by Geoff Wolak
‘I don’t think Medellin would do that, they want to take over, not inherit just ashes. Talk tomorrow.’
I called Miller’s contact number, and he called back.
‘I was just going to bed.’
‘Bed for you ... is better than a shallow grave for you, and that’s what comes next, Mister Miller, a shallow grave at the hands of your own people.’
‘Why … why do you say that?’
‘Because I found out what’s really been going on here, what the real motivation was, and it’s not pretty. You see, the not-so-dead Colonel Raywood was working with Charley Rose, ex-CIA and also not as dead as you figured he was – till I killed him. You know Colonel Raywood?’
‘We … have dealings. And I thought his cover was perfect.’
‘Not when up against someone like me. The good colonel, he’s been busy with a medical opioid company in Brazil, using genetically modified bacteria to make fake cocaine, large volumes of fake cocaine.
‘You see, Mister Miller, the plan was not to replace Tomsk, the plan was to start a war with the cartels, and to have idiots like me destroy them for you, and then - in the confusion - Raywood would make a few billion selling his fake cocaine.
‘Only downside would be the side effects of the Lucinda plant they use, it causes kidney failure and people have to have their feet chopped off.
‘So after selling large quantities of the drug into America - which I think is where you live, we’d have ten million people on dialysis with their feet cut off, and there would be an investigation, an enquiry, and it would be discovered what happened.
‘It would be discovered that Deep State killed ten million American citizens, and made millions more sick in the States and around the world.
‘Then, Mister Miller, the generals and the admirals that support you would turn against your grubby little organisation and want you all buried deep, no evidence left behind, your body incinerated with the evidence of what you were caught up in.
‘And I wonder, Mister Miller, how many of those army generals know about your Colonel Raywood’s plan. I would guess at a grand total of zero. Generals and admirals don’t do drug deals. And you, Mister Miller, did you know?’
‘No, no I didn’t.’
‘And just how far do you think you could get when the news hits, when this is on CNN? Could you get away? Plastic surgery perhaps?’
‘Will it get out?’
‘I found the evidence trail, so can others, and when people fall sick they’ll realise what happened. There are scientists and technicians in Brazil working on this, any one of which could sell the story. And Tomsk will soon move against them, people asking questions.’
‘Could you contain it?’
‘Jesus, you don’t want much, do you.’
‘It would not be in anyone’s interest for this to get out there.’
‘True, very true, but you can always hide a big lie behind a small one. The fake cocaine could be exposed without a link to your people, and the drug takers would then be cautious, tests performed.
‘That would shut down the operation without exposing the low lifes you share an office with. Go chat to your boss, make a plan, but I can only contain my end, I can’t contain the Brazilian end.’
‘That’s a start at least.’
‘And what about the good colonel?’
‘He’d … need to go away.’
‘I’ll cooperate if you tell me who’s pulling his chain.’
After a moment came, ‘Senator Phillson.’
‘And are there any military personal involved with Raywood?’
‘No. As you said, they would be horrified at the idea. Me with it. And overall, I’d have to say it was a very dumb plan; it was bound to leak eventually when people fell sick. CDC look carefully at seized cocaine batches, some are already tainted and kill people. They would have been on it inside a month, so Raywood is an idiot.’
‘Maybe, someday, they get the bacteria right, and end up with no side effects.’
‘It’s still drug dealing, and … most all of those at the top would oppose it.’
‘But they’d like the billions of dollars it could raise…’
‘Some would, perhaps.’
‘And sinking your own carriers?’
‘Is there … evidence of that plan out there?’
‘In the minds of men, several off them. Let’s hope Raywood never takes the stand. Would your bosses have supported that?’
‘No, at least I hope not. Phillson is a bit extreme though. He was in Vietnam – and enjoyed his time there.’
‘And when your bosses know, will they wish to silence you?’
‘We’re not that cut-throat. At least I hope we’re not.’
