Chapter 13: Takedown

I called Hector, and we went out before dark to set up our spying equipment around the water tank and Hubbard Lake 5; where the LSAs were landing and off loading the drugs. I had been told by Alan that the DEA and DPS labs confirmed the sample I obtained from the truck on that first night was the same basic formula that was showing up in San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Dallas. So we found a major source of the drugs being distributed along the I-35 corridor. They also thought that I was right in that they might be distributing it by using school buses along the interstate. School buses traveling on the interstate were very common as sports venues, band competitions, and class outings are almost a daily occurrence.

Hector had driven the old beater truck and boat, so we could look for the best spots to hide our cameras. We finally found a good spot to put the boat in on Lake 5 and looked around for good spots to set our cameras. We wanted the best vantage points to be able to see the LSA land and also the best places where we could see when they unloaded it.

We set our cameras and then returned to our fishing lake (Hubbard Lake 4) at the water tanks and I had my laptop and I pulled up the cameras. We could see everything we needed to, since we could see where there was a lot of traffic along the shore and the tracks of the ATVs running back and forth to the rickety dock. Then we went back and tried to see the cameras and it took us at least five minutes of intense looking before we spotted the cameras; and we knew where they were supposed to be. Once we finished with that task, we left and Hector dropped me off at home.

Home, wow man that sounded good. I hadn't really had a home since my wife left me before I started back to college for my first degree. Since then home was just some place I hung my hat and returned to when I was done with a job. That was just like in the military. There I had a room in the Bachelors Officer's Quarters (BOQ). At best it was just a temporary place to live between jobs, but now with Carin, home took on a whole new meaning. It was a place of warmth, of love, and a place of belonging. Someplace where I could rest and recharge from whatever I was doing outside of home. My place up near Sulphur Springs was a place I stored my antique cars and most of my clothing and keepsakes. But it wasn't a home, just a place I went to between jobs. A place where I could keep things I couldn't drag around with me all the time.

What a concept. A place I could call home just because someone else shared it with me: a person who wanted to share their life with me, just as much as I wanted to share my life with them. That was something I have missed for many years. Sure the comradery of a tight team of my military brothers was kind of like that. I mean we each loved each other in a manly and family sort of way, but even though the closeness of that family was there, it can't compare to the closeness I feel with Carin. The fact is I think the closeness and love that I have for Carin are even better, and more in tune than the love I had for Judy. I loved Judy, don't get me wrong, but the way I feel with Carin can't compare with anything I can ever remember. I have to admit; I am stricken, and I am totally in love with this woman called Carin Winslow.

For the next couple of weeks, Hector, Sam, and I did some fishing and downloading of video from the cameras on Hubbard Lake 5. We got excellent video of them unloading quite a lot of something. What we saw was bundles wrapped in plastic in what appeared to be about like ten-pound sacks of flour or sugar. We were pretty sure it wasn't sugar or flour that they were pulling out of the three pontoons and the cargo area of the LSA. The LSA looked like one of the Czech Sport Aircraft Sportcruiser craft with pontoons rather than the normal tricycle gear. This was one of the long-distance cruiser aircraft. I looked it up once I had the chance to see if I could figure out the range of this aircraft and maybe pinpoint its probable take-off point. The plane's range was six hundred-thirty miles and a possible load value of five hundred pounds. Since they always refueled the aircraft before it took off and with a muffled exhaust, except for take-off, I figured that he could be coming from almost anywhere in the Gulf and from Chihuahua, Torreon, or even Monterrey. That's a lot of territory to try to find a lake, river, or possibly a fishing boat to refuel him in the Gulf.

We needed much more information than we had, but we could tell that they were bringing in about five hundred pounds (227kg) of drugs in each time. Their schedule was every three days. We were lucky that first Friday night to catch them coming in then. Now we had to get more info, so the time was right to raid the group when they came in on their next run. We currently knew their schedule, and they always landed about three am and were gone by four.

I called Jeff and scheduled our raid for Sunday morning. We would go out in two vehicles and park them in the picnic area pull-off down by Hubbard Lake #1 just off State Highway 31. We could put dummies in the driver's seat, as lots of people pull in there to sleep for a couple of hours if they're driving all night. Once I told Jeff about that, he decided to get a semi and drive it instead; so we could keep all the people we captured or killed and get them out of the way. It made a lot of sense to me too.

We planned to be there at least by one Sunday morning, and we would get out of the truck, one by one, and walk down the road a little way and then go back through the fields and trees to Lake 5 to our preplanned locations. There were a lot of trees and bushes to be able to find hiding places around the lake. We, being Jeff and his five men: Lt James Thunder, SFC Ira Giddings, SGT Rodney Hayes, SGT Humphrey Banks, and SGT Lydia Burroughs. Then, there was Hector, Sam and I to round out to nine of us to take down what we could figure was eight men: a pilot, a truck driver, and five others that loaded and unloaded the drugs, and one guy who refueled the plane while everyone else helped with the unloading, except for the pilot. The pilot would usually stay in the plane, but sometimes he came out to walk around to work the kinks out from being cooped up for so long.

With the pilot getting out, it made me think that he had a long flight sometimes; so maybe they had more than one flight path and several origination points for his flights. We wanted to make sure that the pilot and the truck driver were spared from meeting their maker 'el Diablo'; I could almost guarantee that they wouldn't be meeting St. Peter. Then I found out that we would be using a new weapon.

The new weapon, called a PD-7 rifle, has a ten shell magazine. This enables the weapon holder multiple shots, in case of a miss. The maximum effective range is fifty yards, but is more accurate under thirty. This was going to be a new thing for me, and I wish we had this when I was still active. There were many times we could have used such a weapon, especially when we had to take someone alive.

We were all set for Saturday evening to gather at a spot on Navarro Mills Lake near Pelham, Texas. We found a nice turn around off County Road NW3280. It was a good boat landing area. We found that we could block off the road with signs saying the US Soil Conservation Service was doing biological testing and that the area would be closed off for two days. We put the signs up on Saturday afternoon after making sure that no one had dropped off their truck and trailer for a little fishing. Now we had to wait until tonight.

I kissed Carin good-bye and told her I would be back in a couple of days at most. There was something I had to do about my accident. The people I had to see were available now, I would talk to them about my accident, and be back as soon as I could.

"Henry, you be careful and come back to me in one piece. I have the feeling that where you are going and what you are going to do is very dangerous, but I know that you will do everything in your power to come home to me. So this is not good-bye, it's see you in a couple of days, okay?"