Against the sound of distant explosions, Acerbi stood and held his hands in the air, indicating to his frightened guests that he was about to make an announcement.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m afraid I must leave you for the moment. It appears that a local gang war has just broken out on the highway and I must confer with my head of security. My best men are surrounding the hangar, and I can assure you that you will all be safe here until we put down this minor disturbance. I deeply apologize for this inconvenience, but for the moment, I must ask you not to venture outside until my men have the situation under control. As soon as they give the all clear signal, I will return so that we may continue our evening of celebration.”
“Nice job, Acerbi,” Thorn shouted from his table. “Maybe moving to Mexico wasn’t such a good idea after all.”
A chorus of hushed voices followed Thorn’s comment as Acerbi’s eyes met Thorn’s drunken stare with a look one gives a bug before he steps on it. Ignoring the remark, Acerbi quickly excused himself and walked from the hangar to a waiting SUV.
“Tell them to seal the doors.”
“Now, sir?’
“Yes … now.”
In less than a minute, the large doors were closed and Acerbi’s men began locking them on the outside with chains.
Inside, Dana Waters was beginning to panic. From a row of windows set high above, she had seen the unmistakable trail of a missile that ended in an explosion when it met with something in the air. This was no small incursion by a Mexican drug gang, but whatever it was, Acerbi had lied about it and she and the others were now caught in the middle.
Alan Thorn stood at his table and shouted to the others. “This is ludicrous! This hangar is nothing more than a big box of thin sheet metal. We’re sitting ducks in here. We should be going down into a shelter somewhere.”
The rattle of chains outside caused every head to swivel in the direction of the doors.
“They’re locking the doors!” a man yelled. Chairs and tables were knocked aside as a stampede of frightened people rushed toward the front of the hangar and began beating on the thin metal walls. Dana froze. Looking around, she spotted a small door in a corner at the back of the hangar. Backing away from the main group, she made her way along a side wall until she reached the door. Uttering a silent prayer, she turned the knob and pushed. The door opened. Looking back over her shoulder, she stepped out. Instantly, she heard voices approaching in the darkness. They’ll be here any second. Slipping out of her high heels, she started running barefoot across the concrete until she felt the sand of the desert beneath her feet.
Dropping to the ground, she saw two darkened silhouettes approaching. As soon as they came closer, it was evident they were Acerbi’s security men. Talking in low whispers, they locked the open door and began searching the area. Dana held her breath. In the moonlight, they would have no trouble spotting her. She saw one of the men walking directly toward her just as something began crawling on her exposed leg, but she didn’t dare move. The security man stopped and looked out into the desert for a moment, then turned and joined the other man. After some discussion, they both walked off around the side of the hangar.
Dana reached down and swatted the invisible crawly thing away as more explosions shattered the still night air out in the desert. She had to think. It was obvious to her that Acerbi’s ranch was under a more serious attack than he was admitting to, and things were bound to get worse before they got better. She had to get as far away from there as she could.
On the other side of the hangar, she heard the startup whine of a jet engine. The plane! It was her only chance. Somehow, she had to get to that plane before it left. Jumping up, she ran from her sandy hiding spot and began inching along the side of the hangar until she reached the end. Peering around the corner, she heard the startup of a second engine.
She had to make it to the plane! Dana began to run. She didn’t care if Acerbi’s men saw her as she focused on the stairs. Looking up, she saw the forward aircraft door swinging shut. She ran faster. She was almost to the stairs when she tripped and rolled across the concrete. She lay there, holding her ankle and wincing in pain as the aircraft’s automatic stairs slowly rose off the tarmac and began sliding back into the fuselage. Lifting herself up, she looked back just in time to see Acerbi’s men driving away as the deafening roar from the start up of the jet’s fourth engine drowned out the screams from the people locked inside the hangar.
Dana wheeled around and began limping after the plane as it began to move, but her efforts were useless. She could do nothing but watch helplessly as the plane taxied out and thundered down the runway before lifting into the air.
Standing there watching the flashing lights of the jet disappear into the clouds, Dana began to sob when she heard the roar of another jet coming in from the west, and it seemed to be growing louder. Peering up into the darkness, she saw a bright flash in the sky. The flash was followed by a white streak of light that headed straight for the ground in a downward arc. Whatever it was, it was headed right at her at an unbelievable speed. Unable to move, she watched in fascination as something whooshed directly over her head. A split second later, the hangar behind her disintegrated in a shattering explosion that knocked her to the ground.
Rolling over onto her back, she ran her hands over her face and up and down her arms and legs. Other than the ringing in her ears and the pain in her ankle, she appeared to be unharmed. As if in a dream, she stood and looked around. The hangar was gone, replaced instead by pieces of burning metal that littered the concrete for hundreds of yards in every direction.
Aimlessly seeking some kind of shelter away from all the fire and heat, she began hobbling across the tarmac toward the desert path that led to Acerbi’s hacienda. Squinting her eyes against the smoke, she stepped over things she didn’t recognize, winding her way past smoking pieces of jagged metal until she tripped over something soft.
In the flickering light from the flames, she looked down at her feet and saw the open, staring eyes of Alan Thorn. She screamed and began to back away, only to step on another mangled body just as a second explosion rocked the hilltop above her. Dana continued to scream, but her screams went unheard as she held her hands over her ears and closed her eyes just as a second fighter plane swooped by overhead. When she finally looked up, the hilltop where the hacienda had stood was enveloped in flames.
Now, entering the first stages of shock and overcome by pain and fear, Dana dropped to the ground and placed her head against the warm concrete. Peering out across a landscape of carnage, she felt herself drifting, as though she was floating just above her physical body. Slowly, she closed her eyes and waited-waited for the end.
CHAPTER 61
Immediately after the fighters had destroyed the hangar and the hacienda, six commandos from Israeli Team 5 rounded the hill below the smoldering remains of Acerbi’s house just as a black Humvee rolled to a stop a hundred yards in front of them. In one fluid motion, the commandos dropped to the ground and watched as two of Acerbi’s men jumped from the vehicle and headed toward a camouflaged bunker embedded in the base of the hill. After pulling the netting aside, the men lifted a steel door set at a forty-five-degree angle into the concrete, allowing the red lighting from inside to spill out across the warm desert sand in a diagonal line.
One of the men then returned to the vehicle and opened a door. To their amazement, the Israelis saw the unmistakable figure of Rene Acerbi step from the back of the Humvee. He paused and looked up at the sky for a moment before walking through the open doorway and disappearing downward, as if he had descended a stairway. The Team 5 soldiers exchanged excited glances. Had they just stumbled on Acerbi’s shelter? They called in their position and watched.