AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As they approached the vicinity of the airport, several of the access roads were barricaded with Jeeps and military transport vehicles with a line of soldiers in green khakis, holding onto semiautomatic rifles, scurrying about, making formations, and arranging large boxes of equipment.
The two vans continued on past the barricades to where Sergio had mentioned there was an old service entrance for mechanics, handlers, or subcontractors on the other side of the airport.
At a distance, the small glass terminal looked almost deserted. But huge portable spotlights had been brought in, and he could see there was some staging going on as if they were readying themselves for an announcement of some kind.
Just as Sergio had told him, the service entrance was not manned. Armando, who sat in the seat behind Brady, leaned over and commented, “That tells me these guys aren’t local. They would never have left this entrance unmanned if they’d known better.”
Brady agreed. “All I can say is they’re sure getting ready for something. Keep an eye out and pass the word. We need to find the hangar where the passengers and some of the visitors were taken. See if you guys can find it. I’m going to check my computer to search for further instructions.”
“Roger that.”
Armando turned and pulled out a set of night vision goggles, as several others on the team did the same.
“I got some heat signatures over here,” said Carter Livingston. “I got a line of guards and something going on inside the hangar. I think this must be the spot,” he said.
Several others moved to his side of the van to take a look. Within seconds, there was confirmation.
Their driver spoke out next. “You guys are going to be taking the other van. This one has too many windows. We’ll be taking this one back to the garage.”
“All good here,” Brady said.
“We’ve a decal we’ve put on it so you’re going to look like a repair crew and airline service subcontractor, so you can play that however you want depending. I know it’s fluid.”
“Exactly who do you work for then?” Brady wanted to know.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he shook his head. “I’d love to chitchat, but no can do. We don’t do that here.”
“I got it. And thanks for getting us here safe.”
“Well, we’re not there yet. You never know in Mexico. Things change quickly, but so far so good, and I’ll take that any day.”
Brady turned and saw the second van, the one that held most of their equipment, following closely behind. That’s when he noticed the decals that had probably helped their access. The vans both stopped just outside the gated perimeter, and even though the gate was locked, a pair of bolt cutters gave them easy access. Fredo rolled the chain-link fence out of position until they could drive through. Then he returned it and repositioned the lock to make sure it still looked secured.
“I’m going to put you guys on the backside of that building,” the driver said, pointing. “There’s another building to the right that has some equipment you might want to use. My understanding is there’s a tunnel that leads to the terminal from that building and baggage handlers and maintenance crew, even some food prep services used it for going back and forth without interfering with flights or equipment on the ground.”
“Got it,” said Brady. He was amazed Sergio’s intel was so accurate. “I’m going to check my maps and GPS here. Don’t stop until you get to where you think it’s safe. I want to make sure we’re offloading where the equipment is.”
“You got it,” the driver said.
Brady flipped open his laptop, searching for a message from Charlie. All he saw were several news clips that had been copied and pasted together. There also was a short video that had apparently been posted on one of the local TV stations. The announcer was speaking Spanish, but Armando helped translate what was said, peering over his shoulder.
“It looks like she’s saying there’s roughly four hundred people plus or minus. And they’re waiting for information due to the assassination of the Governor. They don’t say who is in control or who is handling interviews, but they’re looking for suspects amongst the people they’ve detained. She also says a negotiating team and several translators are supposed to be on their way.”
“A team from the government?” Brady asked. “Or from the airline companies?”
“She doesn’t say. My guess is it’s an announcement that the officials are on their way, which probably means whoever’s running this militia group operation.”
“Agreed.”
Brady sent a message to Charlie and asked for further instructions. He waited close to a minute, and when nothing was returned, he shut down his computer and restored it in the bag. He checked his phone again, and this time got a message, a text message from her.
“Looks like you are going to have some company in about four hours. Some kind of a situation has occurred with their transportation, which has delayed them, thank God. We’re concerned about the fact that there are so many people there, and they don’t have the capacity to feed them all. There’s going to be an issue coming up pretty soon for food and water. Just be aware of it.”
Brady answered her, telling her of Armando’s assessment the uniformed group didn’t appear to be local.
She signed back with a thumbs-up.
The van pulled up to a warehouse that appeared nearly abandoned. A truck was parked near one of the back entrances, its hood raised and several windows broken out. A roll-up door next to it was stuck in a position about four feet off the ground. It wasn’t enough to drive a vehicle under, but they could find a cart and get inside for some kind of protection from the sun, which would work for a few hours only. The afternoons were scorching. He guessed the door was inoperable.
