The Territory A Novel - By Tricia Fields Page 0,66

see what they were driving. “They’ve slowed way down,” she whispered.

The vehicles drove past her on the other side of the river, creeping along, apparently looking for the access point.

“They passed the turnoff we identified yesterday.”

“What are they driving?” Jimmy asked. “We’re down by the river, and I can’t see anything.”

Marta watched the lights for a moment. “It’s a full-size pickup pulling a double horse trailer. The car is a lowrider. Maybe an old Mercury or Buick. They’ve passed you guys up. It looks like they’re turning onto the Flat Rock crossing. The Rio is low enough right now, they could probably drive across it. It spreads out there and gets pretty shallow.”

“As soon as they put a wheel in the river, Sanchez and I will approach on the four-wheelers,” Jimmy said. “I got the driver of the truck. Sanchez will block a rear exit. You block from the front with lights and siren, exit your car, and move to the rear for cover. You let us approach the truck from the rear. Clear?”

“We’re on,” Marta said. “The lead car just nosed into the water, and the pickup is on his bumper.” She started to pull the clumps of scrub bushes from the front of her car and got inside.

“I see them. They’ll try the car first to make sure there aren’t problems before they risk losing the load,” Jimmy said.

Marta kept the cell phone to her ear and started her engine. She drove toward the car, leaving her headlights, flashers, and sirens off. She drove with her head out the window, listening for noise. Timing was key. If they arrived too soon, the drivers would leave on foot and run back into Mexico. They needed the car out of the river on the U.S. side without giving it time to take off. However, they hoped to keep the truck in the river, where the four-wheelers maneuvered easier and they would have the upper hand.

Marta inched her car up, now a hundred feet from where the vehicles had entered the river. They, too, had turned their lights off. The half moon and stars still provided enough light that she could see the truck approaching the water.

The car nosed out of the water onto the U.S. side and up the low bank. Its tires spun for several seconds before grabbing hold and lurching onto land. The truck was halfway into the river when both four-wheelers appeared out of nowhere and doused the area in spotlights. Water splashed, and the ATV’s large tires slung mud and rock as they plunged into the river. Marta took advantage of the noise from the revving engines and disorienting lights. She threw on her own lights and sirens and pulled her car directly in front of what she could see now was a Buick, which was sandwiched between the pickup truck and her own car.

The front of her car faced the Buick, so Marta swung open her door immediately, crouched, but instead of running behind her own car and staying as Jimmy had instructed, she ran to the passenger side of the lead car. She wanted to take down the driver herself while the agents took care of the truck passengers. It appeared there was only the driver. No passengers. She hoped she hadn’t miscalculated.

Squatting behind the window of the rear passenger door, she banged on the window and yelled for the driver to step out of the car. With the sirens blaring and the truck and both four-wheelers idling behind the lead car, she doubted the driver could hear anything.

The truck’s driver threw it into reverse, gunned the engine, and hit the front of Jimmy’s ATV with the horse trailer as he made a break for Mexican soil. The impact was negligible, as he had little traction in the water. She watched Jimmy give a thumbs-up to Sanchez, which Marta assumed meant he had not been hurt by the truck. She heard gunshots and ducked, then heard the hiss of the tires on the pickup being deflated.

Guns drawn, Jimmy and Sanchez both left their ATVs simultaneously. Sanchez approached the driver’s side of the truck and Jimmy the passenger side. As both men yelled for the occupants to exit, the doors of the truck opened slowly. Two men wearing jeans and dark-colored T-shirts began exiting the truck and were then dragged by the agents out into the water.

While they were securing the truck, Marta turned her back on the two agents, crouched, and moved around to