King of All I Survey
Chapter 63: A New Battle Plan

Chapter 63: A New Battle Plan

My smile at the thought of using my power to save lives faded when I looked back at the situation map. I was resolved to the fact that not everyone could be redeemed and even if they could, logistically we couldn’t just grab thousands of armed people off a battlefield and put them in psychotherapy. They chose their fates, and I wasn’t happy about it, but I had to accept it. My real problem was that good people would die trying to stop them. The Guatemalan forces at the border would face huge casualties, they were outnumbered and even outgunned. Reports said the Chiapas crew had artillery, RPGs, drones with explosives, and fifty caliber automatics. At least the fifty calibers were out of action since we disabled the pick-up trucks in which they had been mounted.

I made a spur of the moment decision. "Joe, I can’t let innocent people get killed. Patch me through to President Arroyo directly, change my voice to make me sound like a grown-up."

The look Dad gave me showed his surprise, "What are you doing, Tim? We have a plan in place."

"I’m taking responsibility as Supreme Ruler of the Entire Earth Solar System and Nearby Space," I declared. "I’m not going to let people die, if I can save them."

Joe cut in, "The call will go through in five seconds."

I looked at the viewscreen and enlarged the view of President Arroyo’s operations room. His phone rang. He exchanged a glance with his secretary who answered. "This is the President Arroyo’s Office, who is calling please?"

"I am an ally calling to offer you aid against the Chiapas incursion. I need to speak to you privately, President Arroyo. I would ask you to clear the room. Your secretary can stay, if you prefer, but what I have to tell you must remain in absolute confidence."

President Arroyo looked at the others in the room in turn. Some shook their heads urging him to deny this request. Others shrugged. After a moment of silence, he reached a decision. "OK, I’ll clear the room," he said. "If you would all be so kind as to step outside and give me some time. Take two Honor Guard with you, leave the rest outside the door."

With only a little grumbling the room emptied. The President and his secretary remained.

"Good." I said, "I want to reiterate that what I say must remain confidential except as others are required to carry out part of it under your direction. I’m calling you directly now, because I need you to know that you are not dealing with a lifelong criminal. I am the one controlling Rafael Camal de Leon. Maria Isabel Flores is one of my people. Rafael is completely under my control, doing exactly as he’s told. He is a convenient figurehead. Right now, however, I need you to listen. You know the Chiapas gangs are going to over-run the border to restore their paths through Guatemala. They are many, and they are well-armed. They will likely succeed in defeating your forces. Even if they don’t, your casualties will be heavy. I can’t allow your men, good men, to be killed."

"Go on..." Arroyo urged.

"You have seen that we can deal with armed assassins trying to sneak in through the forests. I can do the same thing on a larger scale. However, I need my capabilities to remain secret. I do not want the world at large to know what weapons I have developed. I would like to use them to save your forces from being killed, but I need your cooperation."

"I’m listening..." Arroyo said when I paused.

"I need you to pull all of your forces back from the border and evacuate civilians for a half mile into Guatemala. I will only attack the enemy once they are inside the country. After they attack, I will call you to send in your forces to collect the bodies and dispose of them. There will be many. Tell your men that you had armed drones provided by an allied country who desires to remain secret. That’s all they need to know. Remind them their lives were spared by the use of these new weapons and they are honor-bound to keep the secret. I know it will leak out, but I want it kept at the level of unsubstantiated rumors."

"I will completely destroy the Chiapas forces as they enter Guatemala. I will let them cross the border and get some distance in to prevent them from running back across when the shooting starts. And to make it hard for any who remain in Mexico to see exactly what is happening. Get rid of the bodies, bury them quickly so no one can examine them."

"If you’re lying and I pull my troops back, I’m just giving them free passage to come in and destroy the country." Arroyo replied.

"Yes, but your troops will still be alive and they can still fight from their pulled back positions. If I’m telling the truth and you don’t cooperate, you’ll have to live with the fact that you could have saved all those who will die in the fighting."

"I could leave them on the front, and you could use your weapons to aid them."

"I could, but I won’t. I told you my terms. The decision is yours."

"Why are you doing this? Are you CIA?" Arroyo asked.

"I am not CIA or with any nation’s intelligence services. I am trying to make the world a better place by crushing the cartels and the drug traffickers once and for all. I want the people to live in peace and prosperity, nothing more. I chose Guatemala because it is in a pivotal location. I need a decision, President Arroyo. It’s going to take time to get the people out of the way."

His hands were clasped together on the table in front of him. He seemed to be staring at them as he considered. Then, his face cleared as he seemed to reach his decision. He looked up at his secretary. "OK. I’ll pull my forces back and evacuate civilians for a half mile from the Chiapas border. I can’t guarantee we’ll get everybody out. How much time do I have?"

I smiled, though he couldn’t see it. "Fortunately, they’ve had some mechanical trouble with their vehicles - all of their vehicles. They’ll be walking. We estimate you have a little more than three hours before they start arriving at the border. The bulk of them will come from the southwest, through San Marcos and Huehuetenango. There will also be groups in the north east of Rio Saliman in Peten. We will meet them on all fronts. None will get past us. I do remind you that there is still one hit squad unaccounted for, I need you to keep watching for them. Their goal is to cause chaos and destruction in Guatemala."

Dad was watching and listening beside me, wide-eyed. "We can talk more after this is done, for now, time is short. Good-bye, Mr. President." I mentally instructed Joe to disconnect the call. The line went dead.

President Arroyo stared at it for a few seconds in silence. Then he looked at his secretary. "Get the others back in here, quickly." His secretary jumped up and hurried to the door. Two Presidential Honor Guards stepped into the room first and took positions to either side of the door. Within two minutes the others were all back and seated around the table.

Standing at the head of the table, Arroyo filled them in. "We are going to be receiving substantial air support from an ally who prefers to remain nameless at this time. We need to get our people out of the way immediately. I want all troops to pull back to distance of one half mile from the Mexican border. All of them! Evacuate civilians as they pull back. I don’t want anyone caught up in the aerial attacks. We have no more than three hours to get out of the area. Get things moving now!" He knew they would all assume it was the United States, even he wasn’t entirely convinced that it wasn’t. If they assumed that, it would be easier to explain.

The room took on the air of a disturbed beehive as the generals and police commissioners took out their cell phones and began issuing orders. Minutes later, those orders started reaching the border positions and the Guatemalan forces, with a clear sense of relief, started preparing to pull back.

Observers from across the border watched and reported on their movements. Their forces were already on the way and could not be hurried. Somewhere in Mexico it was decided not to delay, but to take advantage of the pullback to establish footholds inside the Guatemalan border and to consolidate positions there before pushing deeper into the country.

Meanwhile, our invisible drones were positioned and waiting. Dad and I moved into the Control Room from the Status Room. We could have controlled everything through Joe from where we were, but it just felt like we had more involvement if we had direct access. We’d be foolish to take control, of course, we couldn’t match Joe’s massive processing power and ability to react in less than milliseconds. He could easily monitor every part of the battlefield and control every drone without taxing his abilities. Our slow human reactions would only get in the way.