Edge of Battle (8 page)

“¿Qué hacemos?”
one of the migrants asked worriedly.

The coyote thought for a moment; then: “We split up,” he said. “There’s only one of it—it can’t follow us all. Up ahead about three kilometers is a gully. Follow the gully toward those mountains until you come to a concrete
alcantarilla
. Stay out of sight until we meet up with you.”

“What about our pickup?” one of the men asked. “You had better not call him off, asshole…!”

“We have a deal, dammit. Just do as I say. Now split up!” The
pollos
did as they were told, breaking up into two-and three-man teams and fanning out. The smuggler chambered a round in his rifle and approached the robot, shouting, “Hey, you! What are you? What do you want?”

“
No tire en el avión,
” the robot said in a machine-synthesized male voice.

That was bad—the spy plane was apparently beaming down its images to this contraption, because the robot knew that he had fired on it. “Fine, fine. I won’t fire on your spy plane anymore,
prometo
. Now leave us alone.”

“What is your name?” the robot asked in Spanish.

“Are you the police? Border Patrol?”

“No. But the Border Patrol is watching you. What is your name?”

“How do I know the Border Patrol is watching?” the coyote asked. “I don’t have to tell you shit.” He leveled the shotgun at the robot. “Now leave us alone,
ojete!
”

“That’s Martín Alvarez,” Senior Patrol Agent Albert Spinelli said, watching the video feed on a laptop computer broadcast via satellite from the Cybernetic Infantry Device unit on the scene. They were outdoors at a vacant area adjacent to Runway 27 Left at Gillespie Field near El Cajon, California, standing beside a Humvee with a small satellite dish on top. The entire area north of the parallel runways, including the runways themselves, had been closed off to all air traffic, and a small encampment had been set up with two Humvees, a satellite dish, and a large thirty-foot-long, ten-foot-high nylon net strung across Runway 27 Left to recover the Gullwing unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. “No surprise seeing him in this area.” Spinelli definitely appeared uncomfortable at watching this group of illegals crossing the border near Campo, California, just east of the steel security fence that stretched ten miles either side of the Potrero-Tecate border crossing station.

“The bastard took a shot at my UAV,” Dr. Ariadna Vega, deputy commander and chief engineer of Task Force TALON, a joint military–Federal Bureau of Investigation antiterrorist strike force, said in a surprised, worrisome voice. She too looked ex
tremely uncomfortable watching this encounter, although for decidedly different reasons.

The Border Patrol agent looked at Vega suspiciously. “Alvarez is small time, usually nonviolent,” Spinelli said. “First time I’ve ever heard of him using a weapon. He’s usually too drunk or stoned to even walk straight, let alone shoot straight.”

“There’s something strange about those migrants,” Ariadna remarked.

“What?”

“They look…I don’t know, pretty well organized, like they’re used to walking out in the middle of nowhere in the desert,” Ari said.

“The migrant farmworkers are already pretty tough hombres to do the kind of work they do,” Spinelli said. “A lot of the migrants have made this trip dozens of times, and you have to be tough to survive it.” He looked at Vega again, trying to guess what was wrong with her expression. “Don’t worry—after the shootings at Blythe, we’ll be on guard for any violent characters.”

“What are you going to do with them?”

“Our patrol will be there in twenty minutes,” Spinelli replied. “We’ll pick them up, drive them back here, and give them all a checkup. We have a group of volunteer nurses and paramedics and a volunteer doctor on call who’ll help us out. Then they’ll be processed. We’ll identify them the best we can and weed out the criminals and the violent ones. Any wanted suspects are processed by the Departments of State and Justice for extradition. The Mexicans will be deported across the border; the OTMs—other than Mexicans—will be deported after a hearing. If they have any outstanding warrants, either in the U.S. or with any other Interpol reporting agencies, they’ll be detained until they can be transferred to the proper authorities. We’re seeing more and more of them with lengthy criminal records.”

“The others will get deported?”

“Yep. They’ll be bused across the border from San Diego to a Mexican processing center in Tijuana or Mexicali.” He thought
for a moment, then went on: “Alvarez, the guy with the shotgun, concerns me. Smugglers with guns are getting more and more common on the border, and we want to clamp down on that hard and fast. I think Alverez is wanted in Tamaulipas State on suspicion of killing a Mexican
federale
. I want him for questioning. Have your guy…robot…CID unit, whatever you call him, hold that man until our agents arrive.”

