Each Presidential administration inherits a failing war on drugs from the previous administration.  Likewise, each fiscal year sees hundreds of millions of dollars thrown at a problem that is unsolvable, based simply on the laws of supply and demand.  Somewhere along the line, it was decided to put an end to the cycle.  Thus, a secret, tightly compartmentalized shadow cell of the U.S. government was born.  Their mission was to pit rival drug cartels against one another and find a way to gain control of the drug trade.  By providing signals intelligence and photo reconnaissance to certain cartels deemed “more friendly” to U.S. interests, we would be able to help them wipe out their rivals.  In exchange, the cartels we allowed to continue operating would then pay a “tax” for shipping drugs into the U.S.  In the end, it seemed justified to the decision-makers to replace a greater evil with a lesser one.  And as the overall drug production levels began to fall, it seemed that the war on drugs was beginning to show signs of success.

Meet Chris Wills.  DEA Special Agent, newly assigned to Bogotá, Colombia.  He became the reluctant recruit needed to make this operation work.  Required to act as an “ambassador” of sorts to the Medellin cartels, he began the process of helping them plot the overthrow of their rivals in Cali.  This being Colombia, however, there are spies on every street corner.  It didn’t take long for Wills’ involvement to reach the ears of Cali’s lead man, Ernesto Cortez.  Needless to say, after Wills’ kidnapping, the U.S. knew it would have to disavow all knowledge of the program and Wills’ involvement if it ever came to light… after all, technically, the program didn’t even exist.  Therefore, given the political ramifications of their current predicament, it was decided that Chris Wills was an unfortunate write-off.  No one would be going in to get him back.