American Made meets Free Solo in an action-packed exposé of the 1970s US political landscape.
The screenplay (10 episodes) is taken from the first story in Everest, Guns & Money – The Original 9/11 – and published by One Tree Press in March 2024.
For production rights and to read the first 2 episodes please contact:
Anthony Palmer: anthony(at)hyper.net.au
Chris Dewhirst: chrsdewhirst(at)gmail.com
THE ABSTRACT
September 11, 2001 was the worst single terrorist incident in US history when 2,996 people died in an attack on the Pentagon and the New York City Twin Towers.
Without doubt the event was planned for ideological reasons by Osama Bin Laden and carried out by 19 hijackers, mostly from Saudi Arabia who were trained to do the job in US flying schools.
Osama Bin Laden believed the USA was the great Satan-State, threatening the future of Islam and wanted it destroyed, which in his mind justified mass murder.
September 11, 1973 was the worst single terrorist incident in Chile’s history when over 3,000 people died in a successful coup launched by General Pinochet and his fascist thugs against the democratically elected Government led by President Salvador Allende.
Without doubt the event was instigated for ideological reasons by the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger who opened the door to the coup by ordering General René Schneider murdered.
Henry Kissinger believed that Chile’s President Salvador Allende was a socialist and US investments in Chile were at risk, which in his mind justified mass murder.
Slipstream does not conflate, compare or contrast these two evil events but shows through story-telling the perverted personal psyche that drives particular individuals in positions of power to pursue mass murder for ideological reasons.
THE STORY:
In September 1973 four climbers who met at the counter-culture rock-climbing scene that took root in Yosemite during the last years of the Vietnam War – Jim Bridwell, Jan Reynolds, Chris Dewtin and Rick Bianco – investigate a mysterious night-time plane crash they’d heard while undertaking an El Capitan rescue that’s skilfully assisted by Colonel Al Morgan in his Bell JetRanger.
A few days later they find the wrecked plane half-submerged in a remote, icy lake, along with two dead pilots, bales of marijuana and cocaine, and a drug distribution list of contacts. While the climbers recover the contraband two CIA agents arrive, intent on murder. During the struggle Jim Bridwell and the agents fall through the ice. Bridwell is rescued, but the agents drown. The climbers construct an accident scene, while Colonel Morgan (for a cut of the upside and a future favour) lifts the contraband to a secure location.
Without realising the crashed plane has been located and pillaged, Dr Val Chilling, the CIA operative behind the drug-smuggling business, arrives in Yosemite and contacts Morgan about rebuilding the operation. For the second time in his career she threatens to publish damaging evidence concerning his Vietnam war record that would destroy his only loving relationship, unless he cooperates.
Needing a trusted co-pilot Morgan calls on Chris Dewtin, one of the climbers, to return the favour. Dewtin, also a pilot readily agrees and a few days later checks-out competent on the replacement CIA Howard 500, hangared in a CIA facility at Creech AirForce base, Nevada. The lucrative co-pilot agreement is signed-off by Dr Chilling over lunch in a Las Vegas casino, but with the CIA there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Over four-months the two pilots land weapons, in crates marked as milk powder, into Santiago and backload cocaine supplied by Colonel Noriega in Panama, and marijuana that’s picked-up from a secret CIA base on the Baja Peninsular. The contraband is on-sold to Carl Manfredo, Reno’s drug-dealing kingpin, where the drug-cash buys M16s from Colt Manufacturing, destined for Pinochet.
During the ‘Guns for Drugs’ operation, (code-named GoD) the two pilots form an unlikely friendship, but Morgan, emotionally exhausted after two tours in Vietnam, and needing an exit from Dr Chilling’s evil web, leads Dewtin deeper into a dangerous political conspiracy, hoping that he will take over completely.
However, Morgan’s plan goes awry when Dewtin falls in love with Bree Martinez, an ethical Panamanian lawyer who works for Omar Torrijos, the socialist Panamanian President. Martinez is tasked with writing the treaty transferring US control of the Canal back to Panama: an agreement that’s eventually signed by President Carter in 1977. Under Martinez’s influence Dewtin grows a conscience and helps sabotage the weapons destined for Pinochet.
While GoD proceeds, the climbers stash the recovered drugs in an old Airstream travel trailer, naively negotiating a buy-back deal with Carl Manfredo––the key person on the distribution list––incidentally alerting Dr Chilling to the entire subterfuge.
Betrayed and vindictive, her carefully crafted plans now in tatters, Dr Chilling sets the two pilots up for a showdown with the Mexican military at the marijuana pick-up point. However, in an heroic act of redemption, Morgan dies in a major gun-battle, while Dewtin escapes with five of the CIA employed Mexican staff. He lands on an airstrip at a Californian Commune––his first home in the USA––and goes on the run: (Series Two).
