Maria, Pull the Trigger and Kill (a World War II adventure)

Enviers and Mobsters

Juanita had to drive back to Mexico immediately in order to meet her peers right in time. Gabi's and my task was to make sure, that whoever of the mobsters remained on the US side, could not leave the scene or escape. She and our Mexican partners would take care of the ones crossing the Rio Bravo on boat. 6h later, she dropped us off at the beginning of the country road, leading to the banks of the Rio Bravo from highway 83. It was dark by then and the mobsters were fully busy bringing booze to the US. Gabi and I just had to silently sneak up on them and hide in a good spot, then wait.

Those Italian desperados seemed to always have two of them on the Mexican side, while one was crossing the Rio Bravo on the boat and then unload the boat. We had immediately loaded the crates up on one of the trucks, but they just piled them up on the riverbank, instead. Gabi had also suggested such a procedure to Juanita once, but she dismissed it. Apparently Juanita had tried that with Raul already. Eventually, the crates were in one's way and when one pilled them up to high, they could turn over on the uneven ground. Their experience was to immediately load them up the truck, then they were out of the way, could not turn over and were in the right place already. The method of the mobsters, had a clear advantage though, they would be finished with the boat rides faster. From the amount of crates I could see on the riverbank, I guessed that would be the case within the next two or three shipments. The boat took off again to the other side and after some 15 minutes, we heard a lot of gunshots coming from the Mexican side. The gunfight lasted for about 5 minutes, then everything was dead silent. Gabi and I did not know what to do? We had to make sure, that the one who had remained on our side did not flee and as long as this did not happen, we could stay hidden? About 3 minutes later, Gabi suggested: "Let's do a surprise attack and fetter him."

The guy did not seem perturbed by the gun shots. Actually, he was quite relaxed. After two minutes of listening into the night, he had started to load crates on a truck again and in order to do so, he had put his submachine gun aside. We silently approached him from two sides and when he finally heard the footsteps of one of us and asked into the darkness: "Who's that? Matteo?"

Gabi was quicker providing an adequate answer than I in regards: "Stand down! Hands up! Police. We are very happy to shoot you, so please make a stupid move!"

I don't know, where Gabi had learned that line, but I was impressed. The mobster as well, because his hands went up in no time. Now in order to fetter him, we had to get close to him and eventually, he could make up who we really were. He laughed and said: "Eh! You are not the police! You are the Senoritas who ran the business before us. It is so kind of you, to come and give us a hand with the loading."

Gabi gave him shit for his obnoxious answer: "Shut up and get down on your knees! As said, I'm happy to shoot you!"

"Ladies, com'on, let's work this out. I'm sure we can come to an agreement you can be happy with."

Slowly she repeated again: "Get down on your knees!"

"Com'on, be reasonable. We can leave you San Antonio and we deliver to Huston. You just provide us with the booze and both of us win."

That was not such a bad offer, I thought. Gabi however had a different opinion: "Too late now! You should have proposed that in the very beginning."

Now the boat approached the shore and none of us was sure, who was in it? There were three or four passengers. Were those Juanita and our partners or the three mobsters?

The Italian desperado was quicker then Gabi and I: "Matteo?"

"Yes!"

Now his courage came back and within two seconds he was up on his feet and pushed Gabi's pistol out of the line of fire. However, he was still in my line of fire and I had to pull the trigger. I had to pull the trigger – NOW – RIGHT NOW! However, I was not a murderer. Back then, I was still such a duckling and I could not kill someone and I did not pull the trigger. So what should I do instead, I asked myself?