The Global Adventures of Arguille Macgregor

By Arguille MacGregor

The series of short stories that follow are inspired by life stories of people from all walks of life. The time lines vary but the locations are assumed and also the characters names are fictitious but roles are also adaptations from life stories. The sense of adventure for Arguille MacGregor to travel to these many locations and experience the different cultures is related to his Scottish/Irish heritage and motivation from his multi cultured parents as a youth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532081552

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Copyright © 2020 Arguille MacGregor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-8156-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8155-2 (e)

iUniverse rev. date:   12/04/2019

Contents

Preface

The Kidnap Attempt

Aussie Cruise Lines

The Pink Flamingo

Females of South America

A Brazilian Bank Robbery

Tiananmen Square

Urich

Indonesia

Three Walked In, and Four Walked Out

PREFACE

THE SERIES OF short stories that follow are inspired by people from all walks of life. The timelines vary, but the locations are accurate. The characters names are fictitious, but their roles are also adapted from life stories. This series of short stories involves the adventures of Arguille Macgregor as he travels the globe. Arguille’s sense of adventure to travel to these many locations and to experience the different cultures is caused by his interest in his Scottish/Irish heritage and by having multicultural parents.

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THE KIDNAP ATTEMPT

SOUTH AMERICA HAD always intrigued Arguille and had stirred his curiosity when broaching the subject in conversations with his engineering friends. Acquaintances who had traveled to the various countries recanted tales of political intrigue, danger, gorgeous chicas, international cuisine, and a beautiful countryside. When a professional friend invited him to make a short-term visit to Colombia and to lend his expertise to the design and construction quality of a totally integrated mine facility in the remote Colombian jungle, he accepted his invitation during the same conversation.

His visit to Colombia would require frequent trips to operations and the port vessel loading operations from his living quarters, which would be in Caesar and Santa Marta respectively. As the operations expanded, many new infrastructures and facility projects would have to be designed, erected, and commissioned to international standards, which would be the direct responsibility of Arguille.

The port had received its total mine production from the 120-kilometer (75-mile) rail line, had stored the material, and had put it on one-hundred-thousand-ton Panamax ocean vessels for transport to various international customers. Panamax vessels met the dimensional limits of the Panama Canal. All rail traffic went through guerilla-active areas from mine to port.

An expatriate staff was maintained for administration and supervision. Because the facility operated on a 24-7 schedule, it required dining facilities for all workers and living quarters for the expats. The expats’ living quarters included a safe room with eighteen-inch-thick reinforced concrete walls and massive steel doors. The safe room was for the security of expats in the event of an attack by guerrilla forces. The guerrilla forces were members of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). FARC was a communist left-wing military organization that supported itself financially through drug sales and kidnapping-ransom dollars.

Port operations were situated on