Themes: Slipstream explores themes of friendship, betrayal, redemption, risk-taking, youthful adventure and personal responsibility that play out against the background drama of the 1970s political landscape, and the now well-known underlying intrigue of the Nixon era. At its core, the film asks the question: In a world where everyone has their own agenda, when the line between good and evil starts to blur, who can you trust and what are your choices?
Visual Style: The 10 part series combines sleek, atmospheric cinematography with intense action sequences to create a sense of palpable tension and suspense. From remarkable climbing scenes on El Capitan, to life in a 1960s Californian commune; and from the seedy gambling halls of Las Vegas, to a Mexican desert gun battle –reminiscent of Wyatt Earp at the O.K. Corral – the film explores the visual grandeur of the USA, while delivering a coherent, warts and all summary of the 1970s Nixon and Kissinger political landscape.
Target Audience: Slipstream appeals to a wide demographic, including older fans of classic espionage drama referencing well known historical events and younger fans drawn to the youthful characters embarked on a high-stakes action adventure. With its compelling storyline, relatable characters and adrenaline-fuelled action, the series will keep audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish.
Conclusion: Slipstream is a tightly-paced political thriller that delivers action, suspense and intrigue. With its captivating storyline, complex characters and exotic locations, the series will leave a lasting impression on audiences. Get ready to embark on a thrilling journey into the heart of darkness, where nothing is as it seems and trust can be used as the ultimate weapon.
THE ARCS
About Dr Val Chilling:
I’m Charlie Aping and was employed as a Ranger in Yosemite National Park in the early 1970s. I got to carry a gun, which was fucking awesome. I’d be up before sunrise, strap on the sidearm, look in the mirror like Snow White’s stepmother and fall in love, although the uniform was a shitty colour, but who wouldn’t enjoy being a Ranger, flaunting it?
That aside, I met Dr Chilling for the first time in September 1973 when I drove her from Park Headquarters in Yosemite to the vehicle depot to lend her a set of wheels under orders from the acting Chief Ranger, Frank Morabito the ultimate power-hungry asshole, but more about him in a minute.
Brutus, the biggest brown bear that ever lived had just trashed her Mercedes sports car and she walked a mile in high-heels from the car park to the HQ in the fucking snow to report it. That tells you something. Though, if there was no snow she would have left a trail of ice. She can freeze you with a glance, but just as readily give you a hard-on with a smile to die for.
She carelessly left food on the front seat of her Mercedes in a carpark where Brutus tore it apart, but in retrospect I think that was deliberate. I now believe she destroyed a perfectly good vehicle just to put Frank at a disadvantage. (You’ll work that out for yourself, watching the series.) She gets you offside with a gracious comment then throws the curve ball. She has you coming and going, then begging like a dog wants a treat.
Moving on: Jim Bridwell, who founded the Yosemite Stonemasters (get it?) and 3 of his climbing friends turned up at Park HQ, right after they hauled Professor Gough and his mate with a broken arm off El Cap. They spent the night on top and later reported hearing a plane crash.
Dr Chilling arrived at HQ at the same time that hot chick, Jan Reynolds was there explaining it all to the FAA, by phone. Frank pretended not to believe them, but I knew him well enough. He was very interested. And so was Dr Chilling. In fact, that plane ended up killing me as well as the two pilots Jon Glinsky and Andy Nelson.
I’ll explain: Bridwell and his buddies got to the wrecked plane first and stripped out all the drugs. However, two CIA agents, working for Dr Chilling, arrived on skis 24-hours later. They fell through the ice during a struggle with Bridwell. Chris Dewtin explains how it happened in Everest, Guns & Money,so it’s all on the public record, though Jan Reynolds disagrees about how they drowned. Anyway, in the book Dewtin makes me look like an idiot, setting him up to be killed by Brutus, but I was just following orders. I didn’t want to lose my job.
Afterwards, Colonel Morgan lifted the contraband from the crash site in his chopper at night to somewhere secret, probably back to his hangar in Groveland. They bought an old Airstream to store the drugs – believe me there was a lot – and then stashed it in an RV park until they eventually sold the whole box and dice back to Ciro Mancuso in Reno though they changed his name in the book and the series to Carl Manfredo,because Ciro is still alive. How do I know all that? Guess in whose name they bought the Airstream?
When the FBI tracked it down, my fucking name was on the registration. Mind you, I’m no innocent in all this and I probably deserved the pay-back after setting Dewtin up to be killed by Brutus. Murder by bear, ha ha… Anyway, in a fit of rage, Frank, thinking I’d secretly stashed the drugs, which I fucking well hadn’t, crushed me against a brick wall by reversing his pick-up. That’s Kama for you.
