Then he laughed.
It wasn't joy. It was the kind of laugh one gives after being outmaneuvered, forced to admit the opponent has some skill.
"Tell The Pentagon, stop analyzing it," he said, "those people won't attack our base. They just want to tell the United States — things are under my control here now."
Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan, Port.
Hendrick stood on the dock, watching the approaching cargo ship.
The ship was large, its deck stacked with containers. It was registered in Panama, flagged in Liberia, en route from Brazil to Morocco.
But the cargo hold wasn't filled with coffee beans; it was packed with semi-processed cocaine. Brazil's drug cartel shipped coca paste here to be refined and packaged in Abidjan's factory, then sent to Europe.
"The Boss said," Hendrick told the newly appointed Director of Port Authority beside him, "all ships coming from Brazil will go through the green channel from now on. No customs clearance, no scanning, directly into the factory area."
