"What's up, Captain?" Sara shrugged.
"I haven't the faintest idea." Eddie looked chagrined.
"I can't dress myself, ma'am, and Isabel went to town with the baby. She won't be back in time to help me."
"I have an MP standing by to assist you," Sara said, looking at her wristwatch.
"Ma'am?" Eddie ventured.
"What is it. Sergeant?"
"Have you heard from Lieutenant Kerney?"
"No, I haven't," Sara said flatly.
"Let's get you ready to see the general. We don't have much time." Sara left Eddie with the MP and drove to the headquarters building. Tom Curry was waiting with Isabel and the baby. Both mother and child were dressed in new outfits. Excitement danced in Isabel's eyes. The general's aide, the public information officer, and the post photographer were assembled in the reception room.
A few minutes before fourteen hundred hours. Major General William Cunningham Tyson entered the room, greeted his guests, and looked at the two presentation cases arranged precisely in the center of a long conference table. At exactly two o'clock. Sergeant Eduardo Jesus Tapia was ushered into the room, escorted by a spit-and polish military policeman. The distress on his face vanished when he saw Isabel standing, with tear filled eyes and a proud smile, next to the commanding general.
"Sergeant Tapia," General Tyson said, "on behalf of the Secretary of the Army, it gives me great pleasure to award you the following decorations for exceptional service and meritorious achievement." The aide read each citation, and Tyson pinned the medals on Eddie's chest. Eddie stood rigidly at attention, in a state of total disbelief. Captain Brannon smiled. Major Curry smiled. The general smiled. Isabel dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief and smiled.
"Thank you, sir," Eddie said huskily, grinning from ear to ear.
"I'd shake your hand. Sergeant," Tyson replied, "but I don't think that's a good idea. If I had my way, you'd be wearing a Purple Heart along with those decorations."
"I didn't expect this, sir," Eddie replied.
"There's more, son," Tyson said.
"If you can stand it, the provost marshal has arranged a small party for you tonight. Several dozen of your closest friends will be at the NCO club."
Tyson motioned to the photographer.
"Let's get a few more pictures over here, Specialist. And make sure you give prints to Mrs. Tapia." The day after Eddie Tapia's party, Sara met for a briefing with a bird colonel from West Point, a military historian who had been sent to research the Big Mesa treasure. A portly, energetic man in his early fifties, the colonel had commandeered a warehouse inside a secure compound and was working out of a small office in the building. Military police were on twenty-four-hour guard duty to protect the treasure that was being sorted, catalogued, and examined by the colonel's team. Colonel Alverson sorted through some notes at his desk.
"It's really an accumulation of three distinct Apache raids. The documents and the coins, as you know, are from the 0.0. Howard expedition to treat with Cochise in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona in 1872. It was Howard's greatest achievement. He was so eager to return east and publish his story, he left for Washington with a small party, leaving the main detachment to follow. A band of Apaches camped at Canada Alamosa, led by a warrior named Loco, skirmished with the detachment near Orogrande and ran off wagons carrying mail, Howard's war chest, and his personal papers." The colonel set the note aside.
"The Apache had no interest in the white man's money or his writings, and were probably after horses and weapons."
"Then why was everything saved?" Sara asked.
"No reason other than expediency, I would imagine. Apache warriors traveled light and fast. They would raid and store caches of what they didn't need or couldn't carry for future use."
"What about the weapons?" Sara inquired. "Surely they would arm themselves immediately."
"Good point," the colonel replied, picking up another note.
"I'll get to that shortly. All the uniforms, saddles, and equipment in the cave were part of a resupply shipment to the forts south of Santa Fe. It left Fort Marcy and traveled down the Camino Real to Fort McRae, where one contingent went south and another went east, heading for Fort Stanton. The convoy heading to Fort Stanton was ambushed by an Apache leader named Victorio in a pitched battle that lasted all day. Victorio mauled the troopers badly and escaped with six wagons. The lading records show that one wagon carried weapons. Victorio obviously put the guns to use-none of the makes or models from that shipment match the weapons found in the cave.
"Now, as for the weapons that were in the cave," Alverson continued! "in the 1870s, the Army convened a board of officers to study and make recommendations for new armaments to replace the Civil War weapons still in use in the field. Like any good bureacrats, the board tried to save money by having manufacturers modify existing weapons. They ordered changes in the caliber, rifling, hammer design, cartridge specifications, and the like.
"The pistols and rifles in the cave were sent west for field trials as part of a testing program. One of Victorio's lieutenants in the Warm Springs tribe was a warrior named Nana. In fact. Loco, Victorio, and Nana were all part of the same band. Nana had an uncanny ability to find ammunition trains. The Apaches believed that the ammunition spoke to him. Nana intercepted the experimental weapons, but didn't get the ammunition. Without the bullets the guns were useless. I can only assume that Victorio stored the weapons with the hope Nana would supply the bullets at a later date. It never happened, and when Victorio and his band were wiped out in Mexico in 1880, the cache passed from living memory." Colonel Alverson looked out the open door of the office at the racks and tables in the warehouse that were filled with so many wonderful treasures.
"It's almost priceless," he said, his eyes sparkling.
"And you. Captain, deserve more than praise for your efforts." *** After leaving the colonel, Sara rode in a small caravan to Juarez accompanied by a State Department official and a Mexican consul general. Two MPS and Carlos followed behind, with Carlos sporting new false teeth and a rebuilt nose, courtesy of the Medical Services Corps. He would be part of an exchange with De Leon The Army would get back the 9th Cavalry letters that had been given to De Leon to authenticate the cache, and De Leon would get Carlos, two hundred thousand dollars' worth of diamonds, and a valuable cavalry officer's sword and scabbard that Colonel Alverson had been reluctant to give up. A Fort Knox officer with an MP escort carried the ransom in a third vehicle. On the drive, Sara listened briefly to the tedious conversation of the two bureaucrats as they talked about the delicate negotiations leading up to the exchange.
It made De Leon sound like an upstanding citizen and not the scumbag he really was. Sara tuned them out. In Juarez, the convoy was joined by a motorized contingent ofjuarez police, who cleared traffic along busy streets and hurried them into the empty Juarez bullring. Sara got her first look at Enrique De Leon He stood between two high-ranking Mexican army officers next to a black limousine. He was chatting casually to the men, with an animated, pleased expression on his face. Sara got out of the car with the diplomats and watched the exchange. De Leon seemed uninterested when Carlos walked toward him with the Fort Knox officer.
He accepted the package of diamonds from the officer, passed them wordlessly to Carlos, and jerked his head in the direction of the limousine. Carlos scrambled inside. Then De Leon took the sword and scabbard from the officer, unsheathed the blade, inspected it, and smiled at Sara before passing it to one of the Mexican officers.
De Leon's arrogance made Sara steaming mad. She thought of a perfect place to put De Leon new sword. Failing that, she would lock him up and throw away the key. As the charge d'affaires and consul general started to reenter the limousine, Sara broke away and walked briskly to De Leon. The man from the State Department tried to call her back. The two Mexican army officers closed ranks next to De Leon.