The Last Empress of Mars

to polls, was the number one concern of the population, even more so than the current economic crisis. He had not considered her the best possible choice, maybe a tad of machismo had influenced his decision, although he preferred to believe that he had not found her to be the best candidate at that time. However, after a year in office, he had come to the conclusion that he had been right all along, but with politics it really made little difference, vote for Tweedledee or vote for Tweedledum, either way you were likely to get Tweedled! Personally, he did not agree with the policy of bringing more police as the solution to the growing crime problem. It was a simplistic solution to a very complex problem. These new officers were poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly paid. Much better to bring in 1000 well trained, well paid and well equipped officers than these 5000 and to invest some of the remaining money in improving the conditions and opportunities in poor neighborhoods which were a potential breeding ground for new criminals but 1000 would not sound as impressive as 5000 and improving the barrios would take time to show the positive results. Impressive and fast, those were the key words for politicians, especially when looking to get re-elected or at least to help their party stay in power. Politics were not too different here than in the larger countries, just scaled down, less sophisticated and more in your face. Niko really didn’t care much for politics or politicians and just saw them as a necessary evil, some more evil than others, but certainly no angels in the mix. At least he had not come across any so far, but he had more important matters to worry about and he could see this case was going to be a challenge, especially with the Coronel riding him for some quick results. However, even in the wildest of imaginings, and for a man who thought he had seen everything, he could never have expected the surprises and the twists and turns that this case would have in store for him down the road. Seeing Sergeant Avila blocking the entire entrance with his massive frame, he was pretty sure nobody had squeezed in to trample on the evidence. In fact, he was wondering just how he would manage to get past this immovable object in a polite and expedient manner, but just then, the