absence of affection- javier peña

Part 12

Vanessa was woken up by the phone on her now upright desk ringing. She groggily rubbed her eyes and by the time she stood up, the phone stopped ringing. She shook her head and opened the door to see Peña and Murphy. They didn't notice she was there. "You fuckin' her?" Murphy asked Peña "Sleep with a communist? That would be downright un-American." Peña replied and Barlowe slammed her office door shut after hearing Peña's reply. "Vanessa?" Murphy spoke after hearing a door slam next to him. "Vanessa." he spoke again after getting no reply. Vanessa sighed and opened the door. "Jesus, you look like shit." Murphy said and Vanessa went to close the door again but Murphy put his foot in the door to stop her. "To answer your question, yes, he is fucking her." Vanessa said and Steve chuckled "Oh yeah? How do you know that?" he asked and she paused. "I just know. He has 'i had sex with someone i shouldn't have' printed all over his forehead." she told him "I take it you didn't talk to him last night." Steve crossed his arms "Yeah, I didn't. I decided to come here and...reorganize." she turned to face him "Noonan is waiting and you know how she gets." Steve said after looking at his watch "Fuck." she whispered before following Steve out of the office and to the conference room.

"Any intel to support the DEA theory that Escobar is behind the Palace of Justice siege?" the ambassador asked the group of agents in the room. "No, ma'am. Agent Peña claims to have an informant that can testify to that effect, but he hasn't brought him forward." an agent spoke and they all looked at Peña. "In my book, there's only two of them that know that." Major Wysession began and they slowly turned to look at him. "And one of them is Elisa Alvaro, girlfriend of Alejandro Ayala." Major Wysession spoke and Vanessa looked at Peña and as she continued looking, he looked back at her. "The other one is Ernesto Sobrino, a radical priest who gave shelter to M-19 fugitives in Los Altos comuna." Wysession continued. "Is one of these people your informant?" the ambassador angrily questioned Peña. He didn't reply. "Ambassador, this is...unofficial wiretap information." Barlowe cut in and Peña looked at her. She looked back as she spoke. "We, uh, intercepted a discussion between the narcos." she continued. "What? Which narcos?" the ambassador asked "Sounded like Pablo Escobar." Barlowe said and Murphy nodded "We're almost certain. It was uh–" Peña cleared his throat "It was hard to tell. The...connection was bad. They were calling from Panama." he said.

"Panama?" the ambassador quickly asked "They know Galán's gonna win and they know that he'll support extradition, and they're not gonna sit around and await being sent back to the US." Murphy explained. "Ambassador, word is Manuel Noriega is providing safe harbor for the narcos, and possibly shipping points for their cocaine." Peña spoke. "They're moving their drug operations to Panama?" ambassador asked "That's horseshit, Peña. Excuse me, Ambassador." Wysession began and the agents turned to face him. "On one hand, you're saying Escobar's in bed with left-wing communists. Now you're saying he's in bed with Manuel Noriega. You can't have it both ways, son." Wysession said. "Ambassador, Manuel Noriega has helped us fight communism all over Latin America for the last two decades. I take great offense at any attempt by the DEA to smear his good name." an agent said and Barlowe and Murphy both silently laughed in their heads.

Right-wing, left-wing, for Manuel Noriega, it was all about money. When Bush was head of the CIA Noriega pretended to be a communist hater so the US would ignore the fact that he was heavily involved as a drug trafficker. When Noriega realized he could make even more money shipping his drugs by siding with communists, he switched teams. So the agents invaded Panama and arrested "Old Pineapple Face". But, that was later. For now, the trusted friend and ally was a right-wing CIA asset who was taking money from Bush...and right from the narcos. Luis Carlos Galán took the stage in Soacha on August 18th, against the advice of his campaign manager, César Gaviria. The bullets entered just below his vest and he was dead within minutes. For a brief shining moment, there was hope...extinguished by the pull of an assassin's trigger. To mourn Galán's death, every hut in the countryside lit a candle in remembrance...and in the cities, thousands took to the streets in the march of the silent, a mute protest against the violence of the narcos. With Galán's murder...came the end of hope for a peaceful future. Now Gaviria...was the new hope of Columbia. If he took Galán's position on extradition, the narcos would declare war. If he didn't, the country would become a narco state.

The next day

Barlowe sat in her office, filing papers and finishing work when the phone rang. "Agent Barlowe." she answered "I'm on my way to your office, come outside in 10 minutes. Carillo wants to see me so I'm bringing you as backup." she heard Peña's voice on the line and was tempted to just hang up out of spite. "What is this about, Peña?" she sighed "Just come outside." he told her and before she could speak again, the line disconnected. Murphy had the day off so it was just Peña and Barlowe in the office that day. She packed up her things and went outside where she waited for a few minutes before Peña pulled up. She got in the car and the ride was silent until Peña spoke. "So." he began and she immediately looked at him "So what?" she asked "I've been a dick." he said "Took you this long to realize?" she looked away "Hey." he spoke as he parked the car.