There had been a few frantic calls from townspeople to relatives, frightening tales of armed men in the streets killing anything that moved. Those calls had been cut ominously short. The county sheriff had disappeared, along with several deputies dispatched to Fuego to investigate reports of a disturbance. The Texas Rangers had sent in a Special Response Team in a pair of helicopters, neither of which had radioed back in. No one had heard from the Ranger commanding the SRT, either. The news media had gotten wind of the puzzling situation, of course, and sent their own choppers to investigate. They had relayed back video footage of empty streets and several burned buildings that a quick Internet search identified as the locations of Fuego’s churches. What appeared to be a perimeter of armed guards had been established around the town. Several hundred people were visible from the air, huddled together in the stands at the football field next to the high school. They were being guarded as well.
