A Smuggler's Snare

By Grace Underwood

Tracey Foley leads an adventurous, suspenseful life, smuggling marijuana to the USA. The trails and tribulations of this dangerous and challenging lifestyle include attacks by pirates intent on killing and looting what they could. Shootouts, threatening to ram the attacking boat, the thrill of the chase and hope of the winds and seas picking up. One danger over, the next was the weather being typhoon season. Every risky day was forgotten when Mother Nature demonstrated its beauty in the calm, serene sailing days with albatrosses, dolphins, humpbacks and killer whales and playful sea otters. Hearts were in mouth when making landfall to offload, the coastguard being a smuggler’s snare. Read about the ingenious diversion plan and missions accomplished. Also, all hope was with the off-loaders making the rendezvous, escaping detection so the mother load made it safely. Many, many what ifs. Payday was also another risk. Will they be able to smuggle luggage loads of $100 greenbacks safely offshore or be intercepted? Job completed or 25 years in jail? A Smuggler’s Snare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Sep 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528990462

Grace Underwood

Grace Underwood, a grandmother of six grandchildren and three children, embarked on an Australian adventure in a converted van, making the most of her agility while it lasts. Many years, beginning at 19 were spent sailing the seven seas. For such a lifestyle, unique as it was and usually not attempted with children in tow, she could gather material to put down in print. She saw firsthand the ravaging effects of Heroin then Methadone. Also, her upbringing created a profile of abandonment, playing second fiddle with only her own accomplishments bringing some semblance of importance to her. This book was therapeutic in that you can only try your very best to note down successfully a story of sadness, not a ‘Happy Ever After’.

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About the Author

The author is a 60-year-old widow who resides in a beachside resort in Australia. Since she was born, her family lived a nomadic existence, moving to a new location every year. Whilst completing her H.S.C, majority in English, she also worked whenever she could, saving enough to travel and work at the fruit picking locations throughout Australia. ‘Itchy feet again, and always!’ She met her seaman husband and began working and travelling on the ocean. After 18 years all up, chartering and delivering in yachts before purchasing their own to sail the seven seas with her two babies, her passion for story telling developed in later years with plenty of amassed material to utilise and incorporate.

Copyright Information ©

Grace Underwood (2021)

The right of Grace Underwood to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528990455 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528990462 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Prologue

A story of temptation motivated by pure greed. Life is amazing on how you can change the direction it takes by simply making a decision. The trick is being offered that crucial decision.

Chapter 1

In That Crucial Direction, No

Turning Back

Tracey Foley was a ten-year-old who excelled in just about anything. From music, to academics and sports. She especially excelled in netball and swimming, where she made the state teams in both, and was from a family of four children, two older brothers and a younger sister.

Reminiscing in adulthood, she vowed that what she mostly missed was close friends, sleepovers and permission to go to a friend’s house to play. No, No, No, she had to play with her sister. Sooo… her children were to be born to love life, people and animals – basically to always feel complete. But at the age of ten, such detailed matters didn’t enter her mind, nor that her parents were not at all affectionate, often fought and they continually moved house due to her father’s constant affairs. All that mattered was she left schoolfriends and had to try and attract friendship again. Finally, she attended the same school for three years, was awarded Dux, had plenty of friends and won a scholarship to study at the coolest girls’ college, specialising in sport. As the tuition fees were free, her mother was terribly excited to tell her dad. NOT AGAIN! His answer was too bad. Pack, we’re moving to Taree.

That was the beginning of Tracey’s awareness of her family life, HIGH SCHOOL, DRUGS, SEX, ROCK AND ROLL.

Still no friends around, but this time it’s because her paedophile father would say the lewdest things, like, ‘DO YOU WANT TO SEE MY EIGHT-INCH FLAME?’

She decided to stay after school for either choir practice, netball training and her love for maths and a brilliant teacher saw her taking on several extracurricular branches of maths application studies. Her favourite, by far, was global longitude controlling time changes, latitude controlling temperature, international dateline losing or gaining 24 hours, and navigation. Her main interest, was the early explorers discovering the world with just the star constellations, a telescope and the compass. All this packed into a single week, just so she didn’t have to go home until six o’clock when her father had finished his three hours drinking and pub brawling. She drove home with her mother and grandmother who had her own granny flat built on to the rest of the family’s main living area and a fully equipped bar.

High school was easy until HSC. Her parents were constantly fighting, she suffered depression, anxiety, and insomnia, and couldn’t wait for the day HSC was over. She had saved a big Nest Egg starting work at Coles on Saturday mornings, Thursday nights and all her school holidays – four years of work and banking savings. Independent as she was, not once did she ask her mother or father for money. She bought her first car at sixteen that was another step towards her freedom.

After completing HSC at age eighteen, her and a girlfriend took off to freedom. Tracey was also a very beautiful young woman, as was her girlfriend, so male attention was rampant. Take your pick! After November 15 to January 9, a life in Forster of love, lust, parties, fun and then HSC results. She was graded in the State’s top 10% and qualified to every University – she chose to be in Newcastle where her brothers lived. Two more months of fun with them and then orientation week came. Tracey was immediately swamped with study and after more working whilst waiting for University to begin, she made an exciting and simple decision to grab a couple of girlfriends and work/travel whilst deferring University.

They chose the fruit-picking circuit – hard, hot work all day then party every night. They all were given two or three room shacks and contracted to many different vineyards. The day the season finished, they all planned on a blinder of a farewell party. Instead we were greeted with news of laugh a minute Rod’s death riding home to shower for the party and head on into an oncoming car. Tina, his girlfriend of three years, was devastated.

Tracey and Tina had become friends, and, being time to travel north to continue the working holiday, Tracey did some soul-searching and decided to take Tina to her mothers to meet her and offer to take her away from the memories and explore what more life has to offer. After a day of discussion, her mother and Tina agreed it was for the best. Off again to explore new horizons. They packed, bought an ounce of pot, and headed for Bowen. What a horrible experience. Certainly wasn’t as much fun as grape pickings, so they switched to packing in the sheds for three months then continued to Tully for bananas and watermelon season – a man’s work really.

Tracey suggested they were both presentable and should apply for the two waitressing jobs – morning and night cash in hand… Tracey lasted three months, and Tina barely a month. Next decision, bound for the booming city of Cairns, the land of opportunity. They furnished a big old Queenslander with up to ten mattresses and a fridge!!! They took on two more borders and went on unemployment benefits for an additional boost to their depleting savings. Tracey met the most charming and handsome musician and fell in love. They had a great time together but it was time to gather funds again. They bought the local newspaper and scanned the employment vacancies. Little did Tracey know; this was to be a big turning point in her life.

Chapter 2

Major Life Changes

Up there was an amazing job offer of big money for a high-class escort’s agency. They discussed the possibility and the pros versus cons and decided to go to meet the madam. She was taken aback by their beauty and athletic figures. They were hired on the spot and offered a job that night. Rules were dinner only escort – your decision if they want sex, $65 for half an hour, $100 hour and $150 sleepovers. They were lent good attire until they could afford their own. Tina backed out. Tracey was in a turmoil but went ahead. The gentleman was pleasant but Tracey was new to the gift of the gab. Anyway, she