Broken Borders, page 16
Rabbe laughed and talked with Tariq about the patriotism of just about all of the U.S. Border Patrol agents, even jingoism, and their anger since 9/11, and said he would be hard-pressed to find someone they could bribe. This actually made sense to Tariq, with Otis adding he might have been able to find someone to bribe before 9/11, but not since.
It was actually Otis’s idea to use the heart transplant con to move the two nukes across the border. He also used university computers, creating phony, official-looking documents, written in both Spanish and English, regarding the transport of the so-called organs. They would use the ambulance to transport them across the border, with just two men in the front seat of the ambulance and two in the rear. The rest of Tariq’s terrorists would ride the buses along with the college kids, but then both ideas were scrapped in favor of using O Grupo Grande, as they had much experience smuggling drugs and weapons across the border.
So now, Otis Rabbe was waiting in an old adobe ranch-house near the Franklin Mountains area north of El Paso, outside the two-thousand-person town of Tularosa in what was referred to actually as the Tularosa Basin. He had put a down payment on the property, and Tariq, using AQ funds, gave Otis the money to pay it off. This would be the safe house for the bad guys. Otis could not show off for the students, or do all the amazing things he had planned.
Tularosa, New Mexico, in Otero County is about thirteen miles north of Alamogordo at the junction of U.S. 54 and U.S. 70, with White Sands Missile Range to its left and Fort Bliss to its right and below it, and the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation above it. The community was founded in 1862 by Mexican settlers who chose the marshy land where Tularosa Creek fans out with many tributaries among reeds and marsh grass approximately one mile from the mouth of Tularosa Canyon.
In 1863, during the Indian Wars, several sheepherders were killed on Tularosa Peak, which is six miles southwest of Tularosa and overlooking the Tularosa Valley. Because of that, this peak was called Dead Man’s Hill for a little while. Then In 1868, a U.S. Army soldier, Sergeant Glass, defeated a band of Mescalero, Apaches on what was then called Round Mountain, but now Tularosa Peak gets credit for most old legends in the area.
Nobody but a satellite tens of thousands feet above could actually see it, but there was a very slight movement near a ridge near Tularosa Peak. On the ground, it was two FBI agents, and they were taking turns watching the ranch with Oberwerk 25/40 × 100 Military Observation Super-Giant Binoculars on a large wooden tripod. The manufacturer says; “Oberwerk 25/40 × 100 mm Military Observation Super-Giant Binoculars are two feet in length and weigh over twenty-six lbs! For decades, this Carl Zeiss-designed binocular was available only to the East German and Chinese militaries. Now the same factories are producing these for Oberwerk Corporation for the civilian market. Oberwerk 25/40 × 100 mm Military Observation Super-Giant Binoculars are the ultimate optical instrument for terrestrial observation as well as astronomical viewing.”
From three or four miles away, the two agents were able to watch what was going on at the ranch, through windows, even between curtains. They watched in shifts and regularly reported to the Task Force headquarters set up at Bliss headquarters.
Unfortunately for bad guys, they often do not think that a man will be watched closely who has made statements about assassinating a previous President and often is way beyond far left in his comments to students.
One of the FBI agents, before getting his CPA and then becoming an agent, was in the Marine Corps and was a sniper. He had a good idea about the fortifications at the ranch, and was very concerned about the tactics of attacking the place.
Back at Fort Bliss, General Perry and the secretary of defense were being given a private briefing and shown a video by a pair of high-ranking British SAS officers. The had flown to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to meet with the commanding general of the USA John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center to brief the commander of the Green Berets, and he was so impressed, he flew with them to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, to brief the commanding general of the U.S. Special Operations Command, in charge of all Specops, not just USA Special Forces. General Perry was contacted, and he immediately thought of their mission and knew that Bo and Bobby had done a lot of sport parachuting or sky-diving, in addition to Bobby’s extensive experience with HALO. The two SAS officers were immediately flown from MacDill to Bliss to brief the SECDEF and COS (chief of staff) of the Army Jonathan Perry. All others were excluded from the briefing room as they watched and listened.
According to the briefing, British Special Forces troops would be dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions by trading their traditional parachutes in favor of strap-on stealth wings.
The lightweight carbon fiber mono-wings would allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing—making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft could avoid flying anywhere near the target.
The technology was first demonstrated in 2003 when Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner—a pioneer of free-fall gliding—“glided” across the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft thirty thousand feet above Dover, England, and landing safely near Calais, France, twelve minutes later.
Wearing an aerodynamic suit, and with a six-foot-wide wing strapped to his back, Felix soared across the sea at 220 mph, moving six feet forward through the air for every one foot he fell vertically—and opened his parachute one thousand feet above the ground before landing safely.
Now, military scientists have seen the massive potential for secret military missions. Currently Special Forces and Specops, such as the SAS, which this was initially proposed to, rely on a variety of parachute techniques to land behind enemy lines.
