Companion poem for chapter 1 of the R.M. Dolin novel, "Trophic Cascade"
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Alvarez arrives at the Albuquerque Sunport with an overhead bag in one hand and a trench coat in the other. He doesn’t plan on staying long, but since New Mexico monsoons are supposedly intense, he felt the trench coat was a necessity. As the newly appointed director of the Southwest Regional Cyber-Terrorism Task Force, it’s on him to determine if there’s anything behind the suspected emergence of a subversive organization bent on using cyber-tactics to disrupt if not outright overthrow the government. To date there’s no hard evidence to prove such an organization exists, or what their charter may be, but teams at multiple surveillance centers, including the NSA, NSC, DIA, DHS, CIA, FBI, FIA, NCTC, etc., have all observed anomalous activities that stealthily leave no breadcrumbs, yet point to New Mexico as the epicenter.
This is Alvarez’s first trip to the Land of Enchantment, really to any part of the Southwest if you don’t count Las Vegas, but at least he was briefed on what to expect. From its general appearance, the carry-on bag seems the same as countless others businessmen and tourist travel with. Closer inspection though, would reveal the bag has a hard inner shell with two locks wrapped in a soft bag looking exterior that also has locks. The bag is equipped with a locater device should it go missing, has a smart handle that sounds an alarm should anyone other than Alvarez lift it, and an incendiary laced liner that burns its contents should the locks be pried open. To the casual observer, Alvarez looks like an east coast businessman with a week’s worth of clothes when in fact, he’s a federal agent carrying highly sensitive documents about an alleged subversive plot to overthrow the government, a plot deemed so credible, it’s become a multi-agency federal effort.
Rather than check into his government supplied housing on the Kirtland Air Force Base, he Ubers straight to his downtown command center that’s been generously provided by the U.S. Attorney’s office. NSA and DOJ don’t usually collaborate, but since this matter’s so sensitive, Alvarez and his team need a secure location to work with access to classified networks. Normally NSA would use the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), or “skiff” at Sandia National Laboratory, which is collocated on the Air Force base, but for this operation, no one is to be trusted, regardless of their security clearances. Even federal agents outside of his need-to-know team are not to be trusted.
Alvarez is the last to arrive to his meeting mostly because he miscalculated the amount of time it takes to get an Uber in New Mexico. His team consists of two FBI field agents, one U.S. Marshal, a cyber-security officer from DoD, a DHS agent specializing in domestic terrorism, a secret service agent skilled at money transfers, and a CIA agent working off the books since the CIA are not allowed to operate domestically. These agents were not necessarily selected because they are the best in their fields, but because they’re local and can be used on the task force without raising attention. Alvarez and his team have an elaborate cover story; they’re officially liaised to the U.S. Attorney’s office to help with an investigation into New Mexico state political corruption, which has been an on-going investigation for decades that predictably has not produced any prosecutions even though sufficient evidence has been uncovered.
Once introductions are out of the way, the first order of business is for Alvarez to “read-in” task force members on their assignment and to go over the operational parameters they are required to adhere to. “Read-in,” is a government term used to infer that someone has been granted access to information involving a super-secret project that can only be discussed with other people who have also been read in. Even then, discussions can only occur on a need-to-know basis. Alvarez must be careful, he needs his team investigating this subversive threat, but he’s not to let them know how credible and eminent the threat is. He lays out a simple but effective strategy, first they’ll set up surveillance operations in finance, infrastructure, communications, and military grids, then watch for suspicious anomalies. Should something catch their attention, they’ll stealthily run it to ground. “Gentlemen,” he announces to continue his deep dive, “if this threat is real, and if these operatives are active, we will find their breadcrumbs and use that to find them.”
What Alvarez doesn’t anticipate as he walks through the Albuquerque Sunport with his security pouch disguised as a businessman’s carry-on, is Marcos being at the terminal gate getting a first look at his new rival, or that Gilbert would be driving the Uber that takes him to his first Task Force meeting. Staying a step ahead of the subversive plotters he’s pursuing, is going to require way more stealth and skill than Alvarez has demonstrated thus far.
