Edge of Battle

PALACIAO NACIONAL, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO

THAT SAME TIME

“Where in hell is Diaz?” United Mexican States President Carmen Maravilloso shouted. “I called for him almost an hour ago!”

“He is on his way, Madam President,” her assistant said. “He phoned and said his helicopter was damaged, so he must travel by car. He may not be here for another thirty minutes at best.”

“?Hideputa!” Maravilloso swore. “The President of the United States is going to call me any minute now, and the only explanation I have is this sorry-assed fairy tale! I want to talk with Diaz on a secure line, and I want it now!”

“Madam President, this is an absolute outrage,” Minister of Defense Alberto Rojas said hotly. “I never authorized those jets to fly near the border! Never! We have very specific rules about military flights near the border, and they all require…”

“I heard you the first time, General, I heard you,” Maravilloso said. “I am going to get to the bottom of this. Pedro!” At that moment her assistant walked in. “Get Diaz in here in the next two minutes or I’ll…!”

“The President of the United States is calling, Madam,” her assistant said.

Maravilloso stopped, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Get Diaz in here…”

“He will be here within minutes, Madam President,” Pedro said, and quickly retreated.

Maravilloso took another deep breath, resignedly shook her head, and picked up the phone. “This is the president. Go ahead.”

“Madame President, this is Samuel Conrad.”

“Yes, Mr. President, thank you for the call,” she said. “I send my sincerest condolences to you and your citizens for this tragedy.”

“Can you tell me what happened, Madam President?”

“A tragic but completely innocent error.” She made a quick report of what she had been told about the incident. “Our investigation is under way, but I can assure you, this will be scrupulously examined. I deeply and sincerely apologize for the tragic loss of life, but it was nothing more than an unfortunate accident. The military received a request for support from the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Attorney General, stating that rival drug gangs from Mexicali, who had been involved in several murders, kidnappings, and bank robberies, were attempting to flee justice. Military jets and helicopters were immediately dispatched to assist local police and Internal Affairs investigators…”

“Jets? Do you regularly dispatch armed jet fighters to chase down drug smugglers?”

“We had heard that the gang members had heavy military weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, which as you know they did indeed have such weapons. We decided to take no chances—better to bring too much firepower than not enough. They found the gang members in a very short period of time. The criminals fired what appeared to be a shoulder-fired missile, so our aircraft returned fire in self-defense…”

“So are you trying to say that your jets fired a missile and it strayed off course and accidentally hit the helicopter?”

“I am telling you what has happened, Mr. Conrad—I have no explanations yet,” Maravilloso said. “I am told that the attacks on the criminals were initiated over Mexican territory, not American airspace. It was only after the attack commenced that they realized they had overflown U.S. airspace, and they immediately withdrew without firing any more shots.”

“Why didn’t you notify any U.S. agencies that you were flying military aircraft in the vicinity of the border?” the President asked. “The danger of high-speed jets flying so close to civilian and military airfields without prior notification is obvious…”

“Our pilots never had authorization to fly into U.S, airspace, sir—it was a mistake, one for which they will be punished, following our own military investigation,” Maravilloso said. “The commanders on the scene did not believe any danger existed. Obviously they did not anticipate the accidental overflight and what might happen if innocent American aircraft were in the same area. Unfortunately the worst happened…”

“A courtesy call still would have been appropriate.”

“Oh? I do not recall getting a ‘courtesy call’ when you set up Rampart One, or when you moved National Guard troops to the border, sir,” Maravilloso said. “Courtesy works both ways, Mr. Conrad, does it not?”

“The difference is, Madam President, that our forces were merely guarding our own borders and did not run the danger of crossing Mexico’s border…”

“Oh, really? I think the danger was very clear.”

“…and there is no duty to inform you of actions we take that affect only our territory,” Conrad said. “If you thought the gang members might try to cross the border, on the other hand, a call to American state and federal law enforcement agencies, for proper notification or assistance, would have been desirable and appropriate.”

“Do not lecture me on what is ‘appropriate,’ Mr. Conrad, after what the United States has done over the past few days!” Maravilloso snapped. “You are certainly in no such position!”

“Madam President, we have information that one of our Cybernetic Infantry Devices—the man-piloted robot —and the commander of Task Force TALON, Jason Richter, were taken at the same time,” the President said. “Obviously the danger in having one of those robots in the hands of a terrorist mastermind like Yegor Zakharov is clear. We request…”

“Zakharov? Yegor Zakharov?” Maravilloso looked in shock at the others in her office. “I know nothing of Zakharov being involved in this! This is…this is not possible…!”

“Madam President, there’s no time to waste,” the President said. “We request immediate assistance from the Mexican government and military to recover Major Richter and the CID unit, and to help bring the terrorists involved to justice.”

Minister of Internal Affairs Felix Diaz entered the president’s office and stood before her desk, his hands calmly folded in front of him, smiling slightly—a smile which completely enraged her. She took a deep breath, paused, then went on: “I agree, our commanders should have foreseen this and made the proper notifications. At this time, Mr. President, I can offer nothing more than my sincerest apologies and my offer to do whatever I must to discover the truth.”

“In light of our recent terrorist attacks and the continued threat posed to military and civil locations, the United States requests that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Navy Judge Advocate General take the lead in this investigation,” President Conrad said. “We are ready to provide the best forensic and investigative tools available to assist your investigators.”

“Very well, Mr. President,” Maravilloso said after a slight pause. She looked at the faces of her advisers in the office with her. “Mexico stands ready to receive your investigation teams, and we will cooperate to the fullest extent possible. Again, sir, I deeply apologize for this terrible incident.”

She hung up the phone, then pulled a cigar from a humidor on her desk but tossed it back impatiently—she wasn’t going to waste a good cigar now. “All right,” she said finally to the advisers with her in her office after rubbing her eyes and temples wearily, “someone explain to me what in hell really happened this morning!”

“It was as I already reported, Madam President,” Alberto Rojas said. “I received an urgent request from Minister Diaz to help locate and interdict a group of warring drug gang members who were driving eastbound on Federal Highway 2 from Mexicali. He said they had sophisticated military weapons with them and requested counterinsurgency aircraft, including jet fighters.”

“Jet fighters—against drug smugglers, Minister Diaz?”

“I admit I may have reacted instinctively, as a former Air Force officer, Madam President,” Minister of Internal Affairs Felix Diaz said, “but I felt time was of the essence, and I believed a strong show of force might take the fight out of the gangsters. The helicopters might have been sufficient, and certainly should have avoided overflying U.S. territory, but I made a judgment call. It turns out the jets were needed—the gangsters did indeed have antiaircraft weapons and were lying in wait for whoever might pursue them.”