A HOSTAGE, BUT NOT TO THE FACTS

B.C. Novelist Mines And Refines His Life As A Drug Runner

KELOWNA - Alan McTeer can't stop talking. About his life as a gun-toting
pilot with the Colombian drug cartel, about his days spent training
U.S.-backed freedom fighters in Nicaragua, about his many brushes with death.

Some of his tales are true. Some, it seems, are a blend of fiction and
fact. The distinction is not always clear.

This much is certain: Mr. McTeer, a native of Rossland, B.C., is a distant
cousin of Maureen McTeer, wife of former prime minister Joe Clark. His
brother-in-law is Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Mr. McTeer is an aviation nut, who obtained his pilot's licence at the
tender age of 12. And in 1983, he was arrested in Florida, accused by drug
enforcement agents of smuggling marijuana into the U.S.

He then disappeared for 10 years.

Mr. McTeer, 51, is back in B.C. And he has just written a book that may or
may not describe what he got up to while in exile.

Released in October by a small American publishing house, Red Zone
describes in lean prose some two years in the life of a Canadian pilot
named Alan Richards. The character crash-lands a small airplane in
Venezuela, and is tortured for weeks at the hands of thuggish police. He
escapes with his "co-pilot pretty boy Mario Rodriguez," and they wind up in
Colombia, where they are held hostage by some of the nastiest drug lords in
the Western hemisphere. To survive, Richards must pilot airplanes stuffed
with cocaine to various secret destinations.

The book is described as a novel, "based on a true story."

Chatting over coffee with Mr. McTeer in a large Kelowna hotel, I begin to
suspect that a lot of his anecdotes fit this description. It's a notion he
doesn't dismiss.

"Everything is based on a true story," he says with a laugh.

"I can't tell you everything that has happened, because it would get me in
trouble. So I always have to change details. How real does anything have to
be, to be true?"

That's hard to say. A story he has just penned for High Times magazine, the
U.S. bible of marijuana culture, is about how he got started in the
marijuana smuggling business, flying plane-loads of pot from the United
States into Canada. It reads like a non-fiction article. It has Mr.
McTeer's name on it. But is it true?

Then there is the long piece he contributed to Cannabis Culture, a Canadian
magazine for pot enthusiasts. "First it was auto parts and alcohol from the
United States to Canada, but that soon developed into marijuana," he wrote.
"My first trip was from Vancouver to Colorado, where we picked up 200
pounds of Mexican low grade gold. The next two trips were to California for
more Mexican pot."

Fact, or fiction? "Both," Mr. McTeer says with a smile.

So, did he never actually smuggle bales of weed?

"I'm not saying that."

As for Red Zone, he swears it mirrors his real experience. Only a few minor
details, such as names, dates and the climactic ending have been changed.
He did crash-land in Venezuela and he was pressed into service for
Colombian drug lords. "I couldn't get out of there," he says. "The
Colombians owned me. They needed pilots, and I didn't have a passport. They
even gave me a machine gun. I used to call the trips 'missions.' I never
knew if I would come back."

Eventually, he made it to freedom. He moved his family to Bolivia and mined
for gold. He also says he test-flew light aircraft and trained Nicaraguan
contra fighters on behalf of the CIA. On and on it goes. "I've got a
million stories," Mr. McTeer says.

After his marriage dissolved, he returned to Canada in 1993, and has
managed to avoid danger. He is no longer wanted by U.S. authorities, he
says, having performed enough favours for the CIA. He still flies small
aircraft, but only for legitimate purposes. He owns a film production
company in Kelowna and specializes in aerial photography.

Writing a book "based" on his past escapades seemed natural. Red Zone has
been favourably received by American book reviewers, and is selling quite
well, says its New York-based publisher, Joan Schweighardt. Contrary to a
recent report about Mr. McTeer in a Kelowna newspaper, the book has not,
however, sold 55,000 copies. "Gosh no," Ms. Schweighardt says. "You can
take a zero off that figure."

No matter. Mr. McTeer is enjoying his new life as an author. He's planning
a sequel to his novel. There is also talk about adapting Red Zone for the
big screen. In his capacity as an aerial photographer, Mr. McTeer had an
opportunity to meet the producer of a Hollywood movie that just finished
shooting in the Kelowna area. "He read the book, and was totally absorbed
in it," Mr. McTeer says.

As if to prove it, Mr. McTeer shows me a photograph of the film's producer,
Eric Breiman. He is reading a copy of Red Zone. He looks totally absorbed
in it.