the government.
“If the informant is right, and there are at least twenty Los Zetas soldiers there, I’d say fifty Federales , along with the GAFE group, should be sufficient. I’d want to pound the building with the armored division before trying to go in, though. No point in risking men if we’re moving on them frontally. But I want to go on record saying I’m uncomfortable, based on the surveillance feed from the water tower so far. I question whether there’s solid enough evidence to warrant a full blown incursion,” Ricardo concluded.
Cruz frowned and nodded. “Noted. But the decision has been made. I ran it up the chain of command, and everyone agrees that we need to move quickly. We’ve interrogated the informant for hours and his story hangs together. He’s got no reason to feed us lies – he knows it will go far harder on him if the information is spurious. It’s been made clear in unmistakable terms.” Cruz pointed at the white board with a diagram of the target on it. “Consider this an active operation. I want to hit at eleven tonight. Round up the necessary manpower and get me a list of whatever hardware and vehicles we’ll need. I think we plan to ram through the front gates if the security crew doesn’t open up on the first demand, blow the iron gates on the target area, then rush the building, assuming there’s no defensive fire. If anyone starts shooting at us, we let them have it with both barrels from the armored units until there’s no further resistance. Then our men move in. I’ll leave you with Lieutenant Briones to sort out the logistics. But plan on mobilizing in,” Cruz glanced at his watch, “six and a half hours. Refer any questions directly to me.”
The meeting continued once Cruz had left the room, anxious to coordinate the armed forces support. It would be a long remainder of the day – these types of operations demanded at least two more lengthy meetings with the general and his staff, as well as the other armed forces heads. Cruz went to the restroom and rinsed off his face with cool water, trying to rally some adrenaline for the marathon to come. If he was lucky, it would be over by one a.m. and he could be in bed by four. That was assuming no complications.
And there were inevitably complications.
He moved to his office and called Dinah with the bad news. It looked like it would be another all-nighter. She was understanding, but concerned. He assured her that he wasn’t going to be in the firefight, instead running the operation from a safe distance. That mollified her, but Dinah’s parting words were still tense, her tone uneasy.
His personal life attended to, he punched up the number for the general on his computer. He peered at the digits and nodded.
It was time to go to war.
Chapter 10
El Rey sat patiently waiting for Hector and his nameless helpers to arrive with the weapons. He’d carefully packed the newly-acquired clothes in a duffel they’d provided and had busied himself poring over the files on the kidnapping, the demand call to the president, and all the intelligence on the suspected whereabouts of key Sinaloa cartel figures.
There were hundreds of pages, but in the end, not much of value. And the clock was ticking. By his estimation, he had four and a half days left before he hit the point where he would require the booster shot, and he hadn’t walked out the door yet. Why it was taking so long to gather the materials he needed likely had something to do with securing them in an untraceable manner. His urgent demands for results that morning had been met with assurances that he’d have everything by five, including a plane and anything else he needed. He suspected that the passport had also presented a more substantial hurdle than they’d been prepared for.
Rather than fighting with Hector over the timing, he preferred to use his time productively, but his patience was wearing thin. Nobody knew where Aranas was, and
“If the informant is right, and there are at least twenty Los Zetas soldiers there, I’d say fifty Federales , along with the GAFE group, should be sufficient. I’d want to pound the building with the armored division before trying to go in, though. No point in risking men if we’re moving on them frontally. But I want to go on record saying I’m uncomfortable, based on the surveillance feed from the water tower so far. I question whether there’s solid enough evidence to warrant a full blown incursion,” Ricardo concluded.
Cruz frowned and nodded. “Noted. But the decision has been made. I ran it up the chain of command, and everyone agrees that we need to move quickly. We’ve interrogated the informant for hours and his story hangs together. He’s got no reason to feed us lies – he knows it will go far harder on him if the information is spurious. It’s been made clear in unmistakable terms.” Cruz pointed at the white board with a diagram of the target on it. “Consider this an active operation. I want to hit at eleven tonight. Round up the necessary manpower and get me a list of whatever hardware and vehicles we’ll need. I think we plan to ram through the front gates if the security crew doesn’t open up on the first demand, blow the iron gates on the target area, then rush the building, assuming there’s no defensive fire. If anyone starts shooting at us, we let them have it with both barrels from the armored units until there’s no further resistance. Then our men move in. I’ll leave you with Lieutenant Briones to sort out the logistics. But plan on mobilizing in,” Cruz glanced at his watch, “six and a half hours. Refer any questions directly to me.”
The meeting continued once Cruz had left the room, anxious to coordinate the armed forces support. It would be a long remainder of the day – these types of operations demanded at least two more lengthy meetings with the general and his staff, as well as the other armed forces heads. Cruz went to the restroom and rinsed off his face with cool water, trying to rally some adrenaline for the marathon to come. If he was lucky, it would be over by one a.m. and he could be in bed by four. That was assuming no complications.
And there were inevitably complications.
He moved to his office and called Dinah with the bad news. It looked like it would be another all-nighter. She was understanding, but concerned. He assured her that he wasn’t going to be in the firefight, instead running the operation from a safe distance. That mollified her, but Dinah’s parting words were still tense, her tone uneasy.
His personal life attended to, he punched up the number for the general on his computer. He peered at the digits and nodded.
It was time to go to war.
Chapter 10
El Rey sat patiently waiting for Hector and his nameless helpers to arrive with the weapons. He’d carefully packed the newly-acquired clothes in a duffel they’d provided and had busied himself poring over the files on the kidnapping, the demand call to the president, and all the intelligence on the suspected whereabouts of key Sinaloa cartel figures.
There were hundreds of pages, but in the end, not much of value. And the clock was ticking. By his estimation, he had four and a half days left before he hit the point where he would require the booster shot, and he hadn’t walked out the door yet. Why it was taking so long to gather the materials he needed likely had something to do with securing them in an untraceable manner. His urgent demands for results that morning had been met with assurances that he’d have everything by five, including a plane and anything else he needed. He suspected that the passport had also presented a more substantial hurdle than they’d been prepared for.
Rather than fighting with Hector over the timing, he preferred to use his time productively, but his patience was wearing thin. Nobody knew where Aranas was, and
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