The Voting Machine

Traitors and Invaders

When I told the agents how I moved to Las Vegas, I left out the personal details about what happened between me and Annabelle.

This was none of FBI's business and I couldn't see how it would be relevant to the investigation. Besides, I knew right away what the agents were interested in.

They were interested in Los Empresarios.

Weisbein's eyes lit up the minute I mentioned the name of the gang. He called in a field technician. He asked the man to track the inmate list from the night I was in jail and bring a list of mug shots for prisoners with known ties to the drug cartel.

"I don't understand," I said. "The meeting with Juan Ricardo happened in jail before I got to Las Vegas. I wasn't even involved in the election campaign at that point. You're looking for suspects for the voting machine killings in the city, right? How could a gangster in the Twin Towers be connected to something here in Nevada? "

"You know those cartels have a presence everywhere. They're in Sinaloa, LA, Las Vegas. It doesn't matter," Stevens said.

"I still can't see why you'd be interested in my brush with Los Empresarios," then it dawned on me, "unless you were already investigating them."

The silence of the agents confirmed my suspicion.

"The government gets threats from many enemies. Islamic extremists like the Messengers of God are not our only focus."

"So you think Los Empresarios would try to disrupt our elections in the US?"

"They do it in their country. In some states of Mexico, they decide who can run and who is allowed to vote on Election Day. Gunmen in ski masks show up at the polls and tell the locals exactly how to cast their ballots."

"You really think they'd try to do that here?"

"The drug cartels have already invaded this country. They have a lot more power than people realize."

"Invasion," I said. "That was the word Zeke and the right-wingers kept saying at their rallies against Salinger. He made it out like our campaign was part of an invasion. He kept talking about drugs and illegals and terrorists and liberals like they were all the same thing. He said that America was under attack and the only way to save the country was to vote against our side."

"It's an election, Temo. The Founding Fathers were just trying to get their supporters fired up. Fear and anger. That's what it's all about. That's how you win elections. You can't take it personal."

"How can you not take it personal? The Founding Fathers said terrible things about us. They called us traitors. They called us illegals. They called us communists. They even called David a Nazi at one point and he's Jewish... They said they were the real Americans and we were they invaders."

"I understand your feeling," Special Agent in Charge Stevens said. "National security shouldn't be a partisan issue. You're not around politicians anymore. Inside this building, the only things we care about are saving lives and finding killers."

Stevens turned away from me to address his local office agents, Polk and Decatur. He rubbed the scary scar on his forehead again.

"We've got several suspected organizations to pursue in parallel. The first team will focus on the Messengers of God and Islamic terror cells. The second team will focus on Los Empresarios and the drug cartel. A third team will look at some of the potential suspects that we're just getting started on."

"We can help, too," Weisbein said.

"We're handling this with local Vegas agents," Stevens said coldly. He turned away from the two LA agents, as if they weren't important, and addressed me again.

"Temo, I am going to need you to sit tight for a while. I'll be back shortly. After that, I want to conduct the next interview myself."

Stevens, Jones, and Decatur exited abruptly, leaving Chang and Weisbein speechless and humiliated. The two LA agents looked at each other, visibly puzzled over how to respond to the snub. Then they both got up at once and chased after the special agent in charge.