The burgeoning cocaine trade is brought to the attention of the President of the United States when the teenage grandson of one of the kitchen servers overdoses on cocaine and dies. He challenges the DEA to determine whether or not the trade could be extinguished and, if so, how. Reading the report offered, the President consults with Homeland Security and the other 13 primary intelligence gathering groups of the US. The advice of Peter Devereaux, a retired special ops officer of an old aristocratic Massachusetts family, is sought. He had been retired early because of his utter ruthlessness.

Spending several months investigating if and how the cartel could be destroyed brought Deveraux to the conclusion that it could be, if certain of his conditions were met. They require a deposit of two billion dollars as working capital with total discretion for the spending of it and no accountability for his actions, together with the full support of all military and security agencies, with no questions asked. The President complies, appointing Jonathan Silver as the liaison. Devereaux had been known as the Cobra and the aptness of his name and the code name for the project becomes quickly apparent.

The cocaine trade had become centralized in Colombia again and the head of the agglomerated syndicate is Don Diego Esteban. His board consists of carefully delineated compartments. Emilio Sanchez is head of production, which entails dealing with the peasants to acquire product and reducing it to the paste necessary to convert it to the white powder the world is so unfortunately familiar with. One kilo or 2.2 pounds rises in value from $4000 to $70,000 dollars just by traveling the three thousand miles from the coast of Columbia to the US or the 5000 miles to Europe. Thereafter, there may be twenty traders between the cartel and the end user; each potentially adulterating the product often with ketamine to increase volume and profit.

Another board member Alfredo Suarez is head of transportation who ensures the delivery of product to purchasers. Jose-Maria Largo is in charge of merchandising and concluding the deals with purchasing gangs spread throughout the world. Robert Cardenas is the facilitator or briber of customs officials throughout the world, and greatly feared Paco Valdez, the misanthropic cruel and merciless "Enforcer." Finally, in charge of laundering the profits is Julio Luz, an attorney who dealt in financial and banking law. Well organized, the cartel is amassing billions of dollars profit yearly.

Devereaux analyzes the weak point to be the transportation of product to Europe and to the US as the financial loss from impounded cocaine is borne by the cartel up until the point and place of delivery and acceptance by the gangs. Credit worthy gangs could obtain delivery with 50% down, others paid 100% on order.

What follows is the multi-pronged attack by the Cobra on the cartel. It might have become boring if it were totally linear, but the author adds enough twists to leave the reader at the end wondering if they ever understood exactly what was going on. It does appear from first reading to be an unequaled game plan for a DEA that could function without accountability...the reader is also left wondering how wise that would be.

--Thea Davis