Drone

knows how many new addicts there are now.”

“And all free?” Myers asked.

“It’s the oldest trick in the book. Every dealer knows to give a free bump to a prospective client. They get a taste for it, then they get hooked,” Madrigal said. The DEA chief had been an effective undercover agent in her early years with the agency.

“The only difference is, the free bump has turned into a full ride. Two full weeks and still counting, from what our CIs are telling us. This little stunt that Castillo has pulled must have cost him tens of millions of dollars, not counting his loss of profits,” Jackson added.

“And once Castillo started handing out meth like Pez candies, the other dealers outside of the Castillo network had to do the same. You know, a price war. Only the price was zero. At that price point it’s all about getting new clients or keeping current ones. I hate the son of a bitch for doing it, but you have to admire the sheer genius of it,” Madrigal said.

Myers picked up the evidence bag again. Fingered its contents through the plastic. A campaign button from last year. She read it. MYERS. FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE. She turned to Jackson, grimacing. “Every bag?”

“The ones Castillo passed out. Probably knockoffs of the original. His message is as subtle as a heart attack,” Jackson said.

“Well, that’s what I get for trying to send my own message to a psychopath.” Myers tossed the bag back onto the table.

“He can’t give free meth away forever. He’ll eventually go bankrupt, or his network will turn against him. The only thing more addictive than meth is money,” Jackson said.

“I want options for shutting down Castillo’s whole network over here. Maybe all the other networks, too.”

Madrigal sighed. What did Myers think the law enforcement community had been trying to do for the last thirty years? “More agents in the field,” Madrigal offered. She already knew the answer.

“Tell Congress to cut some fat somewhere else and you can get them. But I wouldn’t hold your breath,” Myers said.

Jeffers laughed. “Good thing the vice president didn’t hear you say that.” Greyhill had been dispatched to a base-closing ceremony in Virginia yesterday.

“Finish the border fence. Now,” Early said.

“Again, Congress. No money, no will. They’ve been promising to finish it for years.”

“Why not just strengthen the Mexican military and police forces?” Jeffers asked. “Let them do the heavy lifting.”

Donovan took that one. “It’s a damn mess down there. Just recently, three Mexican army generals were arrested for drug trafficking, including the second in command at their Defense Ministry, and corrupt Federal Police murdered two of our CIA agents.” Donovan shook his head. “Back in ’97, the head of the INCD—their version of the DEA—was arrested for working with a couple of the cartels.”

“Are you suggesting that every Mexican official is corrupt?” Jeffers asked.

“Not at all. The problem is, you can never be sure which one is—or soon will be. And it’s not just Mexico. Back during the Clinton years, we tried to clean up the corruption in Guatemala. Over the years, they’ve had several generals and former intelligence chiefs arrested for drug trafficking. So somebody got the bright idea to build our own incorruptible version of a Guatemalan DEA—an outfit called DOAN. We spent millions on it. We handpicked the recruits, paid them good salaries, armed them, trained them—the whole nine yards. Wasn’t long before we caught those guys torturing and killing the competition in order to get a leg up on their own drug trafficking operations. That’s why we just shipped two hundred of our own U.S. Marines down to Guatemala to do the fighting. The bottom line is that when we arm and train anybody south of the border for antidrug operations, there’s a good chance they’ll eventually use that training against us. Unless you change the culture of corruption, the institutions will continue to become corrupted.”

Myers frowned. “As I recall, that was a line I used in my campaign against Washington politics.”

Donovan nodded back. “I know. I was there when you delivered it at the convention.”

“What if we just stay out of the mess altogether? Let the cartels keep fighting it out among themselves down there. Eventually they’ll bleed themselves to death, won’t they?” Early asked.

“Perhaps, but they may well bring down the entire Mexican government in the process,” Strasburg said. He’d been carefully listening to the whole conversation.

“How?” Early asked.

“The primary function of the state is to provide for common security. Cartel violence, once it escalates beyond a critical point, will cause individuals to abandon the state and resort to their own private means to find their own security. Anarchy will be the result.”

“Civil war and mass migration wouldn’t be far behind,” Donovan speculated.

“Our primary interest in Mexico is stability. The ongoing drug wars within Mexico are destroying any hope of maintaining that stability, and the United States cannot afford to share two thousand miles of border with a failed state. Beyond the fact that Mexico is a significant trading partner, a failed Mexico would become a haven for our worst enemies, much the same way as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen have harbored al-Qaeda.”

Strasburg took a sip of water. “At the risk of seeming too pedantic, I would remind those present of the history of the Peloponnesian War. Athens and Sparta were the two dominant powers in Greece, with all other lesser city-states allied with one or the other. This is analogous to the present-day situation in Mexico. The two most powerful cartels are the Castillo Syndicate and the Bravo Alliance. All of the lesser cartels have aligned themselves with one of these two organizations. Is that an accurate analysis, Mr. Jackson?”

Jackson nodded. “Quite accurate, and an appropriate analogy.”

“As I recall, the end result of the Peloponnesian War was utter economic devastation and the end to the Golden Age of Greece,” Myers added.

“That is correct,” Strasburg said. “And exactly the scenario we’re looking at if present trends continue.”

“Almost all of the violence associated with the drug war, particularly the slaughter in Mexico, but to a lesser extent, also in this country, is an attempt to gain monopolistic control of the drug trade, including manufacturing in Mexico and distribution in the U.S. Bribes and corruption are part of the same pattern,” Madrigal added.

“Then the best thing we can do is to pick sides, it seems to me,” Myers concluded. “Pick one side and end the war. At least that would stop the violence and bring some form of stability.”

The room went silent, processing the implications of that statement.

“Objections?”

“How would you accomplish that?” Donovan asked.

Myers and Early shared a look. They kept their secret weapon—Pearce—to themselves.

“Decapitate the Castillo cartel.” Myers spat it out like the answer to an algebra problem. No emotion. Just fact.

“That’s quite an escalation, if you don’t mind my saying,” Donovan said.

“It’s what we did to take out the al-Qaeda leadership. It’s even how we battled the Mafia in this country. If you take out the Castillo leadership, you don’t have a Castillo organization,” Myers countered.

“With the added bonus that the Bravos will know we took out Castillo, will know we put them in power, and will know that we can take them out, too, if they cross us,” Early said.

“Just for argument’s sake, under what authority would you carry this out?” Donovan asked.

“According to the Constitution, the presidency possesses sole and supreme authority to wage war against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Myers said.

“But Castillo is a criminal, not a terrorist,” Donovan countered.

“What’s the difference between a criminal and a terrorist? Legally?” Jeffers asked.

“All terrorists are criminals in the eyes of the law, but not all criminals are terrorists,” Lancet answered. “And criminals have rights that terrorists don’t.”

“So what is a terrorist?” Early asked.

“That’s another interesting question. International law has no set definition of terrorism, which makes