King of All I Survey
Chapter 61: Expanding the Theater

Chapter 61: Expanding the Theater

"The result of this, is that the cartels of Colombia and Mexico want me dead. They have sent hitmen to come to Guatemala and kill me. They have also sent them to kill Maria Isabel Flores and even President Arroyo. These are the men who have sent killers to overthrow the government of Guatemala and to kill Guatemalan citizens." As he spoke these words, pictures of the cartel leaders’ faces showed on the screen with their names.

"This is an act of war. I call upon the governments of Colombia and Mexico to arrest these men immediately. If these governments refuse, then I can only assume that they are puppets of these criminals. I give them 24 hours to make the arrests. I After that time, I will act in self-defense to protect myself and my country. I am right now sending the exact present location of each of these men to the President of Mexico and the President of Colombia along with video evidence of crimes sufficient for their lawful arrest. If they try to run, I will send updated locations every hour. There can be no excuses. Once they are arrested, I expect the governments to continue efforts to eradicate the drug trade from within their borders. I recognize that it is not an easy task, not one that can be done overnight, but I want to see real steps toward that end. If they are not capable of this task, I will step in.

"Here in Guatemala, I have asked President Arroyo to conduct a special election within two years, in that election, I will run for the office of President of Guatemala. By that time, you will see what I can do, what I have done for the people of Guatemala. You will have the evidence that my words are not empty promises like those of President Arroyo when he promised to get rid of corruption in his government. He honestly wanted to, but he was too weak, so I have done it for him. None of his current efforts would have happened without the intervention of Miss Flores and myself. I leave the choice to the people of Guatemala, you may keep him or choose me.

At this moment, we are intercepting the drug-traffickers who try to cross our borders to restore their old networks." Pictures of armed men stalking through the forest appeared on the screen. Then, the sound of gunshots and each one fell dead. Of course, Joe had added the gunshot sound to the drone videos, to make it seem like conventional weapons were being used.

"We are also alerting the military to other cartel members as they try to sneak in so they can be intercepted as well. To their credit, they are following through and stopping every one that we identify. A large group is getting ready to try to overrun the border from Chiapas. Rest assured, we will stop them together with our military forces.

"Yet, there is one hit squad that has gone into hiding and evaded capture. For now, this one group still poses a threat inside Guatemala. We have heard their orders directly from Diego Montoya of the cartel La Gente Urbana. He has charged them with destroying infrastructure and causing panic in the cities, with killing honest government officials, and with killing Miss Flores and myself. I ask everyone to stay off the streets, to make it easier to spot anyone trying to harm our country or our people. Stay home for two days while we hunt for them. If you see suspicious activity, call the police immediately."

Rafael looked directly into the camera, a hard look in his eye, "Diego Montoya, you have one hour to recall them. If you do not, I will come and get you. I know where you are."

The picture of Rafael faded out and a view of a dark-haired man watching Rafael’s broadcast appeared. The man saw his own image and looked around suddenly panicked yelling for his men. "Find that camera!" Then he looked back at the screen trying to figure out the angle, he turned and looked at the camera. Pulled out his gun and fired. A body crumpled to the ground. We had positioned the camera just over the head of one of his trusted men. Diego had assumed the man had the camera hidden on him and killed him out of hand. Yet the image remained. It showed him looking back at the screen, seeing the view unchanged and the panic on his own face. Then it faded out and the image of Rafael reappeared.

"One hour, Diego," he said. "To other nations of the world who think they have an interest in this region, I ask you to stay out of this business. The people of Guatemala will handle our own affairs. We do not want outsiders interfering in our politics or military decisions. We have seen the results of that in past years. Once we are finished with our housekeeping, we can discuss our relations going forward. We remain ready to deal honestly and in good faith with those who can make the same commitment in return."

"I will provide daily updates to keep you informed of our progress. We are nearing the end of the darkness. The new dawn will bring us an age of peace and prosperity."

---

In the status room, I watched as the President and his people watched Rafael’s video. When it ended, President Arroyo was the first to speak, "OK, you want a special election? How about 30 days from now? Let the chaos of this moment be fresh in people’s minds. Why should I give you two years to prepare?" The others stared at him.

"You’re going to give him what he wants?" The Chief of the General Staff asked angrily.

"No, I’m going to take away what he wants." The President replied. He stood up, "Issue a statement reiterating the advice for people to stay off the streets, especially in the cities. Broadcast a hotline number they can call to report any suspicious activity, especially any thing around power plants, broadcast stations, government buildings, airports and other likely targets. Make sure we’ve got patrols ready to intercept any vehicles near priority targets." Then, he paused and looked around the room, "I want all of you to stay here and continue to coordinate our efforts. Sofia, you’re in charge, let me know if there are any new developments."

"Yes, Mr. President," Vice President Sofia Goncalves replied.

President Arroyo stood and walked out of the room. The Honor Guards looked at each other trying to decide whether to stay in the room, or follow the President. By unspoken agreement one followed him, joined by another from the pair outside the door.

---

At Maribel’s house, Rafael sat back from the table after delivering his speech. "Do you have any of that Peruvian Pisco in the house? I could use a drink."

Maribel shook her head, "Not now," she said curtly. She moved over to her laptop and began studying the screen. She was getting updates from Joe as events happened around the region. "I need to see how the cartels and governments are reacting."

---

It took 30 minutes for the government of Colombia to issue a statement. They advised other governments and individual actors to respect their territorial integrity and sovereignty. They were, they said, quite capable of dealing with things inside their own borders. They claimed that they had received no evidence justifying the mass arrests requested by the known drug-trafficker Rafael Camal de Leon. If they did receive such evidence, they would review it and act accordingly.

I listened to their statement as recounted by a government spokesman on a Colombian television station. "Well, I guess we know whose side they’re on," I said to Joe and Dad.

"As expected," Joe replied. "They are likely to move toward providing scapegoats as we turn up the pressure and each faction looks to use the turmoil to their own advantage."

"The more they turn on each other, the less we’ll have to do," Dad added.

We continued to monitor the tactical display screen, watching as the massing forces in Chiapas prepared for their assault on the border. "I don’t see how the military can stop them," I stated. "Even if they do, they’ll lose a lot of people. I want to step in and prevent losses on our side. Joe, can you start by disabling every vehicle in the attacking force?"

"Acknowledged," Joe replied.

"I think we’re going to have to tip our hand and show some of our technology on a broad scale. I can’t justify the loss of life if we can prevent it. We’ll come up with some story about private development of advanced laser technologies. Joe, can you start laying the back history of a company that could be working on that?"

"Yes, I’ll start editing business filings and financial records." Joe replied. "I’ll put in some vague patent applications that seem plausible, but obfuscate enough to prevent any real information from being used."

"Good, make it quick, once the action in Chiapas starts, lots of people are going to come looking for information. Make it airtight," I instructed.

"Acknowledged."

I sighed, the conquest of the world was about to reach a whole new level. We’d be involving multiple countries, and pretty soon people would start suspecting something really strange was going on. Something that couldn’t be explained by ordinary assumptions.

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