The ANA first learned about the creation of the Southwest Regional Cyber-Terrorism Task Force, while the go-ahead was still waiting on multi-agency approvals. As part of the Albuquerque ANA’s, “Watch the Watchers,” project, Marcos and his cohorts were “read-in” before Alvarez. It’s the main reason Marcos drove up to Jake’s last night, to brief him on what is a rapidly evolving, highly fluid situation requiring immediate countermeasures. While they all agree sorting through the Miguel maze needs their full and focused attention, that was then, now focus must be rebalanced to accommodate this larger and potentially more lethal problem.
Jake doesn’t disagree with the need to re-balance focus but wants to take a moment to enjoy the fact Sympatico’s not wanted for murder, at least not for that murder; whatever she may have done before Cinco de Mayo, he’s a lot less certain about. There is after all, the matter of the bloody knife she had the night she stormed into the Al Azar fleeing Miguel. Even after discretely digging into things, there was never a report about anyone being stabbed at the Wind River Resort and Casino on Cinco de Mayo, and the nice thing about that is in the absence of information, engineers like Jake are free to draw any conclusion they wish. Until evidence indicates otherwise, he chooses to believe she’s not a murderer.
That’s not to say she’s not in danger though, Miguel was pretty adamant that his boss wants her back and that one way or another, Jake will hand her over. But Marcos is also right, if they don’t deal with Alvarez, they won’t be around to bring down Miguel’s operation and rescue the other girls. It seems these two diametrically opposing problems, requiring polar opposite approaches, both feed the same desired outcome. This means as huge of an undertaking as it may be, the ANA must simultaneously step out in both directions stretching limited resources to a razor’s edge. And so, rages the debate as the boys of the ANA huddle around their poker table, continuing arguments that started last night after Armando and Marcos returned from Miguel’s ranch.
“Look guys, all I’m saying is that Marcos is right, we have to develop countermeasures against this Alvarez fellow,” Dominic states, “and what did you call his team?”
“Southwest Regional Cyber-Terrorism Task Force,” Jon answers while reading the report Marcos sent from his laptop, “or the SRCT.”
“I don’t disagree,” Jake jumps in, “I’m just asking that we prioritize. Dealing with Miguel should be our focus while the Sandia crew takes on Alvarez.”
Dwayne clears his throat to offer condemnation, “If you ask me, and I know none of you bastard’s ever would, staying out of prison should be our first priority, can’t do much about Miguel from Supermax.”
“How about this, the Alvarez is predominately looking at cyber, which is Marcos’ wheelhouse for Marcos. I agree with Jake that we let them take the lead on countermeasures while we focus on dismantling Miguel.” Preston’s offer is not only spot on, given he’s the designated operations coordinator, it carries sufficient weight to assuage the other members.
“I’ll reach out to Marcos,” Dominic offers, “given its cyber and all. I’ll make sure adequate IT resources support whatever you guys need.”
“Let’s table IT needs,” Jake suggests. “Give ourselves a chance to take stock of where we are and what we think needs to be done.”
“Well,” Theo beings, “we have the Tracker App to tell us Miguel’s location at all times.”
“Not to mention the automatic notification we get if Miguel comes within a hundred feet of one of us,” Jon adds.
“We know the size of Miguel’s crew, the layout of his ranch, and now, the location of his safe house,” Armando points out.
“We know is boss is Ramon Ramirez,” Dominic adds, “and according to Marcos, Gilbert will have the full skinny on this dude by the end of the day.”
“What we most need to know,” Jake stipulates, “is why Sympatico matters to him.”
“I know why,” Dario interjects. “Last night, while Chance and I were standing guard, Sympatico tells us a story about how her grandfather was killed by Bolivian soldiers for organizing workers against corporations exploiting the country’s resources. She said she was kidnapped before she could even attend his funeral. She has to know something they don’t want exposed, something, she may not even know she knows.”
“That would explain a lot,” Jake offers. “But we still need confirmation.”
“Why don’t we just ask her,” Dwayne mumbles.
“Because ya nasty varmint, you don’t ask a traumatized person something like that,” Dario snaps back.
“Oh, so now you’re jumping on Jon’s shtick.”
“Sorry dude, just got caught up in the moment.”
Dwayne mumbles something under his mostly red handlebar mustache that can’t be discerned, but it’s as good of an acknowledgment of Dario’s apology that he’ll ever offer.
Jon keeps the conversation on track. “As head of the Finance Team, I need to point out that securing the ten grand per girl to send them home may be dicier than before now that Alvarez is in our knickers. I can still do it, but we need to plunder offshore, they won’t be paying attention to that. I’d like to take a shot at cryptocurrency. They say the blockchain can’t be hacked, I say that’s only cause I never tired.”
