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CHAPTER TWO

COMING TO PARADISE

Surfing, sex and cocaine were Rafael’s passions, but the sport of Hawaiian kings had come first. As a child he had natural flair on a board, riding Rio’s waves with grace and agility. The rush of hurtling down a breaking wave, and sense of freedom quickly had him hooked – the same potent emotions that drug trafficking later induced. But surfing was his first love and the young boy dreamt about one day going to a faraway tropical island called Bali.

When his chance came, typically it involved a girl. Flying home from a surf comp in South Brazil, he flirted with the flight attendant and before hitting the tarmac, he had her number. Soon they were dating and the girl put her hot new boyfriend’s name down to share the airline’s free flights for staff-plus-one to anywhere in the world.

Before long they hit the skies to Bali. Rafael fell in love, but more so with the island than the girl. After a month’s holiday, she flew home alone. The sunshine, palm-fringed beaches and

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