The thing is, Dr Chilling knew all along who lifted the contraband. She used that knowledge to keep Bridwell and his buddies in check about the whole guns for drugs operation for the next 50-years. It worked, of course. They kept quiet, not wanting to be charged by the Feds with dealing a million bucks worth of cocaine and weed back to Carl who was eventually caught, but said nothing about his CIA suppliers. Dr Chilling probably threatened to boil his first-born down for glue if he opened his mouth, and I reckon she would have. Anyway, she got him a greatly reduced sentence. And to my knowledge he’s the only convicted criminal in US history that got to keep significant proceeds from dealing drugs.
Believe me, Dr Chilling was a fucking witch who could read the future like a dark Jedi Knight reads minds. She manoeuvred Frank into killing me and then used that evil deed to control him for just long enough to be useful in setting up a meeting between her and Colonel Noriega in Panama.
Lieutenant Black has something to say:
I first met Dr Chilling in 1970, during the Vietnam war when she came to Saigon and recruited Colonel Al Morgan to her cause, although coerced is probably the better word. She had a letter from President Nixon addressed to General Abrams that ordered his co-operation. Abrams was pissed because he thought that when it all went belly-up, it would be sheeted home to him. The old bugger insisted on something in writing before letting her recruit one of his officers.
I picked her up from a Gooney-bird transport in Saigon during the monsoon. It was raining, I remember. She was the only person to disembark a 30-seater aircraft arriving from Bangkok, so she was important. The Buddhists thought so too. They had a young lad ready for self-immolation if someone important stepped off the plane. When we got to the 4-way leading to HQ a bunch of monks blocked our passage and one of them did just that, which I thought horrific.
You know what she said, and I’ll never forget: ‘That was interesting. We need to bank the lesson.‘
To be honest it was lust at first sight and I hung onto her every word. Within an hour of us meeting I’d changed my mind about the righteousness of the Vietnam war. Until then I had thought it was all about communist dominoes, but she said it was French Catholic Colonialism vs Vietnamese Buddhist Nationalism and it had nothing to do with communist dominoes. That was a simplistic one-liner fed to a gullible public.
She’s the only person I’ve ever heard say something bad about JFK. She said he had been a Catholic President acting in consort with the South Vietnamese President, Thiệu, who was a French Catholic convert persecuting Buddhists on behalf of their colonial overlords. She said Ho Chi Minh hated the Chinese, loved the US and was pushing the French into the sea. However, when JFK was shot, Nixon stupidly kept the Vietnam war rolling. She said Nixon didn’t have a clue about Asia, and was planning to nuke Hanoi (and he would have if Daniel Ellsberg hadn’t leaked the Pentagon Papers). Nixon had missed the obvious exit when JFK died.
Anyway, she set up shop in a private office at HQ in Saigon with a bunch of psychological test sheets and started interviewing potential candidates for a secret job. How do I know all this, you might ask? Well, I had a key to her office and one night, when I thought she was having it off with Colonel Morgan, and being insanely jealous I snuck in and went through her papers. She needed someone to assassinate General René Schneider, who headed up the military in Chile and decided, after 50 or more interviews with serving officers that Morgan was her man.
Why in the fuck would the US want to murder the head of Chile’s military – you might ask? Well, I did some digging and discovered that General Schneider was a constitutionalist who protected the democratically elected Government led by President Salvador Allende. It was a lot to absorb that the US would initiate a coup in Chile, a democracy, rather than pay higher royalties on our Chile copper mines, but there it is: In my opinion she was Henry Kissinger’s Lady Macbeth in a little black dress, a 20th Century Shakespearean nightmare.
Anyhow, with Schneider dead she had Glinsky and Nelson running guns to Pinochet supporting the coup. They returned with contraband to pay for the weapons, until one night they crashed into a Yosemite lake. The guns for drugs deal was Dr Chilling’s black-operation, connecting Kissinger in Washington, to Noriega in Panama, to Pinochet in Chile, to Manfredo in Reno, to Colonel Morgan in Groveland and to Joanne Henry in Mexico. That’s a lot of significant people stitched into a huge conspiracy that one day just had to unravel.
Believe me, sociopath isn’t the right word for Dr Chilling. If you’ve ever read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest then think Nurse Ratched on steroids, but foxy. And I mean really, really foxy. She landed yours truly flapping like a trout on a hook.
Dr Val Chilling is the dead-hand of US politics: the interface between the soulless-ideological Government policy-wonks who dream up evil things to do, and the real-time CIA black-operations people who actually perform the illegal deeds, like Colonel Oliver North, in 1986 working for President Ronald Reagan, running guns to the Nicaraguan Contras.
In 1970, when Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State, decided to move covertly against Chile he needed someone on the ground stitching the deal. Dr Chilling was that go-to person who guarantied success. In 1969 through to 1975, Dr Val Chilling selected and cultivated the right people to successfully prosecute multiple US clandestine operations throughout South America.