‘And yet you were ready to put Raywood in a grave.’
‘I have no plans to kill ten million Americans or sink our own aircraft carriers. What will you do with this?’
‘I’ll try and stop them, and quietly, mop up around the edges, get some good TV minutes, then get back to the real job I do – and rescue some hostages. I shouldn’t be spending my time lancing boils for you. Call me tomorrow if you have some news.’
I went and found Max and led him away. ‘Put a story on Reuters straight away. Major Wilco and his men found batches of cocaine in Nicaragua, and an analysis by British experts has revealed that the cocaine was mixed with Lucinda plant.
‘People using it would end up with kidney failure and have their feet amputated. This is a worrying new development, the batches very large and being shipped by the Tiujana Cartel. Run that now.’
‘Bloody hell, the users will be worried.’
‘So they should be. Go do it.’
I had something to eat with the team, half the men on stag and ready, since now would be a good time for the FARC to creep in. After a brew and a chat Miller called back.
‘I’ve just seen Reuters, and I think you set the ball rolling. Good first tactical move.’
‘Why thank you, Mister Miller. And next, it’s your turn. You get your CDC to report that it found some Stateside.’
‘I can … do something along those lines, yes.’
I found Salome and led her out onto the dark strip. ‘Your people were interested in the rockets, that’s why they had a man on the crashed transport?’
Her dark outline replied, ‘No, he was trying to infiltrate gun runners, he didn’t know about the rockets.’
‘Why these particular gun runners?’
‘Some of the guns we found in Israel, we tracked them back to these men. Why?’
‘I know what’s going on here now, but it doesn’t affect your people.’
‘No?’
‘No.’
‘You are sure?’ her dark outline asked.
‘Yes.’
‘But if you told me, and I reported it, it helps me.’
‘Why do I want to help you?’
‘I helped you in Yemen.’
‘And will you help us again someday?’
‘Of course.’
‘Someday soon..?’
‘How would I know?’
‘If I told you, I’d have a favour to ask.’
‘What..?’
‘You send one of your people, a hit in America, no questions asked.’
‘I do it.’
‘You?’
‘I have a great cover story for America, and friends and contacts there.’
‘It would be high profile. If you get caught..?’
‘Ha, Putz, if I get caught on any job they roast me alive.’
I gave her the story over ten minutes.
She finally asked, ‘Which one do you want killed?’
‘Colonel Raywood, if we find him.’
‘That I do that for fun.’
‘And a senator.’
‘Fake heart attack, stroke, he retires, no questions asked.’
‘Go report in then, make yourself look good.’
She took out her phone and stepped away. I knocked her down and
rolled, a burst of fire, a second burst and a body dropped. It was not Salome, she was wriggling under me.
‘Check your fire! Check your fire!’ I shouted. Torch on, I checked the body as I knelt near it, a rebel. I transmitted, ‘Wilco to all teams, we have Charlie creeping inside the wire. Fire flares if you have them.’
I kept Salome down and made ready, flares bursting into life, but just one rebel was caught out and hit a dozen times. I led her back and we ducked into a trench.
‘Going to be a long night,’ the Colonel noted.
‘Rotate it, sir, we have enough men looking.’
My phone trilled, Moran. ‘We’re up high, no one around. Note these coordinates.’
Torch on, I wrote them down. ‘Wait for the helos.’
I called ship and asked for six Seahawks, and were the pilots awake. They had a rotation of crews, so yes – the pilots were awake they reported. ‘As fast as possible, look for torches shone, no enemy in the area at present, no hot LZ. Land the men at LZ2, and you will get small arms fire, so that’s a hot LZ I guess.’
I called Moran. ‘Seahawks will be with you in … say twenty minutes I guess. Shine torches when you hear them. When you get back here, be careful, we have FARC close in. Down, run and kneel.’
