King of All I Survey
Chapter 56: Cry ’Havoc!’ and Let Slip the Dogs of War

Chapter 56: Cry ’Havoc!’ and Let Slip the Dogs of War

"A small plane coming into Guatemalan airspace from Colombia was challenged by the Air Force and retreated back to Honduras. A team of the Colombian Cartel hitmen were on board. They are now planning to make their way into Guatemala on foot," Joe announced.

"Well," Dad commented, "Maybe the current government has finally got all their ducks in a row."

"No," Joe replied, "Two members of the Presidential Guard stationed in the Palace have been tasked with killing him tonight. The Minister of Defense will assume the presidency and declare military rule. When he excused himself from the President’s meeting to oversee the Quetzaltenango raid, he was instead plotting the coup."

Dad considered for a moment, "If he overthrows the legitimate government, it might make an easier path for us to install Rafael under the guise of restoring civilian rule..."

"We can’t let the President be killed if we can stop it, Dad."

He smiled, "You’re right. I’m just thinking out loud. Maybe Rafael should call him and warn him?"

"That sounds like a better idea," I agreed. Joe, can you send that to Luis. "Have Rafael give him the names of the two Palace Guards and the Minister’s planned coup. Do you have a recording of the conversation you can forward?"

"Yes, I can put a file on Maribel’s computer. They can play it for the President during the phone call. I’ll patch Maribel’s radio to the telephone network, it will be untraceable."

"See anything wrong with that?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," Dad replied.

"If the President is too successful in this campaign, he might usurp the hero role we have planned for Rafael," Joe answered, "This won’t tip the scale that much, but we should consider that in future plans. Tomorrow’s continuation of the plan should firmly establish Rafael’s early position."

"Ok, inform Luis and transfer the file. Just the audio for the President, we’ll save the video for us." I ordered.

"Acknowledged."

---

Luis was receiving a message through his earpiece moments later. Rafael, Miguel, Carlos and Maribel were drinking coffee and watching the continuing news coverage. Every television station had switched whatever their regular programming was for continuous news bulletins.

"Miss Flores, I’m told there is an update on your computer. It’s time for Rafael to make a phone call." Luis announced when Joe’s voice in his ear had finished.

Maribel went over and sat at the table where she had set up her laptop. She read for a few minutes then sent a file to the printer. "That’s your script, Rafael. You’re going to call the President and give him the names of the Presidential Honor Guards who plan to kill him tonight."

Rafael didn’t react as he processed this information, "What if I don’t warn him?"

Maribel’s face grew cold, "Then you might turn up as an unfortunate casualty in one of the government’s raids. Any more questions? No? Good. If you’d be so kind as to start memorizing the script..." She turned back to her computer.

Miguel watched him intently, to his knowledge, no one had ever spoken to Rafael like that and lived. The cartel chiefs, maybe, but even they were hundreds of miles away if they did. This Flores woman either did not know Rafael very well, or she thought she had him well-caged, he thought.

Rafael’s face went as cold as Maribel’s as she spoke. Luis, Carlos, and Manny were keenly watching both Rafael and Miguel, ready to stop them if they made any moves. As if aware of the tension, Rafael stood up slowly and very deliberately walked to the printer. He took the two sheets of paper and went back to the living room and sat down to read them.

"Interesting," Rafael murmured as he read. "Why are we protecting him, if I’m going to take his place?"

"We want people to forget you’re a murderer, remember?" Maribel answered, "They need to see you as a good guy, working with other good guys for the country, for the people." She looked up from her computer, "Speaking of your rehabilitation, your first therapy session is scheduled for this evening. Carlos and Manny will escort you to the office of Dr. Jose Torres in Guatemala City."

"It’s too dangerous for me in Guatemala City. We can do that after things settle down. If we’re still alive." Rafael stated.

Maribel closed the laptop and went back to the living room. She took her seat on the sofa next to Rafael again. She looked him in the eye, "I need you to do this, Rafi, for me and for yourself. It’s a good thing. You’d be surprised at how helpful therapy can be. Consider it a part of your parole conditions, not negotiable." She smiled.

Rafael scowled. "Fine." To Manny he said, "You can deliver me there without getting us noticed, delivery man?"

"Yes," Manny replied, a wicked grin on his face, "Even if you decide you don’t want to go."

