THE GREED FACTOR: A NICK BRACCO THRILLER--CHAPTER 9

                                                      Chapter 9

 

            The sun had already set when the helicopter hovered over the drop point in the desert next to a Border Patrol SUV.  As the chopper leveled out and dropped to the open patch of dirt, Nick pulled open the door and handed the pilot the three communication headsets.

            “Thanks, buddy,” Nick said to the pilot, then hopped onto the moist desert floor.  The rain had subsided, but the ground was still patched up with a few standing puddles.

            Matt and Dane followed Nick as he reached the two Border Patrol agents and held out his hand to a tall, lean agent with a thick curly mustache.

            “Long time, Hal,” Nick said to the smiling man.

            “Good to see you, Nick,” Hal Dixon said. 

            The helicopter’s rotors increased its velocity and the group turned their back to the chopper as it spit up pieces of the desert around them. 

            Once the chopper was airborne, Hal pointed to his partner and said, “Jessie Martinez.”

            They all introduced themselves and Hal said, “We can take you through a compromised section of the border, but once you’re inside Mexico, you’re on your own.”

            “That’s all we ask,” Nick said as nightfall closed in around them.

            Hal looked up to the sky as if waiting for another chopper.  “Where are the rest of you?”

            “It’s just us,” Nick said.

            Hal raised his eyebrows, then shrugged.  “All right then, let’s go.”

            They all got in the SUV, Hal driving and his partner in the driver’s seat.  Nick and Matt sandwiched Dane in the back seat.  Hal drove slowly through the desert avoiding cacti and sagebrush as they headed south.

            Hal looked at Nick through the rear view mirror.  “So you think you’ll get to Reynoso?”

            “That’s the plan,” Nick said.

            “You know he’s not easily found.”

            “It’s okay,” Nick said, looking at Dane.  “He’ll find us.”

            Hal nodded.  “I see.  You’re bringing bait.”

            Dane looked at everyone staring at him.  “What?  You told me that you were escorting me to that bar.  Right?”

            “We didn’t use the word escort,” Nick informed him.  “We said you would take us to the bar.  Once inside, you’ll be spotted and Reynoso will be notified.”

            “Then what?”

            “We’ll figure it out.”

            “Wait,” Dane said.  “You don’t have a plan?”

            “Oh, we have a plan.  We’re just going to discuss it with you.”

            “Why not?” Dane asked with an innocent tone.

            No one answered as the SUV meandered through the desert, the headlights knifing through the night in front of them.  A pair of yellow eyes glowed from behind a bush.

            “W-w-what’s that?” Dane asked.

            “Coyote,” Hal said.

            Dane swiveled his head to examine what else might be waiting for him out there.

            “Relax,” Hal said.  “If you’re going into Reynoso’s bar, coyotes are the least of your worries.”

            “Thanks,” Nick said sarcastically.  “He needed a pep talk.”

            The SUV rolled over one final lump of dirt, then came to a stop in the middle of the desert.

            Hal pointed out the front windshield.  “That’s our entry point.”

            Nick couldn’t see anything but desert landscape. 

            Hal pulled a large handheld spotlight from his console, then left the SUV running and got out of the car.  He walked into the path of his headlights and Nick and Matt jumped out to follow.  Martinez stayed with the vehicle.  As they walked along the packed earth, Nick looked over his shoulder and saw Dane lingering in the back seat.  He curled his finger for the kid to follow them.

            Dane stepped out of the SUV like a sheep in a den of wolves.  He took tepid steps toward the group.

            Hal aimed his spotlight at a metal plate that was painted tan to blend in with the desert floor.  He bent over and yanked up on a latch and the plate hinged up exposing a giant four foot wide opening.

            “A tunnel?” Nick asked.

            Hal pointed the spotlight down into the dark aperture.  “We just discovered it last week.”

            “Why not fill it in?” Dane asked as he approached the group.

