The Last Operation (The Remnants of War Series, Book 1) by Patrick Astre Read Free Book Online Page B

area with Carlos and not raise suspicions."
    The mission plan called for a one-day reconnaissance as the other elements assembled. The rescue would take place the following night.
    Daniels left the souvenir stand ahead of the others and drove the rest of the way. Zacotacas is a little town deriving most of its income from tourists passing through to nearby Guadalajara.
    Daniels parked the Landrover in front of the only hotel. The place was a two story wood building that looked more like a warehouse someone had dressed up. He paid a sleepy looking clerk for a four nights stay. The room held one sagging bed with no blankets or cover, no need for one since there was no air conditioning. A solitary coarse wood dresser and a porcelain sink with patterned brown stains completed the ensemble of this Mexican Ritz-Carlton. Daniels brought in the suitcase with the concealed equipment and stashed it under the bed. He opened the laptop and expended the special antenna providing a secured direct satellite contact through Langley. Each team member had a similar laptop. The computer linked up and the messaging panel showed on screen. Daniels typed in his code and received two messages.
    BETA-001
    CHARLIE-001
    The team was in place and ready. Daniels sent the reply:
    ALPHA-002. Stand by. Expect the GO signal in two days.
    Daniels had left a message at the front desk that he was expecting a Mr. Carlos Garcia who had been hired to assist in locating the site for the shoe factory. There had been previous inquiries and messages so it was known that a North American company wanted to set up shop in Zacotacas.
    Nothing in the plan required any forward information or action in Mexico. The team carried all they needed and the informants were unaware of what went on. Carlos would be the first outsider to learn the details since he was a participant. From the time they would meet at the hotel, early the next morning, Carlos would stay with Daniels. At this point Daniels trusted no one outside of the team members. He wasn't very concerned about the missing informant, Antonio. The only thing he could have known was that US agents were asking questions. Not exactly ground breaking information for the Durands.
    They were on schedule to go in thirty-six hours.

 
     
     
    Chapter 9

     
    Carlos, Mexico,
    Town of Zacotacas,
    Guadalajara Sector.
    The one thing Carlos Garcia wanted above all was to avoid the Durand brothers. As the millennium came around, the influence of the Durands grew like a monstrous octopus. The tentacles spread far and wide as the head rooted deeper into Zacotacas and the surrounding countryside. Each year, the composition of the patrons at Carlos' Cantina changed a little more. From the Campesinos and locals employed by the factories in Guadalajara, their hands and weary faces ground by the hard labor, to a different kind of men.
    Those men had more Pesos and spent them freely as if money was easy to get in Mexico. They would come dressed in finer clothes then could be found in Zacotacas. They were also more demanding and harsh. Carlos could feel their cruel edge like a vicious undercurrent. Although they generally behaved themselves, an aura of violence hovered around them like a dark mantle, restrained but ready to burst out.
    As he drove the old Ford pickup toward Daniels' hotel, Carlos thought that avoiding the Durands and their crew was like getting thrown into a small tank with a large octopus. You couldn't avoid the tentacles there was nowhere to go without being involved.
    Carlos felt something reassuring about Daniels. The man seemed to have an undercurrent of strength like a jungle animal. The North American was the only way out for him, Mama and Rosa. Especially Rosa. Carlos thought he would die happily if he could be sure his little sister Rosa would be all right. He worried about them all the time.
    Carlos parked the truck behind the hotel in a cloud of blue oily smoke. He slammed the sagging door shut. Flecks of rust