He retrieved his old notebook and handed it to the team leader.
The team leader looked it over for a minute.
“I can’t understand this. What’s it written in? The letters don’t even look right.”
“It’s written in Russian. The letters are Cyrillic.”
The team leader frowned. He then made a phone call to his boss in Mexico.
Jorge, one of Manuel’s top lieutenants, answered the phone.
“Jorge, we are at the Russian’s house. The grandfather wants to trade for his grandson’s life.”
“What could he possibly trade?”
“He claims to have been a biological weapons scientist for the old Soviet Union. He showed me an old notebook that he says has the formula for an extremely lethal biological weapon that has an antidote. I know Manuel’s fascination with these things so I thought I should mention it.”
“Have you killed the grandson yet?”
“No, we have the grandparents tied up and are still waiting for him to come home.”
“What does the notebook look like?”
“It’s old and handwritten in a language I don’t recognize. The letters don’t look right either. He says they are Cyrillic.”
“Let me check with Manuel. Don’t do anything until I call you back.”
A couple minutes later, Jorge called him back.
“Manuel has a contact that can read Russian. Take pictures of a couple pages with your phone and send them to me.”
Jorge printed the pages and took them to where Manuel and his father Jefe were having lunch with an old man from the local village. The old man took the pages, put on his reading glasses and studied them for several minutes as his face turned white. He then looked up at Manuel and asked,
“Can I get some more pages?”
Manuel looked over at Jorge, and Jorge nodded and left the room.
Manuel asked, “What do you think?”
“There was a rumor that the Stepnagorsk Scientific and Technical Institute developed a super weapon that they never told the Kremlin about and then they destroyed all the records and the scientists disappeared. If this is actually a notebook that is 20 years old from that Institute, there is the possibility that this is a formula for one of the greatest weapons ever made.”
“What’s so great about this weapon?”
“It’s a nerve agent that kills within a couple minutes. It can be sprayed as a liquid that then evaporates when exposed to the air. When the liquid or gas touches bare skin or is breathed in, it is absorbed and travels through the bloodstream. It is so toxic that one breath or being exposed to a tiny area of skin is all that it takes. Once the liquid evaporates and the gas dissipates, the area is safe. But all this is not what makes it so great. They have an antidote. As soon as you are exposed you take a muscle shot and it makes you immune forever. It is similar to a disease like smallpox. Once you are immune you are immune forever, but if you aren’t immune, as soon as you are exposed you die.”
Jorge walked back in with several pages and handed them to the old man. He studied them for several minutes, looked up at Manuel and said,
“I think you might want to bring in this man and his notebook.”
Manuel turned to Jorge.
“Bring him, his notebook, and his wife and grandson here. Send out the word that they just disappeared. None of the other dealers will know what happened so it will have the same effect as if we killed them for their failures. That should keep the other dealers in line. If this formula works, it could be very helpful. If not, we can kill them here.”
“How do you want me to bring them in?”
Manuel thought for a minute and said,
“We have a load going out tonight on the secure transport. Bring them back when it returns. It doesn’t matter if they know about it. They will never leave here.”
The Russian drug dealer arrived back at his house in San Bernardino and found his grandparents tied up on chairs in the living room. He immediately bolted for the door but was tackled by one of the hit team. They tied him up, loaded him and his grandparents in the back of a cargo van and then went back and trashed the house. They drove to a house in Newport Beach with a private boat house. After dark they loaded the drug dealer and his grandparents into a large powered catamaran and headed into the ocean. Four hours later they were several miles off the coast of San Diego. The boat slowed to a crawl in an area a couple miles from where fishing boats were trawling at the same speed. After a half hour the conning tower of a World War Two era diesel electric submarine broke the surface of the ocean between the two pontoons of the catamaran. The hatch opened and the drug dealer and his grandparents were forced to climb down into the submarine. Packages were carried up through the conning tower and were loaded onto the catamaran for several minutes. As soon as the hatch was closed the submarine slipped silently beneath the sea as the catamaran headed back to Newport Beach. The submarine headed south toward Mexico running silently on electric power. After four hours of silent running it was miles inside Mexican waters where it surfaced inside a similar catamaran, started its diesel engine and headed for a private dock with a warehouse over it in Ensenada, Mexico. The captain said to his first mate,
“Another successful trip. This was the best investment Jefe ever made. When it’s running on the batteries this old submarine is quieter than the new nuclear submarines the US uses. It only can run a few hours at a time on these old batteries, but that is plenty of time to get from the waters off San Diego to Mexican waters.”
After surfacing inside the warehouse the prisoners were transferred to a van for the trip to a small airstrip for a flight farther into Mexico.