            Nick and Matt stared at the kid who clearly knew very little about catching criminals.  There was so much more to gain from tagging a smuggler once he’s inside the country, than forcing him to find a new entrance.  Informants could be nurtured into offering much more than a single arrest.  Controlling the border was always big picture.   

            Hal shined the spotlight on the interior wall closest to them and exposed the top rung of a metal ladder leading into the tunnel. 

            Matt pulled his Glock from his holster and stepped toward the opening.  “Okay.  Let’s go.”  He crouched, then stepped down onto the metal railing, taking slow methodical steps down. 

            “You have a flashlight?” Hal asked.

            “Yes sir,” Matt said.

            Nick watched Matt reach the bottom of the steps under Hal’s spotlight.

            That’s when the first gunshot was fired.

 

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THE GREED FACTOR: A NICK BRACCO THRILLER--CHAPTER 8

                                                          Chapter 8

 

          The helicopter blew leaves and debris from the helipad while Nick, Matt and Dane ducked their heads and fought the airflow.  They lunged into the back of the chopper single file.  There were two sets of seats which faced each other.  Nick and Matt took the seats directly behind the pilot and Dane took one of the seats across from them.  The pilot handed Matt three pairs of headsets and Matt handed one to Nick and one to Dane.

            Once their headsets were in place, Nick pushed a button on the side of Dane’s set and said, “Can you hear me okay?”

            Dane could hear Nick through his headphones very well and he said, “Yes,” probably too loudly, compensating for the roar of the rotors.

            The pilot twisted around in his seat and patted Matt on the shoulder, then pointed to Dane.  “Strap him in.”

            Matt leaned over and pulled the proper harness from behind Dane and secured him into his seat, giving a short tug on the end strap until he was satisfied.

            Nick slammed the door shut, then gave the pilot a thumbs up.

            The helicopter slowly lifted from the ground and immediately began wobbling back and forth.

            “It’s going to be a bumpy ride,” the pilot said through the headset.  “I can’t get over these clouds.”

            Dane grabbed the bottom of his seat with a death grip and Nick held up his hand.

            “Relax,” Nick said gesturing to the pilot.  “Jason’s the best helicopter pilot in the Bureau.”

            “There’s only two of us,” the pilot said and Dane watched Nick and Matt try to suppress a grin.

            Dane’s stomach began to churn and the pilot raised the chopper high enough to turn it toward the ocean and step on the gas.  And that was before Dane even began to think about where they were going.

            “So,” Nick said, “let’s back up and start from the bar.  You were having drinks with a friend and then what happened?”

            The chopped bounced like a pickup truck on a dirt road.  As the nose of the chopper headed south over the shoreline, rain pelted the windshield.  Dane could see the road he was driving on when he began to flee the Border Patrol.

            “What’s going to happen to my car?” Dane asked.

            Nick looked disgusted.  “Really?” he said.  “That’s a concern?  Your car?”

            It forced Dane to think about where he was going and the plan they had devised to capture the Mexican in Tijuana.  A plan that sounded very dangerous and even life threatening.

            Dane shrugged.  These guys always had a way to make you feel like your problems are so inconsequential to their overall agenda. 

            “So?” Nick asked.  “The bar?”

            The chopper seemed to bounce higher and once it was over the ocean, it turned left to go south.  Dane found his hand clenching his midsection.

            “Well,” Dane said, “I was having drinks with this guy.”

            “Where was your friend?  The guy you came with?”

            “Oh, um, he left with a girl,” Dane said, avoiding the word prostitute at all costs.

            Nick circled his index finger as if to say, “Go ahead.”

            “Okay, so I was having shots of tequila with this guy.”

            “Which guy?  Reynoso?”

            “No, it was a different guy.  He was the one who asked if I wanted to make a quick ten thousand dollars.”

            “What did you say to that?”

            “I said I wasn’t about to have sex with a mule.”  Dane cracked a smile.

            Nick rolled his eyes and circled his finger again.

            “Well,” Dane added, “that’s when I asked what I had to do.”

            “And?”

