Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 302 Ancient Method of Opening the Box

Culiacán, Sinaloa State.

Even at sunset, the heat still lingered in the streets.

The cement walls were white, the roller shutter door was mottled, and a few shirts hung on the clothesline.

The shopkeeper on the street corner turned the radio up to the maximum.

The host had just turned away from the music and finished reading the commercials when the program switched back to folk music.

Motorcycles occasionally whiz by on the road, their exhaust fumes mingling with the sweet aroma of roasted corn—a unique scent of late summer evenings.

A white Toyota van was parked in the shadows.

The license plate is local, it has been insulated, and the glass has a dark privacy film.

Two laptops were placed on the folding table in the back compartment.

One machine was running GNU Radio, and the other was running a map program.

Jim was wearing headphones and leaning forward, as if he wanted to disappear into the screen.

His right hand rested on the knob, making very small adjustments.

Zhou Yi sat opposite him, smoking listlessly.

Preparations before an operation are always so tedious.

The target location won't pop up directly like a winning number; all you can do is wait.

In the past ten hours, a total of three signals have been intercepted.

Unfortunately, there were no matches.

However, everything must eventually come to an end.

Because they already possessed the IMEI code of the Valdes satellite phone.

In Mexico, if you're willing to pay, this is no harder to get than a license plate.

Whether it's government procurement or warranty registration, there are always people willing to cooperate.

Jim adjusted his headphones slightly and lit a cigarette.

“Turn the gain down a little more,” he said.

"It'll fall off if you twist it any harder."

Zhou Yi shook his head and flicked the cigarette ash into the mineral water bottle.

The spectrum on the screen resembled a river.

Background noise fluctuates, and the occasional spikes are quickly filtered out.

Jim stopped talking, locked the center frequency, and then made the receiving bandwidth alternately expand and contract.

The waveform is like being filtered through a net, one point, two points—

Suddenly, a sharp needle appeared on the spectrum.

The shape, envelope, and timing all matched the templates highlighted in red in the database.

At the same time, the laptop responsible for monitoring the carrier interface popped up a new record.

This is an unfamiliar IMEI, registered on a local cellular network, located on the northern outskirts of the city.

Jim glanced at the string of numbers and squinted.

"Different from the ones in the early morning."

With a cigarette dangling from his lips and without looking up, Zhou Yi said, "Valdes was still in Capri at dawn, so it's safe to call the drug dealers directly."

"Now that I'm back in my hometown, I still have to learn to be cunning and use intermediaries to make connections."

Jim laughed when he heard this.

"The poor guys in the intelligence department don't have money to go on vacation to Italy, so they all gather in Cancun to sunbathe."

"It's tough on politicians, because they have to be somewhat secretive in their daily communications."

Zhou Yi moved the mouse and entered the IMEI string into the database for matching—a friendly gift from the local police.

Inexpensive.

You can buy all the data seized in past joint arrest operations for a few thousand dollars.

This time, I was lucky.

The records show that the device was indeed associated with the Sinaloa people.

It is not affiliated with any organization, but it has been listed as a suspect due to its large-scale financial transactions.

"This is it!"

Jim slapped his thigh excitedly, pulled the IMSI catcher out of the shockproof box, and connected it to the vehicle inverter.

The indicator light flashes, and the cool white interface lights up.

He pulled the external antenna onto the roof of the car and tightened the base.

The next second—

The signal strength bar kept fluctuating, from green to yellow, then to red, and then back down. "Three more degrees off, northwest."

Jim stared at the curve, his fingers tapping rapidly to narrow down the detection range.

Zhou Yi climbed into the driver's seat, adjusted the front of the car, and positioned the directional antenna directly towards the signal source.

The signal strength bar shot up sharply, almost filling the red bars completely.

“It’s locked.” Jim pressed Enter.

The rest of the IMSIs have turned gray, leaving only those marked "RSSI -90dBm".

He then sent the data back to the map.

Suddenly, a bright red dot lit up on the screen.

“Eight degrees north by west,” Jim said.

Zhou Yi immediately shifted gears and started the truck, which swayed as it drove north along the main road.

The sun was close to the horizon, and the asphalt road reflected a dazzling orange color.

Five minutes later, the red dot left the city and moved quickly on the suburban highway.

Jim's laptop kept refreshing the signal strength curve.

"The speed is steady, it should be a pickup truck, it hasn't entered the tunnel, and it's heading straight for the Capra Valley."

They stopped outside a gas station and used the antenna on the roof of the car to continue capturing signals to confirm that the target had not deviated.

Night fell, but it was still unbearably hot and humid outside.

Jim stared at the screen, lit another cigarette, and mumbled:

“Once we enter the valley, the signal will weaken very quickly, so we need to lock onto the last high-intensity point in advance.”

Zhou Yi nodded, shifted gears again, and the truck moved forward at a steady speed.

The streetlights gradually became sparse.

Instead, there are scattered farmhouses and large cornfields.

In the distance, the terrain began to undulate, and the mountain shadows grew closer and closer in the night.

Twenty minutes later, the target's movement slowed down.

Finally, they landed on a fenced-off ranch.

Zhou Yi parked his car on the shoulder of the road, one kilometer away.

The engine was turned off, the lights were switched off, and the world suddenly became quiet.

Jim pulled a telephoto camera from under his seat, set it up on the table, and managed to capture a few lights in the ranch.

The pickup truck was parked at the entrance.

Two other old Chevrolets were parked across the middle, like makeshift roadblocks.

Many people were leaning against the fence smoking, with long guns casually draped beside them.

More concealed surveillance is hidden at higher elevations.

Red dots occasionally flashed on the tree branches; these were indicator lights for the walkie-talkie and night vision goggles.

An antenna was erected on the tin roof, pointing directly into the depths of the valley.

"What do you think?" Jim asked softly. "This setup isn't a temporary hideout for ordinary drug dealers."

"Loose on the outside, tight on the inside," Zhou Yi said. "Those we need to protect are inside, not afraid of others knowing that we have guns outside."

"The roadblocks are meant to delay them, allowing them enough time to move people or goods to a safe place."

Jim put down his camera. "Quite high-level, could it be El Mayo?"

“It could be El Mayo, or it could be another key figure,” Zhou Yi said calmly.

"The president has just signed a new Merida Initiative with the United States[1] to cooperate in law enforcement and drug control."

"Yesterday's attack was undoubtedly a slap in the face to the ruling party."

"No matter how unwilling they are, they must respond to the outside world's questions."

“At times like these, Valdes also has to take action.”

"At least communicate with someone of sufficient influence and discuss the next steps for adjustment."

After finishing his sentence, he paused for a moment, then added:
"Of course, it's also possible that I'm completely wrong."

"But this level of security is sufficient for us to carry out the operation."

"After all, the employer never specifically named El Mayo as the target; any target that is significant enough is a good target."

Jim laughed out loud, then raised his camera and aimed it at the valley behind the ranch.

“That’s why I enjoy working with you, John,” he said.

"Damn it, you're worth the entire SAC team by yourself."

(End of this chapter)