ROLL CALL ~ A Prison List (True Prison Story) (5 page)

Javier got off the freeway and entered the reservation. Felipe watched the officer behind him call in one of their plates and signaled to change lanes in front of Jefe to transfer into the reservation also. Ernie had explained that regular law enforcement didn’t have jurisdiction on the reservation. Only the feds did. As Felipe turned into the reservation with Jefe following he was surprised to see the police cruiser follow also. A few seconds later Felipe breathed a sigh of relief as the officer pulled the cruiser to a stop on the side of the road.

From his rearview mirror Felipe watched the officer until the road into the reservation got too windy for view. The windy road quickly turned steep for a mile where it leveled off and the reservation’s business and housing started. Felipe knew the reservation was completely self-contained and run by their own tribal police force. A few more miles past the town’s shops were another steep hill that took them to Paulo’s estate. Paulo pretty much owned the entire reservation and was considered the real chief even though someone else had that title officially. Felipe got behind the eighteen wheeler as Paulo waved it into an open gate. Felipe and Jefe followed on the dirt road that skirted behind Paulo’s estate. Once they were all parked they were completely hidden from view to anything other than a helicopter. Felipe got out of the Festiva and saw Topo come out the front door of Paulo’s and head their way.

Felipe explained to Topo and Paulo the situation with the police cruiser on the way in. Paulo listened intently and immediately made a call to a crew member and sent him on the mission of checking if the cruiser was still within the reservation. While he was doing that Felipe shook Topo’s hand and studied his expression. Felipe stood eye to eye with Topo’s five foot eight inch frame and was surprised to see how calm Topo seemed under the circumstances. He looked focused but seemed to be enjoying this challenge. Topo pointed to the sky and Felipe and Paulo looked up to see an eagle soaring Topo wasn’t too distracted to see.

Topo said, “Let’s be like that eagle and go to the perch I had built for Paulo to get the best view. Why don’t you have someone bring us a pair of binoculars from inside your house so we can study the reservation’s entrance and highway?”

While they waited Paulo explained to Felipe that Topo had a thirteen foot high wall built around his entire property that stretched more than a half a mile. “It’s my own wall of China right here on my reservation.”

A couple of minutes of waiting and someone came running out of Paulo’s with a set of binoculars. Felipe followed Paulo with Topo at his side and took in the wall made of concrete and boulders. It was impressive in its height with an added couple of feet of concertina razor wire circling atop the structure. There ahead of them Felipe saw the perch Topo was talking about. There was a ladder set up on one side and the wall’s structure was even wider for a stretch of ten feet and gave enough room for four or five people to sit or stand on. Right next to the perch sat a stone statue of a lion and then a gate that opened to leave the back of Paulo’s property. Ten feet away on the other side of the gate was an identical lion and perch. Paulo was the first up the perch and immediately studied the reservation’s entrance down below.

Paulo found what he was looking for and said, “That police cruiser just pulled out and got back on the freeway!”

Felipe asked, “Which way did he go? East, going back or West, towards Riverside?”

Paulo said, “East going back, but if he was as suspicious as you felt he could be circling back to watch from a distance.”

Felipe asked, “Do you know where he might post up so we can watch him?”

Paulo said, “Yeah, I know exactly where. About a quarter of a mile down they slide in behind some cover that provides a view of everything coming in and out of the reservation.”

Felipe pondered the circumstances and couldn’t help but stare at how calmly Topo looked standing on the perch next to the lion statue. He looked like an Aztec warlord who was used to conquering.

Paulo pulled the binoculars from his eyes and patted Topo’s shoulder and said, “Thanks again for this magnificent wall around my estate. The architecture is beautiful, the security is fortified and the view from up here next to this lion is absolute!”

Inside Paulo’s house Felipe called his uncle to check in and apprise him of the situation. Ernie didn’t answer so Felipe just left word that he was going to stay put until he got a return call. After hanging up the phone Felipe decided that the best plan of action was to get the dope out of the eighteen wheeler’s extra gas tank and break up Topo’s issue and get the money owed for the last load.

