It was quite late already, around 11 o’clock on a Monday night. The streets were very quite on Monday nights, probably the quietest night in the week, the Rumba of the weekend had ended, and most bars and clubs are closed on Mondays. Tom and Jim walked up the fourth avenue towards the intersection where it all happened. It was a surreal walk at that time of the night, and an almost full moon made it a bright night. Old Colonial houses lined up both sides of the 4th avenue, and many of the house facades and porches were decorated with lovely black sculptures. When they got to the intersection, Tom pointed out the flower bed to Jim, “There” he said almost whispering, and pointed to the flower bed by nodding his head towards it, he did not want to point with his finger, afraid that someone would notice; the streets were empty except for the occasional by passer. “Wait here and keep and eye, while I take a look” Tom walked towards the flower bed. He stood in front of it and tried to concentrate; he brought up the image of the chase in his mind, and tried to remember which plants were raffled. Then he crouched down and looked under the plants in the flower bed, where he thought the object would have landed. In the faint light, he managed to glimpse a black purse, lying between the plants, just were he thought it would be. He looked up at Jim, and gestured to him to come closer. “I see something there between the bushes” he said. “Well, just get it” Jim replied, sounding impatient. “Don’t you think we should just call the police” Tom hesitated. “Let’s see what it is first, we don’t want to bother the police if it is nothing” Jim replied. “Alright” Tom resigned, went closer to the flower bed while still crouching, then reached for the purse and grabbed it. He then quickly stood upright, and looked around to see if there were any by passers. He saw none.
They both stared at the purse. “Let’s open it” Jim said. Tom was feeling less worried now and more curious. He took one more look around, and when he could not see anyone else around, he opened the zipper of the purse, and they both peered into the purse. Inside there were plastic bags of different sizes, filled with a white powder, his hunch was right after all Tom thought, “Its coke isn’t it?” he asked Jim. “It looks like it” Jim replied, then reached into the purse, took out one small bag, opened it, and licked a bit of the powder with the tip of his tong, “Its coke, strong stuff too” he said. “Shouldn’t we hand it to the police?” Tom said warily. “I don’t think it is a good idea to go to the police, there will be too many questions. We could get into trouble” Jim replied. “We could be in even bigger trouble if we get caught with this stuff” Tom said, not backing of. “OK, let’s not do anything rash, lets think about it first” Jim said in a reconciling tone. “Alright maybe you are right” Tom as well did not want to continue the argument there on the street. Then with the corner of his eye, Tom glimpsed the silhouette of two figures appearing from around the corner, and approaching them. He looked up and the two figures became clearer; they were two policemen, they looked more like military than policemen; wearing khaki uniforms, and bullet proof vests, but Tom already knew that this how policemen generally dress in Colombia. Tom signaled to Jim with a slant movement of his head and eyes that something was behind him. Jim turned his head and saw the approaching policemen coming; they were now only a few meters away. Tom felt nervous, almost panicking, but he held his nerve, closed the zipper, and just held the purse tightly under his left hand, and against his waist. Jim seemed to handle the situation with more cool, and when the policemen reached them, he just casually looked at the them and said “Buenas notches”, the policemen returned the greeting, and just kept walking on; they did not appear to be interested in them.
There were a lot plastic bags, and they came in three different sizes. “How much is in these bags?” Tom asked. “The small ones are probably 1 gram bags, like the ones I usually buy. These look like 10 gram ones, and I would guess the large ones are 50 gram each” Jim said, while sifting through the content of the purse. “There is definitely more than 1Kg in here, probably 1 ½ Kg” he added. “What do we do with it?” Tom asked. “We sell it, and we make some money” Jim answered swiftly. Tom stared at him, shook his head and said: “I don’t know, it sounds crazy”. “Look, we could both use the money, I know what to do with this stuff, just let me handle it, I’ll do all the work, and we split the money, you’re the one who found it after all” Jim continued. Tom just started it him, not knowing what to say. “For you it will just be easy money, no risk and no effort. What do you say?” Jim pressed on. “I don’t know, it sounds like crazy idea” Tom repeated. “Think about it for a minute. You don’t need to do anything, and you get half the money, I am basically offering you free money. You and I know how traveling with some more man can make things so much more enjoyable” Jim added. Tom thought about it; really what does got to loose? And I do need the money; with that money he could go on his trip to the coast, and will not need to stay in Bogotá to teach English classes. “Alright, it’s a deal, but I get half the money, right” Tom said looking Jim straight in the eyes. “Half the money” Jim offered his hand for a shake, Tom shook it, both were grinning. “But where are we going to keep this stuff” Tom asked with a wary tone, “I don’t think the hostel is the best place to keep it” he added. “I have an idea.
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