Edge of Battle

demand that your government cooperate with the FBI and the Navy Judge Advocate General’s investigation. You will also—”

“Mr. Conrad, Mexico has its own investigation to conduct,” Diaz retorted. “As I recall, no Mexican investigators were allowed on U.S. soil to look into the deaths of Mexican citizens at the hands of your military at Rampart One for several days, until your so-called investigators had a chance to sanitize the crime scenes so no useful evidence could be collected by our Border Affairs investigators…”

“Are you accusing the United States of destroying evidence in a criminal investigation?”

“I am telling you, Mr. Conrad, that Mexico does not, nor probably ever will, know the true reason for the deaths of our citizens at the hands of the robot working on behalf of Operation Rampart, and that is because of the unreasonable and illegal demands you placed on us,” Diaz responded bitterly. “We were not allowed to investigate or question witnesses for almost three days after the incident occurred. Now you expect Mexico to not only allow your FBI and Navy to accompany our investigators, but you demand that they take over our investigation, dismissing all Mexican law enforcement agencies like some third-rate circus-clown act? I think not!”

“Minister Diaz, I certainly did not—”

“Mr. Conrad, the Foreign Ministry here has requested permission from your Department of State to allow me free diplomatic travel within the United States, specifically to address the United Nations Security Council to air my country’s grievances concerning your arming of the border, illegal detainment of Mexican citizens, and acts of violence against Mexican citizens,” Diaz said. “I have not received the courtesy of a reply, which I find very disturbing. Is it your intention to deny me entrance into your country and full diplomatic privileges?”

“Of course not—not at this time,” the President replied. “Mexico is not on our list of sponsors of terrorism— although if the situation worsens or if we receive additional information concerning your government’s involvement in terrorist acts in the United States, that could change.”

“That sounds like a threat, Conrad,” Diaz said. “Are you threatening me, Mr. Conrad? Are you trying to bully me into actions contrary to my government’s policies and laws?”

“I’m stating facts, Minister Diaz,” the President said. “I will confer with the Secretary of State and inquire on your application, and I see no reason at this time for there to be any undue delays. But the United States does not allow heads of governments that sponsor terrorism to enter the United States.”

“I hope you are prepared for substantial international condemnation if you refuse to allow me to address the United Nations in New York,” Diaz said angrily. “I hope your surprising lack of judgment and consideration is caused by grief and confusion over the recent violence, Mr. Conrad, and not by some new confrontational and racist policy toward the United Mexican States. Think carefully before you act on these hateful impulses or faulty paranoid advice from your neoconservative, warmongering advisers.”

“I will take your advice under careful advisement, Minister,” President Conrad said. “In the meantime, I have a possible solution for all those Mexican citizens who might wish to return to the United States.”

“Oh?”

“We have developed an identification technology that is simple, unobtrusive, accurate, and reliable,” the President said. “Within a matter of weeks it can be ready for mass implementation. It will provide thousands of citizens with an identification code that can be used by immigration and law enforcement personnel to determine any person’s identity.”

“We already have identification cards, Mr. Conrad.”

“This is not a card—it is a pill that a person swallows. The pill…”

“Did you say, a pill?”

“…releases thousands of tiny nanotransceivers in the body that transmit a coded signal when interrogated. The coded signal can be matched with official identification documents to—”

“Are you suggesting that our people swallow a radio beacon that reports their location to authorities twenty-four hours a day?” Diaz asked incredulously. “This is the most insane and intrusive idea that I have ever heard!”

“It sounds radical, I know,” the President said, “but the devices are completely harmless—”

“You are crazy, Mr. Conrad! I could never recommend that the citizens of my country ever participate in such an outlandish—!”

“Minister Diaz, I am proposing that each Mexican citizen who wishes to return to the United States may be allowed to simply walk back into this country and return to his or her job and home simply by providing a Mexican identity card and swallowing a NIS pill—”

“‘Nice?’ That is what you call this…this Big Brother eavesdropping monstrosity?”

“The presence of the identification code proves that the individual has chosen to obey the law and respect our borders and security obligations,” the President said. “The NIS system will reduce the time it will take to identify individuals eligible for guest worker status: anyone with the code can stay and participate in a guest worker program; anyone not having such a code will be detained. It is a fair, unobtrusive, and easy solution…”

“This is no solution at all—it is a gross marginalization of a human being’s basic right to freedom and privacy!” Felix Diaz retorted. “Do you actually expect that this so-called ‘Nice’ program will replace serious and equitable negotiations between our nations for a resolution to this crisis, or do you expect to just dictate that this otherworldly, Draconian abomination be implemented?” He did not give President Conrad a chance to respond. “You may call me when you have a serious solution to discuss, sir. Good day to you.” And the connection was terminated with a loud Crraack!

The President returned the handset to its cradle and sat back in his chair, looking out the window. “Well, the NIS idea went over like a lead balloon,” he said morosely. “But as I was explaining it to Diaz, it started to sound better and better to me.”

“It will never fly, sir,” Chief of Staff Thomas Kinsly said. “It’s a crazy idea anyway—I would be surprised if anyone in Mexico was even the least bit interested in the idea. But what about Diaz, sir? Did it sound like he’s in charge now?”

“Absolutely,” the President said. “Felix Diaz definitely sounds like he’s taken over—he hardly mentioned Maravilloso and anyone else in the government, as if they never even existed. Jeez, I thought Maravilloso was a bomb thrower—Diaz has got her beat ten ways to Sunday.” He turned to Kinsly and asked, “What do we know about Diaz, Tom?”

“Felix Diaz is a major player—very wealthy, very popular, very politically connected, hawkish, an obvious front-runner for president in their next elections,” Kinsly said. “The rumors are that he and Maravilloso have been carrying on with each other for a few months—right in the presidential palace too, I hear.

“The Internal Affairs Ministry is one of the most important and far-reaching in the Mexican government, and Felix Diaz is a hands-on, knowledgeable administrator,” Kinsly went on. “He controls the intelligence apparatus, the border patrols, the antidrug bureaus, the federal police, and all domestic investigations—almost everything except foreign affairs, the courts, and the military, and he probably has a big hand in those as well. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is almost as well-equipped as the military, especially along the border.”

“I need information on the situation out there,” the President demanded. “I need to find out if Diaz has staged a coup and what we’re up against.”

“We don’t have a functioning embassy in Mexico City that can help us go find out information for us, sir,” National Security Adviser Ray Jefferson said, “so we’re going to have to rely on technical and human intelligence to get information, which will take time. But if these attacks by Mexican emigres are being supported or even organized by Felix Diaz, and he’s now in charge of the government, we could be looking at a long, protracted, and deadly ongoing insurgency against the United States—perhaps even a guerrilla war.”

The President’s head shot up as if a gun had been fired in the Oval Office, but the Chief of Staff was the first to retort: “Sergeant Major, as usual, you’re overreacting to recent developments. What could his motive possibly be?”

“Exactly what’s happening, Mr. Kinsly: chaos, pandemonium, hatred, distrust, confusion, fear, and violence,” Jefferson said. “An insurgency forces the issue of immigration reform—more accurately, immigration liberalization—onto the front burner.”

“How? What’s he hoping to gain?”

“Do you think, Mr. Kinsly, that Congress is likely to enact any legislation that will curb immigration now, with thousands of Mexican workers leaving the country every