“Just don’t draw attention whatever you do,” Jake warns.
“I’m down for trying,” Dominic eagerly adds.
“Here’s my plan,” Jon expands, “I open a bank account under Miguel’s name at some out of state private bank with online services. Then I transfer a hundred and fifty thousand in from cloudy origins that’ll take the feds months to trace. Then when its time, we withdrawal the money leaving Miguel to explain to where it came from and where it went.”
“Flawlessly win-win, dude,” Theo affirms. “Do you lay awake at night planning this shit, or does it just come natural?”
“I was in management back in the day ya know, so of course I’m a natural.”
“Okay then,” Jake commands, “that leaves us three open areas to address; first, how do we dismantle Miguel’s operations in a way that can’t be rebuilt? Second, how do we rescue the girls without just condemning more girls to the same fate? And third, how do we get them back home without being noticed? I think on the last count, we get Hector to put us in contact with the Mexican underground. They were quick to mobilize when we thought Sympatico was missing. For points one and two, I’m clueless.”
“I like the idea of using the Mexican underground, Doc, but here’s a logistics question; once we liberate the girls and before we hand them over to the underground, where are we gonna house them? It can’t be your place, too many tourists and you never know when some ATF inspector’s gonna show up wanting to snoop around. None of us has a place where that many people can go unnoticed so the only thought I have is my Abuela’s place up in the Pecos. It’s remote enough to go unnoticed, but her house is too small, we’d have to bring in trailers, which is gonna raise eyebrows.”
“Very good point,” Preston says. “We definitely need to have that worked out in advance, perhaps Hector will have some ideas.”
“Probably,” Jake points out, “but we don’t want to engage them until absolutely necessary. We can’t risk Miguel being tipped off.”
“Good point,” Preston realigns.
“Guys,” Armando says jumping up. “I know it’s early after a long night, but I could really go for a beer, any takers?” Dario, Dwayne, Dominic and Jon all nod affirmative, but Theo and Preston decline. “What about you, Cabron, a little hair of the dog to purify the spirit?”
“Thought you’d never ask.” Jake smiles mischievously. “Was beginning to wonder if I maybe maxed out my bar tab.”
“I only let you run a bar tab because it is your whiskey, and this is a cerveza bar.”
“You’ve been calling this gin joint a cerveza bar for years, yet every time I come in, you serve bourbon. I guess it does at least explain why you struggle so much to make a decent cocktail.”
“Don’t get me started, Cabron, it’s too early in the day for your kind of bullshit.” Armando heads to the bar and starts pulling his order together when something outside catches his attention. “Customers,” he announces. As if on cue, the ANA immediately fold up their electronics and ready the table for poker. The ruse is pretty much perfected by the time the front door swings open and the two Mexicans who first came the night of Sympatico’s escape amble in followed closely by Padre, who’s dressed in street clothes and wearing a straw hat over his bald head.
“Padre,” Armando shouts, “Hardly could even recognize you in common clothes.”
“Might say the same to you, since you haven’t been to church in quite some time.”
“Well,” Armando stutters, “I’ve been, well busy.”
“Too busy for God? I hope that’s not the defense you plan on using with Saint Peter or I might never see you again. Heaven wouldn’t be much fun without a bartender?”
“You come to drink or to preach.”
“A little of both my son, always a little of both. Set my two compadres up with cervezas, and I’ll have whatever they’re having.” Padre leaves his companions and heads over to the poker table. “And put it on my tab,” he tells Armando. “Or should we just call it a donation; better yet, penance for missing mass?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t even know why I’m in business; no one ever pays for a drink around here.”
“Padre,” Preston says as he jumps up to shake his hand.
“Gentlemen,” Padre nods to the group. “My two new friends were helping me all morning clean out the old rectory. They kept talking about coming here once we were done, so I thought I’d tag along and see what’s what. After all, it seems like so many interesting things have their start at the Al Azar.” Padre looks at Jake. “Especially lately, would you not agree brother Jake?” Jake smiles sheepishly and pretends to look at the cards Dario quickly dealt once their meeting concluded. “Just a bunch of old men, passing through retirement playing poker and drinking beer. Sort of a waste don’t ya think? Men such as yourselves, with great intellect and training, shouldn’t you be engaged in something more serious more worthy of the gifts God has given you? Brother Dario I can understand, given his casino issues. By the way, shouldn’t you be at work? Don’t tell me you’ve been banned from work?”
