The Beasts of Juarez, R.B. Schow [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

going to be okay, Sydney?” Leopold asked. “Because I can have Cira escort you and the girls back home.”

“I’m sure she’s tired from attacking our driver,” Sydney said with some bite. Leopold hoped that Cira understood the animus was directed at Camden and not her.

“It’s no problem at all,” Cira replied, indifferent. In the front seat, Agent Fykes started to stir. Cira reached up, put pressure on both sides of his neck to close the carotid artery then watched him slump over again.

“I can clean up then get us back home,” Sydney said. “But thank you, Leopold. And thank you, Cira.”

Leopold dropped the family off at the hotel, hugging the girls, and then Sydney. After that, they went to a nearby auto parts house, purchased a few things, and drove to the border. Cira had to keep Agent Fykes unconscious long enough to get somewhere private.

“I’m glad that you’re with me,” Leopold said to Camden as they were driving to the part of the border that Camden identified as being the most porous.

“Me, too,” he said.

“But not for the reasons you think,” Leopold said as they left the paved roads for a dirt road that ran parallel to the border wall. “This way if my team doesn’t show up, I won’t have to chase you down to beat you to death.”

When they were finally clear of any other witnesses, Leopold pulled into a small grove of trees, the border wall in sight, but inaccessible.

“Are you sure the cameras here don’t work?” Leopold asked.

“They shut them off,” Camden said.

“Good, now be a sport and hand me the agent’s credentials. And don’t touch him where you would leave fingerprints. That’s any flat or shiny surface.”

He got the man’s ID and badge. “Now what?”

Just then, Fykes started stirring, with a grumbling in his gut that sounded like either hunger or explosive diarrhea being loaded into the chute. Cira leaned forward and knocked him out again.

“Help me get him out of the SUV and lay him face-up in the dirt,” Leopold said. “Cira, you’re behind the wheel.”

Without hesitation, she climbed out of the Suburban’s back seat and took the wheel. On the other side of the vehicle, Camden and Leopold pulled Fykes out into the desert landscape. When he’d been dragged out in front of the SUV and laid out on his back, Leopold said, “Okay, now run him over slowly.”

“Say again?” Cira asked. She stuck her head out of the window to hear him better.

“I said, put the SUV in gear then slowly drive over him.”

Shaking her head in dismay, she put the vehicle in gear and approached the man’s body slowly. When she bumped his side with the front tire, she put her foot on the gas and rolled forward just enough to climb over the top of him. The second the front wheel rose up onto his ribcage, it slammed down quickly causing both Leopold and Camden to turn away and grab their noses.

With the window rolled down, she said, “Leopold, come here.” He walked over to her, still plugging his nose. That’s when she caught a whiff of a rather distinct fecal odor.

“Tell me I can work the field now,” she said.

“You can work the field now,” he replied, still taken aback by what had just happened. “Now back up and run over his head.”

“Really?” she asked.

“You broke his ribs for sure, but this man’s colon just exploded into his pants, which explains the foul smell in the air. Run over his head just to be sure.”

“Now that I’m on the team, I don’t mind saying that it’s time for you to get your hands dirty. For heaven’s sake, stop being such a bitch.”

“I wear a suit and tie to war,” he said.

“That’s so pathetic,” she replied, half joking and half pissed off. “Move back.”

She backed up the SUV, running back over his guts, and then she lined the Suburban up right and took a breath. When she ran over his head, when she felt his skull crack under the tire, she felt like she’d done the job the right way.

To the two men still plugging their noses and groaning, she said, “Drag his body into the trees and get your pansy asses in this beast.”

When they dragged him out of the road, they left behind a combination of both brown and red smears.

A short drive later, when they arrived at the rendezvous point, they figured they would have to wait a couple of hours for the team to show up. An hour into the wait, they were met by a Border Patrol unit with flashing lights. He got out of his vehicle with his gun drawn asking for their IDs. Leopold showed the man his badge which calmed the BP guard enough to take his hand off of his weapon.

“You should alert us to your activities here first, Agent Fykes,” the border agent said. “That’s the protocol where I come from.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of time. My CI’s are coming across right now. If this pans out, I’m about to learn the new distribution routes of the Juárez Cartel. When that happens, BP and I are definitely going to have a conversation.”

The border agent glanced over the others, stopping when he saw Congressman Fox. Nodding appreciatively, he said, “Oh, I didn’t know you were here, too. This is great. Thanks for what you’re doing for us, Congressman.”

“You bet,” Camden said.

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” he said.

When he was gone, not half an hour later, all four members of the field team walked through a double section of the border wall that had been left wide open.

“I told you,” Camden said.

“Yes, you did,” Leopold replied with a smile. He turned to Cira. “It looks like we’re all done here.