Chapter 2

In theory, Lisa and I were in Costa Rica enjoying some time away from our employment duties, but with Tina's help, we had successfully raided a dangerous and lethal drug cartel headquarters and eliminated the top man and most of his lieutenants.

Lisa and Tina were so jazzed about doing some bad guys in that they were hard at work researching another cartel that was causing problems in the States.

Steve called me the next morning and told me a stress counselor from the Marshals' Service had come by to interview me, so he had set up an aircraft to fly her down for my interview. He said he hoped that didn't take away from any of my plans.

It actually gave Lisa and Tina another day to go over what we needed to observe at the southern Mexico location. They were apprehensive because of the lack of good intelligence on the place and what we could be up against if we were to go there.

The stress counselor was very nice once she arrived. When she asked me how I was able to have access to a place such as we were at, I replied: "I invested everything I had into an organization that built the resort on the other two islands a while ago. The lady who owned this island thought I would be the right person to manage this one, so I worked out a way for this island to support the resort activities on the other two islands. So far, so good, as we've been able to generate income locally by growing vegetables and beef for the resorts."

The counselor asked, "So you don't need to work for the Marshals' Service any longer?"

I sighed, "Not really, but they helped me when I was released from the Marine Corps and helped me stay alive while they cleaned up a local mess where I lived. I owe them. I need to remain a Deputy so I can continue to assist whenever and wherever they need me. I've been able to respond all over the US so far, and I want to continue doing that."

The lady asked, "How do you justify how many terminal incidents you've had?"

I looked at the lady over my coffee mug, and told her, "If you look at each incident, and most are recorded on video, you'll see that all of them are justified. Most are defensible just by my having to keep those around me alive. I don't like killing. I will kill when it's them or me, and I will kill when it's my people or them. There often is no other way to disarm those who intend to kill those around me. They have to be stopped, and as cruel as it may seem, making them dead protects my people. There's just no way to shoot them and keep them alive."

When our interview concluded, she asked me, "Can you review your activities over the last few years, and the incidents you have been involved in, and ask yourself where you might have been able to keep from a deadly confrontation?"

I told her, "Tell you what. You give me the incidents and I'll write a story about each of them and how I made that decision. I have second thoughts every time there's an incident about what I might have done to keep it from becoming a terminal incident. You ask, I'll tell all. I'll never forget the minutes those incidents lasted, or maybe should I say I'll never forget each second of those incidents. "Like I told you, "I don't like to have to have any terminal incidents."

The lady was satisfied and said she would e-mail me a list of incidents she was interested in. I invited her after the interview was over to stay at the resort for a nice supper and a room there. She could go back to the States the next day, or stay for a day and enjoy the resort if she wanted to. To make sure this counselor received the most for her visit, I called the resort and made sure she was provided a day at the spa before she returned to the DC drudgery. She'd just think it was part of her stay and wouldn't know I had made sure she was treated royally.

It never hurts to grease the wheel.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Tina had been busy gathering intelligence and orchestrating satellite overflights that made it possible for them to come up with activity time lines at both locations. They had been able to discover helicopters under the netting at the Mexican location. They also were able to put together that most of the staff shuttled between both locations, so if the leaders were in Panama, the Mexican location was short-staffed, and the reverse was true. We had to decide which location would be good to hit when we wanted to inflict damage. We had to consider the collateral damage to innocent residents, but everyone in the compounds knew how they were being supported.

Lisa and Tina took me into the game room after supper that night, and sat with me. Lisa said, "We've determined the Panama location has Bell 412s, and that could be good. We might be able to get dropped near there, do the deed, and then use their helicopters to get home. The range is within reason and it wouldn't be far if we had to swim."

Tina was giggling at that.

I had to ask, "Ah, how close would it be, Lisa?"

Lisa had a map in front of her and looked up to answer, "If the 412 is full of fuel, which it should be, and is in decent shape, we should be able to have a range of about four hundred fifty miles, and it's around three seventy five back here."

Knowing this was different than their previous plan, I asked, "So you're thinking we should hit Panama while they're up in Mexico?"

