Chapter Twenty-six: A Dish Best Served Cold

Santa Corazon International Harbor
Ignacio, Santa Corazon, Costa Luna
10 November 2013
0020 hours local time

The Santiago and National Trans-Oceanic Shipping Corporation cargo ship Jorge Calabasas docked into Pier 34 of the Santa Corazon International Harbor, helped along by two tugs from the Santa Corazon Port Authority. The ship's manifest described the majority of its cargo as "Chemicals, Fertilizer, Ammonium Nitrate" packed in 205 shipping containers. After the crew's passports had been stamped and the customs fees paid, the captain of the Jorge Calabasas handed over a black briefcase containing hundreds of thousands of US dollars in sequential bills to the Bureau of Customs inspector who had boarded the ship, and the inspector got off the ship just about a few minutes later and pronounced that the Jorge Calabasas was not carrying any sort of contraband onboard. It was also the signal for both the Customs and Port Authority people to get the hell away from Pier 34 as the Halcon Syndicate would take care of the rest.

The simple truth of the matter was that the Jorge Calabasas was not carrying 205 shipping containers full of ammonium nitrate. In fact, only ten of the almost three hundred containers onboard the ship were actually loaded with the infamous rocket fuel fertilizer compound. The majority of the rest of its cargo actually consisted of various weapons, arms and ammunition that were originally supposed to be delivered to Magnus Kane and his Army of Socialist Revolution. The Ultranationalists had been using the SNTOSC, which was wholly owned by shell companies held by members of the Halcon Syndicate, to move weapons and ammunition to Costa Luna to assist Kane and his army, but after Kane's "hostile takeover" of the Halcon Syndicate's nightclubs and other businesses in the country, the Syndicate's leadership had unilaterally decided to cut all ties with the Army of Socialist Revolution. And tonight, instead of delivering the weapons to the ASR as agreed upon with Kane and the Ultranationalists, the guns and ammo onboard the Jorge Calabasas would instead be given to every member of the Halcon Syndicate in Costa Luna, every member of the Syndicate who had lost property and money to Juan Marcos Domingo Estrada. Those weapons and ammo would now be turned against their original recipients, and the man chosen to lead the revenge of the Halcon Syndicate on Kane was none other than Panchito Gomez himself.

The Army of Socialist Revolution was expecting the delivery of one hundred containers of weapons and ammo from the Ultranationalists onboard the Halcon Syndicate's ship. And that was exactly what the Halcon Syndicate left behind for the ASR to receive; one hundred shipping containers, nothing more and nothing less. The ASR soldiers who had been sent to receive the containers did not really notice that the truck drivers who had delivered the containers to their camps just outside Santa Corazon were unusually hurried, wanting to get out and away from the ASR's camps as soon as possible. When the soldiers did finally open the containers, they found out that they had been delivered nothing but empty shipping containers. Other containers were filled with useless junk (from the point of view of the ASR) like pre-owned cars and combine harvesters and such.

"What!?" Santiago San Antonio roared as he received this report from the commander of the ASR camps outside Santa Corazon. "What in the world are you talking about? What do you mean by 'the containers are empty'?"

"That's exactly what I mean, General," the commander replied. "These containers from the Santiagans are empty! Some of the other containers only have cars and tractors, but no guns and especially no ammonium nitrate!"

"Goddamn this shit!" San Antonio shouted to himself. Then, to the camp commander, he ordered, "See if you can find any other use for those cars and tractors and shit. Maybe we can use them as bombs against the Loyalists and the UN peacekeepers. Do what you can!"

"Yes, General," the commander replied, and San Antonio smashed the telephone back into its cradle. It was perhaps a good thing that it was he who had received the call instead of Magnus Kane. Johnny already had enough problems on his plate without having to worry about the Santiagans potentially backstabbing them. This was a problem that he could handle himself well enough. No need to tell Johnny about all this. And if the Santiagans knew what was good for them, they wouldn't dare attack Kane while he was at his mother's hacienda. That was just the name of the game.

"Panchito!"

"Hermenegildo, hermano," Panchito Gomez said as he turned to face Hermenegildo Soriano, a trusted brigadier of the Halcon Syndicate who had been sent to Costa Luna to help the Syndicate get their revenge on Magnus Kane.

"I heard about poor old Pepe," Soriano said after he and Gomez had disengaged from the traditional Santiagan bear hug. "Is it true what they say, that Kane chopped Pepe up and stuffed the pieces into a fucking oil barrel?"

"Si, it's fucking true," Gomez replied with a curt and somber nod of his head. "Kane fucking showed me the fucking barrel himself."

"The fucking rat bastard," Soriano muttered under his breath. "So what do you want to do with this Estrellano fucker?"

"That is actually pretty simple, Gildo," Gomez said as he led Soriano to where the rest of the Syndicate's foot soldiers were gathering and collecting their weapons which were originally meant for Magnus Kane and his Army of Socialist Revolution. "Thanks to the men that San Martin sent here to add to our force, all we really need to do is bum-rush Kane's hacienda and kill every single one of them who's inside. Sure, the ASR could very well be able to kill off those of us who survive the initial assault, but it's all right. If we do it right, Magnus Kane will finally be dead, and that is what matters in the end."

"Panchito, can I tell you something?" Soriano asked the don in a low whisper.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I have to be honest with you, hermano, a lot of people back in San Martin think that this plan of yours is crazy," Soriano said to Gomez. "We all stand a big chance of getting killed in this operation, and that's before we even get to Magnus Kane. And for what? Revenge for Pepe Quenca? Payback for him taking over our operations in Costa Luna?"

"All that and more, hermano," Gomez replied. "Kane also threatened my family, the rat bastard! He threatened my family, Gildo! I just can't let that pass, Gildo! Nobody threatens the family of a don of the Halcon Syndicate and gets away with it, si?"

"Si, Panchito, I know," Soriano replied, nodding his head in resignation. "But this is just ridiculous! Even Menandro Halcon himself didn't send an army against Emmanuel Pelaez when our beloved president went after Halcon's family."

When Gomez didn't answer, Soriano said, "Look, hermano, if you want to go ahead with this batshit crazy plan to storm Magnus Kane's hacienda then be my guest. I just want to tell that I found out through a friend of a friend of a friend that the United Nations is planning a commando raid on Kane's hacienda sometime soon. The UN peacekeepers are already spreading themselves out from Santa Corazon to the rest of Costa Luna and soon, Kane's hacienda will be within striking distance of their forces. Our mutual friend in the UN also heard rumors of some sort of international special forces group that only reports directly to the Secretary-General and performs operations on his own discretion. What if we run into the UN people when we attack Kane?"

"That is exactly why we should already get a move on," Gomez said. "So that we can kill Kane before they do."

"If only it were that simple, hermano," Hermenegildo Soriano muttered before he walked away from Panchito Gomez and the latter's plans for revenge against Magnus Kane and the Army of Socialist Revolution.