Adios!

Contents

ADIÓS!

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

Adiós is the second book in our Bruce Gavin political trilogy. Our first book Aloha gave life to Bruce Gavin as President of the United States and created the foundation for solutions to some of the nation’s most difficult problems. Aloha also created a fan base that is anxious to know how Gavin will deal with the rest of his presidency and the problems that the United States faces. All readers will relate to the real problems presented, their potential impact on the United States, and the actions that Gavin’s administration takes. Watch for the final book, Goodbye, in 2012.

We dedicate Adiós to all of those that have supported our effort, but especially, those who have taken the time to help us with editing. We simply could not have done it without you.

As always we want to thank our family, friends and employees who gave us the encouragement to finish the trilogy within a year’s time.

Thank you all—You’re the best!

Den & Steve

ADIÓS!

PROLOGUE

Bruce Gavin has completed his second year in office as the President of the United States. The first two years had been a whirlwind of actions and events that had an enormous impact on the people of the United States.

The sale of the Hawaiian Islands to the People’s Republic of China had been completed. The aftermath of the shocking decision was still an unknown. One million five hundred thousand American Citizens had been sacrificed in order to solve the United States debt problem. This single decision had eliminated the national debt and guaranteed the long term stability of all welfare programs in the United States, including Medicare and Social Security. The big question remained, was it worth it?

President Gavin had divorced his wife of 30 years and admitted to everyone that he was gay and in love with a parish priest from Washington, D.C.

It was also a little known fact that Gavin had entered into a secret deal with 30 conservative Republicans that if his popularity dropped below a 70 percent approval rating after two years in office that he would not run for a second term. The poll would be taken by the Gallup Organization. Gallup would dictate the terms which could create a problem for both the President and the Republican Party.

Proposition 8, the controversial same sex marriage ban bill that had been overturned by the Federal Court in California was working its way toward the Supreme court of the United States. A decision was sure to be made on the issue by the end of the President’s first term. The question that lingered was, would the President marry his gay lover, and, for the first time, the United States would have a First Man instead of a First Lady in the White House.

In addition, the Mexican Drug War had heated up and the Mexican Drug Cartels were having a major impact on the trafficking routes into the United States. This coupled with additional problems in Mexico had increased the volume of illegal immigration into the United States. Illegal immigration had become an issue of desperation, seemingly beyond solution. The Cartels had become much more violent in their dealings with each other and anyone or anything that came between them and their goal. Their growing power and arrogance was causing major problems throughout America, not just in those states that bordered Mexico.

Al-Qaeda was still very active in Europe and the United States with a single goal to destroy everything and anyone associated with individual freedom. No major event had occurred in the United States since September 11th, 2001 but the threat was always present. To make matters worse, Al-Qaeda had increased it’s communications to the world in English and published its first book on How to make and use a Dirty Bomb. The book was on the internet and could even be found in hardcover.

So, with this on his plate, the President entered his third year in office. The year was 2015.

CHAPTER 1

THE ESCAPE TUNNEL

They had worked on the tunnel for over six months—father and son—each doing everything they could to help the other. All of the work was done at night. The work began for both of them at 9 PM. The son finished at midnight and the father worked on until 2 AM. They worked every night, with no time off. When finished the tunnel was over 300 feet long and reinforced with wood every four feet. It measured three and a half feet in height and three feet in width. The dirt removal was the hard part. The dirt was filled in 50 pound bags and carried from the basement to a portion of the back yard where it was spread out in and around the vegetable garden. During the day his wife and daughter would work in the vegetable garden and make sure the dirt was spread evenly. Once the tunnel was completed, the wire was strung and explosives were attached. A red trigger button was set to detonate all explosives at once.

The Rodriguez family worked as a team. Each knew what they were doing, why it was being done and each had a role to play. The end result could save all or some of their lives. The end game was death and they all knew that dying could come to one or all of them in an instant.