Lisa turned to me, grinned, and said, "We should do Panama, then go to Mexico and do it while everyone moves back to Panama to see what happened there. They'll get the idea that they are under attack and be susceptible to another attack down there. I want to plan three separate hits, bang, bang, bang, and do the last two while they're in a confused state."

We went over the timeline several times, trying to decide how best to do what we wanted. Lisa did have the best idea and a good schedule. We'd have to make sure we were correct about what defenses were there, and where they would be when we began.

Lisa and I flew Mark's enhanced light sport with its extended range to Panama the next morning, landing about twenty miles from our target. The locals at the little grass airport were happy to see us and displayed their knowledge of English to us. We told them we were tourists and wanted to wander around the countryside. It made it possible to rent motor scooters that took us near to where the compound was located.

We rode by the defenses and saw that two men guarded each entrance. We figured that only one man would guard the entrances when the main group went to Mexico. We wouldn't attack, and try to come up with another plan, if we found that wasn't the case.

We were able to look down into the area from on top of a hillside away from the compound, and attempted to count the number of men in the area. There were a lot of men at this location, but we figured they were primarily there to protect the head of the cartel.

We needed to be around to watch when the main group went north to Mexico. It would be nice to go ahead with our plan, but it was best to be safe.

Lisa and I watched until it was time to get back to fly home. The locals were friendly and told us they would look for us to come back. We learned there was even a commuter flight that came through there daily and usually was nearly full.

After refueling, we told the local folks we sometimes flew a King Air from Limon. They told us that there were always people who wanted to go to Limon, but didn't want to pay for the trip to the Costa Rican capital, then out to Limon. We were told that we might be able to cover our fuel cost if we were to fly the King Air.

Lisa began planning with Tina. They watched the satellite scans daily until Lisa told me, "It looks like there's a lot of activity at the Panama site. It appears they're getting ready to move operations. Several trucks have left the compound and were on the way to the airport where it looked like five cargo aircraft are waiting. Lisa was linked to a satellite, and recorded what looked like Bell 412s, loading personnel to go to the airport on its next pass. The pass wasn't long enough to observe the trip and return to the compound, but it did tell us the staff at Panama was severely reduced.

Tina made a suggestion; "The non-combatants will probably make a trip to the nearest city in the morning, so we should make our hit while they're gone to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. We want to destroy any drug caches they have, as well as all of the equipment possible, except what we use to leave. We'll take two small scooters with us and abandon them there or in the jungle away from the target."

I added to the plan, "I'll fly us out of there in one of their helicopters, and Lisa will fly the King Air back. I'll bring the 412 back here and we'll figure out a way to make it legal where we are."

Lisa and Tina looked at each other, and we all agreed. We then went over the CIA floor plans, and then decided how we would attack the compound and what we wanted do while we were there.

We needed to be ready for the two follow-up operations, have plans for Mexico, and the quick turnaround to get the main cartel leaders back in Panama. This was going to be three quick hits that would become increasingly more dangerous.

Lisa asked me, "Would you feel better about leaving Tina here? I think she'll be an asset and I have worked with her to become better at recognizing how drugs are stored and how these folks like to store explosives."

I pulled them both to me, "I love you both beyond what anyone could know. I want you both safe, but I know how you crave the same excitement I crave. Let's go get them. I think that if we fly in this evening, get to the compound for an early morning hit, we can be back here by the afternoon, and be going toward Mexico before dark. We need to hit Mexico, and then turn right around and trash Panama one last time to eliminate the leaders. Let's do it."

We packed the LSA, instead of the King Air, with what would be needed; knowing that a little aircraft like this wouldn't draw as much attention. It could haul the three of us, since this had the increased horsepower engine that Mark and Abe were testing. We might have been a little heavy because we had enough firepower to wage a small war.

We were in for a surprise when we landed; there was only a night attendant. He was able to rent us the scooters we needed, and quickly went back into a hangar without noticing that we loaded up with rifles before leaving.

We now knew where the defenses were when we arrived at the compound, and began taking them out one at a time. I let Lisa and Tina off at the first site, before going on around to the two other sites. The first man on my side was dozing, so he was easy. The second man must have been new as he was constantly looking around. I finally screwed my silencer on and put a round into him from twenty yards out.

