McDonald Array - Divide and Conquer

“We’re leaving now!” shouted Smith above the engine noise of the aircraft. “We’ll pick you up at Laredo!” he managed before the line went dead.

Sean watched as a jet shot down the runway.

“Turn around!!!” he screamed as the first bullets began to ping off their armored plating.

James laughed as the bullets pinged against the windshield in front of him. Sean took him off his lap and handed him to the agents in the back where he was promptly strapped in.

Sean looked back as the chasers closed. The Lexuses were too slow. Their only hope was to get to the border before the pursuers got through their armor.

As they turned onto another road, two trucks barreled towards them. Their only option was to turn down another road, a narrower road where even more armed men lay waiting.

“What the fuck is going on?!!!” screamed one of the agents, verbalizing what everybody else was thinking.

“They’re corralling us to where they want us!” realized Sean. This was one very coordinated and impressive maneuver.

With each street, the chasing pack became larger; it was like some weird 'B’ movie where everybody had been infected by a homicidal virus. It seemed every living soul in Nuevo Laredo was determined to help kill them.

“Split up?” asked Sean to the team leader.

“Worth a try,” he replied and barked the order to the other two cars. At the next junction they split three separate ways. Sean watched as each and every car ignored the other two Lexuses and followed his.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, much to James’s amusement and warning that Mommy would be angry. Sean didn’t feel she’d be overly concerned given the current circumstance.

As they rushed towards another junction, another makeshift roadblock was forcing them right. The truck that blocked their way had left a small gap at the rear.

“Keep going for that gap and hold tight,” ordered Sean.

“That gap’s half the width of this car!” shouted the driver, in a panic.

“Yep, and hit the gas,” screamed Sean.

They hit the truck and spun it out of the way. The weight and momentum of the Lexus were too much for the empty truck.

“Jesus, if that had been fully loaded, we’d be dead!” screamed the Team Leader at Sean in frustration.

“And the back axle would have been riding much lower,” replied Sean confidently. Although he had no idea how low or high the axle rode on that truck. He just knew they were no longer going where the pursuers wanted them.

The road sign indicated 2 miles to the border. Sean looked back and could see that their maneuver had generated a little extra distance between themselves and their pursuers and hopefully enough to see them to the border.

“Fuck!!!” screamed the driver, standing on the brakes.

Sean whipped round as the Lexus struggled to stop against the momentum it had built up. The queue of traffic stretched off in to the American distance.

Sean yanked the steering wheel to the left and the Lexus bounced across the median to the oncoming lanes, empty thanks to the closed border. The driver floored it again. As Sean checked behind them again, the pursuers remained close behind. They were going to follow them all the way. Sean suddenly realized that there was no guarantee they’d actually stop at the border.

“Shit!” the driver shouted as he once again applied the brakes.

Sean turned expecting a queue of traffic, instead it seemed their pursuers had upped their game. The sight of a helicopter hovering ahead was bad enough but the two ominous pods protruding from either side had even the heavily armored Lexus petrified. The rockets would tear through it like a hot knife through butter.

“Fuck!” he added much to James’ amusement.

He watched in the mirror as the pursuers stopped a couple of hundred yards back, clearing the way for the helicopter. It really was a proper Mexican stand off thought Sean. Before he had a chance to crack a joke, the Team Leader was handing him his headset.

“It’s for you!” he said.

Sean took the headset and popped in the earpiece.

“Where are you?” asked Smith.

“In a bit of a situation at the moment!”

“We’re at Laredo, you need to get your ass here. I’ve to get you to Washington yesterday!”

As Sean kept an eye on both the chopper and the pursuers, he noticed the trucks and cars filled with gunmen began to close the distance. As they neared, so did the chopper. They were moving in for the kill.

“Any idea why everyone wants us dead?” asked Sean. At least he could die knowing why.

“About 25 million!”

“Sorry?” replied Sean. They didn’t know him well enough, even people who knew him for a lifetime couldn’t think of that many.

“Dollars. The new boss of Los Zetas it seems is very upset with you!”

“Shit!” shouted Sean as the rocket pods lit up on the chopper and began to spew their deadly fire. However, instead of tearing them apart, the pursuers began to explode in his mirrors.

“Jesus!” shouted Smith through the headset. “What the fuck is that?”

Before Sean could answer. “Is that the gunship the Mexican army sent to help you?” asked Smith.

“Floor it,” screamed Sean to the driver and thirty seconds later, they entered US soil, under the protection of the Mexican army gunship.

James raced across the tarmac and jumped into Katie’s arms, the tears streaming down her face as she almost squeezed the life out of the son she feared she’d never see again. She mouthed a thank you to Sean who bowed his head as he accepted her gratitude. As Sean made his way to one of the sitting jets, James disengaged from Katie and raced to join him. “Where are we going, Daddy?” he asked as though the previous few hours and months had never happened.

Sean looked forlornly at Katie who stood next to a team of agents who were sworn to protect Katie and James until the US Marshalls who were relocating her to Austin arrived.

Sean lifted James in his arms and took him back to Katie.

“Daddy needs to go to work baby, he’ll be back soon!” promised Katie, a tear ran down her cheek which Sean wiped away carefully.

He leant forward and kissed her on the cheek and James on the forehead, before turning and rushing back to the waiting airplane.

“Be safe!” shouted Katie.

“Come home soon Daddy!” shouted James.

Why the fuck didn’t I just go the fucking beach, thought Sean as he boarded the plane, trying desperately not to look back. But couldn’t not. He had to see them one last time.

“Lovely family!” offered Smith as the aircraft door closed.

“Yes,” replied Sean returning James’ excited wave. The poor boy had lost his dad once and he had just lost him again. Having lost his own dad he knew how hard that was going to be.

“We should arrive in Washington at around midnight local time. I’ve to get you straight to Langley from there. Is that OK?”

Sean nodded, as the jet rushed down the runway and Katie and James disappeared into the distance. He was surprised just how much of an impact that was having on him.

“Drink?” repeated Smith, having been ignored on the first asking.

“Sorry, yes please.” Sean shook himself back to the real world.

Smith gave him the drink and after two sips Sean was sound asleep. He woke with a start four hours later with Smith staring at him. “Are you ok?” he asked.

“Fine,” replied Sean defensively, his body was covered in sweat.

“You were moaning and squirming in your chair,” offered Smith as an excuse for his concern.

“You ever heard the name Dr Joseph Mengele?” asked Sean, realizing Smith was on his side.

“Sure, Angel of Death, wasn’t he?” replied Smith, referring to Mengele’s nickname from Auschwitz death camp.