“We can’t,” Ariadna said. “We’re prohibited from making an arrest. We’re out here to observe and report, nothing more.”

“I can authorize him to pass along an order from me to stay where he is until my agents arrive,” Spinelli said. “I’ll be the agent in charge. You’ll just…”

“We can’t get involved, Agent Spinelli—that’s final,” Ariadna said resolutely. She touched the comm button: “CID One, you are authorized only to keep the subjects in sight and report their position and movement. You may not detain or interfere with them in any way. Is that clear? Acknowledge.”

“Received and understood, Ari,” U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Harry Dodd, piloting CID One, responded.

“That guy took a shot at your recon plane, Dr. Vega—you saw it, we all saw it,” Spinelli said. “That’s a federal violation for sure. Plus he’s wanted in Mexico on a murder charge. You can’t just let him go.”

“Task Force TALON is not the Border Patrol, Agent Spinelli—we’re not here to do your job for you,” Ariadna said. “We’re here simply on National Security Adviser Jefferson’s suggestion.”

“But…”

“As far as you’re concerned, Agent Spinelli, we’re nature lovers out here on a stroll to take pictures of the flora and fauna,” she interrupted. “CID One, continue your assigned patrol.”

“Roger.” It was only a few minutes later when Dodd radioed back: “I’m picking up a vehicle approaching—a small Ford van, no license plates…subject Alvarez is waving it down. Looks like a rendezvous.”

“You can’t let him get away, Dr. Vega,” Spinelli said. “Alvarez
just walked across the border. That’s illegal. You’ve got to stop him.” But Ariadna said nothing.

“Ari? What should I do?”

“Continue your patrol, CID One,” Ariadna replied. “Observe and report.”

There was a slight pause; then: “O-kay, Ari. The first subject has made contact with the driver of the van…he’s now waving at the other subjects…they’re running toward the van. Looks like they’re all going to get in.”

“At least get up there and see who the driver is, Sergeant!” Spinelli exclaimed. Dodd trotted over to the van, but the driver and a man in the front passenger seat had their faces well hidden with hats and sunglasses. “The other guy has a gun!” Spinelli pointed out excitedly. “I saw a submachine gun in his lap! That’s another federal violation! You can’t let them get away!”

“Ari…?”

“Continue to observe and report, Sergeant,” Ariadna repeated stonily. Spinelli banged a hand on the console and muttered an expletive. Moments later they watched as the van sped away.

“Want me to follow it, Ari?” Dodd asked.

“Yes! Follow it!” Spinelli shouted. “We might be able to intercept him before he reaches the highway.”

“Negative. Resume your patrol, Harry.”

“What is with you, Vega?”
Spinelli exploded as he watched the van speed away through the video datalink. “I thought you were here to help us! Instead, you just let a wanted criminal get away!”

“My orders are to send one CID unit and a Gullwing UAV out to this area, patrol for ten hours over varied terrain and operating conditions in both day and night, and report back to Major Richter and Sergeant Major Jefferson,” Ariadna said curtly. “I don’t much care what you thought.”

Spinelli was ready to continue arguing with her, but instead he looked at her and nodded his head knowingly. “Oh, I get it now. What is it, Vega—afraid ‘your people’ are going to get persecuted by the big bad
federales?
”

Vega whirled around and pushed Spinelli hard in his chest with two hands. “Kiss my ass, Spinelli!” she shouted.

“I seem to have hit a nerve here, eh, Vega?” Spinelli smirked. “I run into that all the time. Most of the Border Patrol’s recruits are Hispanic because it doesn’t cost as much to teach them Spanish and they blend in with the border area population better. But the downside is that sometimes they don’t want to catch the illegals as bad as others in the Border Patrol do. Some even have family members that are illegals, and they’re afraid they’re going to catch a relative or friend of a relative if they do their job well enough. They’re good agents, but they let their heritage get in the way of their duty. They don’t last very long in the service. After all, they’re just wetbacks in uniform.”