I met the girls at the back of the compound as we had planned. They were to corral the women and children that were still on site, and keep them in the living quarters while I went through the men's living quarters and delivered what destruction was necessary.

The first door I came to was a mystery; I knew it bordered the barracks, but didn't know what was on the other side. I was ready as I pushed the door open after turning the doorknob, though. Four men looked up at me; they were sitting at a table cleaning their weapons. I still had the silencer on my Glock and quickly finished those four.

After searching around the guards' living quarters and offices, I knew the only people left would be at the helicopter hangars.

I was met by Tina as I moved from the main building. She said, "Lisa has the women and children settled in their common area. I'll help you get a helicopter."

The outer doors to the hangar were open and two helicopters were sitting near the doors. Two more were behind them, but both of those had their maintenance covers off. I figured on helping with the maintenance problems.

Knowing the crews and maintenance people would still be there, I went through the hangars until I found an attached building that apparently led to the crew quarters. I was able to see the entire room by pushing the door inward an inch, and saw four men in flight suits, and six in greasy coveralls. This was going to be easy, as all of them were sitting around a couple of tables with booze bottles on them. It appeared they had been steadily drinking since they returned with their two aircraft.

I told Tina, "Go get Lisa. We're going to take both of the helicopters out front and destroy the other two. Have Lisa make sure the women and children don't come out from where they are so they remain safe. Now run; I'm going to take care of the men inside."

Tina took off, sprinting toward the main building. I went into the room with the near drunks when she was almost to the main building, and hollered, "Hola!"

All of them stopped and looked up at me, surprised. One of the men in a flight suit began digging for a weapon. I quickly popped him to keep the others from doing anything dumb.

One man asked in English, "Are you going to kill us?"

The others around him all had their hands out from their bodies and looked at me with the same question.

"No, I won't kill you, but you will be tied up until we leave. All of you lie face down with your hands behind your back. Don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine."

As they all lay on the ground, one man went for his weapon in a pocket of his jumpsuit. I dropped him where he was when his weapon was out of his pocket. As I shook my head, I asked, "Please don't make me do that again. I'll use these ties to hold your hands together. Don't get too eager to go back out to the hangar while we make it explode. Now, let me get you safe and comfortable."

One of the men who spoke English whispered to me as I wrapped his hands, "Thank you for not just killing us. I'm out of here because they will kill us anyway when they hear how you took us the way you did. Can you use a good mechanic?"

I told him, "Probably, but you'll have to come to the States and apply. Look around down here and see what you can find. Good mechanics are always needed."

When all of them were trussed up and sitting comfortably, I went to a locker that had a big red "X" on it and opened it up. It was full of explosives. I pulled ten – five kilogram packages of what appeared to be a form of C-4 from the locker that was packed full. I pulled enough detonators to handle everything before I put one into one of the packages in the cabinet, knowing it would destroy everything around.

I stopped in the area where the men were trussed up and suggested, "You might want to lie face down. You might not want to be sitting up when this goes off."

They knew what I was talking about and suspected I might blow everything. They all were squirming around trying to get on their stomachs and as far away from the door as possible.

It took me only a couple of minutes to put five kilos of C-4 with detonators set at thirty minutes on each of the two helicopters that were down for maintenance. I was pushing the second 412 out of the hangar when Lisa ran up to me and asked, "What's the new deal?"

I told her, "We're both going to fly one of these back to our island. We have to get out of here as we only have about twenty minutes before this place goes boom. I've checked both of these out and both are full of fuel. Let's get."

Lisa and Tina ran to the other helicopter and were strapping in as I spooled up the one I was in. I kept running over in my mind whether or not I had set the detonators on all of the explosives for thirty minutes.

My helicopter immediately spooled up. I let it warm up while checking gauges and trying to familiarize myself with whatever instruments were different than what I was used to. I glanced over at Lisa to see she was looking at me. She nodded and began lifting off. I followed, lifting and turning to be off to her left.

Chapter 3 »