CHAPTER 6

I’m reading through Benjiro's contract so that everything is ready for tomorrow.

I stay up late and spend part of the night looking for information and reading the news about this cannabis seizure on the Spanish border that everyone is talking about. Then I carefully erase all my searches of the computer history.

Computers are today real gold mines to learn about someone’s habits and activities. I’m well aware of it. Samy has briefed me on that thoroughly. Common people aren’t aware how a good hacker can easily work out and dig up every single secret.

I suddenly feel exhausted and realize that I haven’t eaten dinner, so busy with all my preparations...

I turn off my computers and all the lights and go out. On my way home, I stop at a Japanese restaurant where I take up some sushi to eat on my sofa in complete tranquility.

Sushi always reminds me of my student years driving back and forth through the city as a delivery man. A very fashionable dish indeed in Paris. I really know the city by now thanks to that time.

Once my meal is finished, I to to bed. But pictures are going round and round in my head. As I can’t control them or fall asleep, I prefer to get up, put on a pair of pants, a T-shirt, a sweater. and go out. Let’s see if Samy is sleeping--probably not.

I walk up the rue des Martyrs, pass near the club La Cigale, and quickly arrive at the place Abbesses at the bottom of Montmartre.

I slip into the lane in which Samy lives, type the door code, and climb the narrow staircase that reminds me how Montmartre used to be a poor working-class district at the beginning of the century.

Samy carefully opens the door and looks surprised that is was me scratching at it. Then he gives a sigh of relief followed by annoyance.

‘You scared me like hell!’ he exclaims. ‘Never again! Call before next time.’

‘You don’t get it! I smile. ‘I hadn’t planned to come over! I just couldn’t sleep. You can imagine! We’re so close to the goal with all the risks we take...I can’t help but review all in details and ask myself if we’ve thought of everything. Otherwise we’re dead! And I couldn’t forgive myself to have enrolled you in this adventure with me.’

‘Oh come on! I’m a big guy too! I can decide for myself. And by the way, if you’re dead you won’t worry any more,’ he laughs. So true!

He adds: ‘I’m fully aware of the risks, believe me. I’ve no illusions whatsoever about the people we’re going to tackle! At least I’m feeling useful.

'Yes, I also was reviewing everything again and again. I think it’s going to work just fine. And if we’re dead, at least we tried to change things for the better…’

He obviously is a bit nervous since he carries on.

‘And anyway we’re all going to die one day, it’s just a matter of how fast. I don’t mind dying for my ideas. "Ok but by slow death," as Brassens used to sing...my parents made me listen to him on holiday. They wrote real good lyrics at that time. I was born at the wrong time in fact. Too soon or too late.

'Our current materialistic world isn’t for me. When everything is about yourself, your clothes, your selfies, your house, your car, no, this lifestyle isn’t for me.

'I just feel sad.That's why I followed you. You’re less radical than me, but at least you’re acting instead of waiting. Play the righters of wrongs, like Robin Hood, that suits me!’ he finishes trying to provoke me.

‘Stop your bullshit,’ I say. ‘Okay so the first plan is Japan against Spain?’

‘No, I’ve a better idea. First I must tell you that you were followed after Emma's visit.'

That’s bad news. I’m shocked.

‘How do you know ? I didn’t notice anything!’

‘Of course you haven’t! He’s a cop and a good one obviously! From the Narcotics’. What a coincidence! Don’t tell me you’re surprised!’

‘What surprises me is that you discovered it when you weren’t even there. How come?’

‘In order to protect you I’ve put up an alert as soon as someone is searching for your name in any system.’

‘And how do you manage to get data on cops?’

‘You probably know they don’t have the latest protections. I don’t know who programs their systems but the guys are far behind the latest technology that’s for sure.’

‘Wait a minute ! How do you know it has to do with Emma?’

