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

“Got it. You’re going to love this. See that road on our west side? It’s coming from there.” Gabe got up and went to the camera. With its powerful zoom lens, he found a black Range Rover leaving a cloud of dust. “Heading west-northwest. Can we follow him? There’s a blacktop coming up. If he takes it, I might get a shot of his tag.”

“On it. Just let me know if he changes direction. It takes a while to turn this thing around.”

“He’s turning right. Damn it. The angle’s wrong. I’ve got the truck, but I can’t see the plate … I’m zooming all the way in. Maybe we can get his face … Wait, there’s a passenger.”

“Anything?”

“Just the lower half of his face. Can we get lower, closer? I don’t think he’s seen us yet.”

“Have you still got a signal?”

“Yeah, I just turned off the alarm. It was driving me nuts. But our signal is definitely coming from that truck.”

Tom pulled back on the power and raised the nose. The wind caught them and pushed them sideways, away from the fleeing truck and highway.

“What are you doing? He’s getting away.”

“Yep, but there can’t be that many Range Rovers in these woods, and I’m not ready to show our hand yet. And I don’t particularly want to get blown out of the sky if he’s carrying heavy ordnance. We’ve learned a lot today and paid a high price for it. Let’s call it a day and be thankful it wasn’t worse.”

It wasn’t Tom’s best landing, but, following the pilot’s adage, “any landing you can walk away from is a good one,” it was acceptable, and Rainbow Chaser was safely tethered. The maintenance crew scrambled to check Gabe’s repairs, and the bodies were removed and put into cold storage until they could be flown home.

“No need to involve the Federales at this point. This is our business, and we’ll deal with it,” Tom said.

The others agreed.

They ate sandwiches and coffee in a tumbled-down tin hangar the “film company” had rented. Tom got out his secure sat phone.

After checking in with Carol and assuring her everything was on schedule and without incident, he asked her to find Jimmy the Geek.

When Jimmy picked up, his excitement was immediately apparent. “Everything is happening. The buses pulled out before dawn and are headed north. All five of the subs have been moved back to the base and are on their launch skids. It’s coming, and it’s going to be big.”

“Can you get a count on the buses?”

“It’s buses and trucks, and the line is over a mile long. I’ll try to get a more accurate count on the next satellite pass.”

“Good. Now I’ve got a new project for you. Maria’s earrings are in a black Range Rover we last saw on a blacktop near Nuevo Canán. It’s near the river about forty miles south of Palenque. Get me a list of black Rover owners in Chiapas and anything you can about them. Next, there’s a military camp in the jungle about twenty miles south and two miles east from that road. They opened fire on us this afternoon. Hit the blimp several times. Killed the pilot and copilot. Find out who they are and why they tried to kill us.”

“Got it, sir. Are you all right?”

“Just frustrated and mad about those pilots. They didn’t sign up for this. I’m really beginning to hate this country. Get me contact info for the pilots’ families so I can call them when the time is right. Can’t do it now; we don’t want it in the news.”

“Yes, sir, I understand.”

“That’s it for now, Jimmy. Call me as soon as you have anything.”

“Yes, sir. Will do.”

Truckloads of cocaine and heroin had been arriving all night, and forklifts were busy transferring tons of drugs—worth hundreds of millions of dollars, over a billion in all—to the subs, where sweaty crews loaded and secured the cargo.

Two hundred and ten miles above, the advanced Kennan KH-12 satellite recorded the activity and transmitted the images back to several approved observers in various governmental and military agency offices. And then there was the bunker at Tom’s ranch, where the images were being “borrowed” to give Tom up-to-the-minute intel.

Tom’s sat phone chimed. He answered and Jimmy spoke hurriedly from the other end.

“That black Range Rover you are looking for—it just arrived at the sub base. We’ve got good images of the vehicle, the tag, and the passenger. What do you want me to do with them?”

“Send me a copy and then run everything. If that’s El Patrón, we need to nail him. I’ll let the senator know. Just keep up the great work, Jimmy.”

“The next pass is in three hours, eleven minutes. I’ll call you then.”

Juan Caldera took off his shirt in the steamy afternoon sun and joined the line of men passing the plastic-wrapped bricks of coke and heroin into the subs. He encouraged them to keep working and to make certain the loads were secure. The loading took hours, and when it was finished, Caldera inspected every sub, every tie down, and spoke quietly with each of the crews.

“This shipment is the largest and most important we’ve ever made. The money will go to feed and protect our people. Without it they will go hungry and babies will die. You are not criminals—you are patriots protecting our homeland. Feeding our children. You must not fail. We are brothers here, and as your brother I expect you to do your best for our family. Be brave, be strong, be victorious, and you will receive a hero’s welcome when you return.” Caldera shook the hand of every man and looked strongly into their worshipful eyes.

“This is the most important week of your lives, the most important voyage you will ever take, and I promise it will be the most rewarding. Now go, and may the Blessed Virgin watch over you.”

The KH-12 satellite streaked across the sky at 17,000 miles per