PALILLO AND I touched down in the Blackhawk at first light and were immediately transported from Garbanzos airstrip to the XVIII Battalion. Although we were dead tired, a lieutenant escorted us through the gates and into an upstairs administration block, where she seated us in a drab debriefing room with grey concrete walls, a wooden table and three chairs.
‘The colonel wants a full account of your actions,’ she said, looking at her watch. ‘He’ll join you in exactly one hour.’
During the helicopter flight, Palillo had twitched with unusual excitement, as though bursting to tell me a secret. As soon as the door closed, he blurted it out. ‘Guess what I found while doing perimeter protection for you?’ he said. ‘This!’ It was a small laminated piece of paper containing GPS coordinates, two compass bearings and distances marked in metres that led to a precise spot marked with an ‘X’ and named El Abrazo, meaning The Hug.
‘It’s a map leading to a guaca! I’m sure of it. I found it on one of Caraquemada’s bodyguards I’d shot outside the camp. He was creeping along slowly, and I thought he was circling around to ambush you, but he had this in his hand, and a compass.’ Palillo claimed he would have dug it up immediately except boarding the army Blackhawk carrying millions of dollars might have raised eyebrows. ‘But we need to go back there right away.’
I laughed. ‘Hugs and crosses don’t make a map.’
‘But distances, bearings and a landmark with a codename do.’
‘Even if it is a map it might lead to cocaine or dead bodies.’
‘Cocaine would be shipped out immediately. And why would they kill their own workers then draw a map to their graves? It’s definitely money.’
‘Then the army will find it, or the Guerrilla might return.’
‘These distances and bearings lead to a location at least a kilometre from the lab. You think the army will dig that far out? Or that Caraquemada will limp back and find it without these precise directions?’
I disparaged his claims, but Palillo was adamant. ‘You owe me, hermano. Besides, what exactly were you doing while I was busy protecting your culo and making us rich?’
I recounted my tussle with Caraquemada and how I’d deliberately let him go.
When he heard this, Palillo slammed his fist on the conference table. ‘Are you completely loco? I spent two nights in the sweaty jungle ducking helicopters and dodging bullets to help you kill that fry-faced, glass-eyed bastardo. Why?’
‘Because I’m not angry anymore. I thought you’d be happy. No more revenge. It’s over, exactly as you wanted.’
Palillo’s expression changed from anger to sympathy.
‘You’re right. I’m sorry.’ He leaned across and hugged me. ‘Truly, I’m glad.’ Then he stood, punched both fists in the air and wiggled his hips. ‘And that means we’re one hundred per cent the fuck out of here.’
‘Not one hundred per cent,’ I cautioned. ‘Asking Trigeño for a discharge will be delicate.’
When Trigeño heard about the laboratory raid he’d be furious at losing so much money, and also worried the Díaz might talk. He might put La 50 into lockdown again. And since he already had problems with Beta, he’d want every available commander and soldier on duty protecting him. At the same time, I was determined to keep my promise to Camila to leave the Autodefensas.
Camila had seen things about me that I couldn’t see myself. Things I’d refused to see at the time, but now did. And in the meantime, I’d hurt her and I’d made her live in fear. I realised how hard it must have been for her to stay in love with me when she didn’t know where I was or what I was doing and, knowing every time I left her, that I might never come home. And how it must have felt to be caressed by hands she knew had taken human life. It must have been difficult for her to be proud of being my girlfriend when everyone around judged her. She had defied her father’s warnings, ignored her friends’ advice and stayed with me through it all, until I finally proved myself to be just as bad as the men I was hunting.
After all I had done and all that she had suffered, I felt I owed her everything. Unfortunately, until I heard it from Trigeño’s mouth, I would not be properly out of the Autodefensas. And until I was safely out, I could not make us truly safe.
‘Then how will we leave safely?’ asked Palillo.
‘This might help.’ I held up the memory stick.
Before Buitrago arrived, we requested a laptop from his lieutenant, purportedly to begin typing our statements. Even after all I’d seen and learned, the three photos and single video file it contained startled me.
The photos, taken during the day at some distance, showed uniformed Autodefensas I recognised from Beta’s intelligence-gathering team playing football with a severed head. Another shot showed two soldiers dragging a corpse with no legs along behind them. The last and most damning photo proved Yolanda Delgado’s allegation. It showed Beta standing in the middle of the plaza, pointing towards the river as he gave an order. Trigeño could no longer deny he was behind the Puerto Galán limpieza.
I was disgusted although not surprised. I’d always known the various tortures sounded similar to the work of Beta and El Psycho. However, I hadn’t expected the level of open depravity they’d reached, not even attempting to hide their despicable crimes.
The brief video was from months earlier and must have been edited from a much longer recording, secretly filmed by the mistrustful Caraquemada during a meeting. It showed Javier and Fabián Díaz walking beside Beta as they inspected the partially constructed cocaine laboratory.
As they reached the yellow chemical barrels, Javier pointed and Beta made a radio call. ‘Patrón, I’m here with the partners. They require more yellow.’
‘I’ll send them more yellow,’ came the clear reply, ‘but we need the white in those earth-moving vehicles by next Friday.’
The recording stopped there.
‘Holy Mother of God,’ said Palillo slowly, turning wide-eyed to look at me.
We both knew that voice well: Trigeño’s.
I’d known instinctively that Caraquemada was telling the truth, but seeing the evidence of Trigeño’s duplicity for myself sent shivers down my spine. Caraquemada was right about it being an insurance policy. This video would bring down the Díazes and Beta. But Trigeño would be brought down too.
‘Colonel,’ I said as Buitrago entered the room. ‘There’s something you need to see.’