“No padre,” Dario reluctantly offers. “I’m a- well a- taking a sick day.”
“I see, so poker and beer are magical elixirs now. Well, who am I to judge, right? Actually, judging is sort of my job, que no? Confessions start at three if you need to atone for your, ‘sick day‘. Come early if you want to avoid the wait; I got a feeling you’ll be a while.”
“Leave the boy alone,” Jake grouses.
“He speaks,” Padre exclaims. “Here I was thinking the devil finally got your tongue.” Padre waits a moment to let everyone settle into their personal level of un-comfortableness. “Come on guys, we’re just having some fun right? You must forgive me; I don’t get much practice just hanging out with the boys. So, what it is we’re gossiping about, I know everyone in the valley’s talking about what happened last night. Horrible, simply horrible. I guess the girl and the tourist got crosswise with a Mexican and things didn’t end well. You guys wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” When no one answers, Padre pushes on. “Cause my two friends over there tell me it wasn’t a Mexican who knifed those two. No, they tell a completely different story, a story that is most disturbing. The kind that makes decent men know they have to do something, am I right brother Jake?” Padre doesn’t give Jake a chance to respond. “Well, it certainly made me realize I had to do something. That’s why my two amigos are helping me ready the old rectory. I’m going to use it as a halfway house for victims of human trafficking. I’m not altogether sure Bishop Abadelli’s on board, but we’ll cross that bridge later.”
Armando arrives with a tray full of beer and one glass of bourbon on ice. Dario quickly pulls up a chair for Padre, making room at his end of the table. Padre takes a sip of cold beer allowing himself to be rewarded. “Nothing like ice cold cerveza after a long day doing God’s work, am I right or what?”
“To hard work,” Armando toasts.
“Here here,” Padre adds. Everyone takes a drink, which is followed by an awkwardness as no one’s quite sure what to do, should they resume their card game or does protocol demand they wait for the Priest to leave before gambling? “The thing is boys, and the reason I wanted to stop by, was to tell you about my halfway house. You know, in case you ever find yourself needing to relocate someone temporarily. And of course, to remind you, we’re always looking for donations. It takes a lot of food and other things to run a facility for lost souls. I just throw that out there so, ya know, if you were to say win a huge poker pot and wonder how to invest in your eternity, here’s an opportunity.” Padre grins at Armando. “Who knows, could go a long way in ensuring there’s a cerveza bar in heaven.”
“I’ll tell you what, Padre, Armando fires back, “you convince God to let me win a pot once in a while and I’ll cut you in for half.”
“It’s a deal my son, provided you don’t gamble for anyone’s soul.” Padre smiles at Jake. “Which brings me to you. I could use some help at my new facility and thought it would be good for Sympatico to volunteer.”
Jake looks at Padre unsure how to interpret his prodding. Just two weeks ago when he first came to Padre asking that he take Sympatico and help her get better, he claimed he couldn’t, that he didn’t have the skills or resources. Said it was Jake’s responsibility to help heal her. Now here he is seemingly offering to help, but why the sudden change of heart? What is Padre really up to? It’s true that he doesn’t have many resources given that his parish is mostly comprised of elderly, which is one reason he’d rely on Emelia so much. But maybe it’s more than that? Maybe Padre knows he can help Sympatico heal by spending time at the halfway house helping girls with similar experiences?
“You could drop her off in the morning and pick her up at the end of the day, you know, just like you used to do for Emelia.” Jake glares at Padre, not appreciating that he’d mention her name. “Think about it, that’s all I’m saying.”
While the ANA plot to deconstruct his world, and Padre prepares to provide a facility for his escaping girls, Miguel scrambles to regroup after last night’s fiasco, with much to do on multiple fronts. Foremost, is retraining his girls. This is now the second one he’s lost this month, first was the girl he lost to that cocky distiller in a card game, which was a loss he could absorb since her rotation at the ranch was almost over and Ramon always gives him the option to sell or send girls to another location in the system. How could he not take the wager when the pot odds were twenty to one? What worries him is that the other girls view her being gone as a successful escape and that gives them hope. Last night’s girl died because of hope. She wasn’t fighting back against the Texan so much as trying to escape. Yes, he was brutal, but that’s what he paid for. She discovers the knife in his boot and decides she can do what the one who got away did. If she harbors hopefully hopeless ideas, so do the other girls.
