Lines and Shadows by Joseph Wambaugh

Author:Joseph Wambaugh
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780356105536
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1984-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

April was a terrific month for scrapbooks. They managed to get fourteen stories written about them in April. The border was written up large in U.S. News and World Report.

April was not a terrific month for a Colonia Libertad bandit named Esquivel, who had seen one spaghetti western too many. He had seen the one where Clint Eastwood runs around in a sarape, and when that sarape goes whipping back there’s nothing but hot lead and cold bodies flying around for about five movie minutes, all in slow motion. Esquivel didn’t have access to a real gun at the moment but he got hold of an air rifle that looked exactly like an M-l carbine, and best of all, he got himself an ominous black poncho that looked even more sinister than Clint Eastwood’s. And he got another bandit pal and they did a little dope and decided to prowl E-2 Canyon and see how much money they could make. Whatever they made, it wasn’t nearly enough.

The varsity and junior varsity hadn’t had time to split up that afternoon before they stumbled upon a whole mob of illegal aliens nesting in the brush of E-2 Canyon about a hundred yards north of the border line. There were Manny Lopez, Eddie Cervantes, and Tony Puente of the varsity. And Ernie Salgado, Carlos Chacon and Renee Camacho of the junior varsity. Only Joe Vasquez wasn’t present, since he had to provide cover that night because both Robbie Hurt and Ken Kelly were off duty.

Manny asked the startled covey of aliens what they were waiting for and got the answer when a man stood up far across the canyon and began waving his arms. There was just enough daylight left to see him, and the sixteen aliens jumped to their feet and began hustling down the trails toward the guide who was signaling.

The guide was an enterprising young fellow who was delighted to see that six new pollos had joined his party of sixteen, and he wasted no time wheeling and dealing with the newcomers. He said he was sorry he couldn’t get them all the way to Los Angeles, but he could transport them to Main Street in Chula Vista for forty bucks a head.

So Manny Lopez whispered to the other Barfers that they might as well take down this dude for wildcatting. They waited until the aliens started moving off as directed and then they put the badge on him and told him he wasn’t going to Chula Vista that night.

So he shrugged, because what the hell, it’s no big deal to spend a day or two in a U.S. jail, which was actually about the most comfortable place around. But there was an alien couple sticking to the guy, and Manny Lopez figured now that they knew the Barfers were cops, he’d have to do something with them.

They walked back to Joe Vasquez, who was waiting in the four-wheel-drive Chevy Suburban, mightily bummed because now he had to provide cover

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