Sean kept the pedal down and continued to accelerate. He had to follow the van and the boy. He glanced at his SAT NAV and was rewarded with a map that showed two exits from the Lakes area but only one near them. He just had to make sure he got there before the van disappeared into the wider Laredo area. He cursed his stupidity for not having purchased even a basic cell phone. Instead, he had planned to go to an Apple store the first chance he got and get the latest iPhone that everybody was raving about. Too late for the boy and a decision he would forever regret. A $20 prepaid cell would have been perfectly sufficient to call the police and ultimately ensure the safety of the child.
The Mustang tore through the estate as Sean raced to the entrance and was rewarded with a view of the van as it careened onto the main highway, the Bob Bullock Loop, and a sign for the Mexican border. The next sign was even less encouraging — Mexico 9 miles. The van slowed down as it blended in with the mid afternoon traffic. Sean hung back. From the van’s pace, they hadn’t spotted him.
Sean ran through the options. Stop and raise the alarm. But the risk of losing the van was too high, so not an option. Ram the van off the road and rescue the boy. The van was far bigger than him and unlike the old cliche, when it came to vehicles, it was all about size. So that option was out. In short, he had no option but to do what he was doing. Follow and strike when he had the chance. That chance would only arise when they stopped. However, that would then start a whole new dilemma. Sean was unarmed and he doubted the occupants of the van would have kidnapped the child without at least some weaponry but he’d worry about that when the time came. At that moment, all he could think about was why the hell he hadn’t just gone to the beach.
Miguel dragged the screaming mother back into the house and slammed the door closed. He had glanced across at the Federales and was dumbfounded by their inaction. They just sat there as though nothing had happened. They had seen him shooting at the Mustang and witnessed a boy being kidnapped. One thing was certain, they weren’t Federales.
The woman needed two slaps before her screaming became a whimper.
As her screaming died down, the police sirens came to life.
“Shit!” Miguel ran upstairs to check on Hector. “Hector, what the fuck are you doing?” he screamed.
Hector failed to answer, infuriating him even more. “Hector!” he shouted as he entered the loft area.
Hector waved at him wildly, his finger to his lips.
“I assure you everything is fine, we don’t need anybody here.” Hector was saying into his phone. “Don’t be ridiculous, nobody has been kidnapped, the boy’s uncle picked him up.”
Hector listened for a few seconds before his tone changed. “I don’t care how you stand them down, just fucking do it! That’s what we pay you for!” and put the phone down.
A few seconds passed before the sirens died. Their man in the force had just earned himself a large bonus and saved his family’s life.
“Fixed!” he announced. His calm composure had returned after his earlier panic.
Miguel didn’t bother responding as he headed back to the mother. Someone was reaching out to get to her and it may well have been the breakthrough El Jefe was waiting for.
Miguel grabbed her and took her into the living room. El Jefe needed to be updated.
Miguel dialed the emergency number and waited to receive the call back. Five minutes passed before El Jefe’s menacing voice was on the phone. Miguel knew he was to be careful on the phone line.
“We’ve had a visitor!”
“Where from?”
“Out of town I think!”
“What did they say?”
“Nothing, they didn’t stop, they just took the small package and left.”
“They were local, not visitors.”
Miguel thanked God he hadn’t shot at the van. El Jefe had just told him he had sent the men to get the boy.
“And our friends?” asked El Jefe, meaning the Federales.
“They just drove off, as though nothing had happened.”
“Interesting.” the line went dead. El Jefe was finished.
Miguel considered calling back. He hadn’t told him about Hector’s vision of the guy in the sports car. He’d have to go through the same procedure again, calling the emergency number and waiting.
“We have your son.”
Miguel relayed the information in the hope it would give the woman some comfort and shut her up but to no avail. In fact, her whimpering increased.
“You just need to help us establish links to your husband’s contacts and we’ll be gone!” he reiterated for the fiftieth time.
“I don’t know what or who you are talking about. I promise I don’t know what contacts you are talking about!” she blubbered in response as she had every time previously.
The frustration for Miguel, which made this assignment all the more difficult, was that he genuinely believed her. He retreated back to the loft area; the whimpering was really beginning to gnaw at him.
Sean was struggling to hide himself amongst the traffic. It seemed the closer they got to Mexico the more cars decided against it. Every exit resulted in another swathe of cars exiting but nobody entered. There was certainly no shortage of vehicles coming the other way. Truck after truck lined the road. He knew the US was more appealing than Mexico but this was ludicrous. He was the only car heading to Mexico along with a handful of trucks.
They were definitely taking the boy to Mexico. The final cut-off to remain in the US flashed past as they continued towards the border. Sean unbuckled his belt and sped up. As soon as the van stopped, he wanted to be out and alerting the border staff to the kidnap. As the road spread into a wide number of lanes, Sean stayed directly behind the van as it selected a central lane and approached the barrier. Both slowed down as the barrier blocked their way. Sean’s hand was on the door handle. As soon as they stopped, he would be on them, screaming towards the building four lanes to his right that he was sure would house armed officers.
Sean was now tight behind the van offering them no escape from the barrier ahead. They continued to slow down. As Sean began to pop the door, the van sped up, the barrier lifted automatically, no checks were going to be made on the van.
Sean slammed the door and sped forward. The barrier dropped and Sean waited for it to lift and allow him to continue the pursuit. The barrier remained down. A boy’s life was in Sean’s hands. He blasted his horn in frustration. The van was pulling away from the border area and entering Mexico. Sean was in a sport’s car with no storage. They had a van and could have any kind of contraband in the back but he was the one being held back!
As the van disappeared from view, Sean banged his horn in frustration. An officious looking border officer cut across the lanes and headed towards his car. Sean jumped out of the car.
“Lift the barrier, they’ve kidnapped a boy!” Sean pointed desperately at the empty road ahead.
“I’m sorry, Sir. This is for commercial vehicles only,” she said ignoring what he had just said.
“Didn’t you hear me?! They’ve kidnapped a boy, open this fucking barrier!!!”
The officer looked at him with some disdain. “Sir, you wouldn’t believe the stories we get in an attempt to allow unauthorized vehicles through this commercial crossing.”
Sean took all his strength not to hit the supercilious bitch.
“Open the barrier, NOW!” demanded Sean.
The woman removed the walkie-talkie from her belt much to Sean’s relief and as she hit the talk button, Sean climbed back into the car, ready for the barrier to rise.
“I need back-up please, I’ve got an aggressive driver here!” she said backing away from Sean carefully.
Sean looked at the road ahead in despair. The bridge off in the distance crossed the Rio Grande, which offered a natural line to delineate between the two countries. A speck in the distance had just passed through the Mexican border crossing without stopping. The boy was gone. Sean was in no mood for bullshit.
“Call the police and the Mexican authorities and give them this registration,” Sean said, stepping out of his car, holding out a piece of paper to the woman. “A young boy is in that van!”
The woman backed away further. Sean stepped forward and grabbed her hand squeezing the paper into it.
“Do it now!” he commanded.
“Step back, Sir!”
Sean ignored the request from behind. He had heard the car approach but saving the boy was all that was on his mind.
“Call it in!” he demanded of the female officer.
As Sean released the female officer’s hand, two sharp stings hit him in the back. Sean dropped to the ground and despite the 50,000 volts surging through him managed to regret for about the tenth time that day, not going to the beach.