Frederick Forsyth's - "The Cobra" Quiz

Answer: Barack Obama

Although the president is not named, there are enough clues to his identity i.e. being raised by his grandmother and his father being Kenyan. He does not think about the international drug trade a lot, until a White House dinner in September 2010. That night one of the waitresses breaks down crying in front of the guests.

The First Lady comforts her in the kitchen, and the old woman apologies; her grandson has just died from a drug overdose. The President gives the matter a lot of thought that night and comes to a decision.

The next day he orders a report about the drug in question. Then he wants a recommendation about who to hire to eliminate this problem from the USA once and for all.

Answer: Both of these things

Paul Devereaux worked for the CIA in the Cold War and was promoted to Director in its aftermath. He is a very pious but emotionless man with no friends. He was nicknamed "The Cobra" by the CIA staff years ago, and the name stuck. He is the man recommended to The President to head the new project to smash an international drug trade. He decides to name the project after himself.

Answer: Cal Dexter - "The Avenger"

Although this book is called "Cobra", Cal Dexter features in it a lot more than The Cobra himself. It's fair to say he does a lot more work, too! Paul Devereaux asks Cal to be his deputy in project Cobra. In "The Avenger" Cal inadvertently foiled a CIA plot to the catch Osama Bin Laden, before the September 11 attacks. Of course Cal wasn't to know, but Devereaux was furious. Why after nearly ten years does Devereaux want Cal to be his deputy? When Cal asks this, Paul admits over the phone "Simple - you're the only man who ever out-witted me."

Answer: Cocaine

Frederick Forsyth was praised for his extensive research into cocaine's origins, its effects, and its estimated value worldwide. In this novel the head of the Colombian "brotherhood" of cocaine distributors is Don Diego Esteban. Over the years he has "encouraged" other operators in his country to join him or sell their business to him (or else).

He has an inner circle of about a dozen men, including his chief enforcer Paco Valdez "The Animal". The Animal is feared, even by the rest of the Cartel.

Not even Cartel members immune if they let The Don down. Case in point: the previous head of transportation was "replaced" last year because his new ideas for shipping to the States failed.

Answer: False

It is run from Washington DC, but in a shabby warehouse in Anacostia. (Ironically the same neighbourhood where the old woman's grandson died.) Certainly not the White House, because officially this project does not exist. Only The President and his grumpy chief-of-staff Jonathan Silver know about it. Devereaux and Silver do not get on. Silver frequently questions Devereaux's methods and lack of respect for the Oval Office. I think Devereaux respected the office itself, just not its grumpy spokesman.

The British Prime Minister eventually agrees to help the project too so Paul is able to recruit US Marines and Royal Marines. He points out that the common element in all the Cartel's smuggling is the ocean. No one sees how that helps, but Paul's next step is to send Cal Dexter off to purchase two large grain-ships. One for the British marines and the other for the Americans. Silver cannot help but wonder how this is going to help, as well.

The Cobra also flies down to Colombia and convinces a number of priests to pass on anything they hear during confession about cocaine-smuggling.

Their help also proves to be invaluable.

Answer: True

Poor Letizia is the daughter of Roberto Cardenas, the Cartel man who bribes customs officials and so forth. It's ironic that one of his family is caught smuggling drugs but is genuinely innocent. Cal Dexter found out about Letizia whilst tracking the movements of the Cartel's lawyer in Madrid.

The man goes fairly frequently to give large briefcases full of money to a certain Spanish gang. (No prizes for guessing what the gang "imports" from South America; as well as launders money for the Cartel.) The lawyer also regularly meets up with a young student to give her letters from her father, and take her replies to him. Cal is able to get a sample of Letizia's DNA and the Colombia authorities test it and inform their American friends who her father is.

After that, the Cobra arranges for a gigolo to seduce Letizia and later ask her to fly to the USA to be with him. Then Cal arranges for the Madrid police to slip some cocaine into Letizia's suitcase. Poor Letizia is arrested in New York and sent to jail. No one believes she isn't just another busted smuggler claiming innocence.

She is in tears, and more so when it turns out her fiance does not even exist. Cal thinks this is hardly fair, but Paul points out they have to fight a war like this even dirtier than the drug-barons do.

