Terror Rising: Book 0 – The Insurgence (5 page)

“We need to get out of here,” Chief Drake
said, rubbing his face.

“Sir?” Martinez replied.

“Clear the area,” Chief Drake told him in a
short tone. “We don’t know what kind of chemicals are being
released into the air right now.”

Captain Reynolds stood up, her red hair
unpinned and hanging in her face. “Rex…” she said. “Where’s
Rex?”

Angela looked around and could see no sign
of the K-9.

“I’m sure he’s around here somewhere,”
Martinez said. “He’s a smart dog.”

“Certainly smarter than us if we hang around
here one minute longer,” Chief Drake added.

Angela could see that all their faces were
smudged with greasy black soot, and she doubted that her own
appearance was any different. Her stomach was sick with grief. And
as a parade of sirens wailed in the distance, the loss of one of
their own had yet to sink in among the stunned group.

Chief Drake clapped his hands together as
ash continued to fall from the sky. “That’s it, people. Time to
move out. We need to tell the emergency responders to keep their
distance until someone can measure the level of chemical agents in
the air.”

Martinez began coughing, heightening the
level of fear among them. “It’s just the smoke,” he said, waving
the concerned faces off. “Don’t worry about me.”

Angela walked over to him and patted him on
the back as the flames continued to flicker in the distance. Chief
Drake was already off and headed toward the narrow dirt road where
two fire engines, an ambulance, and several police cars were racing
toward them. He held his radio up and called into it.

“
All emergency responders are advised
to stay back. Possible chemical agents in the air. I repeat,
possible chemical agents in the air.”

“
Let’s get out of here,” Angela said.
She placed her arm around Martinez, who was hunched down and
coughing. He cleared his throat and rose just as Captain Reynolds
approached them with a ghostlike shock in her eyes. “Agent Dawson…”
she said, vacantly. “You don’t think…”

“
I’m sorry,” Martinez said, placing
both hands on her shoulder. “It doesn’t look good.”

Reynolds began to tear up. Martinez pulled
her closer with a hug as she cried into his shoulder. Angela
scanned the area for Rex. It was the least she felt she could
do.

Two other agents, Bernasconi and Tyson, were
in a dazed state as well but dutifully followed their chief to the
road where the emergency vehicles slowed to a halt.

“
This is too much,” Captain Reynolds
said, backing away from Martinez and wiping her eyes. She then
walked off with a slight limp, calling for Rex and scanning the
area. Only Martinez and Angela remained, staring from afar at the
fire still burning wildly.

“
Truck was rigged with explosives,”
Martinez said vacantly. “We stumbled on some real shit out here,
Agent Gannon.”

Angela nodded as the glow of the fire
flickered in her eyes. “That station wagon. It’s all we have
now.”

He turned to her, agreeing. He hung his head
down, cursing under his breath while balling his fist.

“
We’ll figure it out,” she said,
trying to say whatever she could to help.

Martinez no doubt blamed himself. His head
slowly rose, revealing tears in his eyes. “We owe it to Dawson now
to find out who’s responsible for this.”

After a moment of staring at the fire, they
walked off together in sober silence toward the flashing lights on
the side of a dusty road.

***

They arrived back at the Del Rio Border
Patrol station shortly before nine in the evening. A federal
chemical inspections team had been deployed to the area along
Graffiti Junction to test the air for chemical agents. All roads
and underpasses within five miles of the area had been shut down
and cordoned off. Businesses and homes within the area had been
evacuated, leaving a sense of dread in the neighboring
community.

The local media were on the scene but were
not permitted to enter the hastily constructed blockades. The
authorities were also hesitant in disseminating information for
fear of creating a panic. Word from the feds was to keep a lid on
it, and Chief Drake’s department was advised to recuse themselves
from the investigation until Homeland Security and the FBI could
determine exactly what had happened.

