The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (34 page)

Both Agent Ahiga in his pickup and the members of ARCHANGEL following him listened in on the DHS-CBP radio frequency as they headed to the rendezvous point near the city of Tubac. A call came through from Omaha six, the DHS Blackhawk chopper.

“
Omaha six Victor Romeo … Nogales … we have visual on a very large group … repeat, very large group approximately three miles from Sasabe Station.”

“
Nogales, Omaha six, roger … Approach with caution ... Ground units en route, ETA two-zero minutes...”

“
Omaha six … roger that, two-zero minutes … will approach with caution. There appears to be no movement at this time by the group. It looks like they’re taking a rest.”

Ahiga pulled over and Santappia pulled up next to him. They both rolled their windows down.

“
Charley, you monitoring …?”

“
We heard. What do you think it means, Bryan?”

“
I don’t know, but I don’t like it. There’s no way that group is resting just miles away from where they murdered a border agent.

Ahiga grabbed his mic.

“
Shadow Wolf one to Omaha six, come in.”

The men heard only static.

“
Shadow Wolf one … Omaha six, come in.”

More static…

“
Shadow Wolf one to Nogales Station, can you raise Omaha six?”

“
Nogales … Shadow Wolf one, we’ll try. Omaha six this is Nogales Station, do you read?”

Static …

“
Nogales … Omaha six Victor Romeo, do you read?”

“
Shit!” Pescalitis shouted from the back seat of the Jeep. Santappia held up his hand to quiet him.

“
Nogales Station to all agents … at this time we are unable to raise Omaha six. Shadow Wolf one, do you have a visual?”

“
Shadow Wolf one, negative, I have no visual of Omaha six … but let me take a closer look.”

Ahiga threw the mic and stepped out of his pickup with his binoculars. He scanned to the southwest then stopped on one point. Santappia and the others joined him.

“
What do you have, Bryan?”

“
I got smoke and flames Charley, southwest of us, about three miles.”

He handed Santappia his binoculars then ran over to his pickup.

“
Shadow Wolf one … Nogales Station. I just spotted smoke about three miles west of 286, north of El Mirador Road.”

“
Nogales Station, roger Shadow Wolf one … Nogales Station to emergency personnel heading to Sasabe Station, Omaha six may be down about three miles northwest of your location.”

“
Roger Nogales, we see the smoke … will dispatch personnel to that location.”

Ahiga walked back to the others.

“
There’s no doubt now, Charley. Shooting a border patrol agent crosses the line but downing Omaha obliterates it. Whatever it is they’re transporting, they’re willing to start a war over it.”

“
You have to get us ahead of them, Bryan, in a position where we can ambush them.”

“
That won’t be easy, Charley. Even if we do get ahead of them, there’s a whole lot of desert out there. I think our best bet will be for me to string the rest of the Shadow Wolves out along a ridgeline east of the town of Tubac. There’s a path that leads north at the foot of the ridge. Meanwhile, we’ll try and set up a position at the ridge’s northern end. That’s where I think they’ll end up no matter where they’re heading.”

“
Lead on, Bryan …!”

As Santappia began following Ahiga’s pickup again, he hit an autodial button on his cell.

“
Mugs it’s me, the game’s on!”

Chapter 31

Back Porch - Main House

Estancia De Niro

Henderson, NV

Pre-Dawn 5:30a.m., Sunday, September 11, 2011

De Niro couldn’t sleep, all he could think about was Moriah and how much he hurt her as he sat in the same chair she sat in the evening before.

“
You’re up very early, sir,” William Brett asked as he approached from behind him. He was carrying a tray with a silver pot of coffee surrounded by mugs, cream and sugar. Both men were fully dressed despite the early hour.

“
William, what are you doing up?”

“
Well sir, I can never sleep very well on this day.”

De Niro knew what he meant – it was September 11. Noticing the tray in his hands, he waved William to sit with him.

“
Join me?”

“
Thank you sir …”

William poured two mugs of Jamaican coffee and handed one to De Niro. It was rumored to be the same roast and grind as the one served at the White House.

Both men blew the steam rising from their mugs before sipping from them. They sat quietly for a few minutes before De Niro broke the silence.

“
I miss her too, William, I miss her too. So much so, I fear I’ve irrevocably damaged my friendship with Moriah.”

“
Oh, I can’t believe that, sir. If I’m not out of line … It’s quite obvious to everyone on the estate that Dr. Stevens has deep feelings for you.”

“
You can never be out of line, William. I value your views, more so than anyone else’s. The truth is … I have deep feelings for her too but we don’t have the same types of feelings for each other.”

Out of habit, William lowered his voice to just over a whisper even though they sat alone.

“
Thank you for saying so, sir, and if I may … you mean you are not … attracted to Dr. Stevens?”