Answer: A member of the Cartel co-operates with The Cobra

The Cobra framed Letizia so they could "encourage" her father to help. For weeks Roberto Cardenas has been going out of his mind. His only daughter is stuck in an American jail and the lawyers say the chances of a jury acquitting her are slim. But in Madrid his lawyer is astonished to find a new letter for Letizia's father in his suitcase.

But it's from Cal Dexter - who wants to meet him! Cal, very bravely, goes alone to Colombia and meets Cardenas in a hotel room. Cardenas points out he could kill him or threaten his life in exchange for Letizia's freedom.

But Cal points out he has no influence with the American courts, and he isn't important enough to ransom. Letizia's only hope is the Spanish authorities admitting they framed her, or finding someone to claim they did. Cal then narrowly escapes by helicopter from the roof! (He mutters he is getting too old for this sort of thing.) Cardenas finally relents.

He prepares a flash-drive with the names of all Cartel employees at docks and airports around the world. Soon afterward the Spanish police "find" a drug smuggler who "admits" to putting his cocaine into a girl's suitcase at Madrid airport "some weeks ago". Letizia is flown home to Spain. No apologies from the US Dept. of Corrections or DEA but Letizia is too relieved to notice.

In Colombia, her father is just as relieved but knows he does not have long left to live...

Answer: It doesn't - his death is faked

It is rather clever the way Cal and The Cobra recruit Juan. He is a Colombian ship-welder the Cartel has used for years to add secret compartments to ships. He's not an evil man, he just wants to make a good life for his wife and son. But one night when he is driving home he is kidnapped by Cal Dexter and some US Marines.

They put a dead homeless man in the vehicle instead, put Cortez's clothing and possessions on him, and make the vehicle crash and burn. Juan's "widow" and son are distraught at the funeral and The Don is convinced the death is real.

When Juan wakes up he's in a luxurious country home in the USA. Cal Dexter walks in and explains everything. They are happy to have Juan stay here in the United States, as long as he gives them the name of every ship he ever installed a secret compartment. Juan refuses, he just wants to go home.

But Cal points out if he does, the Cartel will think he's betrayed them and act accordingly. So Juan agrees, especially when Cal points out Juan's son would have more careers to choose from here than in Colombia.

When Juan's family is flown to the USA, there is a joyful and tearful reunion.

Answer: DEA agents disguised as prostitutes

Thanks to the information provided by Juan Cortez, Roberto Cardenas and various priests, Project Cobra begins in the middle of 2011. They have been given a virtually unlimited budget by the White House, so all their unorthodox schemes can take place. Soon, cocaine-carrying planes flying from Colombia to West Africa and Europe are shot down by an unknown pilot named Major Mendoza (his teenage brother died from cocaine, so he was easy to recruit). Cartel ships in the Atlantic are raided by the British "grain" ship appearing from nowhere, the crews taken prisoner, the drugs confiscated, and the boats sunk - all with no witnesses.

The US phony grain ship does the same in the Caribbean. Thanks to two Golden Hawk satellites in the air, Cobra headquarters in Anacostia knows exactly where to find the smugglers.

The Don cannot understand why his boats and ships are not reaching customers. He receives numerous complaints about shipments never arriving, but there's no sign that the ships sank or that the authorities caught them.

It's like they're vanishing into thin air!

Answer: The Don's hitmen take care of him

The Cartel begins to suspect a traitor. Especially when shipments that DO arrive are seized at port by the police. One-by-one bribed custom officials are caught in the act - and their bank accounts used as evidence. Using common sense The Cartel assume Cardenas must have betrayed them! (He's the only one who knows the account numbers.) The Don is furious, he sends his trusted "Animal" and a hit squad to visit Cardenas. Cardenas is able to gun a few down, and put a shot through "The Animal"'s hand, but then he is as dead as the victims of his merchandise.