‘Because first I saw the connection with her visit today. It was confirmed when I discovered the guy was looking for information on Emma’s background and school. And then I learned new things about her! You won’t be happy to hear, I warn you!’

‘If it's to tell me she's a drug addict, that's not new. Now if the cops are on her back it's more serious. Is she a dealer too?’

‘Worse than that old man! She’s trafficking between Colombia and California! Why do you think she left France to study there? The law is much cooler over there.’

‘Damn! It's worse than I thought then!’

My shoulders feel suddenly bloody heavy. I’m staring down at my sneakers to hide my emotions.

‘And it's not a simple cannabis traffic. It's apparently coke... and not in small amounts! She’s in real trouble. She’s really in danger!’.

‘Explain a bit more’, I ask briefly, trying to hide my feelings behind a neutral tone that isn’t natural. My pain is visible now I’m worried for her.

‘Well... she’s been trafficking cocaine regularly by plane. She took a job as an English teacher in Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia. That way she could justify traveling professionally. The drug was probably delivered to her over there, and as she was returning to San Francisco twice a month she looked familiar. Then it was easy to get through customs every time, be friends with them. Customs officers aren’t so suspicious of a young American graduate coming back and forth, a teacher on top of it... you can imagine. The title still has some prestige I believe’.

‘But I don’t get it. Colombia isn’t a large cannabis producer, that I know...

The biggest producer is Morocco. They’ve got the world record in cannabis resin in any case.’

‘I see you're well informed’ Samy confirms. ‘It’s indeed Africa and more exactly Morocco that is king on that matter. They’re flooding Europe via Spain. If you want my opinion, it’s surely why the consumption has become legal in this country.Now Emma, if she went to Colombia, it's because she's addicted to cocaine, old man, not cannabis or maybe both. In any case, the three major producers of coke are Colombia, Bolivia and Peru.

'You heard about Manuel Noriega and the FARC cartel. In fact, cocaine is produced in Colombia then transferred to other South American countries and finally transiting through the Caribbean for the US.

'As for amphetamines, people often don’t know that its biggest producer is Europe: it is mainly made in the Netherlands, Poland and Belgium. And yes, still these countries have a good and clean reputation right? Yet there are plenty of scoundrels there too.

'Afghanistan is the largest poppy producer for opium. It alone provides 87% of the world market, all transiting mainly through Asia. For the United States, however, 60% of the heroin consumed comes from Colombia and passes through Mexico.

'It's even a serious ecological problem, because in fact they're exhausting the land, they burn forests to plant what will produce this shit. But that, the greens never talk about it! Or anyone else! And for a good reason! Drug trafficking is the third largest source of income in the world after oil and the food industry according to the World Health Organization. It's crazy, isn’t it?'

‘Wow’ is the only word coming out of my mouth.

‘It’s worse than I thought” I finally manage to utter.

'According to other sources,' Samy went on, 'weapons come first, followed by drug trafficking and oil coming third. It’s closer to the truth in my opinion, since these guys don’t declare their income and don’t pay taxes. And nobody does anything! The poor Narcotics agents in our countries! They must feel helpless running after shadows that they never manage to catch and break down their traffic definitively.

'We could end it though. Huh? We only have to tackle the source of the problems: money.

'Well I’m talking too much now.You’re bored with me’.

I just got up to take a drink in the fridge. Yes he knows all that. I’ve also searched the subject. But I understand that Samy, alone behind his screen most of the time, needs to talk to someone from time to time.

‘No, you don’t bother me at all. I'm just shocked to learn about cocaine and Emma. So I'll have to change our plans’.

‘Not at all!’

‘Ok. Tell me, what else do you know about Emma or what else do the Narcos know about her?

‘Are you really sure you can take anything?’

‘Yes don’t worry. I expect the worst since that famous night when I saw her…’.

I’ve said too much already.

‘What did you see ? Come on man! Spit it out for god’s sake! You’ve been keeping something on your heart for too long. I can see that something is wearing you down. You’ve been in love with her since high school and you know it will never be possible between you? Is that it?’

