The 13: Fall (2 page)

She waited for the grumpy complaint that was sure to come. Roy hated dealing with neighborly disputes. He always tried to pawn them off on one of the other deputies.

Nothing.

“Roy, this is Becky—come in.”

Nothing.

“Roy! I ain’t playing! Pick up that radio or else!”

Still nothing.

She switched over to another channel. She couldn’t figure why one of her deputies would switch channels, but she was starting to get a little worried. Roy was dependable, if nothing else. He’d never not answered a call while he was out in the field.

“Roy, this is Becky. You change channels on me to try and get some R and R?”

Nothing.

Now she was getting worried. She switched the channel back. “Clay, this is dispatch. Check in—over.”

Nothing.

“Marcus, check in—over.”

Nothing.

She walked down the hall and found her boss, told him what was going on, and waited for a response. He told her not to worry. It was probably just weather related. “Probably a sunspot or something, messin’ with the radios,” he said. “Try again in a few minutes.”

Back at her desk, she waited, watching the end of the show. As the credits rolled she picked up her microphone. After five minutes of going through the motions again, she decided this was no sunspot.

She grabbed the phone and called the Cameron County Sheriff’s office—the next county over. She told them what was going on and asked if they were having any trouble. Gina, the dispatcher over there, said none of her deputies had checked in or returned back to HQ either.

Becky hung up and called Star, Zapata, and Webb Counties. All three reported the same goings-on. At that point, she dismissed paranoia and called the state police. She was told that they, too, had a few officers who weren’t responding, but all of the state police vehicles were equipped with GPS and were being located as they spoke. The young man at state police HQ offered to send a few officers her way to check on her deputies as well. She thanked him and told him where her deputies were last known to be.

July 4, 2025; 12:00 p.m.

Becky stood in front of her fourth TV camera in the last hour and told her story again. This time it was Fox. NBC and CBS had already been by. The mysterious disappearance of her deputies two days ago was making national news. Several sheriff’s deputies, border patrol agents, and state and local police officers had all turned up dead, all across the border towns in Texas. Over the last two days, New Mexico and Arizona had reported similar tragedies.

Becky was one of the first to discover the disappearances across the border, therefore she was a hot commodity with the news anchors.

The pretty, blond reporter smiled and nodded as Becky told her story. She opened her mouth—Becky figured she was about to ask another question—and then slapped her hand over her left earbud. Her smiled faded and gave way to a look of disbelief, shock, then horror. Tears filled her eyes and her face turned ashen. Her arm dropped to her side, taking the microphone with it.

“What’s wrong?” Becky had never seen a television personality act like this.

The reporter turned to her, eyes wide. She moved her mouth but nothing came out.

Becky grabbed the woman by her shoulders and shook her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

The reporter looked at Becky blankly and said, “Bomb … They’re all dead.” Her knees gave out, and she slumped to the hard, dry ground.

Becky ran back inside to the flat-screen TV.

Hidalgo County, Texas
July 4, 2025; 11:30 a.m.

Jonathan Keene pulled his car off the road onto the dirt path, according to the directions he’d been given. After a mile, he came to the fork in the road. Up ahead, on the left, there stood the house.

He parked the car, got out, and surveyed the area. Nothing. No sign of anyone. The house was a typical single-family home. It needed a coat of paint, and the railing on the front porch had seen better days. The lawn was unkempt, but a somewhat new-looking satellite dish sat mounted on the corner of the roof.

Walking into the house, he noticed the reflection of light coming from the hillside off to his left. He waited ten minutes. Then, as per his instructions, he left through the back door and walked slowly up the hill toward the reflection.

Once at the top, he got to his knees, placed his hands behind his head, and interlocked his fingers. This was the unsettling part. Out in the open. No cover. The sun blazing in his eyes. The wind blowing dust everywhere. It was hard to see anything past twenty feet. He did feel better, though, knowing that strapped to his back, under his loose shirt, was his Glock 9mm. It lay inches from his fingertips.

After nothing for five minutes, he heard the faint hum of motorcycle engines. Within seconds he was surrounded by a half dozen, armed Mexicans. One, covered with tattoos and a scar across his left cheek, moved toward him. According to the description he’d been given, this was his informant.

“
Hola
,” the young man said. “Welcome to Mexico.”

