Chapter 94

After the calls, I went back to looking at the progress reports that were coming in. The campsite at Apple 1 was nearly complete. The bulldozer made quick work getting rid of the small trees and bramble between the runway and the pipeline.

The converted buses were easily parked in a row back far enough not to be seen and the food, shower and bathroom trucks were in the middle with ten buses on each side.

Poles, barbed wire and Concertina razor wire made several small compounds for prisoners - as they needed them. A small tent and army cots for ten in each compound. A 40 pound steel ball - courtesy of Texas Steel - with chain and ankle shackle ensured they would not go far or fast. A porta-potty was as good as they were going to get.

I didn’t think we would capture that many prisoners but each site now had ten. Tomorrow I would start trying to extract information from them.

Jim Jordan was pleased with the setup at Apple 1 and sent the bulldozer to Baker 2. The extra one hundred miles further away was making them run late on setup. Baker 2 was completed at dusk.

Things were on for an uneasy night. Andy, Paul Drake and Albert Simms were going to split the night up monitoring in the command center. I tried to force myself into the mix but they would not hear of it.

The girls left for the motor home at 2100. I stayed until 2300 and went to join them. Six could sleep comfortably in the big motor home and I did sleep.

At 0600 we were making breakfast. When I finished I went to the command center to see how many were there. I texted Marcy that I needed three more meals with eggs, ham, bacon and toast.

The night had turned out interesting. The bulldozer had made the parking site for the buses and logistics far from the runway and close to the pipeline at Baker 2. There was woods separating the camp from the runway.

Three drug planes had made their last landings at Baker 2. We had more drugs, pilots, the planes and money. They had just gotten one cleared away and an hour later another would show up on Brownsville military Doppler radar, thought to inbound.

The command center was called and the camp alerted. We had learned from our earlier ventures in Mexico that the cartel planes wanted to see headlights flash on the flyover and then illuminate the runway with their headlights in the direction they were to land. We also knew that someone was to come and meet each plane to make the exchange of drugs for money. Larry was waiting.

Larry had six beat-up Toyota pickups and jeeps that came to make the exchange with cell phones, more money and more prisoners.

Lorrie wanted to look at the planes before we allowed the DEA to take them. That was OK but not going to be worth her effort. The planes would have been stripped, no seating, only one radio, the rest of the electronics gone so they could carry more drugs and no records. Getting ownership would be challenge, even if they were worth it.

The girls and I rode to Apple 1 in a MRAP. I quickly remembered just how damn rough these things rode. Going to Apple 1 would be enough.

We had just arrived at Apple 1 when a new nuisance showed up - small drones. I suspected they were various news services. They were the new news scoop tools. For us they could be deadly, first we were flying aircraft in and out of Apple 1 and Baker 2. If one of these were to hit a plane or helicopter at a critical moment, they could down either of them.

The other issue was they could be the cartel looking for their planes, drugs or missing people or else looking at the layout of our camps for attack.

In the US it was illegal to fly a drone near an airport. There were no such laws in Mexico. If there were, there was no one to enforce them. It was also illegal to destroy and damage a drone in the US even if it was involved in illegal activity.

But this was not the US! ‘‘Jim, I think there were some 10 gauge Browning automatic goose special shotguns packed with the spare hardware. Shoot down every drone you see as soon as you see it, starting now,’’ I said.

‘‘Yes there were - we have been using them on the rattlesnakes and the copperheads,’’ Jim said.

A couple minutes later there were no drones flying - only junk on the ground.

‘‘See if they have any identifying information on them,’’ I instructed.

We left in two Blackhawks for Baker 2. I had called Eric again to send agents to pick up the drugs seized last night. I wanted to get there before they did to see for myself the drugs, money and prisoners. Lorrie wanted to look at the planes.

I was told they would be at the camp at 13:00. We were there at 11:00.

The planes were out of sight, pushed into the edge of the tree line. The drugs were still stacked in boxes where the seats should have been. Grocery store bags full of money were from the previous stops. With the amount of money, it was apparent that this was the last stop.

The same was true in the other two planes. We were still looking through the planes when the DEA arrived. I was surprised to see Eric and Marty Coeburn were with them.

The agents started loading the drugs into two helicopters as I dumped the bags of money on the ground then re-bagged it. There were stacks of twenty’s, fifties and one hundred dollar bills all banded together.

I wanted to make sure there were no drugs in the bags and look for anything that could identify who was going to receive it in the end.