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“Weapons?” he gasped. “No, that’s not possible.”
“Do you know a man by the name of Green Sutton?” asked Eazee.
“Of course. Mr. Sutton gives to the church regularly, quite generously, I might add. He uses our basement for storage of donated clothing items for the homeless shelter. He’s a fine man to have in our parish. We’re fortunate to have him.”
“Father, I hate to disagree with you,” said Tanner, “but Mr. Sutton is a drug dealer, arms dealer, and traffics women and children. He is not who you believe he is.”
“This isn’t possible. It’s just not possible. He wouldn’t do this to us, to the church. There must be some other explanation for what you believe.”
“Father, this can all be settled if you’d just let us look in the basement,” said Eazee.
The priest nodded at the two men, walking toward a side door that led to the basement stairs. At the bottom, he flipped on the light, pointing to the cardboard boxes of clothing.
“See, it’s just clothing,” he said, waving at the boxes.
Tanner grabbed one of the boxes, opening the top to see a few clothing items. Moving it to the side, he pushed the others as well to reveal crates of weapons behind them.
“No,” whispered the priest. “No, he wouldn’t…”
“I’m sorry, Father,” said Tanner. “Mr. Sutton is not who you believe. We’re going to have to take these weapons and get them to the military base.” The man nodded, practically falling into an old folding chair.
“What’s your name, sir?” asked Eazee.
“Father Michael Rios. Just Father Mike is fine. I’ve been at this parish for nearly ten years now. In fact, Mr. Sutton fought to keep me here when the diocese wanted to move me to Houston. Do you know what that looks like? They’ll think he kept me here to help him in this scheme.”
“Sir, we’ll be happy to vouch for you. You’re not the first man of the cloth to be fooled by men like Sutton.”
Almost an hour later, the men of Fort Bliss had the weapons loaded onto the back of a truck, covered from prying eyes and ready to pull out. The same Sgt. Major that had taken in the women and children leaned against the wall of the now-empty basement and practically fell backwards as it gave way.
“Oh, dear!” said Father Mike, running to the man. “Are you alright? I don’t know what happened.”
“I do,” said Tanner.
The Sgt. Major stepped aside, removing the fallen drywall. Behind the space were dozens of storage crates, their lids secured tightly. Tanner cut the zip tie holding the top in place, gently removing it. Inside each crate was fifty bags of cocaine. Wrapped, labeled, and secure. Behind them was a tunnel leading into darkness.
“Stay with Father Mike,” said Eazee. “Tanner? Come with me.”
Tanner followed his friend down the long dirt corridor, eventually ending up at a ladder that led upwards. He quietly climbed the ladder, gently pushing on the opening above their heads.
“Where is it?” whispered Tanner.
“We’re beneath the crawl space of someone’s house,” said Eazee. “No idea who it is or where it is.”
“Let’s seal it and blow the tunnel,” he said. Eazee nodded, finding his way back down the steps and toward the church again.
“Where did it lead to?” asked Father Mike.
“Someone’s home. The door opens into the crawl space below the house, which was easy access in and out for whoever wanted the drugs.”
“Oh, dear. What are we going to do?” he said, wringing his hands.
“Father, I need for you to trust us in this. We’re going to set explosives in that tunnel and force it to collapse. It won’t harm the church, but it might be a little dusty in here for a while. If Mr. Sutton comes through here, just let him know that there was a gas leak at a house a few blocks away.”
“A gas leak?” he frowned.
“That’s right. A gas leak. I know it’s not in your nature to lie, Father, but we need you to protect yourself and this church if at all possible.”
“You’re right. I don’t make it a habit to lie, but then again, Mr. Sutton didn’t feel the same when he fooled me all these years, making me an unwilling accomplice in his schemes.” It seemed that suddenly Father Mike had found his backbone. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be able to put on a smile with a note of concern for the poor people whose home was destroyed by the blast.”
