They hit the tripwires full tilt and the forest shook and lit up from the mine explosives going off in the gloomy understory of the forest. Three latecomers rushed up to the seen as the smoke cleared. They stood there dumbly surveying the scene of carnage and I picked off all three in rapid succession.
There were no survivors in the forest. I pulled a detonator switch from my pocket and pressed it to the tune of immediate distant explosions, which signaled the rest of the cartel's facilities going up in smoke. They'd be out of action for a while until new leadership took over.
Cut the head off the snake and it seemed to grow another one quickly. Some would say what I was doing was a pointless exercise in futility, as the cartels would just rebuild and start over as long as the money was there. To some however, what I was doing wasn't pointless, instead it was the only form of justice that they would ever receive.
The evening wore on until it became night. Mr. Cartel Owner, after screaming dire threats to anyone and everyone unfortunate enough to be near him for hours on end, retreated to his palace bedroom to beat up on his wife.
She lay unconscious and nearly naked across the bed. The master of the house stood on his balcony glaring out into the night reflecting on all the damage that had been wrecked upon his small empire all in one day.
It was going to cost a lot of money to get back up and running. Worse than that was the money he would miss out on in the meantime on the product he could have sold, but was now ashes. He gritted his teeth and pounded on the railing, "I'll work those peasants into the ground to get back up and running!"
He declared angrily at the night as if it had defied him. I walked up behind him and flipped him forward until he was perilously hanging over the side of the railing. He screamed, as he scrambled for a purchase of some kind to catch a hold of and pull himself upright with.
I grabbed one of his flailing arms and pulled it up only to jab a hypodermic needle in and press the plunger down all the way. I let go of the man and stepped back. With great effort the man pulled himself back up against the balcony railing as I stood there calmly waiting. Dizzily he sat back down with his back against the railing. He felt at his arm and looked up at me.