Existing steerable square parachutes, or parafoils, are used normally, but when opened at high altitudes above twenty thousand feet, jumpers have to struggle to control them for long periods, often fighting very high winds and extreme cold, while breathing from an oxygen bottle.
They can also free-fall from high altitude, open their parachutes at the last minute, but that severely limits the distance they can “glide” forward from the drop point to just a few miles.
But the German company ESG developed the strap-on rigid wing specifically for Special Forces and Specops use.
Looking like a six-foot-wide pair of F-15 Eagle wings, the device should allow a parachutist to glide up to 120 miles, while carrying up to two hundred pounds of equipment.
Not only that, the stealth wings are fitted with oxygen supply and navigation aides. Ultimately, Bobby and Bo could wear the wings, jump from a high altitude breathing oxygen, while their transport aircraft can stay far, far away from enemy territory, or in this case, could avoid detection or suspicion by staying close to commercial airliner flight paths.
The manufacturers claimed the ESG wing is “100-percent silent” and “extremely difficult” to track using radar.
When they would approach their landing zone, Bobby and Bo could pull their rip cord to open their parafoil canopy and then land like they normally would.
The briefer pointed out that even their weapons, ammunition, food, and water could all be stowed inside the wing, although caching the six-foot-wide wings after landing would be much more difficult than caching or burying a traditional parachute.
The SAS officers also said that in the future, ESG claims the next stage of development would be fitting “small turbojet drives” to the wings to extend range even further.
The secretary of defense looked at Jonathan Perry and said, “If you want some, just tell me.”
Perry winked, looked at the two SAS officers, saying, “Did you bring any of these wings with you?”
Colonel Heath Weatherill said, “Yes, sir, we most certainly did. We brought two sets. Would you like to see them?”
Perry laughed and said, “Did they come with a manual?”
The SECDEF chuckled.
The other officer, a major, said, “Aye, General. Actually they do.”
Jonathan said, “Can we keep the two sets and try them out a little and let you know if we want to order some? I am very impressed.”
The secretary of defense said, “I concur, gentlemen.”
The colonel said, “General, please keep both sets with the compliments of the British army.”
General Perry and the secretary of defense stood and shook hands with both British commando leaders, and then invited them as their guests for supper at the O-Club. The men of course accepted.
Jonathan Perry had no clue if these were something Bobby and Bo could use, but they certainly would be handy to have around in case they could. He and the SECDEF, in fact, had a lengthy discussion in regard to the use of the new stealth wings for special operations forces needing to enter enemy territory undetected.
Bobby’s force continued to speed toward the general direction of the terrorists’ rendezvous, but the bad guys were now already meeting. In fact, they were now caravaning, including the ambulance, and following Ramiro Maureo as he wound his way northwestward through the city. Traffic was heavy. Hitting Laredo, he traveled northward, getting closer and closer to the Rio Grande. Then turned west on Ignacio Mejia.
Zorion Duarte knew they were heading to a large warehouse, and was wondering how he could signal the Americans. He had sworn an oath to O Grupo Grande. He feared Ramiro more than anything, but his brother was in prison in Sao Paulo facing a death sentence, and the Americans who met with him told him that they would insure his brother’s release, transport him to the U.S., and Zorion, too, if he would help them, agreeing to never join a gang again. Plus they would give him $400,000 cash, tax-free. He had to try to take advantage of it, so he had been feeding information by his cell phone to the two Americans, who both spoke Spanish and looked and acted Mexican. They’d approached him in a restaurant.
In actuality, one was named Carlos Lopez and grew up in Decatur, Georgia, and was bilingual. The other, Dan Jones, had spent twenty years in Special Forces, and had learned Spanish starting in high school at Bakersfield, California, then attended Spanish language school, several of them in fact, and was a heavy weapons sergeant on A-Detachments all over South America and Central America with the 7th Special Forces Group, for almost his entire career. Carlos was a naval intelligence officer. The two of them, after retiring from the military, both avoided training at “The Farm.” They were field operations officers who were recruited to work for the CIA, but had they not had their military job experience and been so fluent in Spanish, they would have had to have been under thirty-five, have a degree with a high GPA, and to become Field Operations Officers, would spend time at “the Farm,” the CIA’s training ground at Camp Peary near Williamsburg, Virginia. The course, which is referred to by many as “Outward Bound with guns,” requires a few days’ training and living in a swamp escaping human predators. Besides the outdoor skills sets they learn, candidates also learn how to gather information at cocktail parties, set up clandestine meetings, see if they are being tailed, learn how to slip tails, learn how to effectively use shortwave radios—as well as other clandestine communications gear, and report-preparation. There is also a phase, simply called a “jail sequence,” in which officer recruits are put in a cell, deprived of food, water, and sleep, and then interrogated for nearly two days.
Both agents had been assigned to Ciudad Juarez and had a good net of agents working the area, as well as working their own little projects like Zorion Duarte, who was now paying off for them in spades.
The problem now was that he knew the gang would soon be in the United States, and he had to tell the men. If the gang was successful, the American spies or policemen, or whatever they were, would not do the things they promised or pay him any more money.
