by J B Black
“I wonder what this FBIS plans to do with the information the DEA has?” Carlos mused out loud. “Let me know if you hear anything else on this matter, Victor.”
“Will do.”
CHAPTER 27
Hacienda Vicario
Veracruz, Mexico
Thursday, May 6, 2010
7:25 a.m. CDT
Sofia Cortez, Carlos Vicario’s mistress, was lounging, by herself, out by the mansion’s swimming pool, when the makeup compact in her handbag vibrated making a noise only she could hear.
Sofia had met Carlos Vicario at one of the cartel’s nightclubs in the city of Veracruz two months earlier. It was lust at first sight for Carlos. After a week of non-stop Viagra and cocaine fueled sex, Carlos had asked Sofia if she would become his mistress and take up residence at the cartel’s mansion.
When Sofia had agreed to become Carlos’ mistress and come live with him at the cartel’s mansion, Carlos had insisted she give up her smartphone.
The smartphone Sofia had surrendered to Carlos was merely a decoy. Sofia worked for the DEA and the agency’s technical whiz kids had provided her with a smartphone cleverly disguised as a makeup compact which she carried in her handbag at all times so she could stay in touch with her boss. As an additional safeguard, Sofia kept a battery operated vibrator dildo in her handbag. It had come in handy the one time she had forgotten to turn off the smartphone and had received an incoming message at an inopportune time—Carlos had been standing nearby. When the smartphone had vibrated to let her know she had an incoming message, Carlos heard the noise and looked at her suspiciously. Sofia reached inside her handbag, switched on the vibrator dildo, and pulled it out of her purse while it was still vibrating. Glancing at Carlos with a wicked smile, Sofia had exclaimed, “Damn thing must have a hair trigger anymore.” Carlos who was used to seeing Sofia’s sex toys didn’t give the matter another thought.
Sofia’s phone was vibrating to let her know she had an incoming text message. Sofia had told her boss, Maria Gonzalez, if she needed to contact her, the best time to do so was between the hours of eight in the morning and noon when Sofia was usually out by the pool. Sofia almost always had the pool to herself during that time period. Whenever she was in the pool swimming or whenever someone else showed up at the pool, Sofia would put her phone on silent mode.
As was usually the case, Sofia was the only one at the pool. Nevertheless, she glanced around to make certain no one was watching her. Comfortable that she was unobserved, Sofia picked up her handbag, placed it in her lap, and began rummaging around the inside of it as though she was looking for something. While continuing to pretend to be looking for something, Sofia opened the text message. It read: Is kidnapped American woman, name of Honey Brown, being held by cartel at your location?
Sofia looked around again to make sure no one was watching what she was doing, then quickly typed her reply, and sent it.
CHAPTER 28
FBIS Headquarters
Washington, DC
Thursday, May 6, 2010
9:00 a.m. EDT
General Davidson picked up his phone and heard Virginia, his executive assistant, announce, “General, Deputy Assistant Director Gonzalez of the DEA is here to see you, sir.”
“Please send her in, Virginia.”
After Maria Gonzalez took her seat in one of the two armchairs in front of his desk, General Davidson said, “What have you got for me, Maria.”
“Honey Brown is at the Vicario Cartel’s hacienda in Veracruz, Mexico, General. She’s being held in the guest quarters in the East wing of the mansion there along with a female companion. And, so far, they are both unharmed.”
“Excuse me a moment, Maria,” General Davidson said. He picked up the handset of his phone and pressed the intercom button for Jake Gant’s office.
When Jake came on the line, General Davidson said, “Jake, we have confirmation that Honey Brown and her friend are being held at the mansion at the cartel’s hacienda. Give Reb a heads up the rescue mission is a go and then gather your people and meet me in my war room in ten minutes to formulate a rescue plan.”
After hanging up the handset, General Davidson said, “Maria, what is the source for your information regarding the whereabouts of Honey Brown and her friend?”
“I’m sorry, General Davidson, but I can’t tell you that.”
“In that case, Maria, I’m going to do a little speculating here. I believe you have an agent in place at the hacienda and you’re concerned about blowing your agent’s cover. Now, let me tell you what is going to happen. The FBIS is sending in a team to rescue Miss Brown and her companion. This team, in all likelihood, is going to kill off every member of the cartel they encounter there at the hacienda. As far as this Carlos Vicario is concerned, since he’s responsible for Miss Brown’s kidnapping, he’s dead already and just doesn’t know it, yet. More to the point, after our little rescue operation has been completed, there won’t be a need for you to have an undercover agent in the Vicario cartel any longer, because the Vicario cartel will, for all intents and purposes, be defunct. But your agent can help us by doing what they can to protect Miss Brown and her companion until our team can get to them. When our team assaults the main residence, it would be helpful if your agent can get to Miss Brown and her companion and make sure they don’t come to any harm before the rescue team can get to them and secure their situation. Now, can I count on your cooperation and that of your agent?”
“When will your team be going in, General?”
