They all knew how close Kim and Gabriella had become.
“How can they do this?” Kim asked in disbelief.
“The cartels do whatever they want” one of the women
replied.
The women cooked but nobody ate more than a bite or two.
Kim ate nothing and cried herself to sleep that night. The next
morning her feet felt like lead walking to the roll call. She
prayed that this would be a normal one but it wasn‟t. Fernando
attended and talked about the importance of everybody following
the rules. If people didn‟t follow the rules the operation would
be at risk and that was not acceptable. It was almost as if he
was trying to justify the killings the day before. Sandro stood
in the background his head dropped low and whenever he looked up
Fernando shot him an angry look. Clearly Sandro had overstepped
his boundaries and had been scolded. Kim couldn‟t help but think
that he should be shot too if he broke the rules.
When Kim looked at Sandro she could not remember ever
hating anyone more. She hated him more than she hated Jake even
though before yesterday she had never imagined that she could
hate anyone more than Jake. Fernando continued and asked for a
volunteer to replace Gabriella. Gabriella had been a valuable
resource and he needed someone that spoke English and could work
a computer. Kim thought about it but did not want to be in the
same house as these people. In the field she had little
interaction with them. They shouted some commands at her at
times but most were from far away. In the house she would be
working with them all the time. In the same room with these
killers and that was something she would rather avoid.
When nobody stepped forward Fernando asked again. Kim
didn‟t know that many of the small group very well but most
seemed like poor farmers and they didn‟t give the sense of any
decent education that included fluency in English or computer
skills. Marcella stepped forward and whispered something in
Fernando‟s ear. Fernando looked in Kim‟s direction and then
stepped towards her. He looked her over and without asking if
she wanted to he instructed her to report to the house after
breakfast.
After breakfast she went to the house and with shaking
knees she knocked on the door. Sandro opened the door.
“Of all people, why him” she though.
He looked her over with the same look he had given her in
the van and Kim immediately felt uncomfortable. He stared at her
for a few long seconds before letting her in and she was led
into the house where Fernando was sitting at a large desk while
Marcella was lying on a couch watching satellite TV looking
really bored. Fernando instructed her to sit down and she did.
He explained that Gabriella had functioned as his secretary of
sorts. Despite how she might feel about the cartel it is a
business he explained. Kim had a hard time grasping that
concept.
“My daughter told me that you did legal work for other
prisoners over the last year or so and that you grew up in the
United States. I need someone that can speak fluent English.
Most of the people I supply to are in the United States and many
do not speak Spanish. My English is very basic at best and I
need someone to handle the communications” he explained.
“Are you any good with computers?” he then asked.
Kim nodded and explained that computer class was a
mandatory subject in middle and high school now. She was no
expert but she could handle basic stuff like word processing,
spreadsheets, emails and internet. Fernando nodded in approval.
“Then from now on you will be my new secretary” Fernando
announced.
He pointed to a small table in the corner of the room with
an old wooden kitchen chair. On the table were a laptop and a
phone.
“That is your desk” Fernando explained.
“Do not use the phone unless it is for cartel business. If
you make any calls that are not for the benefit of the business
you will be in serious trouble, same with email. The computer
has a satellite connection to the internet. You will do my
communications and handle financial transactions. The financial
transactions are secure and the codes are in an encrypted file
on the laptop. You do not have access to that file and when you
have a transaction set up I will enter the codes. If you keep
out of trouble you will have a very easy life here” Fernando
explained further.
Kim could not bear to think of staying with these criminals
for very long. She would rather go back to prison but as she had
learned in the last few years you can‟t always get what you
want. Over the next two days Fernando didn‟t have much for her
to do so she worked on familiarizing herself with the laptop and
looked through old communications to get a feel on what was
expected from her. She found the file with the bank codes but as
explained the file was password protected and she couldn‟t get
to them. The only other activity was the constant nagging of
Marcella to her “Papi” about being bored. Fernando was getting
more and more fed up with it and finally caved and told her she
could go stay at his brother‟s in Mexico City.
The cartel was a well organized family business. Fernando
was in charge and handled production, sales and finances. His
youngest brother was located in Mexico City and handled some
side business and odd jobs. Kim did not know what that meant but
it seemed like the side business was prostitution and gambling
while the odd jobs could be anything that came up like taking
care of reporters that stuck their noses into cartel business or
the like. The middle brother was in Juarez and he handled the
distribution which was more the trafficking of the drugs.
Kim was even happier than Marcella that Marcella had been
given permission to leave. Marcella was annoying and her boredom
and continuous whining was driving Kim nuts. The next day
Marcella left and Fernando too seemed glad to be rid of her for
a while. The problem was that Kim was not allowed to be in the
house by herself as they did not completely trust her yet and
thus there was a cartel member with her at all times when
Fernando left. The first few days it was one of the guys that
normally kept an eye on the plantation but more and more Sandro
would relieve whoever was keeping an eye on her. This was the
last person Kim wanted to be in one room with but she just tried
to ignore him. Sandro got friendlier and friendlier but Kim
wanted nothing to do with him.
At one point he told her she should come to his hut
tonight. It was much nicer than the others. Kim declined as
friendly as she could muster being totally repulsed by the
thought. Sandro was not happy about the rejection and clearly
did not like to hear no for an answer. He grabbed her arm and
pulled her toward him and told her it hadn‟t been a request.
Then he tried to kiss her but she resisted. At that moment
Fernando walked into the room and he was clearly not happy about
the scene that was playing out in front of him. He told Kim to
go get him some coffee and she gladly complied. Kim went into
the kitchen as she heard Fernando go off on Sandro in the other
room. Sandro had already cost him a good secretary and maybe he
hadn‟t noticed there weren‟t many left that could do the job.