He called me back to say they heard helos. Ten minutes later I heard those helos approaching. I transmitted, ‘Fire flares if you have them, get any intruders before the helos land!’
Flares burst out, and the helo pilots would have something to aim at. No shots sounded out.
The Seahawks touched down in sequence, men out and running, soon knelt, the next helo in sequence quickly touching down.
Moran came in to me. ‘Where are you?’
I turned my torch on. ‘Get in here.’ He ducked in. ‘Wounded?’
‘Nothing serious, they can walk themselves to the medics.’
‘Your mission is classified Top Secret,’ I told him. ‘Make sure they understand that.’
‘I’ll have a word later. Did the intel pan out?’
‘Yes.’
With the last helo gone, Moran went to grab a trench and to make a happy home.
The Colonel asked me, ‘You got the manager in his shirt and tie?’
‘We did, sir, and the man above him. Best not to ask.’
‘Oh, right. And what do you expect to happen here?’
‘Lame attacks for a while, then we pull out. Real fight is … elsewhere, sir.’
At 5am I took a pee, and called David Finch. It would be 9am in London.
‘Ah, Wilco, how’s it going?’
‘We got a good result last night, I have most all of the pieces now. Deep State man, the not-quite-deceased Colonel Raywood, has been developing fake cocaine using the Lucinda plant.’
‘That plant is used by dentists, it deadens your gums.’
‘He mixes it with real cocaine, or coca extract, and some clever bacteria, and they make four times as much, and it passes for regular cocaine, but with the side effect of kidney failure and your feet being amputated.’
‘Bloody hell, that won’t be popular, even for an addict. Why the hell would he produce something like that?’
‘He wanted the cartels to be destroyed, then he makes a killing selling the fake cocaine, the money to be used for … whatever is in his tiny brain. After a year people would fall sick, and the game would be up. I need you to release a fake story, get the PM behind it, that this stuff is dangerous.’
‘It damn well is dangerous.’
‘Talk it up, loudly. I had Max put something on Reuters already about the drug and its side-effects, so back it.’
‘There’s another angle to this, and that’s what will happen a year from now, if the plan had gone ahead. People would stop trusting the cocaine suppliers and growers.’
‘Till they could test the drugs somehow, identify it.’
‘And the price of genuine cocaine would rocket,’ David noted.
‘That’s … interesting, because Medellin are hand-in-hand with Raywood, at least one is. And I still don’t know who placed the car bombs. But I don’t think Medellin want the idea of tainted drugs out there.’
‘Drugs are often tainted, and the dealers water it down with baking soda and all sorts. If Medellin could guarantee a quality they could make more money; real Colombian coffee or fake coffee. There have been a great many deaths from tainted drugs.’
‘So Raywood makes a billion or ten from the fake drugs, then cleans up again with the genuine quality item being sold for top dollar. Either way, I’ll try and stop the tainted drugs, because a few million dead Americans should be avoided.’
‘Yes, it should. Just how devious are Deep State, that they would even consider this?’
‘A branch of Deep State, but they are taking steps to clean house. So they claim. Listen, I have some of the phones and the players, so I should be able to get the middle management. I assume you want them stopped.’
‘Yes, because we don’t want fifty thousand dead people here in the UK. And most cocaine users are the city high-flyer types. We’d have no one left to run London’s banks.’
‘And if it was heroin?’
‘I could imagine that some people, in some quarters, would not lose any sleep over the deaths. Cocaine is for the middle classes, not the homeless druggy. What’ll you do on the ground there?’
‘Get some good TV minutes, hold the line, and then see what happens with the intel. American Press will not sit quiet till they know who fired the missiles, and there’s no way I’d tell them it was Raywood.’
‘Well, no, that would be an odd moment, but the CIA would get the blame. And do we know it was Raywood for sure?’
‘Only by what his subordinate gave up when pressed. But I hope to have a quiet chat with him someday soon.’
I called Tinker.
