The War of the Americas - Chapter VII

Author's preface: The earlier parts of the story can be found at the links. Chapter I, II, III, IV, V, VI

Sylvia sat quietly in the very back row of the heavily armored prisoner transport bus with her head down and her hands ziptied behind her back. Four Mexican soldiers armed with FX-05 Xiuhcoatl rifles patrolled the aisle of the bus which currently was home to Sylvia and at least fifty other American POWs. All had been recently arrested after they were declared enemy combatants following the United States bombing of several targets along the US Mexican border including the city of Tijuana and the (formerly) busiest land border crossing in the world at San Ysidro. That crossing had been reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble by US cruise missiles launched from just offshore, killing hundreds, including at least 150 US customs and border patrol agents who had not been prewarned about the surprise attack. Sylvia was well acquainted with firearms and had great respect for the FX-05 assault rifle which was designed and built by the Dirección General de Industria Militar del Ejército (General Directorate of Military Industry of the Army) through the Fabricas Militares (Military Factory). The name translated roughly as "Fire Serpent", or literally "Turquoise-Serpent" in classical Nahuatl, a language with which Sylvia was only passingly familiar, unlike the six other languages she spoke fluently which included Latin, Ancient Greek, and Middle Egyptian along with Spanish, English, Italian, and German. The fact that she was fluent in Spanish or any other language was something she kept secret from the Mexicans and everyone else. The more they saw her as just another ignorant American the better. Her knowledge of Spanish had allowed her to learn a few things the guards had spoken amongst themselves thinking no one would understand. Importantly, she had heard that the war against Mexico was not at all popular in the United States. Donald Trump had gravely miscalculated the appetite of the average American for bloodshed, especially when it was American's blood that was being shed. The families of the CBP agents killed in the bombing of San Ysidro border crossing had rallied a huge number of Americans to their sides in protest and marched on Washington en masse. Thousands or even tens of thousands of Americans had been arrested and imprisoned in makeshift prison camps scattered around the Washington DC area. She and the other prisoners had been constantly on the move for almost a week. Changing from bus to bus as they slowly made there way to wherever it was they were going. She had learned that they were still in the Mexican border state of Baja, California and were heading to a newly erected prison camp somewhere just south of Mexicali. She had feared they would be flown to the mainland and imprisoned there, but at least for now that did not seem to be the plan. Sylvia was very afraid of what she might find when they finally did reach their destination. She had only been interrogated perfunctorily when initially arrested, a fact she was puzzled by, but knew a much more serious interrogation lay in wait for her. She had been rehearsing her cover story and was prepared for anything they might throw at her. The fact that she had been rehearsing and preparing a similar cover story to use with her own husband had she not decided to tell him about her new job with the CIA made the process much easier. The CIA had also helped her considerably in this regard by making sure she had rock solid alibis in place for each and every place she would claim to have been, and every thing she would claim to have done and been doing over the past almost two years of living in Mexico and working in the United States.

In addition to its use as a standard issue Mexican army weapon the FX-05 was heavily favored by the cartels that controlled large swaths (some would argue all) of Mexico. Sylvia's thoughts turned to the cartels. One of the main reasons American's felt so safe in many parts of Mexico, where Mexican citizens did not, was the de facto protection offered by the cartels in some states. New Jalisco cartel, which controlled much of the territory near the border with the United States understood as well as anyone that an angry United States was very bad for business. Members of New Jalisco were mostly ex-Mexican military and police and they took a very pragmatic view to power with a strong desire to maintain law and order. They also sought to improve the overall economic status of the average Mexican and the country of Mexico as a whole. It was just much easier to move drugs and guns when times were peaceful then when conditions were chaotic. Also, wealthier people had more money to spend on drugs and guns. Dom once told Sylvia that he viewed New Jalisco a bit like the Mafia in the United States. Ruthless killers, but also essentially businessmen. Anything that was bad for business was highly discouraged and this included targeting of Americans. Things that were good for business, like peace in the streets and infrastructure to keep the people generally happy and the economy improving, were encouraged. Sylvia agreed with his assessment, and so did her employers at the CIA. In great contrast, the Sinoloa cartel were more like East LA street gangs. Basically thugs who were in the business as much for the excitement and thrills as the money. They encouraged violence and chaos and had no qualms about targeting anyone for any reason or no reason at all. This included Americans and any other foreigners in the country. In fact they were known to have a special dislike of all foreigners and parts of the country they controlled were dangerous for the average Mexican and very dangerous for foreigners to visit or live. The war between New Jalisco and Sinioloa cartel raged on seemingly without end, but it was fought mostly underground, and mostly out of site of the average Mexican, and definitely out of site of the average foreigner or American expat.

Now that Mexico and the United States were at war any protective orders in place from the cartels would be suspended. She was much more fearful of the consequences of that than of any Mexican military response. In fact, at the moment, she felt lucky to be in the relative safety of an armored bus with full Mexican military escort then anywhere else in the country. She hoped and prayed that the Americans and other foreigners remaining in the country would be as lucky. Sadly she she suspected there would be many deaths of Americans at the hands of angry cartel enforcers, and the Mexican military and police would not be at all motivated to stop them and might even encourage or participate in the killings. And she may not be as safe as it would appear. In Mexico the lines between the police the military and the cartels were always blurry, and any one of the four soldiers on the bus or the twenty or so others making up the prisoner escort could be a high level cartel enforcer or low level new recruit. However, she took some comfort in the fact that if the cartel had wanted these prisoners dead, they would have been dead long before they made it this far.