            “He told me I just had to drive over the border with a package in the trunk of my car and they would pay me when I made it over.”

            “Uh huh.”

            “So I asked what kind of a package and he told me I wasn’t allowed to ask questions.  That was part of the deal.”

            “But you knew it was something illegal, right?”

            The helicopter jerked upward, then dropped down twenty feet like a giant hand was trying to push it into the sea.  Dane’s throat tightened with anxiety.

            “I don’t know what it was,” Dane said with as much innocence as he could muster.

            “Of course not.”  Nick deadpanned.  “Go ahead.”

            “So after a few more shots, the idea of a quick ten thousand dollars sounded appealing.”

            “What did your friend say about that?”

            Dane had forgotten about Jeff.  Suddenly aware that he might be in trouble.  “I didn’t tell him.  He was going to spend the night.”

            “Nice friend,” Matt chimed in.

            “Well, I didn’t know,” Dane said, clasping his seat.  “The bar is walking distance to the border.  I figured he would call me in the morning.”

            Nick and Matt both looked at him with sympathy in their eyes.

            “Wait,” Dane said.  “You don’t think he’s in danger, do you?”

            With a somber expression, Nick said, “Only if he’s still alive.”

              

           

           

THE GREED FACTOR: A NICK BRACCO THRILLER --CHAPTER 7

                                                        Chapter 7

 

            Nick and Matt huddled around Dane waiting for him to identify someone from their book of Border Patrol agents.  Nick sipped his cold coffee while Matt’s eyes drooped, fatigued from the early morning flight over from Arizona.

            “You didn’t get enough sleep last night?” Nick asked.

            Matt half-shrugged.

            “I presume it was a date?”

            “You should be a detective.”

            “I can’t afford it.”

            Matt kept his attention on Dane, who was shuffling through the picture book, like he was searching for a rare diamond.  Squinting at every other face.

            “I know it’s tough,” Nick said.  “Just pick out the ones that you’re sure of.”

            Dane stopped on one page and stared at an image with great intensity.  He moved his head to the side, then farther away from the book to get different perspectives.  Finally he pointed to a picture and said, “Yeah, that’s one of them.  He banged on the hood of my car and waved me through the opening in the fence.”

            Nick and Matt looked at each other with disgust on their faces. 

            Nick sighed, then stood up and ran a hand through his hair.

            Dane looked at Matt with a confused expression.  “What’s the matter?  I did what you wanted me to do.  Can’t I go now?  You can find this guy on your own.”

            Nick glanced at Matt and saw the revulsion running through his bloodstream.  Matt slammed the book shut so hard it startled Dane.  The kid jumped back in his seat, looking as innocent as possible.

            “So the problem is,” Matt said, tapping the closed binder.  “The guy you just indentified is FBI Agent Michael Ortiz.  He works out of our Minnesota branch.”

            Nick watched Dane’s shoulders slump with disappointment.  He looked like a kid caught stealing money from his dad’s wallet. 

            There was a prolonged silence while Dane seemed to come to terms with his situation.

            “See,” Matt said, “now we have to go straight back to the beginning with everything.  The trust.  The motive.  Your entire story is now up for interpretation.  I know you think you’re going to get over on us but we do this for a living.  We hear people lying to us every single day of our lives.  And you know how I can tell when you’re lying to us?’

            Dane meagerly attempted a shrug.

            “You open your mouth.”

            Dane’s expression told Nick he was looking for a way out of the door so he could run and hide and live another day. 

            “Look,” Nick said, taking over for Matt just to give the kid a different perspective.  “Those guys out front might’ve left our facility, but they’ll be waiting for you at your house.”

            Dane’s mouth opened.  “How would they know where I live?”

            “I told them.”

            Dane sat upright and looked at Matt.  “Can he do that?”

            “I don’t know,” Matt said.  “Let me look into it and get back to you.”

            Dan glanced at the security camera showing the empty street where the two supposed Mexicans had been waiting for him.  “If I show you where I crossed into the country, will you let me go?”