In particular, when Salvador Allende was elected Chile’s President, Henry Kissinger ordered Dr Chilling instigate a coup. Dr Chilling identified Colonel Morgan, serving in Vietnam, to do the dirty-work. She coerced him into assassinating General René Schneider, a JFK figure in Chile, who was Commander of Chile’s armed forces protecting Chile’s democracy. Schneider’s murder opened the door to General Pinochet’s coup.
(As an aside: Dr Chilling was also behind the CIA experiments with LSD carried out on Professor Ted Kaczynski at Harvard in 1970, creating the Unabomber. True.)
Dr Chilling is the equivalent of Fargo’s Lorne Malvo. Whereas Malvo has no particular ulterior motive in fermenting chaos apart from entertainment, Dr Chilling always thinks her evil operations are for the greater good.
About Colonel Al Morgan:
Picture this:
It’s 1970, you’re in a JetRanger hovering over the Vietnam jungle, under fire, and have just winched up a seriously injured soldier, trying to keep him alive when the pilot, Colonel Al Morgan and his best friend, Rusty Miller the Navigator, start arguing over a woman they both love back in the US. Morgan offers to settle with a game of Russian roulette after they return to base. All this while you’re trying to stop the blood coming out of six different holes in a grunt who looks younger than your kid brother.
By the way I’m Eric Chapman, Morgan’s specialist MediVac officer. And I’m thinking… look out sprout, war messes with your head, so I’ll cut you some slack given that you’ve seen more than your fair share of dark matter: Colonel Morgan was first into Mai Lai after the massacre and photographed the evidence that was used in William Calley’s prosecution. He’s experienced even darker stuff in Korea, where he flew B47s.
I wonder why he swapped over to choppers? At least in a jet you have a parachute. Still, you don’t have to be Sigmund Freud to realise that Morgan has a death wish, if that’s a thing.
The loadmaster back at base said that chopper pilots in Vietnam have a 3-month life expectancy, which means I have a 3-month life expectancy. I’m thinking bad odds buster when it’s you’re first day of a 6-month conscripted placement. They didn’t tell you that training at Fort Wolters.
Colonel Morgan asks me the name of the injured soldier. He really cares, though he’s a fucking lunatic. I check the kid’s tags. His name’s Tom Cruise (true!) born on the 4th of July. In fact, today’s his birthday, which resonates with Colonel Morgan, who offers me a joint that I gratefully accept. He keeps a bunch of roll-ups in the side pocket. He’s stoned, and so’s his navigator. How can they both love the same woman and be good mates?
Rusty reminds him that today’s his daughter’s 21th birthday, as well. And he should finally tell her that he’s her real-dad and not just her step-dad’s best friend. Rusty says it’s time he owned up to him being a parent and start paying maintenance.
He doesn’t like that so he says: Only when you get out of my bed, buddy… Anyway we’ll take Dead Man’s Alley… It’s faster… We can’t have that kid die without a legal beer and a dose of the clap…
Apparently the short cut back to base is a high risk corridor, hence the name, which turned out bad for me and Buzz, the gunner. So, if you want to find out how wedie, which was quick but messy then read the script. Fuck-it, I lasted one day in Vietnam, hardly a hero. Anyhow, what I want to communicate here is that Colonel Morgan straps on the blinkers when he gets in the mood. In a miracle of aviation he got the chopper back to base with a dozen holes through me, and one through his cheek. When he touched down it was blowing more smoke than the rear funnel on the Titanic.
Speaking from the grave: In my very short experience working with Colonel Morgan, I found him kind, addicted to danger (and weed) had a bit of a god delusion, lived in the past (wanting to make up with his ex-wife who’s now married to his best mate) was erratic, funny, loyal, loved his country, otherwise he wouldn’t have volunteered, unlike me, a pacifist. He made bad decisions – at least one that I’m aware of.
Rusty Miller has something to say:
I’m Lieutenant Rusty Miller and I’m dead too. Thanks to Morgan, I stupidly shot myself setting up a drunken business deal that went wrong, but incidentally saved a dozen lives. Can you believe that’s even possible? You gotta’ read it to believe it. That’s my cameo, in Episode 1 or 2.
Alan and I grew up together, best mates: same team, same school, and with all that middle class salute the flag bullshit. We enlisted together, loved the same girl, but he got the girl, Daisy, the cheerleader. She loved him to bits while I wept in the background. But he fucked it up, like pretty much everything he does, because that’s who he is.
He had two near-death experiences in Korea and used that as an excuse to get it off with a Korean prostitute, caught the clap and was dumped by Daisy, which suited me just fine. I got to raise his daughter, Katy, and mine, Taylor. I’m not going into why he stuffs things up, apart from saying that it was mostly to do with his dad, who taught him how to fly, but only paid him serious attention when he made mistakes. That became a really bad habit.
