The Last Line by Anthony Shaffer Page A

Procario, but failing. The rental was an inconspicuous silver-gray Ford Focus. If it was back there, it was lost among some hundreds of other vehicles packed into the narrow street.
    He wanted to believe that the CISEN officer was right, that the drug cartels had brought the nuclear weapons to Mexico with the intent of extorting compliance from the Mexican government. The fact that the Zapoteca was involved—again, assuming the weapons were on board her—suggested one or more of the cartels were involved. The cartels would have the money, the ready cash, to purchase a couple of tactical nukes on the open market. Finally, the mere possibility that the former archrivals Sinaloa and Los Zetas were actually working together suggested that something very big was afoot.
    It made a convincing argument.
    He still didn’t buy it. If it was not a coincidence that Sinaloa was cooperating with Los Zetas, neither could it be a coincidence that Hezbollah activity was increasing in the region, or that a known VEVAK agent was operating in Mexico. Suppose they were involved in the smuggling of two tactical nukes into Mexico or Belize? If that were the case, the situation could be quite different … and a lot more serious for the United States. Either Hezbollah or their Iranian backers might be planning on using the drug cartels and their smuggling networks to get those weapons across the border into the United States.
    The same was true if al Qaeda was behind the operation, but Teller still doubted that they were the masterminds here. While not out of the running yet by any means, al Qaeda had been savaged by U.S. intelligence and military operations to the point that they were now just barely hanging on. They might be planning a nuclear strike out of sheer desperation, but it was a lot more likely they were all still lying low in the wake of Abbottabad, waiting for the next predator drone strike, the next SEAL team assault.
    They needed information—solid intel. Until they had it, they were groping in the dark.
    Perhaps this Juan Escalante would be able to shed some light on things.

    LOS ANGELES CITY HALL
    NORTH SPRING STREET
    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
    1020 HOURS, PDT
    â€œâ€¦ and we go live now to reporter Catherine Herridge, on the scene.”
    Guided by the voice of the studio anchor in her ear, the reporter looked at the lens and began speaking with earnest sincerity into her microphone.
    â€œYes, Peter. LAPD sources say they still have no clue to the identity of two men who fired automatic rifles from the roof of a building into the crowd gathered outside city hall yesterday afternoon, killing four and wounding seventeen. Two men were taken into custody, but according to one source, both men carried LAPD badges and identification.”
    On the small monitor set up in front of and below her cameraman, the scene shifted from her face to a tape shot from a news helicopter the afternoon before. Two men could be seen leaning over the wall of a skyscraper, firing indiscriminately into the crowd twenty stories below. Abruptly, a number of uniformed police officers broke out onto the roof. Both gunmen immediately dropped their weapons over the building’s side and turned to face the officers, hands in the air.
    â€œOfficials so far have refused to make any statement about the two, as to whether they were active-duty police officers, as has been claimed, or even whether they are still in custody.”
    The scene shifted once again to a close-up of an angry crowd, close-packed behind a yellow police-barrier tape. One Hispanic man was waving a crudely scrawled cardboard sign reading POLICE BRUTALITY!
    â€œWhile the crowd outside of city hall yesterday dispersed as soon as the shots were fired, other crowds have been gathering at points across East Los Angeles since then to protest what they call police brutality, or excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators. Congressman Harvey Gonzales, of the