When Fernando was done he had made it very clear to Sandro
that he was not to lay a finger on Kim and if he did than he
would find himself working the fields. When Kim returned with
the coffee she tried to pretend that nothing was wrong and put
the coffee on Fernando‟s desk. Fernando looked at her and told
her that Sandro would leave her be now and if he gave her any
trouble she should report it to Fernando. She thanked him
politely even though she felt as if it was just because she was
a valuable tool rather than a human being.
Fernando then told her that next week they would start
harvesting and things were going to get busy. The next day
Fernando stayed in the house the whole day and kept Kim busy
with emails and phone calls to clients in the United States.
Customers were everywhere; Pittsburg, LA, New York, Chicago,
Houston and even Milwaukee. Negotiations were constant and it
seemed no different than how it would work if they were selling
bananas except for the amounts. The amounts were almost
exclusively in the half a million dollar range and up. Even
though they were in Mexico nothing was negotiated in Pesos. Not
even with the two Mexican clients. The Mexicans did get a better
deal though which Kim thought was due to the fact that they
didn‟t have to cross the border with it and because it was just
cheaper in Mexico but Fernando kept their quantities to a
minimum where it would just keep them happy.
The whole crop was sold two days before the harvesting
started and next was the operational part of it all. Fernando‟s
brother had already setup the distribution channels and sent
over a list of accounts and amounts that needed to be paid for
services. The younger brother also sent some requests for
payments; those were mostly to government officials for bribes.
Kim was amazed at how well they had everything organized.
Fernando instructed her to setup the payments. One by one she
used the software on the laptop to setup the transactions
filling out everything except for the bank codes. Then she would
hand the laptop to Fernando and he would enter the bank codes
from the encrypted file. The codes were long and you needed a
photographic memory to remember them. When she took the laptop
back again she finished the transactions. There were three
accounts based in the Cayman Islands that the money was wired to
and between the three accounts, after all the payments were made
there was a balance of over one hundred and fifty million US
dollars. Kim couldn‟t believe it. Why didn‟t they just quit?
Retire and not take any more risks and most importantly stop
hurting people. She was disgusted with the display of greed.
At night the laptop was locked into the safe which only
Fernando and Sandro had the combination to. Kim had seen the
safe and it contained the laptop and large amounts of cash and
all the ID papers for the people that worked on the plantation.
It appeared that taking their papers was another way to keep
them under control. As if to say “We know who you are if you
cross us.” Sandro did not have access to the bank codes though,
only Fernando and maybe his brothers but likely they did not
either. They were all criminals after all and one did not trust
a criminal with your money even if they were family.
Sandro stopped by every now and then to meet with Fernando
and he spend as much time as he could get away with staring at
Kim which made her very uncomfortable but he let her be not
wishing to cross Fernando.
Chapter 30:
The day before the harvesting started more people were
brought in with trucks. They all seemed to be poor farmers that
signed up for it as there was no other work to find. They had
been in the back of the trucks for many hours and looked dazed
as the truck opened up. This was done so they didn‟t know where
they were and could not reveal the location after they were
done. All papers were collected. Two actually had passports but
most just a piece of paper with their information and a notary
seal from which ever town they came from. The papers were stored
in the safe with the rest in a shoebox which was not quite full.
Tents were setup for the new arrivals as the huts did not
have enough space. This was some operation Kim thought. The next
day after roll call the harvesting started and all the plants
were cut and dried. The process was slow and would take about a
week. Then about another week for all the plants to be
sufficiently dry and ready to be sorted. Overall it was going to
take a month before it was ready to ship. 80% of the estimated
crop had been sold already and the remainder would be sold as
soon as they had an exact count. After the harvest they would
spread more nutrients and re-sow for the next harvest. This was
a money making machine. Two days into the harvesting Kim was at
the house working on more correspondence with potential
customers for the remainder of the drugs and more payments for
preparations for the new crop. Sandro and Fernando were having a
meeting regarding the progress of the work when all of a sudden
shots were fired outside. Sandro and Fernando jumped up and went
outside.
A gun fight was ensuing with what appeared to be a large
group of military vehicles at the checkpoint at the entrance to
the valley. Quickly they rushed back inside and ordered Kim to
pack up the laptop. She stopped what she was doing and shoved
the laptop in the shoulder bag that it had come with. While she
packed up the laptop Fernando opened the safe and Sandro opened
the gun case. Fernando filled a small gym bag with several
stacks of US bills and then dumped the content of the shoe box
in the bag and zipped it up. Sandro grabbed two large semi
automatic rifles and handed one to Fernando and then filled a
pouch with additional clips. For a moment he stared at Kim
trying to decide if he should shoot her or also give her a gun.
Instead he decided she could be useful to carry stuff while he
could shoot.
Sandro took the gym bag from Fernando and handed it to Kim.
Kim flung the laptop bag over her shoulder and took the gym bag
by the handles. They ran to the back door and Sandro checked if
the coast was clear. There was much more gunfire by now and a
helicopter was flying overhead. The coast was clear and Sandro
stepped out and motioned for Fernando to come. Fernando ran out
and headed for the plants. The black netting and tall plants
would keep them concealed. Kim followed Fernando and Sandro
stayed by the door for cover. When Fernando was twenty feet away
from the plants Kim heard a few loud bangs from behind and saw
Fernando slump forward into the dirt. He had been shot three
times in the back. Kim turned and to her shock she only saw
Sandro. No Mexican soldiers like she expected. It took a second
to sink in and then she realized that Sandro had shot Fernando,
but why? Sandro ran over to Fernando‟s body and grabbed the
second rifle and flung it over his shoulder.