Eric Rodriguez was educated in the United States at San Jose State University. After graduation with a major in journalism he worked as an intern at Channel 7 Eyewitness news in San Francisco. It was there that he met Nora Noitall who was a member of the Channel 7 I-Team, their investigative team of reporters. After completing his internship, he returned to Mexico City where he became an investigative reporter for The News. The News is a Mexican/English language newspaper that is published in Mexico City every weekday. The News is owned by the Mexican media group MAC.

The News was founded in 1950 by Romulo O’Farrill Sr., and quickly had a circulation of 17,000.

It was 1987 when he returned home and began his job as a reporter for The News. Eric kept in touch with Nora on a regular basis and was aware of all of her career moves and success over the last 15 years. Nora had moved to Portland, Oregon, taken an investigative reporter position for the Portland Oregonian, and during the next 25 years had investigated and reported on many stories. The two biggest were the Warm Springs Indian Reservation Revolt and the outing of the gay President of the United States. Along the way she had received numerous promotions, and now, in 2015, she occupied the role of Editor-in-Chief.

Eric’s career was not nearly as successful. The News was owned originally by the O’Farrill family. Romulo was one of Stephen O’Farrill’s four sons. Stephen had immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1846 during the potato famine. On arrival, he had the option of being drafted into the US Army to fight against Mexico or he could accept Mexico’s offer of citizenship and free land by joining the Mexican Army. He chose the latter and eventually settled on land granted to him in Puebla.

Romulo went on to develop a family business empire that included banks, radio stations and national newspapers.

Eric’s role during the 1980’s and 1990’s varied. The News, because of its English language role, became the primary source of English language information for expats and travelers. Wire service stories from the US and elsewhere were the primary sources of news for the niche readership.

Because of his education and English language capability, Eric was called on for a variety of tasks but those that he enjoyed the most were the stories that required he dig into the subject matter, do extensive research, and then report the facts.

There was one such story that had occupied most of his time for the past five years. The story was the reason for the need to dig the tunnel. It was also the story that could provide him with the biggest move in his career.

Illegal Immigration and drug trafficking was under the microscope of both the United States and the Mexican Governments. The war on drugs and illegal immigration was being fought on both sides of the border and had become not only big business but the cause of thousands of deaths in Mexico.

The US State Department estimated that 90% of the cocaine entering the United States came through Mexico, with Colombia being the main source.

The Mexican Drug cartels had been around for all of Eric’s career. He had watched them grow more powerful since the demise of Colombia’s Cali and Medellin cartel’s in the 1990s. The Mexican drug cartels were now the dominate players in the international distribution of drugs. Mexico had become not only a place through which drugs flowed but also a major point of drug cultivation. The country had become the main supplier of cannabis and a major supplier of methamphetamine. Although Mexico accounts for only a small share of the worldwide production of heroin, it boasts a large share of the heroin distribution.

Eric was well aware that given its geographic location, Mexico has long been used as a staging and shipment point for narcotics, undocumented immigrants and contraband destined for the US market.

The years since 2000 had seen the balance of power shift between the various Mexican cartels as new ones emerged and older ones weakened and collapsed. Such was the battle that had been waged between the Gomez Cartel and the Melendez Cartel. Both were fighting each other for control of the US Market and both were fighting the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Mexican Administration of President Felipe Calderon.

In December of 2006, President Calderon sent 6500 federal troops to the state of Michoacan to end the drug violence. This was the first major action against organized crime and was the beginning of the war on the drug cartels. Over time, Calderon continued to escalate his anti drug campaign. By 2010 the Cartels had determined they would replace the government by force of arms. The Gomez Cartel had destroyed the Melendez Cartel during the mid 2000’s. It was a bloody battle with at least 3,000 lives lost.

Eric’s story would focus on the drug and illegal immigration activities of the Gomez Cartel and, more importantly, on the hierarchy and inter-workings. To gain the information he needed, Eric had to be on the inside of the Cartel looking out rather than on the outside of the Cartel looking in.

