The Informant

Part 1.

I am hurrying over to the apartment. In my short dress and heels I struggle to go as fast as I can on the plastered streets. If I had known I was on my way over here and not work I would have worn something else, but there was no time. As soon as I heard about Gustavo's plan I had to get there as quickly as possible. "I am going to kill him", I'm thinking, "He is such a fucking asshole".

For some background information, my name is Maria Santiago. I am 24 years old. Originally, I was born in Bogota, a city in Colombia, but my Parents and my older brother moved out to Miami to follow the oh so great American dream when I was 1 year old. Growing up in Miami, I wasn't always the best child. With my older brother getting caught in some sneaky business I soon came to realize that you have to fight dirty to get through the world and you always have to stand up for yourself. Miami is not necessarily the best place to raise a child, especially during the 60s. When I was 12, I saw my first dead body outside of a night club on my way to school. Since then, it hasn't gotten any better. It was not like I was involved in any of the illegal business that was going on in Miami at the time, but I learned how to survive and stay alive.

When I was 17, my older brother moved back to Columbia, to Medellin for his business purposes. He started to get into the drug business in Miami and once he became more and more involved it made sense for him to move to the city from where they were controlling it all. My parents barely made enough money, my mom was a nurse and my dad a constructor, and since my brother was getting richer by the minute, my parents send me to live with him when I turned 18.

My parents never fully knew what business he was involved in, but they didn't seem to care either as long as it put a roof above their head as well. Medellin seemed to be an even scarier place than Miami at the time. The narcos were ruling the place. Drugs were sold at every corner, and you barely spend a day without hearing any guns shots. Seems rather dangerous, but not if you are on the right side of the war. Esteban, my brother worked for the most wanted man at the time, I am sure you can guess who I am talking about. Pablo Escobar. He was their financial manager so to say, but he also more than often or not flew with the transports back to Miami. I started working when I was 18. My brother would have never let me touch cocaine or anything before than or even step a foot into the business until I was of age.

In the beginning, he lived in the mansion with some of the other guys. They liked to have everything under one roof so Pablo could control whatever was going on and they trusted him. So, since he lived there, and I moved in with him, I also stayed in the famous Pablo Escobar mansion. Crazy I know, but not as exciting as one might think. Living there had a price and I had to contribute something as well. I was their informant more or less. I had information on everyone, I knew who was involved with anything, deliveries that were being made by who and to whom. If someone was going to get killed, I heard about it weeks ahead. I was there to pass along any information I heard on the street or received on one end to the other. Besides that, I would also complete deliveries of either packages of coke, guns, money or other things within the city.

Alongside us in the house were Pablo's wife Tata, Carlos Leader, Juan Hernandez and Pablo's Cousin Gustavo. Gustavo... we'll get to him a little later... Another thing about me is that I was, I guess you could say wild... Growing up in Miami I started drinking alcohol, taking drugs, and going out at an early age with my best friend Amy. She stayed in the US when I moved over here, and we lost contact as the years went on. But the partying didn't change when I went to Medellin and being alongside the right people you could get anything for free and get in anywhere.

Pablo would always invite everyone he knew and trust, so I was alongside them most of the time. And to be honest, it was quite fun. I am not going to lie; I am trying to paint a picture here of who I am. I guess you could say that I'm not the ugliest person when I walk into the room. Being rather tall, long legs, skinny but still with the right amount of boobs, slightly tanned and brown hair with green eyes, I caught enough people's attention when we were out, and I used that to my advantage. I am not a slut or anything, but I do have to admit that I had rather a lot of fun the first couple years I came to Medellin. I mean you sent out an 18-year-old to live with her brother, protected by drug lords and having more money than she could ever imagine... I was going crazy.

When I turned 20, my brother married his pregnant girlfriend, Sara. They were a very cute couple to say the least. With their first child on the way he decided working in the drug business probably wasn't the safest, so he left and moved back to America. I can't blame him; he was so in love and he just wanted the best for his family. Me on the other hand? I stayed. I didn't really have a choice, I mean I wasn't going to move back in with my parents, and I for sure wasn't going to go with him and his little new family. I had saved up some money but not enough to live on my own and Pablo offered me to continue to stay in the house if I continued to work for him, so that's what I did.

One of my closest people in the house I became friends with was Juan Hernandez. He was one of Pablo's business partners and controlled three different labs where they were producing their products. He was a sweet guy so I'm not quite sure how he got in the business, but he always watched out for me. He would comfort me if I had any "boy troubles", he would protect me if I got into heating situations and he always made sure the guys kept their hands off me... more or less.

Living in a house with the most famous and influential members of the narcos, they were used to having whores or hookers around the house. But still, I was no slut. I am not saying I would always play hard to get, but if you really wanted me, you had to prove it and win me over. It was also more like I decided who I wanted. Out of everyone I met, of course Gustavo was the one who made it his mission to have me spread my legs for him. He could have probably had anyone in Medellin, or even bought anyone, but he wanted me and I was quite flattered in the beginning.

I was "dating" him for maybe 2 years. I was 20, not long after my brother left, when we first started dating and he was 27... seems about right. I don't know if it was his influence and power and his age that made me so attracted to him, and the way he was very protective of me, but I was head over heels in love, at least in the beginning. It was some of the most fun times I have had but probably also the most toxic relationship I ever had. We would party, take drugs, get hammered, fuck, fight, break up and then fuck again and get back together. It was an endless circle and if the sex wasn't that good, I think we would have broken up way sooner.

Eventually I caught him with one of the prostitutes, fucking her on the kitchen table which probably wasn't the first time, but it was the first time I caught him in the act. After another big fight, I ran out on him, I couldn't do it anymore. Too bad I still had to live with him under one roof but besides some sneaky side eyes and him checking me out, nothing big happened after we broke up for good. Another year passed and I decided that being 23 years old I should move out and be on my own. I got a small apartment in the center of the city where I lived alone. I would still be at the house some of the time since I still did some of the work, or visited my Juan, but I tried to distance myself as much as I could from the drug business. Eventually I stopped working completely for Pablo. His business was big enough and he had plenty of partners or volunteers that would get the dirty work done. I'm not quite sure how I made it out alive, but he let me leave and I am honestly quite grateful for that.

With only having a Highschool degree and no work experience in the past 5 years that I could write down in my resume I didn't had a lot of work choices, so I started off as a waitress in one of the cafes during the day, and then dancing during the night. I don't like to call myself a stripper just because of all the negative association people make with it, but that is basically what I am. I won't get completely naked on stage, but I also don't wear more than a bra and a thong. At least I am a hit, the guys love me and I make a solid amount of money. While I was getting out of the business, Juan was getting deeper and deeper into it, and I started to worry about him since the drug war got more heated.

With Pablo and the Narcos gaining more and more power, the DEA was getting more and more involved trying to stop them and taking them down one by one. The killings became more on both sides. I knew Juan was one of the better-known people in the group since his position rose in importance as the business got bigger and bigger. Fast forward to now, it's the year 1977 and I am 24 and the DEA and Narcos are at the biggest drug war there ever was. Which leads me to where I am now.

I am currently on my way to one of the Narco's apartments where Gustavo apparently just beat up Juan and is planning on silencing him in ways I don't want to imagine. I'm not quite sure what he did to fuck up this bad but I'm worried.
I can only hope I'll get there in time and while Juan is still alive.