Manuel came into the room where the drug dealing grandson and his grandparents were waiting with Jorge. He addressed the grandfather.
“This is the deal. Your grandson has been a major disappointment and owes me a lot of money. If your weapon is what you say, you have purchased his life, yours and your wife's. None of you will ever leave here, but you will live a life of luxury. We have other compounds besides this one, or you might stay here. If this weapon is not what you say, I will personally kill all of you. I looked at the material you need to make this weapon and it seems fairly simple. It looks like it could be made with our Meth cooking equipment.”
The Russian said,
“It’s not that hard to make the nerve agent. You just have to be very careful. One wrong move and if you are not immune, you die. The antidote is a lot harder to make.”
“Are you immune from your previous work?”
“I am, but my grandson and wife are not.”
“Good. I am sending you to make this at one of our Meth labs many kilometers from here. You will make the weapon and the antidote and then test them on your wife and grandson. If it works as you say, you will do more extensive testing on some workers and prisoners I have. If the antidote works as good as you say, it won’t be problem to test it on your family.”
“The antidote works. My family will be fine.”
Chapter 6
Meth Lab – Deep inside Mexico
Several of Manuel’s workers were watching the Russian anxiously. Carlos turned to the others,
“I can’t believe we got stuck with this. Do you think he knows what he’s doing?”
“I’m not sure,” another worker replied, “but if we stay with his wife and grandson we have a good chance. He acts like he loves his wife and his worthless grandson.”
After two weeks the Russian said they were ready and they all assembled in the dining hall. He said to the workers,
“I know you don’t trust me. Here are several hypodermic needles prepared with the antidote. You need to take it when you are exposed. They are all the same. My wife and grandson need them also. Pick whichever one you want and I will inject you. Then we will expose my family and the prisoners to the nerve a
gent.”
Carlos said to the Russian,
“Just remember, if this doesn’t work I still have my gun. I will have time to shoot you before I die, and Manuel and Jefe are watching this on live video. If you are trying to pull something, you won’t get far.”
The workers pulled three needles at random from the pile and the Russian injected each of them. Then Carlos handed him two more and he injected his wife and grandson. There were three prisoners tied up that had no idea what was happening. One had his shirt off and was tied with his arms apart exposing his chest. The next was in another area tied to a wall and the third was tied up in a storeroom with no ventilation. The Russian opened a sealed container and poured a clear liquid into a garden sprayer. He proceeded to spray some on his wife and son, then walked over to the first prisoner and sprayed his chest. He then walked to the second prisoner and dropped a tiny amount on his exposed wrist. With the third prisoner, he walked into the room and sprayed a small amount on the ground and closed the door. He then walked over to the workers, and before they knew what he was doing, he sprayed some in their direction. They panicked and started to run as one of them pulled out a gun. They heard a voice they recognized as Manuel’s boom from the speaker.
“Don’t shoot him. This is a test. I told him to spray you.”
They all looked at the Russian with hate in their eyes. Then they noticed the first prisoner. He started convulsing and throwing himself against his restraints. His eyes rolled up in their sockets and he slumped down. They looked over at the second prisoner that just had a drop and he was doing the same thing. Then they looked at the video of the prisoner in the storage room. At first nothing happened, and then within another minute he showed the same symptoms and then quit breathing. They all started watching the wife and grandson who still seemed fine. After several minutes, all the workers were still fine also. The Russian just sat there smiling and watching. He looked at the video feed that was going back to Manuel and said,
“I told you it works, just like I said. Your workers and my wife and grandson will be immune for the rest of their lives.”
Manuel’s voice came over the video feed.
“You have done well so far, Russian. Stay there several days and make more antidote and nerve agent. Then we will do more testing.”
Manuel turned off the video feed and said to Jorge,
“Call everyone together for a staff meeting. I have a plan that is going to require a lot of work.”
Later that day around the conference table when Manuel was gathered with all his top advisers he stood to address them.
“The Russian’s test seems to be a complete success. This opens the way to implement the Aztlan plan and puts us years ahead of schedule. His nerve agent seems better than anything else I have ever dreamed of. We should be successful executing our plan in one stage instead of several times. We will still prepare for multiple stages, but might not need them. We must move steadily and cautiously from this point on. Juan, you are in charge of the American team. Take whoever you need and spend whatever you have to. You need to find four crop dusting planes we can steal at night without being caught and fly to a staging area near Los Angeles. The staging area has to be private and remote enough to land planes, refuel them and load them with nerve agent to fly to LA. You will probably have to buy a ranch out in the desert. Use one of the U.S. holding companies. Make sure no one finds out who you are and who you represent. When this is complete it will all be blamed on Middle East terrorists. Jorge, I have located the four pilots we need through the requests we constantly get to smuggle people into the US. They are all Middle Eastern and are on the terrorist watch list, which makes them perfect for our plan. You need to bring them into the US when Juan is ready through the secure transport. They cannot know how the transport works in case they get captured after they spray the nerve agent. You will have to drug them so all they know is they woke up in America. They cannot know who we are. Everyone, tell me any flaws in this. Don’t hold back. We need to find any weakness now.”