It had taken Eric five years to become a trusted member of the Cartel. To achieve that status he had to perform many illegal activities and, in one case, participate in the murder of a Melendez Cartel member.

Eric’s wife, Maria, and his editor at The News were the only two people who knew of his involvement. Both of his children, Sophie and Stephen, were aware of their father’s occupation but neither of them knew of his direct involvement with the Cartel. They did know that their father was writing a news story on the war on drugs and that his story could be dangerous for the entire family, thus, the reason for the escape tunnel.

Eric’s first role with the Cartel was smuggling firearms. The rifles of choice were the AR-15 and AK-47 rifles. The Cartel also smuggled FN 5.7 semi automatic pistols and a variety of other guns.

Eric’s role was to coordinate the payment to US citizens who he recruited to purchase assault rifles, guns at gun shops, or shows. They would sell them to Eric as a cartel representative. This exchange is known as a straw purchase. Because there is no computerized national gun registry, tracking guns relies on a paper trail. In fact, Eric lost a notch with the Cartel in 2010 when police in Laredo, Texas seized a shipment of weapons that were being smuggled to the Cartel in Mexico. The weapons included 147 assault rifles, 53 bayonets and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

The shipment was intercepted because two Cartel members working with Eric on the shipment failed to follow the instructions Eric had provided them. Both men were rounded up by the Cartel. Eric remained free because Jose Gomez, who was in charge of weapons smuggling for the Gomez Cartel, had reviewed and approved the plan Eric had drafted. Jose was well aware of the short-cuts taken by the two men and was quick to order an action. The two cartel members were taken to a small farmhouse outside of Laredo where they were tied up and their heads blown off by the same AK 47 rifles they were smuggling. The killings were accomplished by four Cartel death soldiers shooting at the same time.

Eric was required to watch to indicate his support of the action taken.

After a couple of years, Eric understood the Cartel’s organizational structure. At the top were the Gomez brothers and sister. Each had a major area of specialization and each was an equal member of the governing counsel of the Cartel.

Jose Gomez was responsible for the weapons trafficking. Annie Gomez managed the illegal immigration and slavery operation and Marc Gomez was responsible for the illegal drug operations. Each had a senior Cartel member under them with responsibility for up to 1000 members of the Cartel. As Eric had learned, this was not a small operation run by a small family. It was big business and very violent.

Eric had also learned that the speculation by some of the US public media that Islamist terror groups may be supporting the drug cartels in Mexico was indeed true. The Islamist terror groups were most interested in weapons and were now working actively with Jose and the senior Cartel member responsible for weapons.

Eric maintained a confidential notebook that contained all of the facts he had learned over the five years he had been involved with the organization. He shared his notes with no one, not even his wife. His goal would be to capture all the facts in a feature tell-all series of articles that would either bring the Gomez family down or cripple each of the areas operated by them. Eric knew he was playing with fire but felt he had no alternative if his homeland was ever to be free of the scourge of drugs and violence. Of course, he knew of their violence as a response to any disloyalty.

Beginning in 2014 Eric was transferred from Jose Gomez’s area of responsibility to Marc Gomez’s operation. He was now involved in the inner-workings and planning of the Cartel’s drug trafficking efforts. Eric had grown in the organization to a position of responsibility.

His English language and education paid big dividends in his new role. He was paid very well and utilized extensively in the development of the communications that were used as a means to reinforce the territory they controlled. Each of the Cartel Senior members used fear as a key to control. They utilized YouTube to highlight executions of those who opposed them. They tossed body parts into crowded nightclubs and hung heads in public streets. Eric continued his detailed documentation, while being extremely cautious. He knew that one false move would result in his death and in the torture and death of those he loved the most.

By Spring, Eric had enough to write his story. It was then, and only then, that he began making plans for his family’s escape from the death grip of the Cartel.

The tunnel was part of the plan. He spent hours talking to Maria about the need to have an escape plan and that it was important for her to stay strong because it was possible he might be killed. After a while Maria stopped crying and worrying.

