Thin Slice of Life

Chapter 06

Texas Ranger O.B. Hadnott cruised across the Copano Bay Bridge in the still coastal dawn. Because O.B. thought the prowl car radio distorted the focus necessary for clarity of mind and purpose, he drove in silence. He wondered why anyone would single out Pinky Cudihay, or any other particular Texas senator, for target practice, given that they all needed killin’. O.B. would prefer that Cudihay perish trapped in a burning whorehouse, fall overboard into sharkinfested waters, or linger slowly at the end of a gangrenous limb. ThetaciturnRangerhadahistorywiththeoily,duplicitousSenator. He had seen Cudihay’s florid face in the news almost non-stop for the last twenty-four hours, promoting his sensational (and unfounded) theory that the assassin’s bullet was likely meant for him, and not his “loyal, trustworthy aide—a dear friend….” Still, O.B. needed no personal incentive to aggressively pursue his task. In O.B.’s mind, the bad guys had crossed a clearly marked line. Whoever the shooters were, their conduct posed a genuine threat to the State of Texas in that the sons of bitches had missed. These particular badmen, like most criminals, had a good idea but poor follow-through. O.B. had no use for a poor shot. For over a century and a half the Texas Rangers had moreor -less honorably carried out the duties first assigned them by CHAPTER 06 40 06| Stephen F. Austin, acting “as rangers for the common defense....” For the most part the Rangers, as agents answerable only to the Governor, had kept the faith, protected the borders, killed marauding Comanches and Kiowas, extinguished generations of Mexican bandidos and cattle thieves, put down small insurrections (“One riot, one Ranger”) and generally prevailed over the bad guys in the course of ensuring the public safety. Stephen F. Austin had never said anything about breaking strikes and busting unions, kicking in United Farmworkers organizers’ ribs or killing Mexicans and South Texas Tejanos in wholesale lots back in the bad old days. All of which was also in the Rangers’ historical portfolio. But nobody’s perfect, O.B. figured. For the life of him, Ranger Hadnott could not imagine a scenario in which an attempt on Pinky Cudihay’s life threatened the public safety. Public sanitation, maybe. One thing, however, was for goddamn sure: That sniper, whoever he was, had conferred upon Hadnott the right to ask a lot of fucking questions. And there were a lot of questionable plans afoot in the coastal jurisdiction of Ranger Company A. Department of Public Safety and US Coast Guard intelligence reports indicated a good deal of disquieting activity in the Coastal Bend area. One gulf trawler had been reported missing for close to a year, while closer to home two smaller boats had disappeared almost within sight of the Matagorda Lighthouse, in fair weather and in relatively safe waters. So far no debris, bodies or clues had turned up. The owners of the smaller vessels were known to have engaged in small-time smuggling and other illegal activities. Anyone with half a brain suspected foul play. More recently, a local fisherman had been reported missing at sea, and the local authorities were not hopeful he would be found…the damned fool. A West Texan down to the tips of his Lucchese boots, O.B. regardedanybodyofwaterlargerthanastocktankwithfearanddisdain. Within the last year, the Rangers had received reports from the Feds of significant purchases of black-market military armaments . Significant, said the reports, because the items were not the usual odd case of rifles or grenades, but were more sophisticated in nature—optical attachments for laser-sighted grenade launchers, high-powered infrared illuminators for long-range target sighting, and rocket-propelled grenades. 41 |06 The recent shooting of the Senator’s aide on Key Allegro and the Senator’s subsequent braying on local television about “a heinous attempt”onhis lifewasthelaststraw.Thegovernorpickedupthephone. With no small amount of consternation Sergeant Hadnott received his temporary assignment to assist in the high-profile murder case down on the Texas Gulf Coast. His Field Captain in Lubbock told O.B. that he must possess skills especially suited to the case because Governor Bill Clements himself had requested Hadnott for the assignment. Then he admitted that the Sergeant’s name had been submitted to the Governor by Ranger headquarters in Austin, primarily because the local Ranger was wrapped up in a bribery case on the border, and because...