It was October 28th, 2003 at 04:00. Dillon was sipping that horrid sludge he called coffee, though he'd long since lost any sense of what it tasted or smelled like, while maps streamed across the new displays in the War Room.
He waited for everyone to arrive before starting into the briefing.
"Okay ... we're about an hour out from our biggest operation since Kansas City. Some of you might be familiar with most of this already, but we're going to step through it one more time to get everyone on the same page."
He tapped the button and a power-point presentation began. Satellite photos from a US Military Satellite of Chihuahua, Mexico with red circles indicating a few clusters of buildings on the north side of the city.
"See this area? From about ... De Las Industrias to ... Cristóbal Colón, Mexico Federal Highway 45 ... just south of the industrial parks. Someone dropped an anonymous tip on US authorities ... which through channels I don't even begin to understand got dropped off on us." He clicked the remote again, and the presentation segued to closer up photos of buildings from street level: one- and two-story residences, crammed together, in less than ideal repair.
"These little residential buildings look pretty unassuming, but our tip says that beneath this entire square mile there's a reinforced steel and concrete complex."
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He clicked to the next picture.
"It's a huge maze of tunnels. Best guess from our analysts is that they've been ditching the displaced dirt in the industrial parks just to the north. We're not sure if the complex is finished, still under construction, or what, but if the information is good than we're looking at the largest drug and armaments warehouse of Los Zetas. They're the biggest guns in Mexico now, and they're on the Colombian payroll."
"It bears mentioning that these guys are ... sort of our creation. Back in the late nineties, before the team split and when most of us were just recruits, these guys were a private army for the Gulf Cartel, former Mexican Special Forces. Then Pax and the original T2M took a month to clean up the drug trade. One of the casualties of that little campaign was Arturo Guzmán Decena, Los Zetas first commanding officer. Rogelio González Pizaña, Arturo's second-in-command, picked up the pieces. And as we've been crushing their competition, Pizaña and his shadowy backers have been absorbing a lot of the leftovers, moving from private army to a cartel in their own right."
"So," he clicked to the next image of the neighborhood they'd be working in.
"Our intent here is to break their backs. As of right now, we believe this intelligence is exclusive, which ideally means that we have the element of surprise. We're going to enter, detain any and all Los Zetas we find, and do our damnedest to preserve the scene so there's enough evidence to prosecute every last drug dealer that's in bed with them. Maybe even the Colombians."
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He flipped ahead another slide.
"Our contact for this operation is General Roman Zuniga of the Mexican Army ... el Ejército Méxicano. Sorry, still trying to practice my Spanish. He's independent of the usual chain of command, and his troops have the latest equipment -- new rifles, Humvees, grenades, even helicopters and demolitions gear. They've been preparing for this for almost a year now and have special orders from the President and the Minister of Defense giving General Zuniga total authority on the ground. We'll be bringing a few of our own along, but having seven battalions of highly trained backup makes me feel a little better about this whole show."
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After scrolling through a few images of Zuniga's Regiment, Dillon put the remote down.
"Once on the ground, it will be our job to find an entrance to and descend into those tunnels, provide Zuniga's Regiment with support, and take on any Novas working for the Zetas. We've also got a barrage of suppressor drugs and authorization from Utopia to go ahead and detain any resisting novas. Because of the secrecy of this whole thing, the Mexican legal system doesn't have a clue what we're doing. In fact, since there's international drug trafficking and murder involved, by executive order anyone captured in this operation will be tried in an international court. Utopia lawyers will do the prosecuting ... to be honest, this is pretty shaky ground, makes me a little uncomfortable, but we've got the president behind us on this. And we don't want to risk all the good evidence getting drenched in acid and acetone."
"Now, what are we looking for ... our people have been watching all the major airports in Mexico, and we haven't seen anything coming in or out. That means that the drugs are moving by truck or in some way we can't see. Priority is anything to help us understand how the cartels are moving all these drugs. After that, we're here to disarm Los Zetas: we're looking for arms, ammunition, currency, computers, and drugs. There's even a chance of finding valuable documents. Each and every one of you has a new headset with a digital camera attached. Snap photos of everything you find, and our backup staff will log your location and send the appropriate professionals to handle cleanup and evidence collection when the situation is under control."
"Second, there's an element of danger to all this. Most of the Zetas used to be commandos or military, and they are estimated to number six thousand or so. We don't expect to find them all in one spot, but if there's a few hundred with assault rifles, missiles or worse it could get hairy out there. They've also been recruiting nova support in preparation for taking us on. Dr. Zero, you might remember Simón Espericueta," Dillon picked up the remote and clicked through a few slides,
"that maniac that keeps sending you death threats, convinced you arrested his wife and killed his sister back in July? Guess who he's running with now."
"Last, but not least, I have a few suspicions this is just another bait and switch, an excuse to let us do the US Government's dirty work or worse. So ... everyone be careful. Be doubly mindful of collateral damage. If the situation escalates or starts moving out of control, T2M: Central is on standby, and that just worries me more. Pax will probably cause in international incident, wreck whole neighborhoods, and then smile for the camera to make it all better. So ... we've got just ourselves to count on."
"Okay ... before I start going through the roster of VIPs and possible nova opposition, we are joined, once again, by the illustrious Impetus, whose job it will be to sell this entire operation to the locals, and the beautiful Jennifer Landers, a.k.a. Slider, as seen on the cover of Newsweek and N!Sight with Parker Stevenson. I want to hear a good send-off for her; her formal papers were filed and approved this morning, so she'll soon be an auxiliary like Impetus here, free to knock a few back at the Archon without fear of missing something important in the morning." Dillon paused for applause.
"Finally, Dr. Saul Jansen and his medical team are here with us to provide emergency medical care and help contain the situation if something goes wrong and toxic chemicals get everywhere." Dr. Jensen nodded appreciatively upon being introduced, but otherwise neglected to comment.
"Questions?" Dillon had a few slides left with the enemy roster, but that was about it for the briefing.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:06, Fri 30 Aug 2013.
