Free The Galician Parallax by James G. Skinner Page B

from it. ‘Transfer of drugs at sea is carried out well offshore from the bulk carrier split into smaller craft; a large percentage is transported by fishing boats with the occasional use of a large yacht although other merchant-type ships have been known to be involved. There is an increase of faster, specially constructed speedboats able to travel at 200 or more knots that venture into the “fiords” of Galicia that are hardly ever detected.’
    ‘Really, you don’t say? Where did you get the info?’ asked Mr Billson.
    ‘From the Internet, sir.’
    The others burst out laughing.
    After wrapping up the session, Mr Billson took one of the accountants to one side. ‘Advise Medellin we may have a new route next year… that we’ll send the details later.’ The accountant had taken note.
    As he was leaving, he added, ‘By the way, top priority, check… banking links. Don’t want this to clash with the other Galician accounts.’
Stringers, Portsmouth
    It was their fourth and last meeting at the Portsmouth pub, before proceeding with their initial plan of starting a commercial yachting enterprise to carry passengers across to France and then on to Spain. The idea was to test the waters before venturing into a full-scale drug run. It meant seeking out the yachting partner, purchasing a suitable yacht and starting their first crossing within four months. Jerry Fulton had given in his notice a month after their first meeting and travelled down to Cornwall, whilst Donald Simmons had moved temporarily up north.
    ‘As agreed, I’ve signed the purchase deal for that 40-foot Blue Water ketch down in Falmouth,
Pollyanna
; she’s a beauty! Thirty years old, totally renovated, for a bargain at fifty thousand quid. Good for three passengers plus crew.’
    ‘Great,’ said Donald. ‘I’ve got the go-ahead from my contacts in Manchester. They’re ready to pick up the threads about this time next year if the scheme works.’
    ‘OK, how about the end of May as a starter?’
    ‘Sounds fine, but we’d better get our skids on.’
    Glen Richards, their new Cornish business partner who ran a yachting agency, was completing the rest of the paperwork that included the chartered voyages from May to September and the advertising in the yachting media reaching out to adventurous customers.

CHAPTER 7
Escobar’s Legacy
El Morocho, Medellin, Colombia, April 2000
    The two Bermudez brothers, Ignacio and Luis, were sitting on rocking chairs on the porch of The Morocho restaurant. They had just finished their typical Argentine-style roast and were waiting for their coffee.
    ‘Got a message from Mr Billson. He’s got a new route into England,’ said Ignacio.
    ‘Who, how much and when?’
    ‘Reckon on four shots of 300 kilos each. Start up around the middle of next year. Says he’ll send us the courier name and other details in due course including a new bank account.’
    ‘Suppose we’re to work on contact in Galicia?’
    ‘You’ve got it.’
    The restaurant is situated high up in the beautiful mountain range of north-western Colombia, ten miles out of the city and overlooking the vast rainforest, home to part of South America’s greatest flora and fauna riches. It is secluded, away from the housing estates of the area and can only be reached by four-wheel drive vehicles as the road connecting the nearest highway can turn into a mud haven during the heavy rainy season. It was so christened on its inauguration date, 24 June to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Carlos Gardel, the most famous Uruguayan tango singer-come-composer who died in an airplane crash at the Olaya Herrera airport in Medellin on the same date in 1935. Gardel had many nicknames; one of them was
“El Morocho de Abasto’”
because of his greasy black hair and because he often sang in the Buenos Aires fruit and vegetable market, known as
“El Abasto”
. The main eating areas of the restaurant are clustered with memorabilia of the famous