off to the planned raid while they were en route,” the lead DEA Agent, named McFadden, said.
“And now they’re looking for a plan B, and maybe safe passage to another distributor in Austin or San Antonio? Jake asked.
“You got it,” said McFadden. How good a sharpshooter are you Jake? “
“I can get it done Sir!”
“Good, we might need you until we can get our own guys in place.”
The skies began to darken as the weather rolled in. Randy had planned to bring Lindsey back to the training center early because of the potential for rain, high winds, thunder, and lightning. Weather on the lake can sometimes get up to gale force winds.