Ariadna’s eyes blazed, and others in the room watching this interchange thought she was going to rush at him again. Instead, she hit the comm button on the console: “Harry, bring it in,” she ordered. “The exercise is over.” The Border Patrol supervisor smirked again. “And wipe that smile off your face before I do it for you, Spinelli.”

“Sí, señorita,”
Spinelli said. Ariadna glared at him but said nothing. It took only a few minutes for her to pack up her gear. “You come back when you’re ready to do some
real
border security work, Doctor. Until then, the ghosts of the four Border Patrol agents who were killed the other day will thank you and your precious Mexican heritage to stay the hell out of our way.”

M
ISSION
V
ALLEY
, C
ALIFORNIA
T
WO DAYS LATER

The memorial service for the four slain Border Patrol agents was held at Qualcomm Stadium, just outside San Diego, where more than fifty thousand attendees witnessed one of the largest gatherings of law enforcement officers from around the world ever—
over three thousand men and women in uniform, some from as far away as South Africa, Australia, and Japan, assembled on the field to pay respects to the fallen agents. The caskets were brought into the stadium by simple wooden one-horse wagons, emblematic of the Border Patrol’s frontier heritage, led by a company of one hundred bagpipers that filled the air with an awful yet stirring dirge.

The President of the United States, Samuel Conrad, stood at the podium before the four caskets and the thousands looking on. He took his prepared notes out of a breast pocket, looked at them briefly, then put them away. The audience was completely still—even the horses that drew the caissons seemed suddenly frozen in place.

“My staff prepared a eulogy in which I was going to talk about the dedication and professionalism of Border Agents Caufield, Tighe, Purdy, and Estaban,” the President began, his voice cracking. “But I can’t read it. I didn’t know these men. My words might bring some comfort, coming from the President, but they’d be meaningless. These men were not my friends. They were public servants, guardians, protectors, law enforcement agents, and I am the President of the United States. Their bravery, professionalism, and dedication to duty have already been attested to by the men and women who knew them. I know that being a Border Patrol agent is a mostly lonely, difficult, and thankless job; unfortunately, it is also becoming a more dangerous one. They knew this, and still they went out into the deserts and did their duty. I thank these men and their families on behalf of our nation for their service, and I recognize that, ultimately, I am responsible for their deaths. I am their boss, their commander in chief in a sense, and I failed to adequately give them all the tools they needed to do their jobs.

“I know my words at this time and place probably don’t mean much to you right now, but that’s all I have to offer you, and I hope you’ll accept them,” the President went on, a tear rolling unbidden yet unchecked down his cheek. “I promise you that the deaths of these four fine men will not go unavenged. I promise I will act im
mediately to hunt down the killers and punish them. I further promise to do everything within my powers to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” With that, the President left the dais, shook hands and spoke a few words to each of the dead officer’s family members, and departed the stadium with an angry, taunt-jawed expression. The President’s aides and advisers had to scramble to keep up with him.

The President, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeffrey Lemke, and Customs and Border Protection Director James Abernathy were flown from the stadium by helicopter to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, then traveled by motorcade to the Domestic Air Interdiction Coordination Center, the joint Federal Air Administration–Customs Service–Air Force radar surveillance facility. After meeting with the facility director and his staff and getting a brief tour of the facility, they were led into a secure conference room, where a number of persons were waiting for them to arrive.

The first to address the audience was National Security Adviser Sergeant Major Ray Jefferson, who was already on hand when the President arrived. “Welcome, Mr. President, to this border security operational briefing,” he began. “This briefing is classified top secret, no foreign nationals, sensitive sources and methods involved, and the room is secure.

“This briefing concerns Operation Rampart. As directed by the President in Executive Order 07-23, Operation Rampart’s mission is the integration of military, paramilitary, government, and civil patrol and law enforcement agencies to completely secure the southern borders of the United States from illegal intrusion.

“According to my staff, sir, based on arrests per sector, agents per sector, local law enforcement statistics, and patrol patterns in each sector, we estimate that approximately seven hundred and eighty thousand persons per year successfully cross the southern borders at other than legal points of entry,” Jefferson went on. “Approximately one percent of those that cross the border are arrested. According to Customs and Border Protection statistics and
reports, the number of illegal border crossings is rising approximately two percent a year. In addition, illegals are becoming more desperate and more violent because of the economic situation in their home countries and the sophistication of surveillance in more populated areas.