Black Coke Read Free

away and joined the others. They flew north. Within seconds, the clamour of the rainforest had taken over again, monkeys chattering overhead.
     
    Nathan turned to Manuel. ‘You have to let me know what’s going on here.’
     
    ‘They’re hunting for survivors,’ Manuel said as they rose to their feet.
     
    ‘So far from the attack zone?’
     
    ‘It’s possible.’
     
    ‘Seems odd.’
     
    A shadow shifted. Nathan grabbed Manuel’s arm. They crouched. Something was making its way through the foliage roughly twenty metres away. It stopped. Nathan lifted his rifle. For a moment, he lost sight of the shadow amid the myriad shades of the undergrowth. Then it stirred again. It was the silhouette of a person.
     
    Had someone been following them?
     
    Nathan’s index curled round the trigger.
     
    The shadow moved away. There was the regular thud of a machete chopping its way through branches and vines.
     
    They waited in silence.
     
    ‘I’m guessing that was who attracted the choppers,’ Nathan said eventually.
     
    ‘The forest is full of people.’
     
    ‘Too much like coincidence.’
     
    Manuel shrugged.
     
    ‘Manuel, you need to tell me about Front 154.’
     
    Manuel wiped his machete clean of mud and leaves against a tree trunk.
     
    ‘Manuel?’
     
    ‘I know nothing.’
     
    ‘Oh, come on. You know you can trust me. You said yourself the other day that it’s all about trust and loyalty.’
     
    ‘That’s beside the point.’
     
    ‘I need to know for my report. Otherwise, it’s not even worth me writing it.’
     
    ‘No.’
     
    ‘Why not, for God’s sake? I’ve just spent six weeks in this hellhole and I’m not an inch closer to finding out what’s going on.’
     
    Manuel stood up. Nathan’s shoulders sagged. This was getting nowhere.
     
    ‘Okay,’ Manuel said, peering ahead into the rainforest.
     
    ‘Okay what?’
     
    ‘They’re a new paramilitary cartel. They kill people and steal cocaine, then sell it in America and Europe. They’re making big money.’
     
    ‘How do you know this?’
     
    ‘The campesinos tell me,’ Manuel said over his shoulder as he hacked his way forward.
     
    ‘But they don’t tell me.’
     
    ‘No.’
     
    Nathan caught up with him. ‘Why not?’
     
    ‘Because they fear you’re with the Front. Why else?’
     
    ‘What the hell?’ Nathan said. ‘That’s crazy.’
     
    ‘Listen to me.’ Manuel twisted round. ‘Colombia’s not the UK. There’s been war here for fifty years. Politicians, narcotraffickers, Pablo Escobar, death squads, the FARC, the CIA, the DEA, the ASI. Everyone fucks this country. Front 154 is just one more bunch of bad guys.’
     
    ‘So why doesn’t anyone want to talk about them?’
     
    ‘Mala suerte.’
     
    ‘Speaking about them will bring bad luck?’
     
    Manuel nodded.
     
    ‘Who’s the head of Front 154?’ Nathan said.
     
    Manuel resumed his march.
     
    ‘Manuel?’
     
    ‘Nobody knows.’
     
    ‘Any idea?’
     
    ‘No.’
     
    They trudged on in silence, Nathan swallowing his frustration at Manuel’s lack of communication.
     
    ‘Where we going?’ Nathan said after a while.
     
    ‘A village. My cousins live there.’
     
    ‘Further north?’
     
    ‘Yes.’
     
    ‘That’s where the choppers were—’
     
    ‘I know.’
     
    They slogged through another two miles of mud and forest. Hundreds of frogs erupted into a chorus of croaks as they waded through a swamp. Red and blue flashed to their left. Nathan raised his rifle. He relaxed as a macaw fluttered away.
     
    They found a spot for the night. Nathan hacked down some branches and built himself a makeshift tent with large leaves as overhead canvas and thick sticks as tent poles. He lit a cigarette and burnt off the leeches that clung to his legs. Darkness descended as soon as the sun went down. They took turns to sleep, but Nathan found it hard to drift off. His mind kept going over the day’s events.
     
    The attackers had been highly