The Last Line by Anthony Shaffer

cartels may have those nukes for extortion.” de la Cruz said. “At CISEN, we have been looking at one particular extortion scenario with considerable interest. The cartels have been coming under a great deal of pressure lately, from the government, from our military. This is why they have grown so dangerous, so desperate, these past few years. I can imagine them planting a couple of small nuclear devices here in Mexico City and threatening to detonate them if the government does not legalize their operations.”
    â€œWhat, make manufacturing and shipping drugs legal?”
    â€œExactly. Or, at the least, they might tell us to turn our heads, to ignore their activities at every level. It would be like holding a loaded pistol to our heads.”
    Teller weighed the possibilities. It did make sense. The different Mexican cartels had been at each other’s throats since the beginning, trying to dominate the lucrative drug pipelines north, but they’d also been engaged in all-out war with both the Mexican government and various agencies in the United States, the DEA and the FBI in particular. For a long time, they’d been able to buy or bribe officials in the Mexican government, police forces, and army, but that had become a lot tougher since 2006, when Mexican president Felipe Calderón had launched the first of his country’s military assaults on the drug lords. If the cartels could get the government off their backs, they would have a lot more freedom and resources to pursue their war on one another.
    If the cartels were feeling the pinch, they might resort to extortion on a new and unheard-of scale.
    â€œIt’s possible,” Teller agreed, “but that still doesn’t feel right to me. I still think it more likely that if al Qaeda got hold of a couple of nukes, they’d use them on us, not sell them to a third party.”
    â€œSo,” Chavez said, “where would you suggest we start, Miguel? It doesn’t have to be someone as big as El Chapo.”
    De la Cruz gave a deep shrug. “The cabrónes are everywhere here. You just gotta look.”
    â€œWhich cartel is calling the shots in Mexico City?” Teller asked.
    De la Cruz gave a harsh snort. “Which one isn’t? Sinaloa, La Resistencia, Knights Templars, LFM … they’re all pretty active here.”
    â€œLFM?”
    â€œLa Familia Michoacana. Used to be part of the Sinaloan Federation, until they got greedy. We think they’re extinct now, but you never can be sure.”
    â€œOkay. What about Los Zetas?”
    â€œThem, too, though they’re more east coast, in the Gulf Cartel’s old territory. All of the cartels maintain at least some presence here, y’know?”
    â€œWell, if you’re going to buy a few dozen federales or judges or generals, this is the happening place, right?” Chavez joked.
    â€œThere’s one guy,” de la Cruz said, thoughtful. “Juan Escalante Romero. He’s Sinaloa, but the word on the street is he’s been playing with Los Zetas, too. He’s ex-GAFE. Trained at Fort Benning. And he’s tough, mean. ”
    â€œSo where would we find him?” Chavez asked.
    â€œDifferent places. He’s all over, really. But there’s a Los Zetas safe house we know of, in Iztacalco. He often goes there when he’s in town.”
    â€œSounds like we have ourselves an opportunity for a stakeout,” Teller said. “What fun.” He despised stakeouts—hours and hours of unrelenting boredom for the minute chance of a payoff.
    â€œI’ll drive you by there, if you like. Give you a chance to look the place over, and maybe we can find a good spot for an OP”—an observation post.
    â€œSounds good.”
    De la Cruz turned off onto a side street, continuing to make slow but steady progress through the noisy, teeming tangle of the congested inner city. Teller glanced back, trying to spot