THE SPEECH TO IOSO

With members of the press sitting down on seats that filled the room while holding several cameras and microphones, Dr. Luis Rizzi felt his chest constrict. There were only three people left of the seven he had been with earlier, and these were sitting behind him.

Painfully, he looked at their faces, noting how the governor's and Jose Mateo's faces were not among them. One of them shot him a stern look he felt the glare of despite the sunglasses covering his eyes, and before he could turn away, the man pulled up the side of his suit. There was no mistaking the black outline of that gun as it pressed against the white undershirt, waiting for him to do something stupid.

He turned back, pulled out a white handkerchief and mopped his face before mounting the podium with the papers in his hand, everything directed at him from the microphones to the eyes of the waiting journalists. Then, he put on his reading glasses and started to speak.

The greetings and genuine wishes to the people of I