West of Laredo by Tom Armbruster (epub e reader txt) 📕

Ambassador had been watching the river but now turns to Farrington.

"Sir. Lee is doing as good a job as she can to keep track of the kidnappings and murders, but we need help. We need DEA fulltime. We've got excellent relations with the FBI, and they help us a lot, at least letting us know who has been killed from their informants and sources, but we need to know where this war is heading. That’s one. Second we need you to approve the Travel Advisory I drafted."

The Ambassador studies Farrington a moment. "Yea. Approved. I'm going to get you DEA too. Meantime, what else do you need?"

"Well, this is the 130th year of the Consulate's existence. We thought you might want to do a little history speech and open a new exhibit of wild west art."

"What the hell. It's still the wild west on the border. Sign me up."

The Ambassador flew on to Austin a half an hour later.


*26*


Lee's instincts are better than most. On this Friday morning, something doesn't seem quite right about the two Americans looking for information on housing in Nuevo Laredo. Her suspicions about this couple are just based on first appearances. First, she is extremely young, maybe 14, and second, he looks extremely sleazy, but she couldn't say why. So Lee runs a check. When Winslow Tildon's history comes back with an arrest warrant in New Jersey for sex with a minor Lee simply says, "Bingo." She calls the Nuevo Laredo police, reporting Tildon's local address that he himself had furnished. Estuve, the Deputy Police Chief, calls Lee back in 5 minutes.

"OK, you are right that the American is living on Colon street and he has a girl with him, but we can not do anything."
"Why not?"

"It's not a crime in Mexico. Living with a 14 year old girl. It's bad, but it's no crime."

"So what do I do with this pedophile?"

"Nothing. Go play tennis."

Lee stifles several retorts. "Look, he has a record in the U.S. Can't you extradite him?"

"Sure, if you have a judge's order, and you exchange diplomatic notes, and we get a little compensation."

"The compensation," Lee says, "is I'm not going to call a press conference about the non-cooperation I'm getting from Mexican authorities on a threat to society."

There's a long pause. "You say the Marshalls want him?"
"Yes. And I want him out of here too."

"Let me see what I can do."

A half an hour later Estuve calls back.

"Bad news for Mr. Tildon. He needs a residency permit. He's already been in Mexico two weeks and he needed the permit after Day 12. If you want him picked up at his residence, we'll oblige. Then we'll take him to Customs and Immigration at the bridge. You can walk him over to Laredo. He can apply for the residency card at the Mexican Consulate in Laredo, Texas. What happens to him after the bridge is your problem. Be at Customs as 2 p.m. Oh, and by the way, my niece needs a visa. She's a good girl."

Lee takes a deep breath. "We'll see."

One veteran Consul General told Lee that he "lost his virginity" over visas a long time ago, and knew when to swap favors. For Lee saying yes to this arrangment is not easy. But she calls the U.S. Marshalls. She gives them Tildon's story and says if undercover officers are at the bridge at 2 p.m. she might have Tildon.

At five after two Lee and a Mexican Immigration official walk Tildon to mid bridge. He's a big man, but big in the way someone is who sits in front of a computer for too long. Tildon has no clue he is about to be taken into custody until a hand firmly takes his arm.

"Mr. Tildon?" The well built man asks.

"Yes."

"Please come with me and my partner."

Tildon's head drops and he walks quietly to the other side of the bridge. Two very tall men with shoulder pistols each have one of Tildon's arms. He never looks back at Lee.


*27*


Pico's plan worked well. His black Suburban with three Zetas on board parked next to Luis's VW. He didn't expect to get three but the boy named Dice would also be fun to play with. The bullring was too public, but the side street near the Cadillac bar was perfect for kidnapping. Just before Luis and Fatima got out of the car, Dice showed up too. Pico simply had his men surround them all and pushed them into the Suburban. In his living room, he made Luis torture Fatima for hours. He didn't mind the blood on the Mexican tiles. After all, the house belonged to Salvatore, the Teco. Pico only wished he could take the gag out of her mouth to hear her scream. But the neighbors could complain.

Now, they are in Salvatore Ramos' backyard. Ramos is in Mexico City. Pico wants to show he controls every inch of Nuevo Laredo, even the backyard of his rival. Fatima is almost dead. Standing weakly, shaking, and completely in shock. Pico's three Zetas have already made Luis dig their own graves. The girl collapses on the ground. Over the past several days she has lost a lot of blood, has had nothing to eat or drink and has had trauma to the head, aside from being raped and abused repeatedly by the Zetas and at their command by Luis and even Dice. A Zeta tosses her into the pit and she doesn't move. Luis is also weak, his kneecaps shattered, his teeth gone and he, like Fatima, is burned in the most delicate places. The Zetas make him lie in the pit. Two shots are fired and the Zetas cover the hole with dirt. Luis feels the dirt on his back and hears Pico laugh, but he can't move, not even a finger.


*28*


"OK, let's hear it. Once rumors start about visa selling there is no end to it. I hope this is solid." Farrington leans onto his desk and looks at Sinclair, then Lee.


Lee starts in, "Sir, we know this is a serious allegation and we know you have faith in your people. Miguel is also the last person I would expect to be involved. But hear us out. When I first met Pickert, then Marker, he was beligerent to a degree but completely in his right mind, I'm now convinced. I made several mistakes that day. But one of the biggest I didn't understand until much later. Pickert said 'say hello to El Mecanico' before I left the prison. I didn't pick up on it. When Sinclair was with Mrs. Pickert he also mentioned that Pickert worked with someone called El Mecanico and that he helped bring people to the U.S. who had "technical problems." We went through the interviews in Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuna. Normally, there are about 250 visa interviews scheduled on outreach days. When Miguel went there are usually 20 or so additional "walk ins" which you discourage but allow."
"No more walk ins."

"Right. There's more. Dice. Somebody knew Dice was talking to us about Pickert. Dice got nervous and said he was going underground. Now, he and his friend Fatima are missing. If Miguel is selling visas, surely for at least $1,000 a pop, that's $20,000 per outreach visit minimum. Minimum."

"So Dice might have been killed to keep this little visa operation going?"

"Right."

"Then why take Pickert out of the equation at all?"


Sinclair joins the discussion. "New gang takes over the business. The visa business could be a sideline for the narcos, if so, there could have been a hostile takeover now that the Zetas have moved in on Salvatore Ramos. They took out Pickert and put in their own man."


Farrington takes a breath. "Alright. I'm convinced we need to move, but we need to do this right. This is a little out of our league to handle internally. Diplomatic Security will have to be involved and they are only resident in the Embassy and out of Houston. This could shut us down for visas for a long time. Do we have any other options before we go to DS? Otherwise you need to be ready to testify, be ready for some serious heat and even Inspector General investigations."


Lee and Sinclair exchange a look.

"Sir, Lee says, "I'll prepare a memo for the Ambassador. It can go through you or not, but I'm convinced visas are being sold."

Farrington nods. "Do the memo. Some careers are going down, I just hope we get the right guy before he does serious national security damage."


*29*


They did the right thing and called Diplomatic Security. Ballistrade, my agent, was already on it, but el Mecanico was the break we needed too. After that, we had Miguel followed, his calls listened to, his interviews scrutinized. It took four months to put the case together, but Mike the Mecanico ended up with a lot of charges against him facing serious jail time.


*30*


"They are in the backyard of Salvatore Ramos." It's the FBI District manager calling Farrington. "Ramos is fairly high up in the Lost Tecos cartel. Probably the number one guy in Nuevo Laredo. He's currently in hiding and apparently his rivals in the Zetas cartel wanted to make a statement. I don't know what the statement means, but