He had to kill her, to make the other girls understand the consequences of trying to escape. He had no choice, once a girl turns on a client, she can’t be trusted and loses all value. He had to kill the Texan, after the girl slashed him the way she did, he’d have gone to the hospital, which would result in investigations and police reports. Crap like that finds its way back to the ranch, which would not be good for business. Not good for him once Ramon finds out.
The jealous Mexican boyfriend story is perhaps his best. A complete fabrication, but one the authorities would be all too willing to believe. When it comes to human trafficking, a small space for quiet acquiescence is all that’s really needed. There’ll be an investigation, witness statements taken, and evidence collected. But when witnesses are coached and evidence planted, the outcome is a forgone conclusion. The life cycle of quiet acquiescence still requires a scapegoat, which is the role his new guy stepped up to perform. No one will rail against the indecency of a pseudo inquiry. Not the girl’s family for sure, and probably not the Texan’s either. The case will quickly close, and things should be back to normal by week’s end. Tourist season is about to kick off and no one wants high rollers vacationing in Northern New Mexico to leave disappointed.
Ramon’s not going to be happy though. First came the loss of the girl to Jake, who for undisclosed reasons he’s pretty pissed about. Then there’s the unwanted exposure from last night and subsequent loss of cash flow. Money can only turn politician’s heads so far and crap like last night has a way of moving toward tilt pretty fast. Ramon has other dealings in New Mexico, which could come under higher scrutiny. In the larger scheme of things Miguel’s operation is a side hustle, the real moneys in drugs, running illegals over the border, and trafficking laborers to hotels, restaurants, construction sites, and agricultural enterprises. A spotlight focused on his broader operation is unacceptable and Ramon is notoriously well known for overreaction, so, there’s no telling how he’ll respond to a major transgression, especially after the Oligarchs who manage him get riled.
The good thing, in so much as there can be a good thing, is he got all the other girls out, got his alibi buttoned down, and nobody found out about the safe house. The more he thinks about it, the more Miguel’s convinced this is all the fault of the girl hiding out at the distillery. All this shit started when she got the misguided idea escape was possible. Jake and Dario are his second mistake, he should have beat the crap out of them at the Al Azar. It was arrogance on his part to think he could win the card game and Jake’s twenty grand. After losing though, he should have kicked the crap out of everyone in the bar and just taken her. So many mistakes, each feeding the next, each leading to right now, to the moment he has to call Ramon and tell him about what happened. If he had only followed his instincts, none of this would have happened and his life wouldn’t be in the toilet waiting to be flushed.
Sympatico spends the afternoon helping Theresa in the tasting room and around the garden out back. She likes that Theresa’s here each day, it reminds her of what being normal is like; something beaten out of her long before current time began. She likes the arrangement Theresa has with Jake, where he provides the ingredients for whatever she wants to cook for Hector and their four boys. In return she leaves a little for Jake and while working in the tasting room, does small chores around the house. Helping Theresa cook reminds Sympatico of home, before her mother died and her grandfather was killed. Cooking brings back happy memories that she buried a lifetime ago. Memories that now resurface in what can only be described as a miracle of perseverance.
Sympatico’s happy the new guy, Chance, is staying away. Since that night when killing Chance was a real possibility, he’s kept his distance. What was he thinking? Why is it men believe that every woman can’t wait to provide what they most desire? At least Dario’s not like that, for now at least. She’s not sure what’s going on between Chance and Dario, but the tension’s obvious, even after she properly scaled back their optimism. Sometimes the tension between them doesn’t really seem to be between them, they spend a lot of time huddled in whispers and she’s started to notice that one of them is always around, even when they keep their distance. Her dealings with Miguel are far from over, so always having Jake, Dario, or Chance close helps her feel safe. Here is the only place on earth where that’s possible. Feeling safe is the top of her ecosystem, without it no other feelings are possible. That Jake lets her stay in his house, that Chance lives out back in the casita, and that Dario is always here, provides the base so necessary for her rebirth into being human again. A process just beginning to flourish, but one requiring a very long time to complete its metamorphose.
