look, as if to say, What’s going on?
“Carson McCormack is working with the cartels to bring drugs over the border,” I say. “His whole oil business is a front for a major drug network that supplies dealers all over the Southwest. What you’re looking at there has a street value of at least a million dollars. Maybe two or three. And once he cuts it and repackages it at his plant, there’s no telling how much he’ll get for it.”
Kyle stands up and stares at me. His expression is unreadable. As he opens his mouth to speak, I honestly have no idea what he is going to say.
Chapter 84
“RORY,” HE SAYS, his face still expressionless, “I’m very disappointed.”
“Disappointed?” I say.
“Yes,” he says, nodding gravely.
I don’t know what to say. I’m about to argue, but if what I’m showing him doesn’t speak for itself, I don’t know what will.
“I’m disappointed,” he says again, then adds, “with myself.”
His stone-cold expression breaks into a smile.
“I’ve been a horse’s ass,” he says. “You’ve done good work here, and I’m sorry I haven’t helped you. A lieutenant is supposed to help his Rangers, not stand in their way.”
He extends his hand, and I take it, surprised and relieved.
“I’m going to make it up to you,” he says.
He claps me on the shoulder. I feel like Dale must have felt last night. I’ve been carrying a heavy burden on my own, and now I finally have help. With Kyle on board, we can bring the full power of the Texas Rangers down on Rio Lobo, not to mention a handful of other state and federal agencies.
But there’s still the question of how to make that happen.
“What do we do next?” I say.
“You’ve been doing all right on your own up till now,” he says. “I defer to you. What’s our next step?”
I start by waving Ariana and Dale down from the hill. As they make their way toward us, Kyle and I climb down the ladder to the ground and discuss what we should do. We’re still trapped in the open space, with McCormack’s men guarding the exits. The difference now is that Kyle is here on official police business, whereas Ariana and I were—and technically still are—fugitives.
We might be able to drive the tanker to the highway and have Kyle talk our way through. But I’m afraid they might very well start shooting, especially if they see us taking one of their tankers, no doubt full of drugs, with us.
Another possibility is that Kyle drives back on his own, like nothing has changed. He could act like he didn’t see anything—no sign of me or Ariana—but as soon as he gets a cell phone signal, he could call in the cavalry. But this is risky because that leaves Dale, Ariana, and me out here with the tanker. Now that it’s daylight, I imagine McCormack’s men will be scouring these hills. Besides, once Dale doesn’t show up this morning with a truckload of drugs, McCormack will start to suspect something, if he hasn’t already.
Ariana could hide Tom Aaron’s Land Cruiser, but there’s no way we can hide Dale’s tanker.
Once McCormack gets wind that we have this truck—and the millions of dollars of evidence inside—along with a witness who will tell us everything about the trafficking operation, he could move heaven and earth to try to cover his ass before we can get a warrant to bring an army of detectives to his property. Given enough time, he could move all the drugs off his property, start destroying evidence, maybe make a run for it himself. All he and Gareth would need to do is get across the border and hook up with their cartel buddies and we might never see them again.
All of this is why I think our best course of action is strength in numbers. Kyle, Dale, Ariana, and I should all take the tanker south together, not splitting up. As soon as we get into cell phone range, Kyle and I will start making calls. We’ll bring in reinforcements from Company E in El Paso. We’ll work on getting search warrants. We’ll notify the DEA. We’ll call the sheriff’s office and highway patrol and tell them that the roadblocks set up for Ariana should now be on the lookout for any and all vehicles associated with Carson McCormack.
We’ll put as many wheels in motion as we can, as fast as possible.
“Sounds good to me,” Kyle says.
When Dale and Ariana arrive, they look unconvinced