Felipe, Jefe, Javier and Topo positioned themselves inside the eighteen wheeler’s cargo area sitting on extra tires that were used as seats and stash spots for money and drugs while Paulo and his crew were circling the highway to look for a police presence. Felipe dumped out a backpack he’d been told to grab on the way out of Paulo’s house and looked at the half a million in cash. He positioned his triple beam scale and Tanita digital scale next to each other and began weighing the money in like kind bills on each scale for accuracy. Each bill weighed a gram and was a fast and efficient way to approximate a count.

After Felipe finished counting and broke through some of the plastic sealed bundles of dope Topo stopped him and got his undivided attention. “With all respect Felipe, why take the chance of driving out of here with any product at all. I could take the whole thing off your hands right now. Why risk getting pulled over and having the dogs come sniffing around your vehicles?”

Topo noticed Felipe’s stoic expression and determined he didn’t like the plan, probably because he had other buyers paying more for the rest of the product. Understandable! Topo chiseled into that terrain, “I can have the rest of your product delivered to your other buyers for you. We could package it now, set up locations to meet and you can follow me to watch me handle it. The rest of your caravan can wait here while I handle the risk and you monitor the whole thing. What do you think?”

Javier on his first drug run into the U.S. nodded his head at what a good plan it was. Felipe and Jefe were stoic statues and stared at Topo looking much the same. Eventually Felipe responded, “With all respect to your good plan, I have to call my uncle and run the situation by him. It’s his call. I’m just one of his many integral components.”

Topo nodded his head appreciatively and said, “I can respect that.”

Right then Felipe’s cell phone rang and he saw his uncle’s number. He excused himself and got out of the eighteen wheeler and walked all the way through the gate with the perch behind Paulo’s property to get some privacy. Felipe explained all of the details in drug runner slang without any names or felonious activity. When he was done he asked his uncle for instructions.

Ernie took his time and commented on Topo’s plan. “It sounds like that guy has a good plan but we don’t know him well enough to put everything in his control…”

Felipe pondered the years worth of business that was now on the line. He knew he was closer to the problem and would have to come up with the solution but sharing the problem with Ernie took some of the responsibility of his shoulders. Felipe thought of another angle. “I wish we knew these guys better so we could leave everything here and have our other associates come to this place for takeout.”

Ernie didn’t reply. He was busy thinking. Felipe continued thinking out loud, “This guy that lives where I’m at…” Ernie knew he meant Paulo at the reservation. “The guy from L.A. has him in his pocket. It might as well be his house. He does seem to really know what he’s doing though… I just don’t trust them yet. Not enough experience to go on.”

Ernie’s tone of voice took that skeptical line of thinking even further. “Another thing to consider is we don’t want them meeting our other business associates!!”

Felipe’s mind raced with a vision of the worst possible scenario. What if Topo stole the whole load of drugs! And our white biker associates!! What if Topo was doing business with another cartel and his job was to land a direct hit on ours?

Ernie was remembering another time many years ago where all of the circumstances looked similar but even worse. That time all of the evidence presented looked like a despicable double cross. Assumptions were made, action was taken, and many people died execution style. In the aftermath Ernie learned they had been manipulated by bad information. The lesson was not to make assumptions too early and to do a lot more homework before jumping the gun.

Considering all of that Ernie said, “We don’t want to assume anything. How does this compromise sound nephew… We could give Mr. Torpedo half the product… Split the rest into thirds… a third for the truck, a third for the Festiva and a third for the Honda?”

Felipe knew his uncle wasn’t thinking clearly. Calling Topo Torpedo was funny but Ernie had always taught that you never hide drugs and money in the same place! Felipe reminded him. “We would be putting the money at risk!”

Ernie responded, “Good thinking… You keep the paper and give the Honda and the eighteen wheeler the product.”