As an aside: Three years later Morgan teams up with Chris Dewtin, a Yosemite climber half his age, running guns to Pinochet while back-loading drugs into the US to pay for the operation. Dewtin, also a pilot, has almost exactly the same ‘dad’ story as Morgan, which is why it works out so well between the two of them. Whereas young Dewtin found a father figure, whom he really needed that changed him forever. Morgan got a second chance at life through his new found friend.
Morgan’s easy to manipulate when he feels loved, or sees a grander purpose. He’s a sucker for a story. He’d buy the Golden Gate Bridge from the right person. He has a Bigger Than Ben Hur personality that drags you along in its wake. You’d do anything Morgan asked when you got to know him, which made him the perfect person for Dr Val Chilling to manipulate into doing some really fucking evil, which he did. Afterwards he hated himself and went looking for redemption. He eventually found it in Mexico holding off the Mexican army at the marijuana pick-up point so Chris Dewtin could escape with the Mexican family.
When Rusty dies as a result of Morgan’s bad judgement, in a drunken gamble gone wrong , he’s psychologically set adrift at just the right moment for Dr Val Chilling, the CIA psychiatrist to pick up the pieces and redirect his future. She convinces him during ‘therapy’ that he can make amends by embracing the bigger picture:
Dr Chilling:
‘Individuals can pay a heavy price when advancing US interests throughout the world, but you’re not alone Colonel Morgan, we all make mistakes under pressure when performing our duties. However, these rare moments of bad judgement can be atoned… and it’s my job to help you see through the fog of war, embrace the bigger picture, and help you make amends….
‘….A good soldier has to occasionally pack his moral compass, and from time to time, for the benefit of all mankind become a deadly instrument of the State, and by so doing make good those previous errors of judgement.
‘…. Do not punish yourself, Colonel Morgan instead harness all your anger, pain and grief to punish those enemies of the State, on behalf of the State.
‘….. Replace the flawed father buried in your subconscious – the man who was never there for you when you needed him the most – with the perfect substitute: the President of the United States, who can do no wrong. Become his personal weapon and afterwards be pardoned for your actions.
‘…. Murder isn’t murder when it’s done advancing your country’s interests, and when ordered by the President of the United States, it’s an honour.
Through discussion, reasoning and ultimately coercion Dr Chilling persuades Colonel Morgan to assassinate General René Schneider––protecting Chile’s democracy––initiating the September 11, 1973 Pinochet coup.
About Chris Dewtin:
Having an older sister and 4-older brothers who never ever waited when we skied cross-country, made me very determined. As a result, I became good enough to earn some serious sponsorships, including one from North Face. At 17 I could ski the 7.5 km biathlon circuit in under 25 minutes and hit a gnat’s eye from 50-metres with my bolt-action target-rifle without a laser-sight like they all do these days: the pussies. When my brothers occupied my rear view mirror they dropped out of competition and became lawyers, all of them. My dad’s a judge and our evening dinner table discussions rewrote the constitution.
Be warned, I’m not just a pretty face: I’m Jan Reynolds and still very much alive. I’ve skied around Mt Everest, flown a hot air balloon across the Himalayas and climbed the south face of Pumori in winter. I’ve photographed for National Geographic and other well known magazines. I’ve been on the US National ski-team and on the front cover of Esquire. In 1983 they named me athlete of the year, but these days I write books on vanishing cultures and work the lecture circuit.
Now, to the point, you asked about Chris Dewtin:
I first met Chris in Yosemite when I was there climbing with Jim Bridwell and Rick Bianco in 1973. He rolled into Camp 4 in an ancient rust-bucket Kombi, just before we headed up El Cap to rescue Professor Gough and his mate Ian Ross, who had broken his arm.
Chris had been living on a commune near Modesto for a few weeks where he’d exchanged a book signed by Carlos Castaneda for what should have been a condemned set of wheels. I reckon he was lucky to escape the commune at all. I’m not saying that it was a cult, but Joan Tesfaye had a reputation for hanging onto good people. Metaphorically speaking, he must have strapped himself to the mast, like some kind of modern day Ulysses sailing by.
He arrived with Ricardo Silver (Rick Sylvester)hidden under the floorboards. Bridwell immediately said: Here comes trouble. In fact he was the opposite of trouble. The moment we asked for help on the rescue he agreed without hesitation. I liked that about him right away. And I’ve always loved the way he just gets on with it, where everything’s fun and nothing’s too much trouble, although that open-ended say yes to everything approach to life can lead to problems, and it sure did for Chris. More on that later, when I bailed him out.
Ricardo had just ski-parachuted off El Cap, but the two of them had hatched a plan at the commune, where they met, to keep him safe from arrest after he landed. Chris waited by the side of the road next to Middle Cathedral and hid him under the false floor. Frank Morabito turned up with a shotgun and checked the van, but didn’t put it together until later that Ricardo had been in there all along. When he figured it out that Chris was instrumental in Ricardo’s escape, he set him up as bait for Brutus. I can tell you right now that Chris is no Davey Crockett, but he thinks quick. Brutus came off second best in that encounter. It’s a great story, which brings me to the book.