‘That and something worse…’ Again words get stuck in my mouth.

‘Yes I know’ Samy drops.

‘What do you think you know?’I say expecting the worst now.

‘She prostitutes herself to pay for drugs,’ my friend finally reveals and his attitude shows he’s afraid of my reaction.

‘Yes.I already know that. You're not telling me anything new."I utter..

‘What? How did you find out? Samy asks astonished.

‘That's what I actually discovered one night in December by spying on her. I suspected she was a already a drug addict and wanted to find out who she met and where she got it from.

'That night I was on the roof of the building next door and watched her through a window.

She was being fucked by two guys at the same time and when I saw how old they were, I understood it was not for pleasure but for her habit she did it of course!

'I could see she was high, indifferent to everything.It was horrible.That’s how I realized that she was selling her body for her fucking dope. Then I wanted to top myself for a second. Just walk off the roof into oblivion. Seeing with my eyes this decay, this degradation, these pigs who took advantage of her, that was too much to bear. I felt life was not worth living anymore. How could she behave that way?

'And then I thought no! I was not going to let them win. Okay, I never got her to stop, she always avoided the subject. But that night, the last year at high school, I decided to stop my bullshit irresponsible teenager kind of life. To stop being like everyone else.

We all know about a problem, we talk about it, we’re furious about it and that’s it! No action after that . Just talking and talking.

'So I made a decision: I’ll to do something about it. If I can save other people I’ll die happy.

'That’s when I started to work hard, in class, to get god marks, to get an education, to take classes on line.’.

A heavy silence follows that confession which has pulled us back in years.

‘Wow! I see…’ Samy whispers, a little dizzy by these revelations. I thought her habit and selling herself was new. How old was she then? Sixteen? A bit more?

'I remember now. That’s the day you came back to school and decided to sit in the front row, and be a perfect student suddenly. Right? I always wondered why you changed so fast. We were about to have an argument that day. Remember? I almost hated you that day’.

‘Yes that was the day after. That’s when I decided to get my own business. I had set up a plan and that’s why I took my studies seriously. To tackle that world you need to be competent. That’s why I took a degree in economics and so on.To fight something you’ve got to understand it and be the best at what you do. And this world is about money, all over the place.’

Samy comes up with something else.

‘In her file there’s a name coming up often. A certain Serge Fabre.’

‘Oh no! I can’t believe it! Fuck! He's a close friend of her father working in the regional council,’ I exclaim.

‘Oh shit! Well, at the same time does it surprise you? It’s obvious that many politicians have big ambitions and are ready to get their hands dirty to reach their goal. He seems to have a connection in the Colombian traffic anyway. I guess he’s the one who connected her to this traffic but i might be wrong.’

‘Oh I feel like throwing up! But damn! ‘I suddenly realize.

‘He was one of the guys who was fucking her that night with another man! I was standing too far away, of course, to see his face but I kept thinking he reminded me of someone! You know: her family trusts this bastard completely!’ I say completely disgusted.

‘I don’t know how but we’ll break him down.We’ll destroy him. Add him to our list’ I add, suddenly eager to act.

I jump to my feet and go out without even saying goodbye to my friend.

I need some fresh air. I’m full of rage. I’ve a lump in my throat and tears of helplessness are darkening my sight. I let them run, hoping to get free of my old demons.

It was some relief to spit it out to my best friend, feeling a bit less lonely that way.

But I’m worried for Emma, more than I said. She’s trafficking so she can be destroyed anytime if she fails-- these drugdealers have not mercy.

The Narcotics agents are watching her. On top of al. And I can’t help her or be involved either without putting my family and everything I’ve built so far in danger. I won’t change my plan for her event if I it hurts in my chest thinking f her. Tears are silently running down my cheeks.

How to keep anyone I cared about out of the muck… Would it even be possible?