Chapter 101

Merry Christmas!

Andy and crew were planning the next active part of the operation as well as keeping an eye on the Bull.

The plan for the march west on the pipeline from Tampico to Puerto Vallarta was eighty percent complete with the new base sites planned and in the works. Another five hundred of the on call group were already at Fort Dean, working off their armchair fat and beer elbows.

With the Bull apparently coming back, Andy moved more men and specialized equipment into the area to be able to take advantage when he showed.

Andy asked me, ‘‘How badly do you want the Bull?’’

The Doc had interrogated the two men that were transporting the two girls across the border. They were paid twenty five hundred dollars apiece to kidnap and deliver them to a San Antonio client by the Bull. They were selling them to their friends along the way. They made the trip every month with two new girls.

Yeah, I wanted the Bull. He and those two were going to be the first to face the security zone justice system. I had it all planned out. I would appoint a three man tribunal to read the evidence against all accused and pass verdict.

Then my appointed appellate judge would review the charges, verdict and sentence (there was only one sentence) and I could override his decision.

At 0600 the next morning the trap door on the gallows would open, carrying out the sentence. A crematorium was being built not far from the gallows; I didn’t want anyone to hurt their back by carrying a body too far.

I had no compassion for traffickers - drug or human - they would all swing. There would be no repeat offenders and no crying do-gooders begging for leniency. No three squares, TV or lawyers.

‘‘I want him - but I don’t want to lose any men unnecessarily, so have a good plan,’’ I said dumping it in his lap.

Part of the equipment was more Air Tractor 802s. Since Melinda and Hanna’s reports and coverage, Air Tractor has suddenly become very aggressive as a supplier and very cooperative.

They had sent techs to inspect the air frames and turbines once already and then scheduled another visit. Their salesman called Robbie or Lorrie nearly every other day, asking just how things were working out and what we needed, how they could help.

Andy had questioned that towards the middle phase of the project we might be light on air cover. The planes worked better than the Blackhawk for general survey missions.

They were quieter and arrived faster without the telltale thump-thump of rotor blades. When you heard the turbine, they were already over you. The big plus was they didn’t need the detailed inspections every time they returned from flying. The Air Tractor could be refueled, rearmed with a fresh pilot and fly for several days. We had done it.

Lorrie agreed and Air Tractor pulled a dozen air frames from the crop duster line and sent them to the military conversion line. It was the same air frame with reinforcements and armament mounts added. Robbie would be taking delivery about the time they were needed and about the time the ones we had needed major inspections.

Charles and Milton spent the rest of the week in the Middle East. They flew home on Sunday. On Monday I had a meeting with Andy, the command group and with Charles and Milton.

Based on the contracts and promises we would have three patrol craft from the German company, three from the Israeli company and four from Texas ship building in forty five days

The two already completed and the other four would make up a freighter load out of the Marine Terminal at Beaumont Texas. It would transit the ocean and the ships would unloaded at the Israeli seaport of Haifa.

The three from Germany would be sent via barge to Haifa, meeting up with the three from the Israeli manufacturer. The twelve would go through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, then through the Arabian Strait to the Strait of Hormuz as a group. They would be armed out before they left Israel.

All this should happen in a forty five to sixty day time frame.

I ordered Charles and Milton to go back to the Middle East after we had rated the sites one thru four, based on the amount of work needed to make them fully operational. They understood that one site needed to be ready for the patrol craft in forty five days with no exceptions.

‘‘I want work going on at all four sites and you two are in charge of it. Andy will assign you to someone in his command structure. You are to report regular updates and request anything that you need,’’ I said.

“Is this going to violate the court orders on what we are allowed to do?’’ Charles asked.

‘‘No, it specifically falls into one of the gray areas we had the attorneys place into the agreement. You are not directly supervising security employees. You are site management and development,” I said.

A nod and a knowing smile said all that needed to be said.

The update from Bobs Construction was interesting. The two six hundred by thirty foot slabs were down and they were working on the slabs for the kitchen, court and office part that joined the two slabs together.

It had taken all the concrete from four Brownsville concrete plants for two days. It had taken a bonus of twenty dollars a yard on seven hundred yards to get that kind of cooperation on short notice.

They were now pouring concrete into the forms every day. On Monday they would start setting them up and tying them together with the pre-form wall sections. The delivery of the center truss sections would start on Wednesday.

Block and brick crews from Brownsville and Matamoros were laying the block for the front sections of the building and the crematorium, although they did not know what they were building.

I left the rest to Andy to take a private call from the White House. It was an awareness call from the President and Secretary of State - the Vice President was ill and needed reduced duties. There were important conferences taking place in Belgium.