Retribution Road by Jon Coon (e reader comics .TXT) 📕

to help them promote tourism. There are Maya sites everywhere—cenotes, pyramids, temples, basketball courts. And that’s our cover. Low-flying, slow-flying surveillance. We can cover every inch until we find that signal.”

“That could take a lot of time, but it sounds good,” Chuck said.

“We have other things working. So by the time we’re ready to start flying, we may have defined a fairly tight search area. It might not take as long as it looks now. However, I’d like to get the airship on its way as soon as possible. Oh, and the Drug Task Force can cover the expenses, or at least most of them, and that part of the operation is completely legal, so we won’t have to repaint anything.”

Chuck nodded his head in the right direction this time. “Well, I’d say let’s vote. All in favor of sending the airship on a documentary film project to Mexico respond by saying ‘aye.’”

It was unanimous.

“Okay, all in favor of a trip to Mexico for this ‘special’ air show. Let’s hear it.”

“Hell yes!” carried the day.

The minute he stepped from his Land Rover, Juan Caldera could smell the dead javelina and hear the chainsaws. He followed his men on the short trail from the parking area to the tent. Several men were cutting away the tangle of trees and branches while others worked on repairing the tent.

“Show me the bodies,” Caldera said.

His lieutenant led the way to the two half-eaten corpses. Caldera knelt between them looking at the multiple wounds. He ignored what the hogs had done, mostly lower and visceral damage, and looked at the head wounds. He ran his fingers through the hair of one and looked at the bloody residue left on his fingers, then carefully looked at the rest of the devastation before he spoke.

“Take those bodies into town and have the heads x-rayed. Everything looks like it lost a fight with a porcupine, but trees didn’t kill these guys, and I want to know what did. Go over the subs like your life depends on it, because it does, and let me know what you find. The hogs may have set off the Claymores, but something’s not right here. Clean up the mess and move the boats to one of the other sites. Let me know when that’s done. And I do mean check those boats. If you have any question they’ve been tampered with, set them on fire. Comprende?”

“We’re on.” Tom dropped into the seat to the right of Senator Benson, who was following the checklist, preparing for takeoff. “The blimp will be ready to go in two days and the bombers will be there in time for the air show.”

“You’re amazing, Tom. That’s really good work.”

“Thanks, Bob. Maria doesn’t deserve any less.”

“I’ve got the supplies you wanted coming from every arsenal in the South and then some. I just hope we can keep this quiet until you get that stuff out of the country. After that, I don’t give a damn. They killed Bobby and now they’re going to pay. That’s all that matters. Have you heard from Gabe?”

“On his way home today. Two of the SEALs and his Navy chief friend were injured, but the op was a success. We’re tracking the subs now. So far no movement.”

Lareina Caldera helped Carmencita, one of her twins, from the pool and wrapped her in a towel. She told the two-year-old to wait in the chair while she helped Carola, the other half of the pair, up the stone steps as well. With both drying in the sun, Lareina dropped her robe on a lounge chair and stepped into the shimmering pool. She loved the water and this pool especially. Clear and deep with a waterfall and bench seats at the wet bar, it was a perfect way to entertain the children and soak in the luxury of wealth and seclusion on a warm summer’s afternoon. With a full-time nanny with ever-watchful eyes, Lareina was free to enjoy a moment of liquid tranquility without worry.

She kicked with a polished stroke toward the wall, snapped a racing turn, and glided back into the center. Behind her there was a splash, and Juan cut through the water beside her like a missile seeking a target.

Juan flipped his turn off the opposite wall and launched himself directly at her. As he passed beneath her, he caught the bottom of her suit and stripped it cleanly off in one gentle tug. He kept going toward the far wall, then turned and waved the suit at her, taunting her into a game of tag. She attacked, he escaped. She attacked, he tried to escape again, but this time she caught his ankle and stopped him cold. She grabbed her suit and pushed him away with a kick to his stomach. They surfaced laughing, and he pulled her under into a long intimate kiss.

“You are a bad man, Juan Caldera,” she said and pushed him under again.

He came up coughing and laughing. “I surrender, I surrender, no more. You’re going to drown me.”

“You deserve it. My swimsuit is my swimsuit and your daughters do not need to see us swimming around naked in this pool.”

“I wasn’t naked.”

“You know what I mean. You could at least wait until they are in bed.”

When he came into their bedroom later that night, he found her sitting up reading. Cool air came off the river valley below the house. They were high enough up the side of the mountain to enjoy the breeze without the bugs a thousand feet below. He stood in the open French doors listening to the jungle creatures respond to nightfall’s gentle descent and watching the moon’s reflection dance on the broad river. There were no lights for as far as he could see. With their own airfield—the only way to the property—and a thousand feet of steep mountain between them and the road by the lake below, his castle felt safe. But then