Free Geneva Connection, The by Martin Bodenham Page B

inside, the four men took an elevator down into the main building. The one dressed in the smart suit got off at the third floor. The doors opened up into what looked like a NASA control room with at least thirty men and women at computer terminals. The pace of work was intense with little conversation between the employees. The dominant sound was of clicking keyboards. He scanned the room as though he was looking for someone.
    “Welcome to head office, Arturo. I’ll have your bags taken to your room. Please leave them here,” said Raul Safuentes as he came over to greet Vargas. Safuentes broke into one of his rare smiles when they shook hands. “I trust you had a good flight?”
    Vargas had taken one of the cartel’s private jets for the two hour flight from Monterrey to Hermosillo and from there he flew by helicopter to Isla Tiburon. The cartel owned a helicopter charter business in Hermosillo. Its main function was to ferry cartel members back and forward to the island. Jivaro decided long ago it was small price to pay for the isolation and protection afforded by the remote location.
    “A relaxing journey, thanks. Now I’m keen to get started.”
    “Good. Let me show you around.” Safuentes led Vargas over to one of the computer terminals.
    “This floor is the financial heart of the organization. Each one of these screens gives the operator access to certain limited aspects of our business. For example, one operator might be monitoring our cash movements over the US border. Someone else may be handling the bank deposit records you have been sending in from Corolla, while another, more senior, operator will be reconciling these amounts and accounting for any differences on a daily basis.”
    Vargas struggled to take it all in. The operation was much larger and more sophisticated than he’d imagined. “How many people are based here at head office?” he asked.
    “It varies but, generally, we have between three and four hundred people here at any one time. All of the living quarters are on the first two floors. I’ll show you those later. As a senior member of staff, you will have your own room.”
    “As we entered the building at the ground level, I noticed there were many armed guards.”
    “Yes. My brother takes these matters seriously. We have at least twenty security personnel on each floor. You never know when we might be attacked.”
    “By the authorities?”
    “I’m pleased to say that, so far, we’ve had no trouble from the authorities. We make it our business to take care of the right politicians and police chiefs.” Safuentes smiled again.
    “I understand. Then the threat must be from the other cartels?”
    “That’s right, but our location makes it extremely difficult for our enemies to attack us by surprise.” Safuentes led Vargas down a flight of stairs to another level and through a security coded metal door. “Now it gets interesting. In these offices are our most senior accounting staff members. You will be based on this floor. I work over there.” He pointed to a corner office.
    “It’s good to know I’ll be working so closely with you. What happens on this level?”
    “From here we have electronic control of all of our bank accounts.”
    “I know from my work at Corolla how much we deposit with the banks each day. It must take some supervision.”
    “We settle our raw material purchases and overheads out of our physical cash resources first in order to minimize the trail. However, once we have deposited cash with our chosen banks, we move those monies around the globe and into other assets as quickly as possible. All of those instructions are issued from here using our encrypted communications network. As I mentioned, you will be involved in this work.”
    “I noticed the restricted access to this floor.”
    “That’s right. Other than our senior accounting staff, only the fifteen lieutenants have access to this area. Everyone has individual access codes for the doors, so