Chapter 8

The docks at Lima in Peru were run down. They would have appreciated being torn down, the materials recycled and a fresh new port being created. Obviously impractical and, for a poor country, definitely not possible. So the seafarers of South America and further afield made do with what they had.

The port of Lima was a place that you did not want to stay for any length of time.

This suited Natalia just fine. People in Lima were not aware of her and she did not care about them or anyone that she did not need to know. For those people that needed her and for those people that she needed, Natalia was one to watch in every way.

Natalia was the youngest daughter of Lima’s mafia boss, Helis Morales, and what Senor Morales said was done. He had his fingers in all of Lima’s money-making pies. The tourist trade was a major money-spinner for the Morales family. Senor Morales had made a wealthy living, successfully ripping off many of the tribal peoples of Peru who sought to sell their leather wares, shawls and alpaca or llama goods in the department stores and growing mini-shopping malls at the centre of Peru’s capital.

These goods would have to travel large distances down from the Andes Mountains. The tribal people were not aware of the value of their wares in Europe and the US and, even though they believed they were receiving a fair price, Senor Morales had the contacts and the distribution network to triple the value of these beautifully made and very collectible items.

The leather wallets, bags and belts sold quickest. The market for alpaca shawls and fleeces was rapidly increasing. Senor Morales and his organisation owned the market, ran the market and did everything in their organisation’s power to snuff competition. Any competitors were removed. Permanently.

Natalia enjoyed her work. She took delight in playing with other people’s lives. She glowed warm inside when something she said could bring a look of horror, of animal fear, to a potential competitor. She would gain their confidence and use her sexual charms and flirtatious nature. Although she was not classically attractive, she made people stop and stare and it all helped when blackmailing the opposition. If the blackmail did not work, she talked to her brothers. Her brothers took pride in looking after their baby sister and, if Natalia made a request, they enjoyed seeing it through. Family values were important to the Morales. The kindred spirit ensured none of the Morales let each other down.

So, in full knowledge of the Morales’s family reputation, it was with trepidation that the tribal men now stood in the 1970’s dilapidated warehouse on the edge of Lima docks. The three had met the mule train further south at the foothills of the Andes mountain range. They now gazed intently at the tall Spanish lady, with dark, shoulder length hair, grey-green eyes and dark red lipstick. It exaggerated the slight sneer with which she returned their attempt at eye contact.

“You have not brought all of the packages that we requested you bring senores, why?” Natalia walked close to each man and behind the back of each of them, clicking across the reinforced concrete of the warehouse floor in her impractical stilettos.

Their volunteered leader appealed defensively, “We understand that the Bolivian convoy was attacked by government forces, and that there was a landslide on the normal passage through the high Andes.”

“What has this to do with me?” demanded Natalia. “We make an order, and we expect it to be delivered. If it is not delivered, or part of it is delivered, or it is not of sufficient quality, then there are consequences.”

The leader bravely, or perhaps stupidly, stayed put, “It is not our fault that we have delivered to you only part of what you have ordered, senorita. The matter has been out of our control and we require our normal payment for bringing the remainder of the order to you.”

Natalia looked at all three men calmly and directly in the eyes, “I think you will learn not to cross the Morales family. This is an insult, and we do not like being insulted.”

Natalia indicated to her elder brothers who had been standing in the shadow of the steel portal frame.

“Brothers, I need you to deal with these men,” and she turned away and clipped across the warehouse floor, back into the dirt and grime of Lima docks.