Page 10 of Born of Vengeance

(05:38 BRST):

It’s not morning. It’s war.

(05:39 BRST):

I need a name pulled. “Valderrama.” Colombian senator. Possibly connected to offshore logistics and smuggling networks.

(05:40 BRST):

Full name?

(05:40 BRST):

No first name yet. Just “Valderrama.” Recently linked to human trafficking at the Cartagena port.

(05:42 BRST):

Standby.

________________________________________

Luciana Vargas had once worked under Rafael’s command—embedded with Brazilian intelligence as a cyber analyst during a joint black ops program. She was young back then. Too sharp for her own good. She stayed behind a desk, but Rafael trusted her more than most men he’d served with in the field.

After the program collapsed, she went civilian—at least on paper. Now she lived in a small house outside São Paulo with an unregistered satellite rig in her basement and a reputation for knowing things she shouldn’t.

The chat blinked.

(05:52 BRST):

Found him. Héctor Manuel Valderrama. Colombian senator, District 7, central office in Bogotá. Charismatic. Clean voting record. Pro-reform. Speaks at international forums.

(05:52 BRST):

But?

(05:53 BRST):

Offshore shell companies registered in Panama, the Caymans, and Liechtenstein. Several routing through agricultural subsidies and import/export firms.

(05:54 BRST):

Fronts?

(05:54 BRST):

Almost certainly. Traced at least three suspicious shipments through a flagged customs broker. One of the ships—the Santa Nieve—was listed as carrying mechanical parts. That same ship was mentioned in a missing persons report filed by a Venezuelan NGO two months ago.

Rafael leaned back in the chair.

It wasn’t a whisper anymore.

It had a face. A title. Power.

(05:56 BRST):

Can you connect him directly to the port runners?

(05:56 BRST):