Black Coke
Page 42
‘I doubt it. I think El Patrón, Amonite and George were the culprits, and only them. They had too much to lose from Colombia legalising drugs. Their whole empire would have collapsed. That’s why they saw the president as a traitor.’
‘So what now?’
‘We’ve won a battle against a drugs cartel, but it’ll keep on happening until the whole system changes. Or collapses.’
He stared out of the window at the fields outside. On the other side of the barbed wire fencing, farmers were harvesting coffee beans and putting them in baskets tucked under their arms. How much money would they make from this field? Probably nowhere near the amount they’d make if it was all coca plants.
Lucia slipped her arm round his waist and rested her head on his chest.
‘And you?’ she said. ‘What will you do?’
‘I have nothing to go back to. No home. No job. No family.’
‘You’ve got me.’
He looked down at her. The fury still blazed in her eyes, but there was something new there now, something that touched him deep inside.
He stroked her cheek.
‘I’ve got you.’
Bibliography
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Campbell, Howard (2009). Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez. Austin: The University of Texas Press.
Collin, Matthew (2009). Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House. London: Serpent’s Tail.
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Links to Maps of Colombia
For a political and shaded relief map of Colombia, go to: http://www.mapcruzin.com/free-maps-colombia/txu-oclc-192062534-columbia_rel_2008.jpg.
For a wider variety of maps of Colombia, go to: http://www.mapcruzin.com/free-colombia-maps.htm.
About the Author
James Grenton graduated from Oxford University with a BA in History and Economics and then obtained an MSc in Business Studies from a French business school. He started his career in financial journalism before moving to the international development sector, where he worked for 15 years, travelling extensively across Africa, Asia and Latin America. He was also the first CEO of a fast-growing NGO. In his spare time, James obtained an MA in Journalism and a PhD in Sociology. Black Coke is his second novel. His first novel was The Somali Doctrine. To find out more about James’s writing, go to http://jamesgrenton.blogspot.com.
Also by James Grenton
THE SOMALI DOCTRINE
A dying man in the desert…
A massacre in a refugee camp…
A missing aid convoy…
And suddenly Interpol agent Jim Galespi is running for his life.
In The Somali Doctrine, an Interpol agent makes it his mission to stop the remorseless madmen at the helm of the world’s largest NGO.
From the deserts of Somaliland to the slums of Nairobi to the plush hotels of Cape Town all the way to the Department for International Development in London, the race is on to stop disaster from striking again. And again. And again.
The Somali Doctrine is an intelligent thriller built on years of first-hand experience in the NGO sector in Africa. It brings together excellent writing with a strong plot from one of the most exciting new thriller authors of the year.
Buy it now.
Copyright © 2011 James Grenton
The right of James Grenton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from James Grenton.
All characters in this publication are fictitious.
You can find out more about my writing at http://jamesgrenton.blogspot.com.
Cover artwork by Jeroen ten Berge: http://jeroentenberge.com.
Ebook design by 52 Novels: www.52novels.com.