but Avery enjoyed hacking into other people’s computers the way some people enjoy working on crossword puzzles.
“Keep pouring on the fire!” General X-Ray encouraged his men. “Fire Team Leader! I’m still waiting for that status report on the wounded.”
“I think he’s going to be fine, General,” said Fire Team Leader Bravo. “Hopefully it’s just a concussion.”
“Well, I hope he doesn’t expect me to put him up for a battlefield commendation. Lose a limb, maybe, but not for a concussion.” A blinding light from above suddenly illuminated STRAC-BOM’s position. Violent winds buffeted the men as the whining of the helicopter’s engine and rotors bit through the air.
“This is the Mexican Army! Put down your weapons and place your hands on your heads. I repeat, this is the Mexican Army. Put down your weapons and place your hands on your heads, or we will open fire.”
“He’s bluffing, men. Hold your ground!” the General shouted to his men. A sniper from the helicopter fired a round over the top of General X-Ray’s head. “On the other hand…lay ’em down easy, boys. They’ve got us surrounded…again…shit.”
“Where are the rest of our damn men?” the Padre asked.
“Our communication network is down,” Carnicero said. “We can’t reach them to coordinate anything, but we’re pushing the soldiers back.”
“You’ve got to get me to the tunnel in the barn!” the Padre yelled at Carnicero.
“We’ve driven them back from the courtyard. I think I can get you there. What about the people in the safe room?”
“I don’t give a damn about them. Leave them. Just get me out of here!”
“I promise, Padre. All you men,” Carnicero yelled to his cartel gunmen, “on the count of three, fire everything you have. Give us cover until we can get the Padre to the tunnel. Padre, are you ready?” He looked at his savior, his father.
“Yes, my son.”
“Then stay down and follow me. Men! Do it now!” Carnicero’s men unleashed a hail of automatic weapons fire.
“Keep watching that door!” El Coyote yelled to Esmeralda as he reloaded his rifle. A few seconds later, El Coyote heard the massive boom of her long pistol.
“Don’t shoot! It’s me!” Private Zulu cried out as he stuck his head into the room.
“Get down!” Esmeralda yelled over the din of gunfire as the wall behind the private exploded with bullet holes. Zulu hit the deck and crawled on his belly to Esmeralda. Reaching her, he grabbed her leg and hung on for dear life. “Get off me! And stop looking up my skirt!”
Barquero and Cesar exited the front of the farmhouse. Quickly surveying the scene, Cesar could see that his men had been driven back to the north, near the fence close to a group of men prone on the ground with their hands on their heads.
“Where the hell are the ground troops?”
“There he is,” Barquero seethed as he saw the Padre and Carnicero sprinting across the open courtyard toward the barn. He took to one knee and fired his pistol until it was empty. He missed. He dropped the pistol. Halfway to the barn, Carnicero threw a grenade into the transport helicopter. Just as he and the Padre reached the barn doors, it exploded in flames. Cesar signaled to his men.
“Advance on the barn and the farmhouse,” he yelled. “We have to drive them back with everything we have.”
“Yes, Colonel,” one of his soldiers replied.
Ziggy slowly climbed to the top of the stairs, and got down on his belly and slithered through the main floor of the farmhouse. He cringed at the deafening gunfire and explosions. Bullets ripped through the wall in front of him and smashed out a window behind him. Crawling through the broken glass, he launched himself out the window. Bleeding from his knees, Ziggy looked up into the night sky as he pulled himself up. A sharp beam of light pierced the sky in a weaving pattern. Another explosion rocked the night as more gunfire erupted.
“Like, this is the worst flashback ever, dude.” He clamped his hands tightly over his ears and ran straight into the desert as fast as his sandaled feet could carry him.
Carnicero pulled the barn doors closed behind him. On the ground, three cartel soldiers lay covered in blood. Two were dead. One was semi-conscious.
“Get to the tunnel,” Carnicero said as he picked up one of the dead men’s AK-47. “I’ll be right behind you.” The Padre ran for a metal door at the far side of the barn. When he entered a code into the key panel on the wall, the door opened, and he disappeared.
“Take me with you,” the wounded man on the barn floor pleaded to Carnicero.
“I can’t. Stay here and hold them off until the Padre gets away.”
“I’m dying,” the bleeding man pleaded.
“Take this.” Carnicero pulled the pin on a grenade and handed it to him. “Don’t let go until they come in.” The man started to weep. Carnicero turned his back on him and ran to the truck parked in the barn. Quickly, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and pulled a rocket launcher from one of the crates in the back of the vehicle before following the Padre through the metal door.
Cesar and his men had pushed the remaining cartel soldiers back. Advancing on their position, the Padre’s men began to lay down their weapons and put their hands behind their heads.
“Breach the barn door!” Cesar ordered two of his men. The men took positions on either side of the doors before one kicked them in. A second later, an explosion threw the body of one of the commandos back out into the courtyard. The other rolled on the ground screaming. “No!” Cesar cried as he unloaded his magazine into the barn. Barquero sprinted barefoot across the yard to the barn. As he reached the doors, he dove inside. Rolling as he came up, he scanned the interior for targets. Everyone was dead, and the Padre was gone. Barquero saw the open metal door at the far end of the barn. He approached it cautiously. Entering the room beyond, he walked through the vast rows of tables filled with drugs being prepared for shipment. A trapdoor in the floor led to some kind of passage. Barquero climbed down the ladder into darkness. At the bottom, a string of electric lights in the ceiling of a low tunnel pointed south of the compound. Stooping down, he slowly followed the sound of footsteps in the distance.
“General Morales, I have confirmation that the fighting has mostly stopped and that our ground troops are just now arriving on the scene.”
“Is Colonel Beltran all right, Sergeant?”
“Yes, he’s with his men. They have three casualties and five more wounded, two critical, but the cartel’s resistance has been neutralized. Many killed, only a few prisoners.”
“What about the Padre?”
“No word yet if he is dead or captured.”
“Get medical evacuation in there now.”
“Wait a minute… General, look here.”
“What is it?”
“Right there.” The Sergeant pointed to the heat signatures on his monitor. “South of the compound. Two individuals. I have no idea where they came from. They just popped up.”
“Get the chopper over there.”
“General, helo one-niner was destroyed at the landing zone.”
“What about the little bird?”
“Still online.”
“Get it over there now!”
