King of All I Survey
Chapter 53: Stay Tuned for an Important Message

Chapter 53: Stay Tuned for an Important Message

The feed from our drone in the Guatemalan President’s operations meeting showed a man entering the room and walking over to the President to tell him something quietly. "Put it on," The President told him. The man walked to the television screen on the wall and picked up the remote from the small shelf beneath it. He turned on the power and hit the input button to select live television, he didn’t bother selecting a channel. He knew every channel showed the same thing.

The screen showed the words:

Stay tuned for a message regarding the events at The Palace of Justice to begin in:

Below that was a countdown timer, currently showing 2 minutes, 43 seconds and counting down second by second. In the meeting room with the President were the Vice President, Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, two members of the Presidential Honor Guard, the Commissioner of the National Civil Police, the Division General of the Air Force Rotary Wing Division, a senior Army General, the Commissioner of Special Police Forces, the President’s Secretary who had been taking notes of the discussion, and two of the President’s advisors. The man who entered wore the uniform of the Presidential Honor Guard.

The Minister of Defense pointed at the message-bearer, "Get the intelligence team to find out where that’s coming from. NOW! Then dispatch four of the Huey UH-1’s with 20 Special Forces Commandoes to shut it down and secure the people involved, alive, if possible; dead, if necessary."

The man saluted and left the room quickly, closing the door behind him.

"He says this is on every television channel that originates in Guatemala. They don’t know how. Every radio station is broadcasting a similar message saying get ready for a message."

The Division General of the Air Force piped in, "We can scramble to destroy the broadcast antennae and take them all off the air." He glanced at the countdown timer. It read 1 minute 38 seconds, we can’t get them all before it starts."

----

Back at the treehouse, Joe found that funny, "They can’t get any before it starts, it’ll take them 14 minutes to get an aircraft to the first one, if nobody trips over their shoelaces, if they can get the engines started on those antiques!"

"Why take chances?" Dad interjected, "Joe can you use a tight beam laser to disable the aircraft with the least amount of damage possible?"

I have weaponized drones at all of the bases, I can have them out of commission within 72 seconds."

"Do it," Dad ordered. "If it’s already in flight, let it go. We don’t want anyone hurt."

"Everything’s on the ground at the moment. I’m going to sever ignition wires, requiring a small hole through the outer skin and minor ancillary damage inside depending upon the aircraft. Nothing that can’t be repaired in a few hours, except the Bell 412’s. I’m going to hit a circuit board involved in steering control, it’ll take approximately 23 days to have replacement boards flown in once they order them."

"Sounds good. Confirm when they’re all incapacitated."

----

"Do not start attacking civilian infrastructure," The President ordered. Fifty-two seconds remained on the countdown timer.

The Secretary of Defense was on a cell phone looking more and more angry by the second. "I want everybody available looking for it. No excuses!" He hung up, "They have no indication of the source. They say it shouldn’t be possible without all the stations coordinating to do it independently. We have people at some of them, and there is no active involvement on those sites. They even tried powering down the transmitter, but somehow, it’s still being powered."

"How is that possible?" The President demanded.

"It isn’t," The Special Police Forces Commander chimed in.

"Nobody in country could do this, maybe the CIA..." The Secretary of Defense added, trailing off.

"Get the American Ambassador on the phone, ASAP," The President ordered to no one in particular.

Several of the attendees looked at each other to figure out who should do it, finally the President’s Secretary made the call as the timer on the television clicked down to zero.

The screen went black, then faded in on two people shown from the waist up. A man dressed in a traditional Mayan shirt and a young woman in a dark red blouse. The Special Police Forces Commander said, "That’s that bastard Rafael Camal de Leon."

Rafael began speaking, "My name is Rafael Camal de Leon. I killed the two assassins sent by the Commissioner of Police San Marcos District. You may know me as a successful businessman, or you may know me as a man who has been connected with certain crimes, but who has always escaped prosecution. I have been a criminal, I have done some very bad things. I have escaped prosecution because my organization and some former associates of mine from Chiapas and Colombia have received help from the Commissioner of Police in San Marcos District, from the Attorney General, and others in key positions in law enforcement, the justice system, the military, and elsewhere in the country. Many names you would know. I confess this to you now freely and beg your forgiveness for my past crimes.

