Free Web NovelBefore the meeting began, I called El Mencho aside separately.
“How much of the Sinaloa Cartel have you absorbed?”
“We’ve cleaned up most of it. After the leadership died, we killed everyone who still had enough influence to become a problem later. I judged it would cause trouble if we left them alive.”
As expected, it was satisfying work.
Showing half-baked mercy and sparing people was never a good choice.
To begin with, the reason I wanted El Mencho was precisely because of that cruel and ruthless side of him.
“However... there’s still one person alive, isn’t there?”
El Mencho carefully asked while watching my reaction.
I silently looked at him.
“That person could become a variable.”
Curling up the corner of my mouth, I asked:
“Are you afraid?”
“No. I’m not afraid. He’s already been branded a traitor anyway. Still, I don’t think it’s good to leave behind variables.”
“So what’s your conclusion?”
“Please give me permission to kill him.”
Kill El Azul?
Killing him itself wasn’t difficult. But there was no telling how far the aftermath would spread.
“And you can handle the backlash?”
“Wouldn’t we manage somehow? Rather than worrying while leaving future troubles behind, I think it’s better to get rid of them first and think afterward.”
El Mencho’s eyes flashed viciously.
That was the kind of bastard he originally was, so it wasn’t particularly surprising.
He was the kind of man who killed people live on broadcast just because they talked shit about him.
Still, El Azul couldn’t be killed.
“No. Leave El Azul alone.”
“Understood.”
At a single word from me, El Mencho lowered his head without complaint.
I quite liked how immediately obedient he was.
“You give up faster than I expected.”
“You’re scarier than a nobody like El Azul. I have no intention of making Taesan my enemy just to remove one obstacle.”
“I’m scary?”
“To be honest, yes. After seeing you crush El Chapo that easily, I gave up any thought of opposing you.”
It seemed the leash was tighter than I’d thought.
Seeing El Mencho act like a dog exposing its belly to its master was deeply satisfying.
“I like that.”
A hunting dog that couldn’t be controlled deserved to be boiled and eaten once it outlived its usefulness.
But a dog this afraid of me wouldn’t cause problems even if I left it alive.
“Then let’s get to the main point. Mencho, the reason I called you first is because I’m giving you half of the Sinaloa Cartel’s territory.”
It was a promise I’d already made to El Mencho.
I had assigned him the role of taking over the Sinaloa Cartel in order to give him legitimacy.
“Still, I can’t hand over all the good territories. You know that, right?”
“Yes. I know. The border regions have already been designated [N O V E L I G H T] so the committee can divide them.”
The Sinaloa Cartel had occupied a vast area northward centered around Sinaloa State.
Before Gallardo of the Guadalajara Cartel was arrested, the territory El Chapo received had only been Sinaloa State and one small region bordering the United States.
But the moment Gallardo was arrested, El Chapo attacked the Juárez Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel and seized their territories.
As a result, the Sinaloa Cartel’s territory stretched across Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua.
“Hm... Still, you’ll need at least one border hub city, right?”
“Yes. Without that, we can’t do anything.” frёewebηovel.cѳm
After examining the map on the table, I pointed at one city.
“Take all of Sinaloa State and Nogales in Sonora State.”
“You’re telling me to take Nogales?”
El Mencho opened his eyes wide and asked back. Even his surprised face looked vicious.
“That should be enough, right?”
“More than enough.”
Nogales was the third-largest city in Sonora State, which bordered Arizona in the United States.
Though he had stood at the forefront, the reward seemed beyond what he expected, because El Mencho’s voice brightened noticeably.
“I really never expected Nogales.”
“A reward should at least be this much. Have you confirmed all the tunnel locations El Chapo dug?”
“Yes. We’ve confirmed all of them.”
One of El Chapo’s nicknames was the Tunnel King.
El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel built dozens of tunnels to cross the border.
They bought dozens of farms in the United States, built structures there, and connected entrances directly to Mexico.
Thanks to that, they could easily transport huge amounts of drugs into America.
And now those tunnels belonged to the committee.
“Mark all of them on the map.”
“Yes. Should I mark the ones around Nogales too?”
“No. Leave that area out.”
“Understood.”
While El Mencho marked the tunnel locations on the map, I told Manager Ma to bring Amado and Ramos.
A short while later, Amado and Ramos entered together with Manager Ma.
As Amado entered the room and spotted El Mencho, he hesitated.
“Come over here.”
I seated Amado and Ramos on one side.
“I called you because there are things we need to settle before the meeting begins.”
The moment he sat down, Amado pointed at El Mencho, who was busily marking the map.
“Why is Nemesio here?”
Hearing his name, El Mencho stopped moving and stared directly at Amado.
“Finish what you were doing.”
“Yes.”
At my command, El Mencho lowered his head again and resumed marking the map.
“We need El Mencho’s explanation in order to divide the Sinaloa Cartel’s territory.”
“...So you want to decide everything in advance.”
“That’s right. Instead of wasting time in the meeting, let’s settle things neatly here.”
Amado had already promised me that I would oversee distribution of the Sinaloa Cartel’s territory.
“How do you plan to divide it?”
“For now, I’m thinking of handing half of it to El Mencho’s Jalisco Cartel.”
“What?”
Amado’s eyes widened.
Ramos, who had already heard about this from me beforehand, showed no reaction.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“If you hand half the territory to one person, there’ll be huge backlash. If things start like this, how can anyone trust the committee?”
Ignoring Amado as his voice rose, I asked El Mencho:
“Mencho, when will you finish?”
“I’m done.”