Though the walk uphill had been a short one, Keene knew that in doing so, he’d illegally crossed the invisible border into the gangbanger’s country.

“
Gracias.
” Keene shifted uncomfortably and squinted upward. “You must be Hector.”

“Do I need to search you?”

“Not unless you want to find the nine mil I got strapped to my back,” Keene said.

Hector laughed. “Stand up.”

“So what’s so important that you need to talk to the CIA?”

“Follow me.” Hector began walking down the hill toward the house.

Keene followed the men back into the house, thankful to be back on sovereign US soil.

“I know what happened to those sheriff’s deputies,” Hector said.

“Yeah, so. Call the police.”

“Nah, CIA,
la policía
don’t want none of this.”

“None of what?”

“That’s a nice watch. Where was that made? China?”

“Yeah,” Keene said. “What’s that have to do with anything?”

“Lots of stuff in your country made by China.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Funny thing. In the last two months, I been seeing lots of Chinese people ‘round here.”

“Maybe they like the food.”

“Maybe,” Hector answered. “But these Chinese been coming in droves. In big military trucks. From down south.”

“Interesting.” Keene gave this some thought.

“You want to know what’s really interesting?”

Keene shrugged.

“These Chinese, they got guns.”

“So?”

“And tanks. And airplanes.”

“What?”

“You heard me. They got an army down here. They been bringing it up here to the border for the last two months.”

“Impossible. We would’ve known about it,” Keene said. This guy was unnerving him.

“You wanna know what happened to your cops? About three hundred Chinese foot soldiers, with automatic weapons, crossed your border and took them out. I got boys all up and down the border saying they see it, man. Now, I don’t know what’s up with a hundred thousand Chinese being in my—”

“What did you say? How many?”

“From what I hear, about a hundred thousand.”

Keene’s jaw went slack. There was no way a hundred thousand Chinese soldiers were living across the border without the United States knowing about it. Something was wrong.

“You look like you seen a ghost.”

“Why are you telling me this? Why now? Why not two months ago?”

“’Cause two months ago, I couldn’ta cared less. You Americans don’t know what goes on down here. You come to your vacation spots and get treated like kings. Then you go back home and don’t care what happens to the rest of us. Well, guess what? These Chinese start showing up and doing nice things for our communities. Nobody says anything ‘cause they like it. Then, without warning, they start taking over. And our
policía
don’t care. They getting paid off. Next thing I know, I start seeing guns, tanks, and fighter planes. And then they come into town and line up five men and shoot them in the head. They say, anyone talks or tries to do anything, they kill the whole town.”

“This is—this is ridiculous!” Keene said. “I don’t know what your game is, but this isn’t funny. You could get into a lot of trouble—”

“I ain’t playin’!” Hector shouted angrily. “They kill my little brother, man! And something bad is about to happen! I’m telling you as a favor.” He hung his head and wiped his eyes. “I don’t know why your government don’t know about this, CIA, but I’m telling you. Someone had to mess up big to miss this.”

Keene stood there dumbfounded. There was no way this could be true. An entire army couldn’t march on the United States’ border and not be detected. He had to call Jennings. He reached for his phone and felt the buzz against his leg. He looked at the display.
Funny
, he thought.

“I was just getting ready to call you,” he spoke into the mouthpiece.

“Get back here immediately,” his boss, Kevin Jennings, ordered.

“Yeah, about that,” Keene said, “I think I need to stay here awhile. I need to check something out.”

“No, you need to get back here immediately. Turn on the TV.”

“What’s happened?”

“Just do it!” came the reply.

Keene pushed past the group of men and pushed the button on the television sitting on a makeshift stand. It only took a few moments for him and the others to see what was happening.

Every channel had interrupted programming, now covering the breaking news. Plumes of black smoke rose into the sky from devastated buildings. Bridges and highways melted into a pile of searing red metal. Ash and debris covered the entire landscape. Cars were turned over and blown to bits. Then the camera changed. A new city. Same result. Then another. Then another. Finally the images ended. The cameras returned to the news station. A disheveled-looking man in blue jeans and a sweater sat in front of the camera. He opened his mouth and said the words that would change the course of history.

“Ladies and gentlemen, less than ten minutes ago, the entire West Coast of the United States of America was attacked. It appears to be a nuclear strike. Every major city from San Diego to Seattle. The death toll has to be in the millions….”

   CHAPTER 1