Answer: It turns drug-dealing gangs against each other

Paul's plan is simple: create as much confusion and suspicion as possible and the criminals will turn on each other. It works: after months of shipments from Colombia vanishing without trace, The Cartel thinks customers or local African governments are lying and, in fact, stealing their coke. So The Don sends The Animal and go to murder all the associates he suspects, even though there's no proof.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Things escalate after the blog in the US implies that certain gangs have the few remaining bundles of coke, when in fact they don't.

This blog sparks a gang warfare across the US that marks the beginning of the 2011-12 worldwide epidemic of drug-related bloodshed.

Answer: False

To the surprise of the US marines, Cal Dexter starts letting cocaine-carrying ships go. He comes aboard during a seizure one day, goes to the secret compartment Juan Cortez installed, and finds the drugs. But then he comes back on deck, shakes his head, and the soldiers apologise profoundly to the drug-smugglers and let them go.

The captain and crew are bewildered, but too relieved to question their good fortune. Cal does the same the next time his British ship seizes a smugglers' ship. What nobody knows, is Cal actually removed the drugs after all.

But he replaced them with a bunch seized months ago during another raid. This increases the already-brewing level of drug-murders around the globe. The intended customers of course complained to The Don they never got their shipments.

But when the authorities capture the coke Cal's planted in the buyers' possession, and the newspapers take photos of the drug-packets' code-numbers, The Cartel recognize those numbers. The Don is even more furious.

The US gangs have been lying and stealing from him too! So now cocaine-importers are not just worrying about other gangs. They're worrying about the Colombian hit squads coming to visit them. The Animal himself goes to Italy to lead a massacre at a bar and is killed by the bartender.

Answer: They are appalled at the loss of life

Project Cobra is doing exactly what its namesake intended. It's stopping most of the cocaine from reaching the US - but the president and his chief-of-staff are far from happy. Even though gangs members and mobsters are dying almost daily, so are civilians caught in the crossfire.

When Paul Devereaux is summoned to Silver's office, he points out the number of innocents being killed is about the same as an Independence Weekend road toll. But that isn't really the point. The US, and European countries, are turning into virtual war-zones. During a TV interview a British criminologist said this sort of thing is inevitable if the world's coke supply dries up. Sorry says Silver, but the president wants Devereaux to cancel his project - today. Paul is bitter about all his hard work going down the drain.

He points out America has unleashed such carnage before - in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they obviously can't handle it if it hits their own soil.

Answer: The Cobra joins forces with the drug lords

Every Frederick Forsyth novel has an expected change towards the end. His books are so popular because these twists usually make one's jaw drop! When I read this book I tried predicting what it would be, and this question's wrong answers are my wrong guesses.

When Project Cobra is canceled the Cobra himself is very put out. He leaves the White House coolly and unperturbed as usual. But then he flies down to Colombia to meet the despotic Don Diego. Both men are pious so Paul meets him in a church to avoid being killed.

The furious Don Diego's coke empire is in ruins and he wants to shoot this man on the spot. But Paul points out the only hope for the Don's business is obtaining a large stock of cocaine to rejuvenate customer faith. And Paul has such a stock - everything the marines confiscated from the captured ships.

The Don agrees to buy it from Paul for one billion dollars. Readers think that this is the final trick played on the bad guys by The Cobra. Cal Dexter thinks so too. But when he is ordered to fly to a remote island to burn all the captured coke, he finds it's actually baking soda.

He cannot believe it! Devereaux HAS sold the coke to The Don after all!

Answer: The drug lords murder him in his home

The final shipment of cocaine does not reach Colombia after all. When Cal realises where it's gone, he quickly contacts Mendoza and convinces the Brazilian pilot to fly one last mission. At the last minute, Major Mendoza locates The Cartel's boat close to the Colombian coast and sinks it with machine-gun fire.

However he aims the shots in a way that lets the crew get to the lifeboats in time. But then his plane runs out of fuel and he has to eject. He is arrested, but an official from the US embassy arranges for his release and he goes home.

As for Paul Devereaux, he doesn't appear at church for a while. When the worrying parish priest goes to his house he finds the bullet-ridden bodies of The Cobra and his poor housekeeper. When Cal Dexter hears, he shakes his head sadly.

He goes to buy his groceries and the youngster behind the counter offers him a diet Coke. But Cal has gone off Coke...