‘Ah, Wilco, we’ve been busy. The phone of this man Solictor, it tracks to phones in America, Medellin, Panama, and Brazil, and did track to Nicaragua and Costa Rica.’
‘He was a middle manager.’
‘Was?’
‘Americans hit him with a 2,000lb bomb.’
‘Ouch. Well his ID is fake, at least in so much as the real man of that name is in a wheelchair in a VA facility in Kansas.’
‘I need the men involved with him, but mostly I need the man above him. What about the number in Panama?’
‘Got a paper and pen?’
‘Hold on. OK.’
He listed the number. ‘It’s been used in a block of posh apartments and a house on the outskirts.’ He gave me the address.
‘And in Brazil?’
He listed the number, and the grid point.
‘Great, keep at it, he’s our priority. Oh, what does the American number track back to?’
‘A hotel, a restaurant and a golf club on the outskirts of Washington.’
‘Try and find someone who’s common to all of them. List them for me.’ I wrote down the locations.
Next call was Bob Staines. ‘Got a paper and pen?’
‘Fire away.’
I listed the detail.
‘I can do something with the Washington chap maybe, leave it with me.’
‘Look at Senator Phillson.’
‘A senator? Bloody hell.’
I called Tomsk. ‘Write this down.’ I gave him the Panama detail. ‘See who lives at that house and is linked to those apartments, and before they leave.’
‘I sort it now, I want these shits.’
‘Someone suggested something to me, something for you to think about. If these fake drugs with side effects are widely used, the price for genuine cocaine will go up ten fold.’
‘I have the scientists developing a test kit, and I will send it to Carlos and others, and we test all batches here. So far no matches.’
‘If you have the test kits, and Carlos, and people you know inside America, then your drugs could be tested. The price would go up. You need to get that test kit out there, say what it’s for.
’
‘I work them fast, yes.’
‘Let everyone know about the fake cocaine, issue the test kits, and your enemies will suffer, not you.’
‘How many more times do you save me, eh?’
‘It’s my job, what I’m paid to do.’
‘You are paid by the British to shoot men like me!’
‘OK, so I’m not the model employee. Have Tiny look at those apartments straight away.’
The day brightened quickly, men peering down for FARC stragglers. I stepped to Haines and waved in Morgen. ‘I want an eight-man patrol, when you’re ready. They go to the north end, down, turn right and up to the bombed area, then back.
‘But they need to be ultra careful, because there will be wounded FARC hidden in the bushes.’ I turned to Morgen. ‘Make sure that no-one fires down, they report the target instead, you report to Mister Haines, he updates his patrol.’
I stepped across to Taggard. ‘Your men fresh and ready?’
‘Aye, could do with a shave though.’
‘I want an eight-man patrol. They go down in the valley and search, but they need to be very fucking careful, there will be wounded FARC hidden.’
‘I’ll warn them.’
Rocko was up and peeing. ‘Sergeant Major!’
He walked over. ‘We’ll soon have patrols below us, so talk to all groups, fingers off triggers.’
‘It’s starting to smell here.’
‘Maybe we can get a chemical.’ I stepped to the Colonel. ‘Sir, call your HQ, ask what chemical we could spray to help with the smell of the bodies below.’
‘I’ll ask, yes, but that’s an unusual request.’
‘Ask them for a few hundred body bags as well.’
I called Tomsk and asked for the Skyvan to drop off barrels of oil and petrol, several runs made.
Back with the Colonel, he said that they would get back to him.
‘What about phosphorous, sir?’
‘Air Force still has them, yes.’
‘Navy had some. Canal Zone?’
‘Not sure. And I say that because phosphorous is a jungle weapon. Having them down here would make sense. I’ll make a call. Let’s hope the wind changes direction.’
I walked down to the medics and called out the senior staff. ‘We have a great many bodies down in the valley, and body parts from where your Navy bombed. What’s the best way to stop them smelling?’
