Leo's 23‑Hour Counter to Nzele
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo dismisses Nzele's demands, asserting the U.S. will not withdraw troops from Bitanga.
Robbie and Thomas warn Leo about Nzele's strategic use of media and potential public backlash.
Leo instructs Robbie and Thomas to communicate to Nzele that his strategy will fail within 23 hours.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Urgent, nearly alarmed; he speaks from ethical outrage but with tactical clarity.
Thomas warns bluntly that Nzele is using media strategy as a weapon — betting on televised American casualties to break U.S. resolve — and presses the moral and strategic framing that prompts Leo's counter‑directive.
- • Convince Leo that Nzele will exploit television coverage to damage U.S. public support.
- • Trigger a measurable counter‑action that denies Nzele the media leverage he seeks.
- • Televised images of American casualties will decisively influence U.S. public opinion.
- • Nzele is calculating enough to use media as a battlefield; inaction equals strategic defeat.
Controlled concern — outwardly professional while internally aware of the stakes and urgency.
Robbie delivers urgent field intelligence about Nzele's demand that American troops leave Bitanga, reports casualty risk and the enemy's bargaining posture, and silently receives Leo's terse operational order to communicate the 23‑hour message.
- • Convey accurate, actionable intelligence about Nzele's demands to senior staff.
- • Execute Leo's directive by relaying the 23‑hour ultimatum through available channels.
- • Field reports and on‑the‑ground realities must drive White House decisions.
- • Nzele's demands are real and could have immediate operational consequences for troops in Bitanga.
Implied coldly strategic — motivated by power maintenance and propaganda leverage rather than personal fear.
Referenced by others as the sadistic, calculating president of Khundu who is demanding U.S. troop withdrawal from Bitanga and explicitly betting on televised American casualties to alter U.S. policy; he is not present but his tactics drive the room's decisions.
- • Force U.S. troop withdrawal from Bitanga to preserve domestic control and avoid accountability.
- • Exploit televised violence to erode American public support for intervention.
- • American political will can be broken by televised casualties.
- • Guarantees and bargaining (e.g., aid, immunity) can be leveraged to preserve his regime.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
CNN is invoked as the decisive amplifier of visuals and narrative; Thomas explicitly names the network as Nzele's target, arguing that televised images of American casualties will turn U.S. public opinion against intervention and thus accomplish Nzele's goals.
The 'African countries' are invoked as the diplomatic forum in which Nzele will continue peace talks; they represent both potential mediators and pressure points that Nzele exploits while U.S. forces posture nearby.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"ROBBIE: Nzele's demanding..."
"THOMAS: ...he's betting the first dead American soldier on television and you lose."
"LEO: Thomas, Robbie-- you've got to find a way of getting word to Nzele that in 23 hours he's going to lose that bet."