“Why don’t we just buy the crop dusting planes? It seems like the risk of detection goes up if we steal them.”
“We have inquired about buying planes, but with the security alerts the government is notified when crop dusting planes are sold. They won’t be that difficult to steal. We will do it the same night as the attack.”
He looked around the room at everybody’s eyes and stopped at Juan.
“Juan, do you have questions?”
“No, Jefe, I think the plan is good. However it still seems we are killing off the very people that purchase our drugs. From what I understand this could kill millions of people.”
“Many millions, but there will still be plenty left after this is complete. Besides, we have made enough money for several lifetimes. Now it is about power. This plan is what my father and his fathers have always dreamed of and now it is possible. Isn’t that right, Father?” he asked as he looked over at his father who was sitting at the table.
His father replied reverently, “The Aztlan plan has always been the dream. This is what I have worked toward all my life, and now it can actually happen. The land of Aztlan will rise again with us as the chosen ones for its leaders. I only wish your grandfather was still on earth to see it.”
“Do we have a terrorist to implement the plan?”
“Yes, I have been talking to some contacts in the terrorist camps. They have a sleeper that has been in America since he was 12 years old. He looks and acts like an American. From what I have heard he will be perfect. I will be going to America on the secure transport to meet him and make my final decision if he is the one.”
“Do the terrorists know the overall plan?”
“No, and they never will. All they know is we are supplying the means for them to kill millions of Americans and take the credit. We are also paying them.”
Later that day Juan met with Luis.
“I have been doing some research on the Internet. I think the best place for a staging ground to prepare the planes is east of Barstow, California. That area quickly turns to open desert where we will be isolated enough. We will start looking for property there. The planes are more of a problem. They have crop dusting in that area, but stealing four planes in one area could be a problem. I think if we go further out and steal two planes from two different areas far enough from Barstow, it will make the chances of being detected before it is too late reasonably small. There are two areas I am looking at in particular. One is in the Imperial Valley near the Mexican border and the other is in the San Joaquin Valley. We will try these places first.”
Chapter 7
Barstow, California
Juan was in a real estate office talking with several realtors.
“I represent a retired businessman who always dreamed of owning a ranch in the desert. It must have a house, a large barn, be secluded as he is very private and it must have a private airstrip. He will be flying to this ranch in a private plane from time to time, and he wants to land directly at his property. Do you have any properties that meet these requirements?”
“We actually have several, but all the airstrips are dirt. Is that a problem?”
“Dirt airstrips are fine. Do any of them already have tanks for refueling? That would be a plus.”
“Three of them do. One of the properties in particular seems to fit your requirements, however it is far from town. There are not any other houses close so it is quite isolated. It’s called the Jensen Ranch. There is only one house within several miles, but it is usually unoccupied. The owners have died and it is just used occasionally in the winter by his son. He keeps quads in the barn to ride in the desert when the weather is cool. It used to be a part of the ranch but was sold off several years ago. Would you like to see this property?”
“Absolutely. Can we see it now?”
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After inspecting the property, Juan found it perfect for their needs. He told the realtor,
“This seems excellent. If you can get the fueling tanks checked and filled, I will give you full price.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure that would be acceptable. What about financing?”
“I’ll pay cash. As I said, I represent a wealthy businessman. Set up a short escrow and as soon as the tanks are taken care of we can close. What about that house over the hill? You said it used to be part of the ranch?” Juan asked.
“Mr. Jensen sold the house several years ago with the surrounding five acres to a friend. He and his wife lived there for several years and they both died a year ago. His son owns it now but he only comes in the winter like I said.”
“I’d like to buy that house also. My boss likes his privacy. Tell him to name his price.”
“I’ll call Mr. Brown, but I just talked to him a month ago. It’s not a matter of money with him. He’s a quite successful attorney. He told me he wants to keep it for awhile because of the memories and his kids like to go there and ride quads. If I get a different reply I will call you immediately.”
“I want to close on the Jensen Ranch in the meantime. It we can get the house fine, like I said money is no object. If not we can live with it. It’s still the best property for our needs.”
Chapter 8
San Diego, California
Manuel was sitting in a restaurant waiting for his contact. He watched an Arab businessman with a neatly trimmed goatee, dressed in a nice Western suit walk in alone. He walked over to Manuel and sat down.