For Martinez, there was no second guessing
that the men they had engaged were terrorists. He believed that the
chemical agents discovered before the truck explosion were
materials likely meant for a dirty bomb of some sort. Angela
agreed, but was curious on what they were going to do about it.
They had no knowledge of the men’s terrorist affiliations or how
far their network spread. Assuming there was a network.

She and Martinez watched the coverage of the
scene in Chief Drake’s office while they sat across from his desk
waiting. Drake was in another room discussing the incident with
other superiors. Word around the office was that the FBI was
there.

The investigation was already in the works,
and all Martinez and Angela could do was wait. They weren’t being
told anything, and what had started as a shootout with two
suspected smugglers had now spiraled into something much larger
involving terrorism. But the death of one of their Border Patrol
agents was the single hardest thing to stomach about it all.

The television displayed an aerial image
from a news helicopter of the smoldering ground where the truck had
exploded. Firefighters had extinguished the fire and HAZMAT teams
in full chemical gear were on the scene, monitoring the air with
their electronic gadgets.

The news banner on the bottom of the screen
indicated a truck explosion without going into details. Martinez’s
eyes were transfixed on the TV screen, while Angela read messages
on the screen of her cell phone, and replied to a text from Doug.
She hadn’t gone into any details and only told him that she
wouldn’t be home any time soon.

Does this have anything to
do w truck explosion?
he asked in the
text.

Not at the
moment
, was all she could say back.
I’ll be home soon. Might have to put the girls to
bed without me. Love you.

Doug was understandably curious and
worried, but she would tell him what she could when the time came.
The important thing was that she was okay. The same couldn’t be
said for Dawson, whose family, she was told, lived in Oklahoma and
had just been informed of his death. The news was devastating to
everyone at the station.

Captain Martinez had been quiet since they’d
left the scene, saying very little. Angela could see the worry and
grief on his face, and the nervous anger of his constant fidgeting
and foot tapping. As she turned to speak to him, he suddenly jumped
up from his chair, clearly agitated.

“I just can’t do this right now,” he said,
pacing around the office.

“Do what?” Angela asked from her chair.

He turned to her with his face flushed. His
uniform, like hers, was still covered in dust, dirt, and ash. “Sit
in here while they play politics with this whole thing.”

“Who’s playing politics?” Angela asked,
genuinely confused.

“The powers that be, that’s who.” He
scratched his chin and attempted to peer through the blinds in
Drake’s office. “We need to be out there trying to catch the
bastards who got away.” He balled one hand and smacked it against
the other. Angela had never seen him so angry. “I told Drake about
these sleeper-cell pukes. I told him that we need to put more
resources into tracking them. And now that the shit has hit the
fan, he’s gonna drop today’s entire fiasco in my lap.”

Angela studied Martinez, confused. He was
agitated, saying whatever came to mind. And if she didn’t know any
better, she’d say that he was coming off as paranoid.

“We’re all on the same team here, though.
Right, sir?” she said in the most sympathetic tone she could
muster.

Martinez scoffed, laughing. “Sure thing.
Until something literally blows up in our faces. Who authorized
Dawson to search through the truck? Who authorized any of us?
That’s what they’re going to be asking us, so I hope you’re
ready.”

Martinez paused and took a step back, seeing
the worry in Angela’s face. “I’m sorry, Agent Gannon. I don’t mean
to upset you. You should have nothing to worry about. Like I said,
it was my call, and I’ll take responsibility.”

“You didn’t do anything
wrong,” she said, though she wasn’t sure if she believed her own
words. Going it alone had its consequences. They
should
have waited for
backup, but she didn’t feel the need to harp on it.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, shaking his head.
“What matters is that when you have terrorists sneaking across the
border, the blame has to lie with someone. Is the chief going to
answer for it?” He paused with brown eyes gleaming, but before
Angela could respond, he was on to the next question. “Is the
Homeland Security director going to admit they messed up? Is the
president going to call a press conference and blame himself? No.
It’s gonna be someone like me. Happens all the time.”

