***
Guereca held the pistol beside his leg as he walked to the cars that were lined up to go into Mexico. He saw a vehicle that looked good, and pointed the pistol at the driver in the red Dodge pickup. The man put his hands out the window and waved them as if they were on fire. Guereca opened the door and the man ran away, hunching over as if expecting a bullet in the back. Guereca slipped the pistol under his belt and hopped behind the wheel just as the line of cars moved again toward Mexico.
***
Riffey glanced in his rear view, and saw Holland ten feet behind and coming fast enough to ram him.
Riffey knew he had to find help or a lot of people would die very soon. He made his decision.
Smuggling weed into the country was a tough way to learn evasive driving, and Riffey did it for five years, until the cartels made things too dangerous for a gringo working alone. But the skill he learned behind the wheel was like riding a bicycle, something you didn’t forget.
Riffey waited until the Grand Cherokee was less than five feet from his rear bumper, then he suddenly hit the brakes and cut the wheels, sliding in a tire smoking one-eighty as Holland shot by him, not able to stop in time.
The Cavalier squealed in a half circle to point its nose toward the Presidio Port of Entry. Riffey thought for a second about driving into the Port and telling the first agent he saw, but he knew Holland would catch and kill him and the port people before he could say a word, because the terrorist had turned incredibly fast and was close on his bumper again.
Waiting until the last second before entering the Port, Riffey cut the Chevy hard to his left when it was three feet from the road divider.
He rocketed into oncoming traffic, driving like a crazy man, honking and screaming as he jerked the wheel to dodge vehicles that slid to stops, or evaded him and slammed into the dividing barrier.
An eighteen-wheeler came at him head-on, and Riffey steered completely across the road to the outside shoulder, never slowing as he passed the tractor-trailer so close that metal screeched when the Cavalier’s passenger side scraped the rear of the trailer.
The collision knocked the tail of Riffey’s car off the pavement and into the sand on the side of the road, but he kept the pedal down and rode the fishtailing sedan up onto the road.
He glanced behind and saw Holland did not take the chance. Asadullah faded back, and Riffey thought he might have some hope.
The Cavalier went too fast into the turn onto O’Reilly Street and slid completely across the pavement and through the dirt and gravel on the far side of the road for twenty yards, throwing up a huge, billowing cloud of pale dust.
Working the steering wheel, he regained control and drove back onto the pavement with a squeal of tires, accelerating as fast as he could to reach Sheriff Danny Montoya at The Enlightened Bean.
***
Sam Kinney and Miguel finished eating their hamburgers, and then went outside the Enlightened Bean to hear Sheriff Montoya. They eased through the people until Sam found an open place at the edge of the crowd. Sam’s phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, then moved away from the crowd and said, “Hey, Hunter. What’s up?”
“I’m in Presidio and wanted to show you a photo, see if it rings a bell with you or Miguel.”
“We’re at the Enlightened Bean, listening to campaign propaganda by the Acting Sheriff.”
“Be right there.”
Sam returned to Miguel and told him that Hunter was coming. They drifted away from the others and waited for her to arrive. Distant sounds of honking cars and the screech of tires reached them. Sam looked in the direction of the sounds and said, “Wonder what’s going on?”
Hunter saw Sam and Miguel when she pulled into the parking area, and she noticed they weren’t looking at her. Neither was Danny or the others in the crowd; they all looked down the road. As soon as she exited, she heard the sound of a car coming fast.
Riffey slowed just enough as he approached the crowd to not lose control, but he still slid into the parking area on screeching tires. All eyes were on him as he looked through the windshield for the Sheriff.
Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed him by the shirtfront and dragged him out of the driver’s window. He hit on his back and Miguel straddled him, ready to punch when Riffey said, “Don’t! Don’t! People are gonna die if we don’t stop them!” Miguel held his punch, but kept the man on his back, and on the pavement.
Riffey recognized the rancher, Sam Kinney, looking down at him. Standing beside him was a beautiful woman in a western hat and jeans who he was sure was the Border Patrol Agent, Hunter Kincaid. Her eyes made him uncomfortable, and he felt like that was how she looked at a target. Miguel still gripped his shirt hard enough for it to be constricting as he breathed.
Sheriff Montoya pushed through the crowd, “You better tell me.”
Riffey said, “There’s a tanker rig on the bridge carrying chlorine and it’s gonna release a cloud of gas big enough to kill everybody on both sides of the border!”
Miguel jerked him to his feet, and then released him as the Sheriff put a strong hand on Miguel’s forearm. Danny said, “Who’s doing this? Give me some names.”
“You need to save these people! That cloud will kill them all if you don’t stop it!”
A Grand Cherokee approached on the road and slowed. Riffey saw it and pointed, “They set it up, and they’re trying to kill me!”