“Sounds good,” Estefan said. “How hard do you want me to press if Mateo isn’t forthcoming?”
“Use your best judgment. Be sure to reinforce that anything he tells you will be kept confidential, okay? Tell him about the letters from your dad, and use something personal he shared with your father, like his favorite fishing spot on the river.”
“Estefan should give him some cash,” Harv said. “Tobias said Mateo needs money for his wife’s opium, and you’ve already hinted we’d do that.”
Nathan nodded agreement. “Estefan, grab twenty thousand córdobas from the pack. It’s only eight hundred dollars, but I’m sure it will be a small fortune to Mateo.”
Estefan said, “Thanks for the money. I’m sure Mateo will appreciate the cash.”
“It should go a long way to earning his trust.”
Nathan had them all perform a final wiring and radio check. Not only did their radios need to function properly, but their wiring also had to be tucked away securely. It was all too easy to snag a cord in a jungle environment. A loss of communication at a critical time could cost someone his life.
As planned, Nathan and Harv got out just before the bridge at the south end of the valley. They waited for Estefan to park before starting up the west-facing slope of the mountain. About halfway to the summit, they’d turn 90 degrees, head north, and start scouting for a good location overlooking the center of town. Judging from the tree density, Nathan gave it short odds of finding a single place that would work. Santavilla was fairly spread out. The lumber mill, ore-processing plant, and helipad were about a mile from their current position on the far end of the valley.
Estefan parked on the shoulder just past the bridge. He locked his truck and set out on foot, following the contour of the river. Off to his left he could see the dark outlines of a few small farmhouses beyond plowed fields, but all their windows were dark. Using the NVGs, he easily negotiated the dense foliage along the river’s bank. The half-moon didn’t concern him too much, because the trees lining the river created deep shadows. Every so often, beams of pale light penetrated down to the damp ground cover. The symphony of the forest was in full effect, with frogs the dominant instruments. Adding to the amphibian groans, thousands of crickets chirped in the background. An American banjo wouldn’t sound out of place here, he mused. The noise grew exponentially louder as he neared the pond. Just ahead, he could see the horizontal form of the dam. It looked to be about ten yards long. Upstream of the pond, the river’s black water moved silently. Every so often, he passed the rusting hulk of an abandoned vehicle. Burned trash piles dotted the area. Any plastic bags not yet burned had been ripped open by scavengers — presumably animals. It was a shame to see such a pristine environment treated so carelessly.
He stopped, cleared his six, and pressed his transmit button. “I’m on the river’s southwest bank, past the dam. There’s no activity down here at all. I’ll check in just before I head across the open ground toward Mateo’s house. You should see me emerge due east of his house.”
He received an acknowledgment click and kept going. In approximately six hundred fifty yards, he’d leave the tree line and head due west toward the work bus parked next to Mateo’s house. Finding Mateo’s house on the aerials hadn’t been difficult; it was the only structure in town with a yellow bus parked next to it.
As he’d been taught, Estefan paused every hundred steps or so, held perfectly still, and scanned his immediate area. He also smelled for cigarette or dope smoke.
Detecting nothing, he kept going.
Halfway up the mountainside, Nathan and Harv intersected a footpath and followed it north where they found a good spot to watch the town through a horizontal window of open canopy. A few yards above the trail, their location wasn’t perfect, but it gave them an unobstructed view of the center of town where the majority of the buildings were. They’d opted to leave their ghillie suits behind. The woodland MARPATs offered ideal colors to blend them into the landscape. Nathan’s rifle, equipped with its powerful NV weapon scope, provided a great way to keep an eye on things. Harv broke out his NV binoculars. Unlike their visors, the binoculars magnified the image. Between the two of them, they’d be able to watch Estefan’s back while he paid Mateo a visit. Nathan checked for ants, then sat in a cross-legged position before powering on his scope. He rested his elbows on his knees, shouldered the M40, and swept the immediate area surrounding Mateo’s home. All quiet.
“See any movement anywhere?” he whispered to Harv.
“No. I think the town’s asleep.”
Mateo should already be at the rendezvous point at the bus’s rear bumper, but Nathan saw no sign of him. Some sort of delivery van was parked between their position and the rear of the bus, and it blocked his view.
Nathan saw an unmistakable flare of light. The NV made it look incredibly bright. The area between the delivery van and the bus lit up like a small sun had briefly emerged, then went dim.
“We’ve got activity,” Nathan said. “Someone just lit a cigarette.”
“Near the rear of the bus?” Harv asked.
“Yes. I saw the flare.” Nathan pressed the transmit button. “Estefan, I just saw the glow of a cigarette being lit. It’s probably your man.”
Nathan received a click.
“This will probably go one of two ways,” Harv said. “A long meeting or else a quick one, meaning Mateo won’t talk to him.”
“Yeah, I see it the same way. We’ll know soon enough.”
“We’ll make Mateo’s house our zero and vector from there,” Harv said. “I can’t use the range finder at the same time as my binoculars, so you’ll have to walk me onto Mateo’s house.”
Nathan made a mental note to upgrade his scope to include a range-finder feature. He waited for Harv to activate the range finder’s laser, then said, “I’ve got you. Move slightly higher and to the right. A little higher… Good, now slightly back to the left… Keep going. A little more… Now down just a little. Right there.”
“Six hundred seventy-two yards,” Harv said.
“Copy at six seven two. Give me a correction from the rifle’s three-hundred-yard zero.”
“We’ve got a drop in elevation, so I’ll factor that in.” Harv paused for a moment. “I thought we weren’t going to kill anyone.”
“It’s just a precaution. Estefan could be walking into a trap. We have no way of knowing if Mateo contacted anyone from Macanas’s organization after we called him.”
Harv gave him the elevation correction, and Nathan clicked it into the scope.
“Wind is calm,” Harv said. “Less than three miles per hour from ten o’clock. Hold left two inches.”
“Copy. Two inches left. We aren’t letting anyone take Estefan into custody.”
“Does that include police?”
“Yes.”
“In for a dime, in for a dollar.”
“No one’s down there but Estefan and Mateo.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Estefan reached the point along the river where he could see the yellow bus directly to the west. “Okay, I’m going to step out from the trees for a second. Before I leave the river, I’d like to know exactly where you guys are. I’ve got my NV on max gain. Paint the canopy directly above your position with a laser.”