With all the talk about building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, it brought to mind the scene I wrote with the help of former Special Forces operator John Peters, on trucks illegally crossing the border between the U.S. and Mexico. This is from my Cyril Landry thriller, SPECTRE BLACK, which came out last year.
In SPECTRE BLACK, the bad guys were smuggling goods into Mexico, not out. Here’s the scene:
Landry doubted that the semi trucks were empty. In fact, even if they’d found a way to go through Customs, they very likely would have made it through without a hitch. Customs had drive-through x-ray machines, but these trucks no doubt had the technology to blank out their x-ray, making the inside of the truck box appear empty. Yes, the Border Patrol had dogs, but dogs couldn’t sniff out weapons—guns were just metal and oil. And if the scanners were aced out…there would be no problem at
It was the unexpected thing. The truth was, the Border Patrol wasn’t as worried about contraband being smuggled into Mexico from the United States than the other way around.
Jolie stared into the darkness, wondering if her eyes would play tricks—or whether she’d see them at all. She knew that their target didn’t want anyone to see his blacked-out trucks. Or even get wind of their passing.
Landry checked in with Jolie. She answered immediately, her voice low.
“Looks like they’re taking the easy route. We’re right here. Can you see us?”
“Roger that.”
As they spoke, the car leading the short convoy went dark, and so did the others. The place was ideal: a dark spot, no lights, no contrast: Dark.
Suddenly, a tow truck came from the Mexican side, parked, and two men jumped out and ran to the fence. They used precision tools to cut grooves toward the top of the iron fence, eighteen feet between them. They worked from opposite sides, using plasma cutters shielded by light-weight steel shields—a little circle around the nozzle of each gun.
Otherwise, the light would be seen for miles.
It would take them all of five seconds to cut and drop the fence. When the trucks were through, they’d use the tow truck’s pulley to replace the fence, and tap-weld the fence here and there to make it would look as if it had never been cut.
The lead semi, which had been idling, shifted gears. In another moment it would nudge the fence, causing it fall flat. And then the semi would drive over the prone fence and right into Mexico.
Time to stop it.
Find out what happens next in SPECTRE BLACK!
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