Operation Tripwire Leg 6

Leg 6 — KLRU → KDNA Las Cruces International → Dona Ana County Airport Las Cruces, New Mexico → Santa Teresa, New Mexico

Dona Ana County Airport sits near one of the busiest border trade corridors in the American Southwest. Massive freight traffic flows nearby every day, making the region ideal for covert cartel logistics operations hidden among legitimate commerce.

Intercept

Operation Tripwire enters full crisis mode.

Military aircraft now patrol sections of the border continuously while federal agencies establish emergency command centers throughout the Southwest. Rumors spread that cartel groups have acquired anti-aircraft weapons stolen from Central American military stockpiles.

During your patrol near Santa Teresa, NORAD radar identifies an unidentified aircraft crossing north at extremely low altitude.

You are the closest airborne asset.

The intercept begins immediately.

The aircraft races through mountain valleys toward the border while your crew attempts visual identification. When you finally close distance, the target aircraft appears to be a heavily modified turboprop with no markings whatsoever.

Then cargo begins falling from its rear ramp into the desert below.

Bundles.

Weapons crates.

Vehicles waiting beneath.

Suddenly, the unidentified aircraft turns directly toward you.

Your cockpit fills with warning alarms.

The situation is spiraling out of control.