Amazon's Coliseum III (ENG)

Chapter 38: Deep Purple

Somewhere in the City

-... So why would they bother so much about just three people? It seems more like a tantrum from the people in Europe and Israel than a matter of international priority.

-Well... it is.

-Explain yourself.

-It was due a miscalculation. The old men in Israel wanted to get rid of someone who would give them problems in the medium term; they didn't expect you to survive, and what they feared it 'd happen ended up happening.

-Join Chocolate?

-No, getting closer to that Russian woman.

-And since when has Russia been a liability to the State of Israel?

-You know it is for us; the State of Israel has assured us several concessions if we continue supporting their war in Palestine; one of them is that they help us reduce Russian and Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon; they were willing to do the same in Transcaucasia, but they had a slight miscalculation after they decided to track you down; we were succeeding in undermining Russian influence there, and that's why our original plan with Cholokashvili was less... aggressive, so to speak. But now, the elements that Israel and Europe wanted to put in place to undermine Russian influence are being investigated on various charges: organized crime, tax evasion, rape, murder; others resigned from their posts, others switched to pro-Russian or anti-Western parties; as for the others... they woke up with bullets in their heads.

-Ah, so that means that, then, it seems that whoever was pulling the strings in Transcaucasia decided to change sides.

-Well... yes...

-You don't seem convinced at all; you're hiding something or lying to me. You know that I can investigate down to the smallest detail, and if I find out that...

-Okay, okay... Chocolate isn't joining the Russians; actually what's happening is that the Russians are just doing a favor to one of their best partners. If you're as smart as you think, I think you already know who it is.

The man, who was tied to a chair, without any bruises but with an obviously exhausted face, confessed all this to Ishtar, accompanied by her subordinates.

-Carry on...

-Look, there are people I fear more than you, the INTCEN or the Mossad. But, again, if you are as smart as you say, you should know that, although Chocolate is quite respected for being a person who does everything possible to find a middle ground that benefits both parties, although obviously, as long as they play the way she wants, in reality she is just missing something to reach that level of universal respect; something that many of us want to prevent her from reaching. Not only us, the Russians, the United States, even though they compete with each other; the Israelis, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Saudis; even the countries that are leading the Eurosceptic faction in Europe; and of course, the NGOs, the UN and the underworld could not be missing. The problem is that no one agrees on whether she needs to be taken down, or if she just needs to be put on a leash; one option will cause hell to break loose and the fragile balance we have will be broken, the other will only make "Babylon the Great" stronger and, once unleashed, she'll bring a lot of us to our doom. And now, thanks to her games, we have people who want to break that balance in another way. She doesn't have that universal respect yet, but she has people who have that respect, who agree with her ways of seeing things; others maybe not, but there is something else that unites them.

-Wait... now that you mention it...

Ishtar put on a face that showed she had an epiphany.

-My friend, I think that you and all of us who started playing with Chocolate are complete fools.