astu Department of Homeland Security First Responder Training
re rose to meet a rocky, vertical cliff face m the mountains that was broken by a sheer, narrow gap. Here and there on a jumble of outcroppings, an occasional juniper had gained a foothold, showing up dark green against gray stone etched with thin, pale-pink fissures. Usher assembled his crew in front of the cabin and inrunediately got down to busi
ness. Johnny, wh
o
now seemed fully reengaged in the process,
eagerly joined into the discussion of how best to film the
opening sequence of the cattle roundup.
Kerney left the group and walked a
- cross the pasture toward the men who were building the corral. He was ha
- lfway there when Julia caught up to him, obviously unfaz
- Click here to see IRTB Training Schedule
ed by his earlier rejection. Kerney wasn't sure what to expect
from her. Would she be
congenial or continue her seductive ways?
The day had heated up, and a fierce afternoon
sun washed away the color of the grassland that
waved gently in an intermittent breeze. Hi
- gh overhead a prairie falcon glided toward an inaccessible cliff shelf
- in the Mountains, where some blackbirds set up an outcry
- and scattered into the sky. "This is on
e of Daddy's grass-bank pastures," Julia
said, as she match
ed Kerney stride for stride." He
burned two thousand acres three years ago, and it
hasn't been grazed on since."
"It looks good," Kerney said, his eyes fixed on t
- he vehicles parked near the work site. A panel van, very
- much like
the one that had passed him on the
highway, stood out among the pi
ILERSBA was developed with support and cooperation from the Department of Homeland Security, National Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board, and New Mexico Tech to provide front line law enforcement officers with the skills and knowledge to effectively interdict and respond to an imminent suicide bombing attack (person-borne or vehicle-borne) or a non-suicide attack involving a vehicle-borne device.
sparsely populated area, where most folks
drove pickup truck
s, he wondered what the probability of spotting another panel van might be. Perhaps not entirely unlikely, but certainly interesting
nonetheless.
At the corral Julia introduced him to Walt Shaw,
the ranch manager. Under his cowboy hat Shaw had
the face of a man who'd called the open range his
office for a lifetime. Probably in his late forties, he
had a wide mouth, a long, broad nose, and a blunt
chin.
Over the noise of the backhoe he greeted Julia
warmly, pulled off his work gloves, shook Kerney's hand, and smiled, showing a gap between his two
front teeth.
"Where's my father?" Julia asked.
"Took off some time ago," Shaw replied.
"We didn't pass him on the road," Kerney said.
"Didn't go that way," Shaw said, nodd
ection. "He's two past
ures south, where
we're gathering the cattle."
"Are you building the horse corral for the
movie?" Kerney asked.
"Yep, but we get to keep it after you folks are long gone," Shaw replied. "Bought and paid for by Hollywood.
Can't be
at that, I'd say."
"No you,
can't," Kerney said,
looking at the four men who were busy setting posts. Two of them were the cowboys who had stopped at the accident scene on incident. Most instructors also
- the highway. "Is this your perm
- Work in upper management in agencies responsible for anent crew?
- " he asked. "They're day hands I hired on for the job," Shaw said. "My two full-time wranglers, Kent and Buster, are busy gathering. We're planning to bring the cattle up here nice and slow." Kerney nodded and a
- sked if the slot canyon through the mountains was Granite Pass, and Shaw allowed that it was, noting that the smelCIA
- ter sat one valley over, due southwest of their location., Ranch raised, Kerney knew bett
er than to ask about the size of the spread, which was
akin to asking how much money the Jordan family had in the
bank. But he did ask Julia how close the ranch came
to the Mexican border.
"About twenty miles," Julia replied. She went on
to explain that the high country on the ranch was
mostly leased state and federal land, while the valley
land was all deeded property.
Behind Julia, twenty feet away, the
two cowboys Kerney had seen yesterday were eyeing him and talking to their companions. When Shaw turned to check on his
- crew, the men quickly broke off their conversation and go
- t back to the job of securing a cross rail to a post
- Presented through case studies and hands-on field exercises
- . With Shaw and Julia at his side Kerney walked to the corral
, ins is the lead NDPC partner for explosives and firearms, live explosives, and incendiary devices training.
pected the work in