            “You’re much denser than I first suspected you were,” Matt said.

            Then a thought occurred to Nick.  He placed his hands on the table and leaned over Dane.  “You’re lying about the amount of money aren’t you?”

            “N-n-o,” Dane stuttered.  “I was supposed to get ten thousand dollars at the theatre.”

            “You said car wash.”

            “Yeah, that’s what I meant.  The car wash.”

            “Oh boy,” Matt said, shaking his head.  “We’re in a world of hurt partner.”

            Nick walked over to the door and shoved it so hard it bounced off the door stop and slammed back shut, then opened again.  He gestured toward the opening.  “Go!” he shouted.  “Get out.”

            Dane appeared dumbfounded.  Unsure of his newly acquired freedom.  Then he did the smartest thing he’d done all day.  He lowered his head and said, “I’ll tell you the truth.”

THE GREED FACTOR: A NICK BRACCO THRILLER--CHAPTER 6

                                                       Chapter 6

 

            Nick dropped a heavy binder onto the table and positioned it in front of Dane.  Matt was still next to the kid with his elbow on the table and hand holding up his chin.

            Dane looked confused as Nick opened the book to the first page and took a seat next to him, across from Matt.  The double team. 

            “What is this?” Dane asked looking at a couple of pages of faces in front of him.

            “Those are border patrol agents,” Nick explained.  “You told us the case was placed into the trunk of your car and then you crossed the border on a dirt road in the middle of the night.  Is that correct?”

            “Sure, yeah that’s how it happened.”

            “Good,” Nick said, easing the boy into the development.  “So as you drove onto this dirt road, there was a man, maybe several men who ushered you through the border.  They may have had rifles or machine guns draped across their shoulder.”

            A flicker of recognition ignited Dane’s face.  “Yeah, but there weren’t any border patrol guys around.”

            “They wouldn’t be wearing their uniforms for this particular event.”

            “You mean those guys weren’t Reynoso’s Men?”

            “Yes they were, but they were also border patrol agents.”  Nick pointed to the book of faces and said, “Just look at these and see if any of them are familiar.”

            Dane examined the first page of the photos with a blank stare.  “I don’t know, man.  This doesn’t seem right.  You’re telling me that Reynoso hires border patrol to smuggle things across the border?”

            Matt gently patted the kid on the side of the arm.  “You’re starting to get it, dude.”

            Dane frowned.  “Look, I made a mistake, okay?  I just don’t think I can do this.  Why me?  Can’t you keep me in prison until you catch them?”

            Matt’s expression changed to sympathetic.  “I’m curious, what did you think was going to happen once you drove your car into that car wash?”

            “Um,” Dane had a faraway look in his eyes.

            “Did you really think they were going to pay you ten thousand dollars and let you drive away?  After you could identify several of them?”

            Dane’s face fell as the realization struck him. 

            When Dane didn’t respond, Matt added, “With all due respect, buddy.  You’re best chance to survive is to help us track these guys down and put them away.  Do you understand?”

            Dane nodded vacantly.

            “Good,” Matt said, turning the page of the book and gesturing to the pictures.  “Now let’s focus our attention on these photos.”

            Dane looked down, then back at Nick and Matt.  “Are you going to do something about those guys waiting for me outside?”

            Matt smiled.  “I thought you’d never ask.”

            Nick got up from his chair and headed out the door.  Matt and Dane stared at the monitor and watched as a few seconds later they could see Nick outside the complex heading toward the sedan.

                                                      *                    *                       *

            Nick walked along the cement path in a slight drizzle, watching the driver in the sedan stare at him from behind dark sunglasses.  They weren’t going anywhere and their demeanor suggested they were ready for the confrontation.

            As he approached the sedan, he leaned into the driver’s window and said, “How’s college going Emelio?”

            “Good Agent Bracco.”

            “A nice break from Baltimore, eh?”

            “Sure is.”

            Nick dropped two hundred-dollar-bills into the kid’s lap.  “You did a good job.  Tell your mom I said hello.”