A plane full of drugs crashed into a high altitude, icy lake near Yosemite. We got to the site 24 hours ahead of two CIA agents, searching for the same plane. By the time they arrived on skis, we’d moved all the bales of marijuana to another location. It was Jim’s idea to hide the stuff. Chris and I both agree on that, but from there our recollections differ. When the two agents turned-up they dropped their packs, walked onto the ice to look at the nose cone poking out, fell through and drowned. The four of us watched it happen from a hundred yards, drinking coffee. Rick Bianco ran down with a climbing rope to help, and threw an end to one of the guys in the water, but he was too weak to hold on. They both drowned soon after. Rick was really upset and stupidly threw the rope in after them, which is why they found it with the bodies six months later, which was a puzzle the FBI never solved, until now. We only found out the two guys were CIA when we opened their packs. And then we got the hell out of there.
In his book Chris said that I used my rifle to shoot the gun from the hand of one of the agents, who was pointing it at Rick’s head. The agent then fell through the ice and drowned. Chris also said that both Jim and the other agent fell through after a struggle and then Rick helped Jim out of the water, but the second agent also drowned.
Well, that’s not true. Ever since the book came out we have agreed to disagree. I’m telling you now that those two agents drowned on their own account and I had nothing to do with it. Take it from me that Chris knows how to guild the lily. Anyway, after what happened I was pretty shaken up, we all were, but I got it together and the next morning skied the boys out via Half Dome. Luckily it snowed, covering our tracks. To be honest, I hoped that would be the end of it, but the next day Jim asked Colonel Morgan to airlift the dope from the crash site, and he agreed, which surprised me. Then a short time later Jim told me that Chris had done a deal with Colonel Morgan to co-pilot on some dangerous CIA business. Well, I’m no quitter. If the boys were pushing the envelope, then I was too, which was just as well for Chris, because if I hadn’t hung in there, he’d still be in jail. Let me explain:
Morgan’s over-night airlift went well. We moved at least 50-bales of dope into Colonel Morgan’s hangar, with a plan to sell it all back to the key name on the list that we’d found in one of the bales. We also found another 100 kilograms of cocaine in tins, worth a couple of a million dollars. Colonel Morgan gave Chris some cash and he went out and bought an old Airstream travel trailer. He registered the RV in Charlie Aping’s name: the Ranger that had set him up with Brutus. Anyway, we packed all the contraband into the RV and Chris and Rick towed it to an RV park down the road from Morgan’s, but the park wasn’t open. Chris temporarily left the RV in a zone reserved for trucks and got himself arrested for being a smart ass. Highway patrol collected the RV and stored it in a collection depot in Modesto, until the fine was paid.
If Chris had just shut up, apologised and paid the fine we would have got the RV back without a problem, but he has a big mouth and they charged him with ‘Endangering Life’ for parking in a safety zone. He was facing up to two years in jail. They put him in a Modesto holding cell for a few nights, then he fronted court when an appointed lawyer suggested a plea deal. He laughed that off and was about to defend himself, the idiot, which would have been a disaster. I dressed up to the nines, impersonated my sister, who was a Sacramento lawyer, and got him off with a $1 fine and no conviction. He still owes me.
Straight up: Chris has a big mouth, doesn’t suffer fools, walks the talk, climbs well, and is brave and kind, but I’m pissed that he wrote a book about that crazy time in Yosemite. He’s a good communicator – I’ll give him that – but he’s a flag in the wind, like there’s something’s missing in his life. I think he signed on with Colonel Morgan, running guns and drugs looking for answers that may never come in this lifetime, but at least he found Bree Martinez in Panama, the love of his life, who straightened him out. He’s been a good friend over the years. Our paths cross and recross, and when that happens all’s well with the world. If it ever becomes a a TV series, I’d like Millie Bobby Brown to play that court scene, when I got Dewtin off with a $1 fine. Handing over to Bree….
….I’m the Bree Martinez who Jan Reynolds talked about. I first met Chris at a hotel dinner with Colonel Morgan and several other Panamanian military officers. It was a weekly function, organised by Colonel Noriega after Dewtin and Morgan landed in David.
Chris was my spy-assignment task set by the Panamanian President, Omar Torrijos, my uncle. Omar saw him as a possible source of information on the CIA. It was serendipity that we fell in love, which totally stuffed Dr Chilling’s and Colonel Morgan’s plans for Chris’s future in the CIA.
Chris and Colonel Morgan landed a load of weapons into Panama once a week and exchanged them for cocaine supplied by Colonel Noriega, who was then responsible for sending the guns overland to Chile, which didn’t happen. They couldn’t move them through Colombia, because of the communists. Morgan refused to airlift them to Santiago, where he might be recognised. (Morgan had murdered Rene Schneider there, and a poster with his likeness had been nailed to every post in Santiago.)