“Maria, I have to be honest with you. In dealing with an outside agency like the DEA, I’m very concerned about how secure the information we share with the other agency is. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that a lot rides on the element of surprise in order to have a successful hostage rescue mission. Whereas I may trust you with details about our mission, what assurances can you give me that, if others in your agency were to find out about our operation, it wouldn’t get back to the Vicario cartel?”
“Under circumstances you know nothing about, that’s a very valid point you make, General. The DEA has had problems in the past with some of its employees falling victim to the corruption caused by the obscene amounts of bribe money the drug cartels spread around,” Maria said.
“You understand my concerns, then. What do you suggest we can do to alleviate those concerns?” General Davidson asked.
“Would it suffice that I give you my word that I will not discuss anything you tell me about the operation with anyone else at the DEA other than my undercover agent who is staying in the main residence at the hacienda? For the time being, I will only tell her there is a rescue mission in the works and that she is to do everything in her power to protect Miss Brown and her companion. I will instruct my agent that when the rescue operation is underway and your people are on the ground, that your people will be contacting her, and she is to fully cooperate with them.”
“With so much at stake here, Maria, I would feel much better if you remained here until the conclusion of our rescue operation. And I would like you to surrender your smartphone to me after you’ve notified your agent about the rescue mission. I hope that is acceptable to you,” General Davidson said.
“I guess this is your version of trust but verify, General?”
“You could put it that way,” General Davidson said with a stone face. “Now, do you agree to my terms?”
“Yes, General.”
“Very well, then. If all goes well, we’ll be rescuing Miss Brown and her companion later today.”
“Damn, that’s fast. I wasn’t expecting you to be able to move that quickly, General,” Maria said.
“I’ve found it pays not to waste time in matters like this,” General Davidson replied.
Maria reached into her purse, took out her smartphone, and said, “With your permission, General, I’d like to go ahead and let my agent know that a rescue mission is on for today and that she will be contacted when the rescuers arrive. I’ll instruct h
er to provide the assistance you’ve requested.”
“Tell your agent you’ll notify her again once the rescue team is en route so she can plan around their ETA,” General Davidson said.
Gonzalez rapidly tapped out the text message and hit send.
Gonzalez then handed her smartphone to General Davidson. “Why don’t you hold on to my phone until it’s time to contact my agent again. My agent’s contact information is there on my phone—the last message sent. Your team can coordinate with her when they arrive on site. Just have your people text her when they arrive and she’ll update them on the current situation there at the mansion where Miss Brown and her companion are being held.”
“Thank you, Maria. I’ll be happy to return your phone as soon as the rescue mission has been concluded,” General Davidson replied.
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” Maria said, “there’s something I could use your help on.”
“All right, how can I be of help, Maria?” General Davidson asked.
For the next five minutes, General Davidson listened patiently as Maria told him about her suspicions about there being a mole in her department, her decision to bug the ladies room without a warrant, getting confirmation her PA was passing on classified information to the drug cartel, but not being able to legally prove anything because she didn’t have a warrant to bug the ladies room in the first place.
“My PA is meeting with the accomplice she’s been passing information to at nine o’clock tonight at her apartment,” Maria said. “If I’d followed protocol and gotten a proper search warrant, I could arrest both her and her accomplice tonight. But I cut corners and now I’m so mad at myself I could just scream.”
“I think we can take care of this problem for you,” General Davidson said. “Get with Virginia, my secretary, and give her your personal assistant’s home address and I’ll see to it that justice is served for her and her accomplice.”
“Thank you, General,” Maria said.
CHAPTER 29
Hacienda Vicario
Veracruz, Mexico
Thursday, May 6, 2010
8:15 a.m. CDT
Sofia Cortez was stretched out on a chaise lounge by the pool relaxing after swimming 50 laps in the pool—something she did religiously every day, in order to maintain the great shape she was in—when her smartphone vibrated again alerting her to the fact that she had another text message coming in. Sofia was surprised. She hadn’t been expecting another message from her boss so soon.
After looking around to make sure no one was watching, Sofia adjusted the back of the chaise lounge to a sitting position. She picked up her handbag, placed it in her lap, and went through the routine of rummaging around in her handbag pretending to look for something, as she read the text message from her boss.
The message read: Honey Brown rescue mission in play for TODAY. Protect Honey Brown & her companion at all costs. Will contact you again when rescue team leaves with ETA. Rescuers have your phone number and will contact you upon arrival. Lend all assistance to rescuers and depart with them. Your original mission is over. Good luck. MG
CHAPTER 30
FBIS Headquarters
Washington, DC
Thursday, May 6, 2010
9:15 a.m. EDT
General Davidson, Justin, and Rich were seated around the conference table in the private conference room off the General’s office. On the table in front of them were the maps, photographs, floor plans, and notes about the Vicario drug cartel’s hacienda in Veracruz, Mexico that Maria Gonzalez had provided them with. They were waiting for Jake to go over the plan for rescuing Honey Brown and Sarah Smith.
