Target Deck - 02 Read Online Free PDF Page A

America.
    “Here we are in Central America,” Deckard said glancing at Frank. “For those us you who are just joining us.”
    Cody worked at his laptop, zooming in on where Southern Mexico met with Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula.
    “Our new base of operations is centrally located in the state of Oaxaca courtesy of Ortega,” Deckard stated, while Cody pinpointed their location the map with a red dot. “To the north is Veracruz, to the west is Guerrero, south is the Pacific Ocean, and to the south east is Chiapas. Continuing east from there is Guatemala.
    All hands were on deck, sitting in chairs confiscated from Ortega's mansion or standing towards the back. Squad Leaders, Platoon Sergeants, and other key leadership were getting a full brief now that they were all in country.
    “Central America for the most part is both mountainous and covered in jungle, which is why there has never been an invasion north-south or south-north throughout history aside from perhaps the Panama invasion in 1989 which was able to make use of US air power. The climate is generally temperate but varies from dry plateaus and deserts, to rain forests and mountains.
    “The terrain here in Oaxaca varies from lightly vegetated rolling hills, like this,” a slide showed a panorama of the country side that looked like the backdrop for a Sergio Leone movie. “To dense forest transitioning into jungle in la sierra norte located to our north east.
    “While Central America is traditionally divided up into personal fiefdoms for dictators, the rich, and military officers, Mexico in this case suffered under nearly seventy years of single party rule from the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI. The PRI acted as an oligarchic type of institutional dictatorship. This power sharing structure among the elite was finally crushed in the year 2000 when the rival PAN party member was elected president. Today, the old politics of Mexico are somewhat irrelevant as the Mexican government controls little if anything outside Mexico City.
    “While the Mexican military is fragmented and corrupt, their best infantry brigades remain under the command of the central government and have proven somewhat effective in combating the drug lords. The more effective units seem to be the Marines and the FES, Mexico's maritime commando unit.
    “Those of you who served in Sankar and other Kazakh Special Forces units are already familiar with the mechanics of drug production and trafficking from dealing with this issue in your own country but here is a down and dirty on the local situation.”
    The majority of the mercenaries in Samruk International were veterans from Kazakhstan. As Russian speakers, Sergeant Major Korgan was translating for his men who didn't speak English.
    Deckard continued his brief, giving the team a brief overview of the history of drug smuggling and drug trafficking organizations in Mexico before narrowing in on the recent activities of the Ortega and Jimenez cartel. With the Mexican military pushing hard on the Zetas and other cartels in the north, cartel activity was being pushed further to the south where they were currently located in Oaxaca. The province had been something of an oasis in the middle of the drug wars until the crack down in the north forced the cartels to adapt and find new centers to move drugs through.
    The brief went on as Deckard laid out the information that he and his recon team had gathered over the last week. Little did he know, the enemy was also beginning to conduct an intelligence estimate of Samruk International.

8

    The moon hung high in the night sky, obnoxiously bright flood lights keeping the soccer field illuminated at all hours in case the boss wanted to play. Tonight he was kicking the ball back and forth with a member of his Praetorian Guard, the Personal Security Detachment that never left his side. They were his best, and more importantly, his most loyal.
    Following a winding road that traced its way to the