            “Yes sir.”

            “You can peel rubber as you head out,” Nick said.  “Make a good impression for me.”

            “Will do,” the driver said, then started the car and began fish-tailing the sedan down the street.

            Nick stood there with his arms folded and watched the car make a right turn at the light and burn rubber as it sped off into the distance.  He waited a good two minutes before he turned to go back inside.

            He’d just solidified his latest informant.  Now the real work was about to begin. 

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THE GREED FACTOR: A NICK BRACCO THRILLER--CHAPTER 5

                                                         Chapter 5

 

            “Juan Carlos Reynoso,” Matt said.

            Dane’s head hung low.  His eyes were glossy marbles of fear.

            “He is the top boss for the Mexican Mafia in Tijuana,” Matt continued.  “Every business in the city pays a monthly fee to Reynoso for protection.  A tax really.  To stay alive.”

            Dane didn’t raise his head but it was obvious he was hearing Matt’s description because his lips began to tremble.

            “And so we need you to bring us to him,” Matt said, “so we can find the source of the Uranium.”

            Dane was shaking his head without real conviction, a toddler trying to disagree with his parents and yet knowing he couldn’t win the argument.

            “Yes,” Matt said, bending low to judge Dane’s expression better, “this Uranium is extremely troublesome.  We don’t know if this is the first batch Reynoso has tried to smuggle into the border, or the tenth.  So it’s very important we stop it before it becomes a real threat to our nation.”

            Dane rubbed a hand over his face.  “Man, I just can’t do it.  Can’t you put me into like a witness protection deal?”

            “Sorry pal.  That’s only if you testify against someone and we don’t even have Reynoso in custody.”  Matt’s face brightened.  “Hey, but you can help us put him there.  And that’s one step closer to witness protection.”

            Dane didn’t appear convinced.  Matt could tell the kid wasn’t about to risk his life over a stupid decision that he regretted the moment he’d made it.

            Matt pointed to a remote control sitting on shelf just below a small TV hanging in the corner of the room.  Nick swiped the remote from the shelf and tossed it to Matt.

            “Would you like to watch a little TV?” Matt asked.

            Dane sat motionless, staring at the black screen.  “What?”

            “TV,” Matt said.  “We have security cameras around the perimeter of the facility and sometimes it’s interesting to see what’s going on outside.  Gives one a little perspective.”

            Matt held out his arm and pointed the remote at the TV.  A moment later the screen came to life.  Matt could tell by the confused look on Dane’s face, he wasn’t getting it just yet.

            The first camera image showed cars going up and down a busy two lane road.  A light sprinkle made the street glisten.  A few seconds later the screen flashed to a view of the parking lot.  There were twenty or thirty cars randomly parked across the stretch of asphalt according to the shift someone may have started and how busy it was at the time.

            Dane looked at Matt.  “Is there a reason we’re doing this?”

            Matt put a finger to his lips.  “Just watch.”

            The next image displayed an empty street along the side of the complex.  There was a deep expanse of woods on the far side of the street and nothing but the cyclone fence of the compound on the near side.  It was completely vacant but for one solitary vehicle sitting along the shoulder with the windows down.  There were two men inside the dark green sedan.  It was obvious these men were of Latin descent.  Two Hispanic men stared at the correctional facility.  The driver wore sunglasses even in the drizzle.  He wore the tediously wicked expression of an assassin who was bored with such an easy target.  

            “Wha . . . what . . . who are they?”

            Matt pushed a button, then placed the remote down on the table.  The screen remained focused on the sedan.  “I think you have an idea who they are,” Matt said quietly.

            Dane’s eyes widened as the realization hit him.  “They’re waiting for me?”

            Matt said nothing.

            Nick sipped his coffee and kept quiet.

            Matt watched the kid stare at his future assassins with a complete sense of his mortality sinking in.  Dane was plummeting to his death and Matt was right there to offer him a parachute. 