Jake was on the other side of the conference room standing in front of a large electronic whiteboard with a classroom laser pointer and the remote-control device for the whiteboard. There were two maps displayed on the whiteboard. One map showed the gulf coast region of the United States, the gulf coast region of Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico. The other map showed the Vicario drug cartel’s hacienda with labels on the map indicating the function of the various buildings, facilities, and land areas.
Jake selected the gulf coast regional map and blew it up full-size on the whiteboard. He pointed his laser pointer to a city on the coast of Mexico, cleared his throat, and said, “Okay guys, this is the port city of Veracruz, which is in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Don’t bother asking me if the state is named after the city or the city is named after the state, I don’t know or care.”
Jake pointed at a spot to the southwest of the city of Veracruz. “This is where the Vicario drug cartel’s hacienda is located. It’s about seventy-five miles southwest of Veracruz.”
Jake next pointed to a spot on the coast of the Florida panhandle. “This is Mary Esther, Florida where Hurlburt Field is located. Our ride, a C-130J, and our expedition vehicle are waiting for us there.”
Jake selected one of the whiteboard’s menu items and a straight line was displayed running from Mary Esther, Florida, across the Gulf of Mexico, to the spot in Mexico where the hacienda was located. “The distance from Hurlburt Field to the hacienda is roughly 1,025 miles.”
Jake selected another of the whiteboard’s menu items and the gulf coast regional map was replaced by the map of the Vicario hacienda.
“If you’re like me,” Jake said, “you probably thought hacienda meant a mansion where one of the Mexican landed gentry lived. Apparently, I was wrong. The hacienda is a large plot of land similar to what we’d call a plantation.
“This particular plantation’s original purpose was the growing of sugar cane and refining the sugar cane that was harvested to produce sugar. They still do that there.”
Jake pointed to several different locations and said, “These large areas are sugar cane fields.”
Jake pointed to an area of buildings. “And this is where the sugar refinery and the sugar warehouses are located.”
“As you can see,” Jake said, pointing to a road with his laser pointer, “there’s this one main dirt road in and out of this plantation that connects to the region’s main highway. The road winds through some heavily wooded areas for about 10 miles before it comes to the plantation’s mansion and then goes past the mansion on to the sugar cane fields, past this side road with these living quarters here for the rank and file cartel members, past this side road for the sugar processing plant, past this side road for these big industrial-size greenhouses where they grow poppy plants, past another side road for these big warehouse buildings where they store the sugar and the drugs until they’re ready for shipment, past another side road with more living quarters for the people who work there, past another side road for this big equipment maintenance building for the farm equipment and the fleet of trucks they use to haul product to the port in Veracruz, past another side road for this big yard where they park all of the farm equipment and their fleet of trucks, past another side road for these buildings where they produce heroin from the poppy plants and where they produce crystal meth, and finally the main road ends here at their airfield. As you can see, this plantation is a multi-billion-dollar criminal drug enterprise.”
Jake used his laser pointer to point to a section of road. “The C-130 is going to drop us off on the dirt road at this location. This is the only section of the road where it’s wide enough that the C-130 can safely drop us off. As you can see, the road continues on past our drop off point for a couple of miles and then goes north for a mile and then loops to the left back through the woods at this point. The mansion where Honey and Sarah are being held is 3 miles from where the road loops back.”
Jake used his laser pointer to point out a narrow strip of land—50 feet wide or so, more than enough room to accommodate a single vehicle—that cut through the woods near where their drop off point was all the way across to where the main road looped back around on the other side of the woods.
“We’re going to drive our expedition vehicle down this utility road to where it intersects with the main ro
ad on the other side of the woods. At that point, the mansion is only a quarter mile further down the road.”
Jake used his laser pointer to show where a side road off the main road led to the plantation’s big mansion. The map showed the mansion was surrounded by a wall.
“We’ll park the expedition vehicle far enough away from the main road so it won’t easily be seen if someone happens to drive by on the main road.
“We’ll then contact Sofia Cortez, the DEA’s undercover agent at the mansion, to find out the current location where Honey and Sarah are being held.
“Reb and I will then hike the quarter of a mile from where the expedition vehicle is parked down to the mansion, enter the mansion, and rescue Honey, Sarah, and Sofia.
“Justin and Rich, you’ll man the drones from your position inside the Command Center on the back of the expedition vehicle. Your job is to provide reconnaissance and close air support throughout the mission.
“The information we’ve received is that Honey and Sarah are currently unharmed and are being held on the upper floor of the East wing of the mansion in one of the guest suites that are used exclusively by visitors to the hacienda.
“If Honey and Sarah are still in the same location when we get there, Reb and I will have to go down an exposed breezeway to get to them.
“The notes we have on the hacienda indicate that the guest suites on the upper floor of the East wing of the mansion are normally used by visiting international criminals who are involved in the illegal drug trade business.
“Here’s why that’s important. Since the hacienda is under constant threat of attack by rival drug cartels, the hacienda is an armed camp. Just about everyone there—with the exception of the mansion’s household staff—goes around carrying a firearm.