“
Of course I’m attracted to her. She’s a beautiful woman, inside and out … but …”

William waited for De Niro to continue. When he didn’t he completed the thought for him.

“
But … you feel like your betraying the memory of Ms. Lisa.”

De Niro nodded and blinked as his eyes became watery.

“
I still love her, William and she’s still part of my life. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her. Not a night goes by that I don’t miss her. Our vows may have been ‘til death do we part,’ but my love for her transcends her death.”

William leaned in towards De Niro and grasped his forearm as a sign of comfort.

“
Sir … all of us who cared for Ms. Lisa, keep her alive in our hearts and minds.”

The stately man took a sip from his mug, looked at it and smiled.

“
Sir, I don’t know if you noticed but earlier this week Ms. Stevens inadvertently started using Ms. Lisa’s favorite coffee mug. You remember it, the oversized pink one with the ugliest handle décor I’ve ever seen.”

De Niro chuckled.

“
I remember that mug; she won it in a raffle.”

“
Well … I kept it all these years and stored it behind all the other mugs we have. I actually forgot it was there when I allowed Dr. Stevens to choose whatever mug she wanted for her morning coffee. I became frantic when I saw her pouring her coffee into it, but as I was about to take it from her … memories of Ms. Lisa drinking from it flashed into my mind. It brought back so many joyous mornings when Ms. Lisa would sip from it while talking to me about the day’s morning news. She always had such strong … and sometimes very humorous insights.”

De Niro smiled.

“
She did, didn’t she …?”

“
Yes sir, she did. Well, instead of my memories of Ms. Lisa making me angrier with Dr. Stevens, they had quite the opposite effect. Suddenly, I realized that Dr. Stevens was telling me … her views … of the morning news…”

William’s eyes became misty.

“…
and do you know what occurred to me?”

De Niro waited for his gentleman butler to answer his own question.

“
Three things occurred to me, sir … one, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my cherishing that mug; two … that because of how special she is, it’s okay for Dr. Stevens to drink from it and three … that both of those remarkable, wonderful ladies … have absolutely the worst taste in coffee mugs …”

De Niro laughed out loud bringing a smile to William’s face.

“
Neither of you are wrong, sir, for how you feel about the other … as long as you both are honest with each other. As for our feelings for Ms. Lisa … she was a most remarkable woman! There will never be another quite like her and as I remind young Richard … no one could ever replace her in our hearts and minds. I would only suggest to you, sir, that while you are certainly entitled to your feelings, Dr. Stevens is entitled to hers.”

De Niro was deeply impressed by William’s wisdom. Knowing how much he loved and cared for Lisa made it that much more valuable to him.

“
Thank you, William.”

De Niro’s cell phone rang as William stood to collect the tray.

“
Mugs, you’re up early on a Sunday—“

“
Cris, listen to me, I have Michelle and Johnny-F on the line too.”

“
Okay.”

“
Where are the boys?”

“
They’re sleeping Mugs, it’s not even 5—“

“
Cris, I know what time it is there! Listen to Michelle first.”

“
Cris, I had John retrace all of Les’s digital footprints inside Big Brother, in case we missed something … and we did—“

“
Cris, it’s John, it’s my fault, I should have found this when we first checked—“

“
John, just tell me what you found!” De Niro didn’t like that they asked about the boys.

“
Okay … well, the first time we checked double-B, we only checked what Les looked at using the ops-level access that Michelle gave him.”

“
John, he knows that, get to the point,” Ricci demanded.

“
Cris, I never bothered to check what he looked at with
his own
HR clearance! I mean, most of it is just mundane personnel info … but I screwed up!”

“
John, take a deep breath … what are you telling me?”

Ricci jumped in.

“
Cris, Les was looking at your GPS transponder frequency … and the transponder frequencies of Richard and Louis!”

De Niro’s heart jumped in his chest.

“
The ones I asked you to tie in from their iPhones … so I could keep tabs on them via Big Brother when I was traveling?”

“
Cris, listen to me, I want you to toss your laptop, your iPhone and the boys iPhones into the pool … right now! Do it and call me back from your landline!”

“
Okay…”

De Niro hit the disconnect button, took the battery out, then threw his phone into the pool. William stopped in his tracks with the tray in his hands.

“
William, put the tray down and help me find the boys phones. We need to toss them into the pool … and their laptops too! I need to get my laptop … please hurry upstairs and get their phones and laptops!”

William placed the tray down with care then hurried into the house. De Niro appreciated how he followed his most preposterous orders without questioning them … a mark of true loyalty.

De Niro ran inside the house, unplugged his laptop and ran back out to the pool. He took the extra step of removing the battery from his laptop before tossing both into the water. He was about to run upstairs when he saw William emerge from the back door, a bit winded.

“
Here they are, sir, their phones and laptops!”

De Niro took each phone and laptop, one at a time, removed their batteries and tossed all of it into the water.