            “Now,” Matt said, clasping his hands together on the table like a friendly schoolteacher.  “Let’s talk about your future.”       

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THE GREED FACTOR: A NICK BRACCO THRILLER--CHAPTER 4

                                                      Chapter 4

 

            “Uranium,” Nick said.  “There was a brick of Uranium in the trunk of your car.”

            Dane squinted.  “What?”

            “Uranium 238 to be precise.”

            Dane suddenly became aware of his exposed arms.  “Isn’t that dangerous?”

            Nick nodded slowly.

            Dane held out his hands and said, “Am I . . . contaminated?”

            “No,” Nick said.  “The container was lined with lead for protection.”

            Dane’s shoulders slumped as he took in the information.  Matt sipped his coffee from the corner of the room and coughed.  The cue.  When interrogating a terrorist the good cop, bad cop routine was still a tried and true tactic.  But with a confused and intimidated teenager there was an entirely different approach necessary.  Good cop, better cop.

            Nick got up from the table and Matt slid into the seat next to Dane.  He pointed to Dane’s cup.  “That good?”

            Dane stared at the hot chocolate and appeared to absorb the enormity of his new world.  “So, that guy wasn’t a drug dealer?”

            It was a rhetorical question that Matt didn’t feel the need to answer.  “Tell us about this friend who introduced you to the Mexican?  Is he a close friend?  An acquaintance?”

            Dane glanced around at the bare walls, suddenly looking like an animal in a cage.  “Can’t I call my folks?”

            “What would you like to tell them?” Matt asked.

            Dane’s innocent eyes peer up.  “I could tell them I’m in trouble.  Maybe they could help me.”

            Matt took a long sip of his coffee, then gently placed it down on the table.  “Dane,” he said, “the two most important people in your world right now are inside this room.  We can do things for you no one else can.”

            Dane swallowed.  “Like what?”

            Matt smiled.  “We can open that door and let you walk out a free man.  No one else can offer you that kind of authority.”

            Dane was forced to imagine what his life would be like once he left the safe confines of the FBI.  Maybe imagine what was waiting for him.

            Matt waited for the reality to set in before he said, “He knows you can ID him.”

            Dane seemed to whither in his seat, looking like he wanted to curl up into a ball. 

            “He will want you out of the way,” Matt suggested, giving Dane the euphemistic version of his demise.

            Dane’s face melted into a fragile pool of despair.  His eyes darted between his hands as if searching for an exit strategy.  Matt was right there to offer it to him.

            “When you meet this Mexican again, you’ll—”

            “Wait, what?” Dane jerked back in his seat.  “I’m not going down there ever again.”

            Matt tapped the boy’s arm gently.  “When you leave here and go back home, you’ll be by yourself.  Yes, mom and dad might be around, but when you lay your head on the pillow, don’t even think about falling asleep.”           

            Dane’s face was frozen while staring off into the ether.  Matt played it cool and let the idea fester in the kid’s head. 

            “I’m sorry to have to tell you this,” Matt said.  “I’m sure you never bargained for this kind of drama, but the Mexican won’t forget about you.”

            Dane nodded faintly, but Matt could tell he wasn’t registering everything properly. 

            “How much did they tell you they’d pay you?  Ten thousand?”

            Dane’s eyes widened.  “How’d you know?”

            Matt shrugged.  “That’s the going rate for this type of mule work.”

            “Mule work?”

            “Well, that what they call it.  You’re a mule carrying their product into the states.  They risk the product, but that’s all.  You, however, risk everything.”

            Dane’s eyes kept wandering.  “Why would I even go see him?  I mean, I haven’t even told you his full name or given you a description.  Maybe this is a different Mexican person altogether?”

            Matt slipped his hand into his inside jacket pocket and came out with a photograph.  He placed it on the table and slid it in front of Dane.

            The kid dropped his head into his hands and began to sob.

            “I’m so sorry, buddy,” Matt said.  “But you’re on our team now.  And in this game, you can’t afford to be on the losing team."  

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