Finally, riding next to Ramiro, he punched the cell phone number for Dan Jones, who he knew as Enrique Acosta. He looked down at the pad until he saw that it read “connected.”
Then Zorion said, in Portuguese, “Ramiro, are we going to the empty warehouse near Laredo with the tunnel entrance in it?”
Ramiro was not the leader of such a notorious gang because he was stupid. Zorion’s leading question was unusual and out of place, and Ramiro immediately whipped out a monstrous Desert Eagle .44 Magnum automag and said, “Do not move.”
He literally shoved the barrel into Zorion’s left ear.
Then Ramiro said, “Raise your right hand slowly and do not push any buttons on your phone.”
Zorion raised the cell phone cautiously as tears started to stream down his face.
Ramiro pulled over right in the middle of traffic and got out, telling Zorion to get out, too. The caravan stopped, as did many other cars.
The gang leader smiled broadly and said in English, “Hey, Yankee, here is your little rabbit and what we do to traitors.”
Dan heard Zorion scream and then a loud bang. The head shot blew the back of his skull all over a car. Ramiro kicked the still-twitching body, spit on him, and got back in the vehicle, driving off.
Bobby, Bo, and Ramsey found themselves in the southern outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, where Zorion had called from. They got a call from Task Force headquarters, with the translation of Zorion’s last words. They immediately headed north.
Was this task force going to work?
Bobby wondered to himself, and thought about how al-Zarqawi was nailed. It was not some hit-or-miss event, but the culmination of a long concentrated effort. Immediate news reports would credit every unit from the 101st Airborne Division to the Iraqi Police, but he knew that the killer got nailed by a concentrated long-term tireless pursuit by Task Force 145.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late commander of al Qaeda in Iraq, was a powerful symbol of the al Qaeda mindset, a ruthless commander willing to exercise the most extreme brutality on the battlefield. Zarqawi was a living gruesome role model and legend in the jihadi community, and was every bit as popular as Osama bin Laden. He became a video and Internet star. His image and videotapes were widely distributed.
Task Force 145 was the driving force behind the killing of Zarqawi, Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, his spiritual adviser, and other lieutenants during a high-level meeting. For many months, TF-145 tracked his whereabouts around Iraq, conducting numerous raids, and killing or capturing many of his leaders. After many raids searching for him turned up AQ leaders all over Iraq, al-Zarqawi was finally identified and targeted in a farmhouse just outside Baquba, a city with a heavy al Qaeda involvement.
Task Force 145’s operations were based on intelligence on al Qaeda’s organization, and their intelligence sources tried to identify his locations close to Baghdad, because Zarqawi focused his activities in that area trying to influence the news media and incite a civil war, which would destabilize the newly formed Iraqi government.
The numerous raids they made around the area started netting plenty of cell leaders, helpers, backers, and terrorist commanders, which provided intelligence for follow-up strikes, which ultimately led to the attack of Zarqawi’s safe house, which they actually targeted.
The death of Zarqawi certainly did not end the insurgency in Iraq, but Bobby remembered how much it helped make a dent and upset al Qaeda. Now he hoped this task force would do just the same.
The first task at hand, however, was to find Ramiro and al Qaeda before they could cross the border with the nuclear bombs. The outlaws were now speeding toward their faux-warehouse/real tunnel entrance, which had been years in the digging and construction.
Bobby had read the translation of the document found at al-Zarqawi’s safe house after he was nailed, and was shocked at the detailed planning and thinking about apparently all al Qaeda undertook. It amazed him how much they manipulated what was happening. The document, that al-Zarqawi apparently had written, read:
“The situation and conditions of the resistance in Iraq have reached a point that requires a review of the events and of the work being done inside Iraq. Such a study is needed in order to show the best means to accomplish the required goals, especially that the forces of the National Guard have succeeded in forming an enormous shield protecting the American forces and have reduced substantially the losses that were solely suffered by the American forces. This is in addition to the role played by the Shi’a (the leadership and masses) by supporting the occupation, working to defeat the resistance, and by informing on its elements.
“As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance for the following reasons:“1. By allowing the American forces to form the forces of the National Guard, to reinforce them and enable them to undertake military operations against the resistance.
“2. By undertaking massive arrest operations, invading regions that have an impact on the resistance, and hence causing the resistance to lose many of its elements.
“3. By undertaking a media campaign against the resistance resulting in weakening its influence inside the country and presenting its work as harmful to the population rather than being beneficial to the population.
“4. By tightening the resistance’s financial outlets, restricting its moral options, and by confiscating its ammunition and weapons.
“5. By creating a big division among the ranks of the resistance and jeopardizing its attack operations, it has weakened its influence and internal support of its elements, thus resulting in a decline of the resistance’s assaults.
“6. By allowing an increase in the number of countries and elements supporting the occupation or at least allowing them to become neutral in their stand toward us in contrast to their previous stand or refusal of the occupation.
“7. By taking advantage of the resistance’s mistakes and magnifying them in order to misinform.