“But you said that we could catch these
guys. That all we had to do was to find that station wagon,” Angela
said. “But nobody paid attention.”

“Trust me,” Martinez said, stepping forward.
“I fully intend to.”

The door swung open as Chief Drake walked in
with several files in hand, his glasses resting on the tip of his
nose and a nervous, preoccupied look across his stricken face. He
noticed Martinez standing by the window and signaled him to take a
seat next to Angela.

“This won’t take long, I promise.”

Martinez sighed and went back to his chair.
They both sat watching as Drake placed the stack of files on the
smooth wood surface of his desk. Behind him there was a bookshelf
with several plaques and certificates and family pictures with his
pretty wife and three boys.

The television in the corner of the room
displayed the same aerial feed as before, but the banner at the
bottom of the screen had changed. It now said, “Terror Bombing in
Texas.”

Drake took his glasses off and squeezed the
bridge of his nose, stress showing on his worn face. He leaned
forward with his hands folded and got right to the point. “We have
to get a lid on this thing and do it fast.”

Martinez glanced at Angela holding his hands
out as if to say, No, it’s not paranoia, this is for real, and
Chief Drake knows it, too.

Drake continued. “The death of a young agent
does not bode well for this department. The important thing is that
we put an end to these rumors of a vast terror network, and find
out who’s responsible.”

Martinez remained quiet and looked as though
the chief’s dismissive words were exactly what he had expected to
hear.

“Any word on that station wagon, sir?”
Angela asked.

Drake shook his head. “Unfortunately, no.
They got away, and with everything going on, it probably wasn’t too
hard for them to do it. But all law enforcement agencies are on
alert for a vehicle matching that description.”

Martinez stared at the chief, shaking his
head. “Today’s events are part of a pattern I’ve been seeing. And
if this department doesn’t get on board—if we don’t get the support
we need—it’s only going to get worse.”

Drake slammed his hand on the desk,
startling Angela. Martinez, however, didn’t flinch. “Let’s get one
thing clear, Captain Martinez. You’re in hot water right now. So
you may just want to back off a little and get your head
together.”

“We’re being overrun by terrorists!”
Martinez said. “Not all of them are coming over the border. A lot
of them come here on visas. Some on asylum status. They’re here,
and we need to take this shit seriously, starting now.”

For a moment the room went
silent as the two men stared at each other. Drake leaned back in
his squeaky office chair and tented his hands. “I’ve been doing
this job for some time now, Captain Martinez. And I know what we’re
out there looking for. Terrorism is no exception. We’re entrusted
to protect this border, and we can’t very well do that to the best
of our abilities when the department is
ensnared in an internal investigation.” He paused and pointed
at Martinez. “When you’re told to wait for backup, that’s what you
do! We may never know who those men are affiliated with
now.”

“We got an ID on the intact body, right?”
Martinez asked, cutting in.

Drake jerked his chair
forward and leaned over his desk. “The FBI are examining his body
right now with the coroner’s.
But
, if everything else of value was
in that truck and it’s all gone now…”

“I did nothing wrong,” Martinez said. “We’re
authorized to pursue suspicious acts as we see them.”

“I hope you’re right,” Drake said. “Despite
what you think, I’m on your side. I take the side of any of my
agents.” He paused to clear his throat and then looked sternly at
both Angela and Martinez. “You’re both dismissed. We’ll pick this
up tomorrow. But you better be ready for it. And please… drop the
martyr act.”

Martinez rose slowly from his chair with a
deep breath, not saying anything. Angela looked around the room
nervously. She wanted nothing more than to bolt for the exit and go
home. Martinez turned to the door as Angela stood.

“Have a good night, sir,” she said to the
chief.

“You too. Get some rest, Agent Gannon,” he
said.

It was dark outside the office window, and
Angela was stunned to see how much time had passed. She followed
Martinez as he walked out.