Felipe said good bye and got off the phone. Walking back he thought it was a pretty good plan but there had to be more they could do. Then a better thought came to him. The drugs were already weather proofed in over twenty layers of plastic wrap. It wouldn’t take much to bury them. Felipe located a good spot behind Paulo’s estate and decided he could sneak away in the middle of the night to make the deposit.

Back inside Paulo’s gate Felipe saw Topo going through Jefe’s Honda and tweaking through the wires. Then he had Jefe get in the car while he ran behind the vehicle and yelled, “Hit your brakes!”

Jefe followed his directions. Topo yelled, “You’ve got a tail light out on the right hand side. We’ll have Paulo go to the auto parts store to get that fixed. You can’t drive around like that on this side of the border. You’ll get pulled over.”

CHAPTER 9

The next morning everything was set according to the new plan. Felipe thought, I’m glad I followed my instincts and buried a good chunk of the product in the middle of the night unknown to Topo or Paulo. It took three hours of work and careful consideration to remember the landmarks and the distance from Paulo’s wall.

That morning, constructing their exit strategy Topo shocked Felipe with his description of how he was going to hike along the same path the chunk of product was buried. He explained how he knew the hillside like the back of his hand and had even had a perch constructed in a tree that over looked the parking lot he was going to drop into the back of. He said that with binoculars and the steep hillside it was an excellent perimeter check. The parking lot was perfect for a covert entry. You dropped into the backside of a gas station with the only thing back there being a bathroom.

Topo left for his hike and perimeter check and forty minutes later called Paulo. Paulo had been monitoring the police airwaves for potential problems and let Topo know there weren’t any. From Topo’s end he explained that the parking lot was clear and it was time to get the caravan rolling. Paulo handed the phone to Topo’s driver associate to get instructions. A minute later he handed the phone to Felipe and left in the suburban. Felipe stayed on the line and heard Topo getting into the suburban and the door shut.

Topo told Felipe, “It’s clear. You hop on now and we’ll wait right here for you and get behind your caravan to give your back more cushion. Stay sharp and let’s go, vamanos!”

The procession of vehicles started with Javier leading the way in the eighteen wheeler, Jefe in the Honda, and Felipe in the Festiva in the rear. At the second exit Topo’s suburban pulled right behind Felipe and it was smooth sailing—Until the next exit.

It turned out that the same cop that gave them the scare entering the reservation just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. He was waiting at a traffic light right next to the freeway and just happened to look up in time to see the caravan. What caught the officer’s attention the first time was how haggard the eighteen wheeler was. Then the officer zeroed in on the Honda and all of its conspicuous antennas. When he pulled up behind it the broken tail light was the kicker but there hadn’t been enough time to make the traffic stop. That wasn’t going to be a problem this time.

Topo and his associate lived in their rearview mirror and saw the squad car racing up immediately. They knew the officer was trying to provoke a panicky reaction and that wasn’t happening. The squad car stayed right on their tail in a severe tailgate. After a few Moments the squad car got in the passing lane and did the same thing to Felipe in the Festiva, then Jefe in the Honda. Topo watched the officer pull in front of the eighteen wheeler and hit the lights and siren. Topo told his associate, “He’s going to pull over the eighteen wheeler and the Honda.”

That’s exactly how it went down. The officer got Javier to start pulling over and angled his way in front of Jefe in the Honda and motioned for him to pull over also. Felipe and then Topo passed right on by. In front of Topo in the suburban Felipe maintained the exact speed limit (In Mexico).

Topo continued to watch the rear through the visor’s window and saw the other two squad cars racing up to assist the traffic stop. Topo was trying to ascertain if this was a choreographed move by law enforcement or just chance. When Topo looked forward he noticed Felipe was only going fifty miles an hour in a sixty five mile an hour speed limit. He had his driver pull up alongside and rolled down his window and got Felipe to do the same. He yelled out the window, “Hey, homes you’ve got to pick up your pace and stay with me! I know where we can pull off the freeway!”