The screen went black and Brooks stared at the men around him. They were right. Something about all of this was not sitting well with him.
“What now?” asked Ham.
“I think we have to speak to the cartels,” said Rush.
“Are you fucking nuts?” asked Gator. “Do you understand that we have intercepted millions, possibly billions of dollars in business from them? They are not going to open the door and invite us in for tea.”
“No. But they might be interested to know we want Bora as badly as they do,” said Brooks.
“Brother, they want Bora to help them. They think they’re all on the same team,” said Rush.
“They think that, but we know it’s not true and we have to prove it to them. We set up a meeting. In the open. At the border.” Everyone stared at Brooks wondering if he’d truly gone mad. Mitchell stood, gripping his brother’s shoulder in solidarity and nodded at the other men.
Ham looked at Jak and Gator, the other two senior leaders present. He nodded to them.
“Get everyone into the auditorium. Everyone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Do you understand that you’re dealing with some of the most ruthless cartels in the world?” said Miguel. “I’ve been away a long time but I still hear things and these men are different from those I dealt with.”
“We understand, Miguel but we may not have a choice but to face them,” said Ham.
“You will be making a deal with the devil if you do this,” he said shaking his head. “I do not advise it.”
“Then what? What do we do? Ignore all of this. Let Bora become the leader of Bolivia, a country by your own admission that contains some of the most dangerous cartels in the world? Do we just bomb the entire place, level it?” asked Gator.
The men in the audience stared at him, listening intently. They’d all been in or near Bolivia. They all knew exactly what he was talking about. And they all knew that this decision was not one to be taken lightly. It would involve a huge team heading down there if they were going to confront Bora or take on the cartels.
“Ham, son, we don’t have the answers to all this,” said Nine. “Miguel understands their world better than anyone. Although, in truth, he’s been away from it for nearly fifty years now. The players have changed.”
“But the game hasn’t,” said Rush. “Look, we’re not sure where all the pieces fit but there’s something more happening here. Those men that chased the four of us through the jungle were nearly as good as we are. If they’d had our technology, they would have caught us.
“This is not some random ex-American service member who threw a bunch of guerillas together to lead a coup. These dudes were well-trained, well-organized, and most were American.”
“That’s fucking scary,” said Angel. “What about Rita Ruvienne? Did she appear to be truthful?”
“With us? Yes,” said Tobias. “But I did get the sense that maybe she was hiding something. She didn’t want our help, not right then, right there, but she asked for help keeping the cartels controlled. But someone in that cantina knew who we were or knew who she was. We tried calling the number she gave us but it just goes to a random voicemail.”
“AJ and Tanner are working on that now,” said Gator nodding at Tobias. “Listen, we asked you all here because if we go down there, it could quite literally become World War III. We might be stepping into a hornet’s nest. We could send someone to take out Bora but that might leave our sniper vulnerable and it may not take care of the problem at all.
“We asked all of you here to help with some direction. We’re in new territory here and we value your opinions. Bora cannot go unpunished and remain alive. We want the cartels stopped, but let’s face it, they won’t stop. We could kill them all and still be chasing them down over the next fifty years.”
“He’s right,” said Brooks. “And how do we know that Ruvienne will be a better president than her husband? What do we know about her?”
“Almost nothing,” said Priscilla. “It’s one of the many things making the White House very nervous.”
“So what’s the solution?” asked Gator.
“We could use our hologram technology to help us,” said Thomas. “It’s worked many times and it reduces the risks of loss.”
“It’s a great idea and we may use it at some point,” said Jak with a fierce expression. “The three major cartels we’re dealing with are the Marquez family, the Los Malvados, and Ángeles de la Misericordia.”
“Los Malvados, the evil ones, they are the ones to really worry about,” said Miguel. “They’ve been around for decades, continuously run by one family. They’re mostly just involved in drugs, occasionally trafficking women. The one thing they don’t tolerate is the trafficking of children.”
“Great. A drug lord with a conscience,” said Ham sarcastically.
“Don’t knock it,” said Miguel. “He doesn’t deserve a medal but at least you know he’s not sending children to predators. It’s also something you might be able to use. If Marquez and the Ángeles are trafficking kids, you may get him to turn on them.”