Maria and the kids were moved to the basement of their home as a safety measure. Eric stayed upstairs in the bedroom. He wanted to make sure that if a problem arose that they would deal with him upstairs while the family escaped from downstairs.

Maria had been told, If at any time you hear violence upstairs you should grab the long-prepared backpacks and get herself and the children to the tunnel. Maria was told, Once in the tunnel shut the trap door and lock it with the steel bar, follow the lights to the end and surface at the clearing. Once clear, push the red button, then cover the escape opening with brush and follow the instructions in the backpack. She should not wait for him and move out with the children as quickly as possible.

Eric had developed the plan for his family’s escape and illegal immigration to the United States. The instructions were detailed and listed step by step for Maria. Maria was told that she would be taking the children out of Mexico to Portland, Oregon. Once she arrived in Portland she was to personally deliver his notebook to Nora Noitall at the Portland Oregonian.

Each night he wrote in his notebook, using his notes to insure names, dates and places were all identified. When he completed his writing, he would return the notebook to the backpack. There was only one copy.

One thing that had become very clear to Eric was that the power of the Cartel was growing and the Mexican Government was in danger due to the military strength of organized crime. The Gomez Cartel now had over 1,000 trained enforcement personnel. There were trained killers who did not differentiate in their killing between men, women or children. With the slight exception, that the women were generally forced to perform other tasks prior to their killing. Eric was also aware that the Cartel now had a presence in most US cities which was also of interest to the Islamist terrorist organizations affiliating with them.

His article was close to being completed when he was asked to pay a visit to his Boss’ office.

His boss greeted him on a friendly basis but wanted him to know that some members of the Cartel were concerned about his role as a journalist at The News.

His boss continued by telling Eric that some of the Cartel soldiers were afraid that if Eric revealed his knowledge of the Cartel to the press that it could make it very difficult for them to effectively do their jobs. Eric explained that he enjoyed writing, and that as a reporter he was told by his editors what stories to cover. He did not have the opportunity to write about anything he wanted. He also reminded his boss of his 5 years of loyal service and the numerous successful operations he had planned. His boss listened carefully, smiled at him and dismissed him.

Eric didn’t like it. He smelled a rat. At 2:30 AM on May 15, 2014, 24 Cartel trained enforcement personnel entered his house on a mission to find anything that would indicate his lack of loyalty. If any evidence was found they were on orders to kill him immediately.

The soldiers kept guns pointed at him while they ransacked the living room. Eric had forgotten that he had cut some articles out of various publications that specifically talked about the Gomez Cartel. He meant to put them in his notebook but had forgotten and they were stacked on a table in the living room. That was all it took.

The loud breaking of the door followed by what seemed like 100 rapid fire bullets had Maria and the children out of bed and into the tunnel immediately.

CHAPTER 2

A DEAL IS A DEAL

Two significant events occurred during the first two years of Bruce Gavin’s Presidency. The first was the announcement that he, as President of the United States, had signed a treaty with the President of the People’s Republic of China to sell the Hawaiian Islands for 13 Trillion dollars. The second major announcement was that he admitted to his wife and the American People that he was gay and in love with a Catholic Priest.

Both announcements created significant havoc not only with the elected members of the Congress and the Senate but with many United States citizens. In what would become known as a significant Horse Trade the President was informed by a Group of 30 conservative Southern Senators, who were under enormous pressure to get rid of the now, out in the open, gay President of the United States. They would not vote for the Treaty with China without the following political trade off:

In return for their positive vote on the Treaty with China, the President would agree to have a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization after the completion of his second year in office. If the poll revealed that the President’s favorable rating was less than 70%, he would agree to become a one term President. However, if the popularity rating was above 70%, the President would have the party’s support for another four year term in 2016.

The end of his second year in office was coming very quickly. Senator Harry Haley, the Senate Majority Leader and representative of the Group of 30 made it clear to the President that the poll would be taken. Senator Haley contacted Michael Iron, Chairman of the Republican Party and explained the terms of the agreement. There