The timing was perfect.
Pointing at the seat opposite Amado, I ordered El Mencho:
“Sit.”
At my instruction, El Mencho sat down.
Seeing him faithfully obey my orders gave Amado a strange expression.
I tapped the map marked with underground tunnels.
“Do you know what this is?”
The map of Mexico spread across the table showed the territories of the cartels.
Since the committee was formed, there had been changes in territory. Smaller cartels had expressed interest in joining, while some cartels had gone under larger ones.
“Right now, the Juárez Cartel controls the largest territory. Next is the Gulf Cartel. Lastly, the Tijuana Cartel.”
I wrote the cartel names one by one across the map.
I also wrote the names of the committee-affiliated cartels over their territories.
Finally, I wrote El Mencho’s organization name over the smallest territory.
“How do you see this map?”
“......”
At one point, the Juárez Cartel had possessed more territory than the Sinaloa Cartel.
But after losing the war against Sinaloa, its territory had shrunk enormously.
And now it held the largest territory once again.
It hadn’t fought wars or shed blood to seize that land directly.
When Amado rose to the position of committee leader, smaller organizations brought their territories and entered under him.
“The Juárez Cartel controls the largest territory, doesn’t it?”
“What does that have to do with anything? I have nothing to do with the Juárez Cartel.”
“No, that’s not true. I’ll return your own words from earlier. If things start like this, how can anyone trust the committee? Amado, you’ll say you have nothing to do with the Juárez Cartel. But who would believe that? The Gulf Cartel? The Tijuana Cartel? Or the other committee members?”
Amado’s face stiffened.
Nobody would believe him.
And once that happened, his authority would suffer a fatal blow.
“You should be satisfied already. Your territory’s bigger than before. Let’s distribute the rest to the smaller organizations. El Mencho shed the most blood dismantling the Sinaloa Cartel, so it’s only right he gets more. I want El Mencho’s cartel to take the vacant seat among the Four Major Cartels left behind by the disappearance of the Sinaloa Cartel.”
Amado slightly frowned, clearly displeased by my final words.
But I continued without caring.
“You know the reason too, Amado. I need at least one cartel in there that won’t question my orders. To be honest, I believe the other three major cartels could betray me at any time.”
“Isn’t that why you’re creating the execution squad?”
“The execution squad is a last resort. And they aren’t suited for war. They’ll remain a small force acting as internal coordinators within the committee.”
Ramos continued my explanation and spoke about the execution squad.
“The execution squad will consist of around one hundred men. And...”
I planned to build the execution squad with former mercenaries in a small-scale structure.
Bigger wasn’t always better.
After finishing all the explanations, Ramos closed his mouth.
“You understand now, right? The execution squad will exist primarily for assassinations. Nobody in the committee should know their location or faces. Do you understand why I’m trying to raise El Mencho?”
“The others won’t understand.”
“Making them understand is your job, Amado. Think about why I chose to work with you.”
If he was going to do nothing, it would’ve been easier to install a puppet instead of Amado.
“And I’m not saying I’ll hand all the good territory to El Mencho.”
I circled all of Sinaloa and then finally circled the area around Nogales.
“He’s only taking Nogales among the U.S. border regions. The rest is just Sinaloa State. Look at it. There’s still more territory left, isn’t there? Why did the drug cartels start wars in the first place? Didn’t they shed all that blood to secure border strongholds? If we distribute the border regions, nobody will have major complaints.”
“Is this really enough?”
“Of course.”
I turned toward El Mencho.
“Right, El Mencho?”
“Yes. I’ll gratefully accept it.”
The moment El Mencho finished speaking, Amado immediately responded.
“With this much, I think I can explain it to everyone.”
“Good. Then we’ll finish this issue here. I’ll be leaving Mexico in a few days. And unless something major happens, I’ll never return to Mexico again.”
“You’re not coming back to Mexico?”
“That’s right. As long as the committee doesn’t break its promises with me, I’ll never return. However...”
I deliberately trailed off while staring directly at Amado.
“If something happens, then every cartel boss belonging to the committee will probably find it difficult to stay alive.”
I had already demonstrated my capabilities by wiping out the Sinaloa Cartel.
Amado knew that better than anyone, and I could see him swallowing dryly.
“If I can’t use power in the light, then I can fight as much as I want in the shadows. Assassination is Black Bear’s specialty. No matter where you hide, we’ll find and kill you. We can replace leadership whenever we want.”
“......”
“Amado, I intend to trust you once. Don’t betray me. As long as you don’t betray me, neither the American nor Mexican governments will chase you. Isn’t that the reason you faked your death and kept living? Don’t forget that feeling.”
After finishing the warning, I lightened the atmosphere and resumed the discussion.
We concluded things by agreeing to reduce the amount of drugs entering the United States while redirecting the surplus toward Europe and Asia.
“I won’t be attending today’s meeting.”
“Since it’s the last one, wouldn’t it still be better if you attended, Charlie?”
“Do you think it’s good for me to keep showing my face?”
When I asked bluntly, Amado couldn’t answer immediately.
“In the end, my existence won’t help you at all, Amado. So from now on, handle things yourselves. Just keep the promises I told you about. And if I ever need to deliver my intentions, Ramos will speak on my behalf.”
“Yes. We’ll do that.”
“The others are waiting. You should go.”
After sending them back to the conference room, I stood up.
“Let’s head back to Mexico City.”
“Yes, Boss.”
I left the city before the meeting started.
But I had no choice except delay my return home for a few more days.
A message had arrived from the prison where Rafa was being held.
