The blue glow is known as cerenkov radiation and is the result of highly charged particles, such as electrons, traveling through transparent material at a speed greater than the local speed of light. There is some debate among scientists as to whether the blue flash actually occurs or is merely the result of ionization of the moisture in the eyeballs of those witnessing the chain reaction.
The Threat of the Drug Cartels
Today the dangers emanating from the Mexican drug cartels, chiefly in Tijuana, Juárez, and Sinaloa, cannot be overstated. In the eighties and early nineties, the U.S. government launched a war against the narcotic drug lords of Colombia. At that time Mexico was a part of the transportation network for the movement of illicit narcotics from Colombia into the United States.
Since then, with the death of the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and the disruption of the Cali and Medellín cartels, the organized violence of the drug underworld has only moved closer to the southern border of the United States. In recent years it has intensified and is reputed to have corrupted large segments of Mexicos government and law enforcement in the same way that it did in Colombia two decades earlier. To believe that we in this country are immune to such corrupting influences is foolishness.
The cartels are now centered in cities such as Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, and Juárez, where scores of people are murdered daily in ongoing turf wars over who will control the drug trade. That these cartels have links to Middle Eastern terror groups should come as no surprise, since Al Qaeda and others generate much of their revenue for terrorist opera tions from poppy fields in Afghanistan and elsewhere and are believed to be well connected within the drug underworld.
It is also well known that the cartels and those smuggling illicit drugs into the United States have in the past used tunnels as the preferred method for shipping large quantities of product under the U.S.-Mexican border. As the American economy declines and revenue from illegal narcotics escalates, the cartels that already employ their own private forces armed with automatic weapons, including grenade launchers, become an even greater threat. The commander of the U.S. marine base at Camp Pendleton, California, recently posted Tijuana, Mexico, as off-limits to all marine personnel because it was judged to be too dangerous a venue for rest and tourism. U.S. marines can travel to Baghdad and Afghanistan, but they can no longer cross the border into Mexico without special permission. This should tell us something about the emerging dangers along our southern border.
About the Author
STEVE MARTINI is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Shadow of Power, Double Tap, The Arraignment, The Jury, The Attorney, and others featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani. Martini has practiced law in California in both state and federal courts and has served as an administrative law judge and supervising hearing officer. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
www.stevemartini.com
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ALSO BY STEVE MARTINI
Shadow of Power
Double Tap
The Arraignment
The Jury
The Attorney
Critical Mass
The List
The Judge
Undue Influence
Prime Witness
Compelling Evidence
The Simeon Chamber
Credits
Jacket design by mjcdesign.com
Front jacket photograph collage: car window Š by Alistair Baker/Getty Images; Washington, D.C., Capitol by Jupiterimages
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
GUARDIAN OF LIES. Copyright Š 2009 by Paul Madriani, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition June 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-189219-6
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Guardian of Lies: A Paul Madriani Novel Page 46