Rafael raised an eyebrow, "Do you think so?"

Manny nodded confidently.

---

As we watched the events unfolding in Guatemala, I zoomed in on the view of one of the submarines that was pulled up to a pier in a remote part of the coast not far from the Chiapas border. Joe said it was his first target. Although it had already been unloaded, it was the vehicles themselves that would be the targets of this phase of our operation. Although our drones had shielding that rendered them invisible, Joe knew exactly where they were and for our convenience, put a visual overlay on our screens so we could see where they were. A medium sized drone was positioned over the water about 10 meters from the submarine. These submarines were crude compared to what most people think of as submarines. They were more semi-submersibles than true submarines. They didn’t really dive but were designed to ride just under the surface of the ocean, only a small turret poked through the surface to allow the driver to see. Inside they were uncomfortable, smoky, loud, and fairly dangerous. They were, however, very difficult to spot from a distance, either visually or with radar, unless you had aerial surveillance. From above the long, narrow shapes could be easily seen. When docked, additional ballast water was forced out making them more buoyant for loading and unloading from large, watertight compartments to the front and rear of the turret. This one was riding high after having been unloaded. Each could carry from 3-12 tons of cargo, depending upon the size of the vessel.

A spot of red light appeared near the back of the sub. It began to glow red, then vaporized, a small hole appearing, less than half a second later, the entire thing exploded like a pipe bomb a gout of flame bursting through the metal skin. A few panels were blown off and splashed into the water, the main structure, torn and mangled, tilted, its front end rising into the air as the back portion sank. Another hole appeared in the nose and the whistle of air escaping under pressure could be heard along with the gurgling of water rushing in from below and rising bubbles. Apparently, the rear had struck bottom before the front sank all the way as it levelled out somewhat as it continued sinking. Within 30 minutes, the entire thing was below the surface. Men rushed toward it after the explosion, yelling looking around for any attackers.

Had just one sub exploded, it might have been written off as an accident, but over the next hours. Sub after sub met the same fate. Three landing points on the Northwestern Coast of Guatemala were rendered unusable by the useless metal hulks blocking access. The water at the makeshift piers wasn’t deep enough for another sub to dock over the broken shell of those we sunk. We hit subs in the waters of Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. The powerful lasers of our drones easily penetrated the unarmored hulls and detonated the fuel tanks.

It was actually, a more complicated process to cause the diesel tanks to explode. It helped that the docked subs were riding high in the water, exposed to the tropical sun. This heated them internally. Joe augmented the heat with infra-red from the drones. It was necessary to get the internal temp over 150 degrees, a little below the flash point of diesel. Then, when the high-powered laser bored in, the diesel in the nearly empty tanks readily flashed over to vapor and exploded.

We could have just severed a driveshaft to incapacitate them, but we felt the explosions made more of a statement.

With Joe still monitoring communications throughout the entire region, we heard messages of anger and panic. People called their military contacts in Guatemala who assured them it wasn’t anything Guatemala’s armed forces were doing. CIA contacts, likewise, said the US wasn’t involved, though they would have said that regardless.

The only thing they could conclude was that Rafael Camal de Leon was using his Guatemalan operation to try to seize power from them. He must have gone mad and was making some kind of power play to take-over the country, or wrest power from the cartels, or some other crazy scheme. Whatever his purpose, he had crossed a line. Hit squads were not enough. Urged on by Colombia, Mexican gangs began mobilizing forces and gathering near the border. When they had sufficient men and weapons in place, they would cross into Guatemala and wage all out war on Guatemalan gangs, claiming this territory for themselves. Any government forces that got in the way would be crushed as well, those military and law enforcement officers and police on cartel payrolls agreed to have what forces they commanded far out of the way.

We had anticipated this of course, Joe was tracking their movements and keeping an updated estimate of when the major action would begin. While small groups were sliding over the border and would begin acting against local gangs almost immediately, the major push was still more than 24 hours away.

As the subs began exploding, Rafael and Miguel were each handed radios that Maribel retrieved from her endless supply closet. They were specially built for the two with shield generators built inside that were similar to those in the shield rings. The two men were told to keep the radios on them at all times, so they could be reached if things went sideways quickly.

Rafael would also be using his to call the President, patched through by Joe. It was time to make that call.

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