Free PRIMAL Reckoning (Book 1 in the Redemption Trilogy, the PRIMAL Series Book 5) by Jack Silkstone

“I didn’t realize we had so many fans. Appears to me half the town’s out
there,” he drawled.
    “They’ll
lose interest soon enough,” said Felipe Guzman, the Chihuahua District Chief of
Police. He pointed at one of the smaller monitors. “Bring that up on the big
screen.”
    One of
the system operators transferred the image onto the central screen. A high
definition camera affixed to the Secretariat of Environment and Natural
Resources building was filming the throng of demonstrators gathered on the street.
They held banners declaring their anger toward RED and were demanding closure
of the Barrio Del Rancho mine.
    “Look how
young they are, they won’t last.” Felipe furrowed his thick eyebrows and
stroked his prominent chin. He was a career police officer and had witnessed many
demonstrations. In a region beset with high-unemployment, protests were
inevitable. “There’s a few farmers in there, but most of them are students. They’ll
grow bored with this.”
    Pershing studied
the crowd intently. “Can you zoom in on that cluster there?” He pointed at a
group of demonstrators.
    “Yes, sir.”
The operator zoomed the camera in on two older looking men who were addressing the
students.
    “Run
their faces.”
    Yellow
squares appeared around the faces on the screen as the facial recognition
software locked on to them. The system was the latest version of the C4I4 public-surveillance network that Ground Effects Services had first
installed in Mexico City. CIA funded, GES had the lucrative contract for
setting up duplicate systems in regional centers. It gave the police
unparalleled ability to track criminals and informants across the city. What
the local police did not know was the CIA maintained backdoor access to the
system.
    The targeted
faces appeared in a bar across the bottom of the screen. Of the six faces only
one was outlined with a green box.
    The
operator read from his monitor. “I’ve got a match on a Miguel Martinez. He’s a
student at the university. Second-level Sinaloa connections.”
    “So what
about those two older guys?”
    “They’re
not in the system.”
    The
police chief turned to Pershing. “Do you know them?”
    “I know
that one.” He pointed at Roberto. “He’s a rancher we booted out a week ago. Shot
one of your cops. Thinks he’s a bit of a tough guy.”
    “Shot a
police officer?”
    “Relax,
he winged him with a bit of buckshot. Goes by the name Roberto Soto.” Pershing
watched as the broad-shouldered rancher and his grey-haired associate moved
through the crowd talking to the demonstrators. “Pretty obvious what he’s up to,
though. They’re identifying smaller groups of demonstrators and pitching to
them. That son-of-a-bitch is recruiting.”
    “Recruiting
for what?”
    “Resistance,
another demonstration, how the hell would I know? We need to bring him in.”
    “No.” The
police chief shook his head. “The demonstration is peaceful, I want to keep it
that way.”
    “You must
have misheard me,” said Pershing. “We need to bring him in.”
    Felipe met
his gaze, then faltered and turned to the operator. “Pass a description to the
riot squad and have them arrest that man.”

 
    ***

 
    The forward line of demonstrators were chanting and
thrusting their banners in the air. The energy in the crowd had intensified.
Roberto and Emilio pushed to the front.
    One of
the protesters yelled, “ Policia! They’re
blockading the street.”
    Roberto
climbed onto the back of a pickup to try and see what was happening. Earlier, the
crowd had gathered peacefully on the road in front of the four-story government
building. It had taken an hour before the police arrived. Now, the crowd was agitated,
corralled by a line of helmeted riot police. The dark-blue uniformed officers
were pushing the activists back with their polycarbonate shields and batons. More
cops were clustered at the fringes.
    He
glanced back down the road; two police pickups were parked nose to