Noriega loved dinner parties and every time Chris and Morgan landed, I was there to greet them over dinner. In fact, I seduced Chris because I wanted to know everything he knew about Dr Chilling and the CIA, which wasn’t much, but our love-making was sensational. Over three months, we became very serious and planned a future together that didn’t quite work out the way we wanted, but that’s on my shoulders. I asked him to sabotage the weapons destined for Pinochet, which he did. Dr Chilling found out. The shit hit the fan. Colonel Morgan was killed in a gun battle with the Mexican army and Chris went on the run. And all because of me. I didn’t dare tell him I was pregnant, because I knew he would come back to Panama, and Dr Chilling would have him killed. My uncle, the President couldn’t protect him and anyway I wanted to see the Canal transferred to us before I left Panama and hooked up again with Chris. I knew he would wait forever.
The people loved Omar for good reason. He stamped out corruption, redistributed land, started new schools in all the districts, built roads, bridges and hospitals. He also had a plan to get control of the Canal from the Yanks, which happened when President Jimmy Carter signed the Treaty in 1977. I know that document like the back-of-my-hand, because I wrote it 50-years ago in Omar’s office, suffering smoke inhalation. The worst thing about working for Omar Torrijos in 1973 was his love of cigars. He’d forget one was alight then start up another. A toxic work environment is an understatement.
I was his favourite niece (adopted). I say ‘was’ because Manuel Noriega murdered Omar Torrijos in 1981, on Dr Val Chilling’s orders. Pay-back for regaining the Canal. I was next on the list, and fled Panama with my 8-year-old son. In fact we’d coerced Jimmy Carter into signing the Canal over to us because of all the dirt we had on Kissinger and Nixon, among other US notables. President Carter was Mr Nice Guy and he didn’t want that to ever come out: Sullying the Presidency, he had said – quaint by today’s standards.
In 1973 Manuel Noriega was head of security in Panama, a psychopath and rapist, plain and simple. I told Omar that he wasn’t worth the risk, but he wouldn’t listen. Then again, Omar played rough and Noriega was his hatchet man. Noriega worked for the CIA for most of his life, accumulating a vast fortune streaming cocaine into California. Ironically Dr Val Chilling set that up originally with the guns for drugs deal into Chile. Can you believe that President Salvador Allende was murdered, and another 3,000 innocents died, all because Henry Kissinger wanted cheap copper for US power lines?
Eventually, President Bush had to raid Panama, because Noriega was exporting tons of cocaine into the States: the published reason, but true. Bush also had to get Noriega’s documents that were stored in David. Dr Chilling knew exactly where they were, because Morgan had told her.
The US has invaded Panama once, to capture Noriega – and good riddance – but if they do it again they’re in for a big surprise. The USA may have put up the money for the Canal in the first place, but our people died in their thousands building it, and it’s our country. So, fuck-you, Donald Trump. If you send in the troops, we’ll dynamite all the locks and bring the world to a halt.
As the series progresses Chris Dewtin transforms from a free-wheeling, fun loving rock climber to a man of conscience who becomes politically involved in the future of Panama and Chile. His transformation is brought about by Bree Martinez, when he falls in love, and by Colonel Morgan saving his life in Mexico, while seeking redemption for the crimes that he had committed on behalf of the President.
Bree convinces Chris that rock-climbing is selfish, and that risking his life to restore democracy in Chile is a more fulfilling purpose. Although climbing was a step along the road to self-awareness, sabotaging Pinochet’s murder weapons becomes personally transcendental. And when Colonel Morgan dies, saving Chris’s life in Mexico, his metamorphosis is complete.
KEY CHARACTER SUMMARY:
Dr Val Chilling in her early-40s, is an attractive psychiatrist, who works for the CIA designing black-operations. She planned the mind-control experiment at Harvard University that used LSD to turn Professor Ted Kazinsky eventually into the Unabomber. We first meet Dr Chilling when she obtains the film of Colonel Morgan playing Russian Roulette with his navigator, in a Saigon bar. She sees him as an asset, like everyone in her orbit. She believes that the end justifies the means, and democracy is a waste of time.
Colonel Al Morgan in his mid-50s, is a rugged helicopter pilot who we first meet over a Vietnam jungle evacuating an injured soldier. Later on, he plays Russian Roulette with Rusty, his best mate in a seedy Saigon bar. Morgan has witnessed the aftermath of the Mai Lai massacre and finally realised that his military career was a huge mistake. He’s trying to get back with his ex-wife whose husband has just died playing Russian Roulette, complicating any reconciliation.
Carl Manfredo in his mid-20s, is a charismatic, switched-on drug dealer living in Reno, who buys all the CIA contraband delivered by Morgan and Dewtin from Mexico and Panama.
