The Relic Runner Origin Story Box Set Ernest Dempsey (top 10 books of all time txt) 📖

businesses in Uruapan alone, but there were others with different towns or cities listed next to them. "What are these?" He pointed his finger at the monitor, indicating the anomalies.

"Expansion," she answered simply. "Mendoza is pushing all the way to the Pacific. He's also making a move toward Central Mexico and the Gulf. If I had to guess, he wants to set up a regional empire where he can go virtually unchallenged by anyone."

"With that kind of power, he'll be untouchable," Dak echoed her sentiment. "Neither government could get to him."

"Correct."

He leaned closer to the screen, studying it intently. His focus, however, was sucked away by the distracting scent of rose and lilac from Carina's perfume. She'd been working all day and still smelled like a meadow of blooming wildflowers.

He cracked the whip in his mind and got back to business, pulling his wandering eyes from their attempt to admire her.

"Can you show me a map of this area?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"Sure." She clicked a button, tapped several keys, and then hit enter.

A map of the region blinked on the monitor.

"Zoom out," he directed.

She pulled the wheel on the mouse and the image of the area narrowed as the camera view withdrew.

"That's good," he said. The entire nation of Mexico was in full view. A red pin indicated Uruapan on the map.

"He's not just trying to establish a long-term foothold in the region," Dak said, realization hitting him like the glove of a heavyweight boxer.

Carina twisted her head and looked up at him. Dak felt her gaze but didn't meet it with his own.

"Look at what's on either side of this," he said.

It was her turn to corral her impulses. She looked at the monitor once more. "Water," she answered. "Like I said, he wants to stretch from the Pacific to the Gulf."

"Yeah," Dak said, "but men like Mendoza have egos. They don't just look to set up a safe place where they can operate unimpeded. Do you think he's going to stop expanding once he reaches both seas?"

She studied the map for several breaths before she realized what Dak was saying. "You think he wants to go farther?"

Dak nodded. "I think Mendoza is looking to build a vast empire. He can't take on all the cartels in Mexico."

"No single organization is capable of that," Carina offered. "Even though they're at war with each other, there is a sort of unwritten understanding that no one group should get all the pie. They squabble over territory, but in the end, things usually come out the same. Some cartels have more than others, but all always have something. Unless, of course, they break the rules. When that happens, the organization is wiped off the face of the earth."

"Interesting sub-culture," he commented.

"So, what's your point?" Carina asked.

He liked the blunt way she went about her business. She was no nonsense. He appreciated that. In his life, he'd seen plenty of the other. It was refreshing to meet someone who operated more like him.

"My point," he said, "is when Mendoza secures territory on both shores he'll be able to export his goods to a wider customer base. All of South America will be open for business. Not to mention Canada and the Caribbean. From there, my guess is he'll establish bases on some of the islands. When that happens, the Eastern Hemisphere will be in reach."

Carina looked up at him again, this time with disbelief. "No cartel has ever tried to get that big," she said. "It's too broad for any of them. The logistics alone would consume them and spit them out."

"You know that. I know that. It's the classic cautionary tale from every major empire that's ever existed, from Babylon to Persia to Rome, all the way down to Great Britain. Sooner or later, your resources are stretched too thin. Even so, that lesson has been ignored more often than not, most recently by Adolf Hitler."

He let the words loom over her.

Carina considered what Dak was saying. Deep down, she knew he was right. She could see it now, though she wondered why she hadn't before. She'd spent so much time working on undermining the cartels; piecing together an understanding of how their systems and processes operated—maybe that was the problem. She'd been close to it for so long, she'd become blind to other possibilities, other schemes the cartels might use to expand their businesses to feed their hunger for more power, more money.

"You've been tracking Mendoza's expansion," Dak said, "how soon until he has businesses and property along the Pacific shore?"

"Could be weeks," Carina said. "He's closer to the Pacific than the Gulf, though I'd say within a month's time we could see him running some operations there as well."

Dak stood up straight and bobbed his head. "Okay, then. I guess I should get to it."

"Get to what?" She swirled around in her chair.

"Mendoza's rival is the Guerreros’ cartel, right?"

"Yes."

"I think it's time I make them a little business proposition."

Lines cut into her forehead as she frowned. "What?"

"You know where they're based. You can point me to them."

She laughed at the absurdity of his request. "Sure, but it's not like I can set up an appointment for you. If you try to go talk to the Guerreros, they'll murder you with the same thought they would give to swatting a fly."

He cocked his head to one side and shrugged. "You got to go sometime, right? This is the only play I can see that makes sense, Carina. Can you point me to them or not?"

She stared at him with both wonder and fear in her eyes. "This is crazy. You know that, right?"

"Yep."

She tossed her head, resigned to the fact his mind was made up. "Okay, it's your funeral. What exactly is your business proposition for them, just out of curiosity?"

A wicked grin crossed Dak's face. "I'm going to sell them some real estate."

Nine

Uruapan

Luis stood in the grandiose boardroom Mendoza had built in the basement of his mansion. It was