"In recent days, this woman, Maria Isabel Flores, has helped me to see the error of my ways. She has helped me realize that my anger and my criminal tendencies were the result of the pain I felt from the traumatic events of my childhood. Both my parents were killed in front of me by government soldiers during a raid on our village when I was just seven years old. I ran away as my mother urged me to save my life, but I harbored a deep hatred for the government of Guatemala that would do such a thing to the poor peasants they should be serving. I acted out on that pain and anger and became a criminal. I was good at it. I rose to the top. I coordinated the trafficking of drugs through Guatemala from Colombia, growing and processing drugs here in Guatemala, and delivering it to Mexican cartels in Chiappas.

"All with the support and protection of Guatemalan government officials. Now, I have repented. I have dedicated the remainder of my life to eradicating all illegal drug activity in Guatemala, to restoring peace for all the people of this land, and to prosperity and health of every Guatemalan resident. I will lead the fight against the cartels. I will provide irrefutable evidence against corrupt government officials and see to their prosecution and just punishment.

"Several days ago, I had messages sent to some of them. I asked them to also repent and help remake Guatemala into the paradise of our ancestors. One of them was The Commissioner of Police in San Marcos. He decided instead to send two assassins to ambush me, to kill me as I left a local restaurant in the company of Miss Flores. They fired upon us as we walked out the front door, perhaps you have seen the videos on television. By some miracle neither she nor I were harmed, as we charged into the gunfire. I offered them the chance to put down their weapons, but they only fired once more to take my life. I killed them in self-defense. That should be clear from the videos that have been distributed throughout the country. The Commissioner, hearing of the failure of his men, decided to flee the country lest his corruption and criminal behavior be exposed.

"Likewise, the Attorney General received my letter asking for his repentance. As you may suspect, he has actively fought against every effort to curtail organized crime and corruption by those government officials and journalists who remained pure and honest. He also chose to leave Guatemala in the cover of the night, knowing that I had enough evidence against him that even his power could not keep him from prison.

"Others who received my message chose to stay where they were, perhaps hoping that I was bluffing, or perhaps waiting for someone to kill me. I am still here. I will not run from this fight any more than I would run from assassins in the night. I am here to fight for the people of Guatemala. I WILL end corruption in this country. I WILL end organized crime in this country.

"To the corrupt and the criminal, I say this: you know who I am and, likewise, I know who you are. I know because we have worked in evil together. Even as I have disavowed that evil and dedicated my life to fighting it, I invite you to repent and join me in my crusade. Guatemala and its people deserve better. Immediately cease all criminal activity, repent, and be spared.

"To the cartels outside Guatemala, I know you will send people to kill me. Let them come. You will find their bodies on the steps of the Palace of Justice. Each time, I will release evidence of their origin, their crimes, the names and crimes of their masters to the press and law enforcement of your local countries. Perhaps they are corrupt, and you do not fear them. That is between you and the people of your country. If you send a second attempt after the first fails, Miss Flores and I will come find you, wherever you hide, and render justice.

"President Arroyo, you ran for office on a promise to fight corruption. The people chose you because they believed you. I believe you, too. Yet, you have had two years and accomplished almost nothing. I know, people entrenched in the government have fought your efforts. That is no excuse. Guatemala does not need excuses. I will do what you have failed to do. Do not oppose me as the corrupt have opposed your efforts. To anyone who thinks to punish the people in retribution, know that we will come for you first and we will not be gentle with those who prey upon the innocent. To the honest and the innocent, do not seek out criminals to punish them, they are like cornered animals and can be dangerous. Let them instead face me. My fangs are bigger than theirs, my claws sharper.

"This action begins today. Every field of coca, marijuana, and opium poppies in Guatemala will be destroyed before nightfall. Every day we will take further strong steps to end organized crime in Guatemala. As we make progress in this endeavor, Miss Flores will also begin remaking Guatemala. She will build roads and increase accessibility to remote villages. She will transport and deliver food and medical services to poor villages and to the poor or disabled in larger towns. She will build and repair infrastructure. Guatemala will have clean water, sewage systems, electricity that does not fail in the heat of the day. She will help build businesses that provide good work and good pay for anyone who wants it.

"This is not an election year promise that disappears after you vote. We will start this today. Day by day and step by step, we will work together with you to make the ancestors proud of what we have become.

"Tell your friends who may not have seen this what I have said. Tell them help is on the way. Maria Isabel Flores and I, Rafael Camal de Leon, will be as the Hero Twins of the old legends working to rid our lands of the evil lords."

In the President’s meeting room some men paled and sat in silence. A few others flushed red with anger and began blustering for military action to find this criminal. Still others sat silently and took note of the way others reacted. The President was in the third group.

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