Frank Morabito in his mid-40s, is a corrupt US National Parks employee who escaped Cuba after betraying Castro. His Yosemite job and citizenship are rewards for passing information to the US Embassy in Panama about Russian nukes stationed in Cuba. He’s friends with Colonel Manuel Noriega, who packages cocaine for Col Morgan to smuggle into the US.
Joan Tesfaye female 30, once a teacher is now a flower power hippy, running a commune near Modesto with her brother, Barack. She welcomes the dispossessed, and sells marijuana at the San Francisco market to select customers.
Jim Bridwell male 29, is a counter-culture climbing hero and a key member of the Stonemasters––the Yosemite climbing elite. He’s a brash and forceful leader whom everyone looks up to. He performs the El Capitan rescues in conjunction with Col Al Morgan, when a helicopter is needed. He’s having a 30s crisis.
Jan Reynolds female 25, is on the US ski team, smart, resourceful fearless, and an excellent rock climber who is good friends with Bridwell. She’s a biathlon champion, who has been featured on the front cover of Esquire Magazine. She’s visiting Yosemite, taking time out from training.
Chris Dewtin male 25, is a visiting climber from Australia with a pilots licence. It’s a new environment and he’s keen to please and learn the Yosemite protocols. He befriends Col Morgan, after being introduced by Bridwell, taking over the part-time job of helping Morgan relocate dangerous bears by chopper. He’s an opportunist with an under-developed conscience, which changes after he witnesses political prisoners being thrown alive from a helicopter west of Santiago.
Rick Bianco male 29, is a local climbing legend, doing some of the hardest climbs in Yosemite while stoned and/or tripping. He hates authority figures and is dodging the draft. He sees people for who they really are. He has a deep insight into the human condition––a climbers Diogenes.
Ricardo Silver male 32, ski-base-jumps El Capitan at every opportunity, and like the Road-Runner, always escapes the Yosemite Rangers. He’s recruited by Director, Lewis Gilbert to stand in for a James Bond stunt in The Spy Who Loved Me. (Rick Sylvester)
Jo Henry female 40, is the Mexican CIA operative stationed in a remote location on the Baja Peninsular, buying marijuana from suppliers who deliver from all over Mexico. She’s calculating, smart and skimming the cash. She’s married to a Mexican cartel boss, but is the real power behind the US smuggling business. Her Mexican crew maintain the unsealed runway used by Morgan and Dewtin when picking up the marijuana.
Bree Martinez female 26, is an ethical Panamanian lawyer working for Omar Torrijos––Panama’s leftwing President––writing the new Constitution and the treaty for transferring the Canal from US control back to Panama. She’s a romantic, and an idealist, believing fervently in the new Panama under Torrijos. She spies on Manuel Noriega and is a force for good persuading Dewtin to sabotage the weapons delivered to Pinochet.
Colonel Manuel Noriega male 40, is a sociopath who answers only to Omar Torrijos, the President of Panama. He’s the hatchet man behind all of Panama’s political murders, keeping Torrijos in power. He secretly sells cocaine to the CIA and is their go-between delivering weapons to General Pinochet in Chile.
THE 1970s KEY HISTORIC EVENTS:
- The Vietnam War.
- The 1970 Yosemite riots.
- Daniel Ellsberg leaks The Pentagon Papers: President cancels the plan to nuke Hanoi.
- The self-immolation of Buddhist monks in Saigon.
- Henry Kissinger orders the CIA murder General René Schneider in Chile.
- Colonel Morgan (name changed) delivers 3 submachine guns in a diplomatic bag to the US Embassy in Santiago and oversees René Schneider’s assassination.
- The September 11 1973 Pinochet coup.
- Colonel Morgan delivers weapons marked as milk powder into Santiago, supporting the coup.
- The Caravans of Death where Pinochet’s opposition are thrown alive from helicopters into the sea.
- Salvador Allende, Chile’s democratically elected President suicides, protesting the coup.
- Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes where the survivors, who all know one another, eat their dead friends.
- The missing 18-minutes on the Watergate tapes deleted by Rose Mary Woods finally revealed.
- The Kent State massacre, where the US National Guard fires live ammunition into a crowd of student protesting on campus.
- The Yosemite National Parks policy of dropping troublesome bears alive from helicopters.
- Ciro Mancuso’s US drug empire, based in Reno, is supported by CIA drug-running from Mexico and Panama.
- Jon Glinsky’s Yosemite plane wreck full of contraband is found by Jim Bridwell et al.
- Rick Sylvester’s ski-base jump from El Capitan leading to his key role in the James Bond movie: The Spy Who Loved Me.
- Manuel Noriega’s CIA cocaine smuggling business established in 1973 by Dr Val Chilling and busted by George Bush in 1989 when President Noriega is captured.
- The Unabomber is created by CIA operative, Dr Val Chilling using LSD on Ted Kaczynski at Harvard University in 1973.