by Brian N. Cox
The renovations at the “Lounge” were also proceeding well. It would be expensive, tasteful with a little less lighting than the average bar or night club. It was definitely high end, but there would be no advertising. Customers off the street were welcome but no efforts would be made to stimulate customer traffic. Several private rooms were attached to the main lounge area where brothel customers would wait until their transportation was arranged, or they could be taken to the adjacent building through the new doorway he had built. The manager of the lounge would be Red Dragon Triad member, Wei Jun, who had obtained a university degree at Oregon State University and spoke fluent English with almost no accent.
Entering a partnership with a pedophile website business, subtle advertising, using pedophilic codes, were already on the internet with contact information sent through an array of servers. Fong Lei was computer-savvy but didn’t understand how marketing to this particular demographic worked, but then again, he could hire people to do anything he wanted. Within a few days, he expected both the lounge and the brothel to be ready for business with a very profitable forecast ahead of them.
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FBI agent Sean McNamara stood at the rear of the crowd awaiting the Air China flight from Beijing. He eventually saw Li Mei in the line of deplaning passengers, and without catching her attention, left to obtain a table for two at the Starbucks Restaurant in the airport. Within twenty minutes, Li Mei entered the restaurant with a small carry-on suitcase. The restaurant was quite busy, as it usually was, so she took the available chair at Sean’s table. There were three other open chairs at occupied tables, but this was the logical chair for an attractive young woman to take as Sean was by far the best looking man in the restaurant, probably the only one with a chest measurement that exceeded his waist measurement.
They began to talk casually, as if they had not previously been acquainted before exchanging more important information in quiet tones.
“I entered the country under a cover name,” said Li Mei. When we can meet later at a more secure place, I will give you the details. My new name is Tan Xiaotian and I have booked a hotel room under that name at the local Holiday Inn. Can we meet this afternoon at the restaurant around three? Bring Gary also if he is available.”
“We’ll be there,” replied Sean.
While they both finished their coffee, they engaged in the usual superficial conversation that people engage in with someone they met for the first time.
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That afternoon, Li Mei, Sean and Gary Webster met at the pizza restaurant where they had met many times before. Although the food was excellent, it never attracted many customers because it was off the beaten track and was unknown to most Seattle residents. When arrangements were made to meet there, the name of the restaurant was never mentioned. It was just referred to as “the restaurant” and that was it.
Although Sean was usually required to wear a suit and tie within the Seattle FBI Field Office, in his position as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC), he always changed into casual clothes when meeting Li Mei or confidential informants. Sometimes, a hard hat, soiled work gloves and a used tool belt was part of his attire.
Li Mei briefed the FBI agents on her cover story as both agents nodded in approval.
“If we can locate the bar or whatever it is where the clients will meet to await their ride to the brothel, I am going to try and obtain employment with them,” said Li Mei. “I know enough about business and accounting to pass myself off as an MBA.”
“Part of your many talents,” laughed Gary.
“I hope so,” replied Li Mei. “If I can get on the inside we can rescue those girls.”
“It’s probably going to take awhile to locate the two premises. There are literally thousands of real estate transactions within those time frames but we have two teams working on it full-time,” said Sean. “It’s not going to be easy getting hired, Li Mei. I am sure they already have their people in place who they can trust implicitly.”
“I agree, it is not a sure thing,” said Li Mei. “I can only do my best. If I am not successful, we will have to rely on surveillance but an undercover agent in place supported by surveillance should increase our chance for success. I want to impress upon you, these are very intelligent, streetwise individuals who have probably done this many times before. I would assume they have several similar operations in place throughout the country. Probably in Canada too, since it is well known to Triads that the consequences for criminal behaviour there is no deterrent whatsoever.”
“Also, I would suggest these are the most dangerous people you will ever deal with,” Li Mei continued. “They won’t wait to kill you while evading arrest. They will put a bomb in your car or in your house before you even know they are aware of your investigation.”
“Which means your undercover job is even that more dangerous,” said Gary.
“I am assuming, or at least hoping they will check my background story in China. I think they would be comfortable hiring a member of the Black Society to work for them. Besides, they may have other duties for me besides being an accountant.”
“I don’t have to tell you to be extra careful, Li Mei,” said Sean.
“That’s right; you don’t have to tell me,” said Li Mei with a half smile.
CHAPTER TEN
“It’s your case Sean,” said Captain Todd Boisvert, head of the Seattle Police Robbery Division, as he sat in the boardroom of the FBI Criminal Investigation Division with ASAC Sean McNamara and Supervisory Special Agent Gary Webster.
“I hope we can work on this together, Todd, as we usually do,” said McNamara. “The attempted bank robbery is fairly clear-cut but I’m not sure about the killing…. I hear it’s not a murder.”
“Definitely not a murder; no innocent person killed this time. It’s open and shut. We’ll work with you all the way. We’ve also been after this gang for some time for a variety of robberies, mainly suburban banks and jewellery stores,” replied Boisvert. “Take a look at this video. You won’t believe your eyes. I still can’t believe it.”
The video rolled and the law enforcement officers watched a man, wearing a Nixon mask, in the middle of the bank waving a sawed off shotgun around apparently yelling at everyone to get down on the floor, although there was no sound accompanying the video.
Captain Boisvert began to narrate as the video continued, “One young woman is a little too slow getting down so the gunman shouts at her to come over to him. She walks slowly towards him; she probably thought he was going to shoot her in the head. She must have been terrified. We can’t see her face as her back is to the camera. Witnesses told us afterward that the gunman said he would ‘blow her head’ off unless everyone did exactly what they were told and kept quiet.”
“Now watch this,” continued Boisvert. As the gunmen put the barrel under the woman’s jaw, he turned to yell at the people lying on the floor between him and the door. At that moment, almost too fast for the camera to catch other than in a blur, the woman deflected the barrel aside and simultaneously struck the gunman in the throat once, and then two more times in rapid succession with the same hand.
“See how the gun drops on the floor to the left as the gunman falls to the floor. The woman kicks the gun away from him and then walks out the front door without looking back,” said Captain Boisvert. “Have you ever seen anything like that? I think that asshole was dead before he hit the floor.”
“No, I haven’t, “exclaimed Sean. “Have you identified her?” Although Sean knew exactly who she was.
“Actually I have seen this before,” said Gary under his breath so that Boisvert didn’t hear.
“No, she hasn’t been ID’s yet. The witnesses said she was a very beautiful East Asian, probably Chinese. No one knew her nor had anyone seen her before. We want to locate her as soon as possible because she is in real
danger. The gunman was Tyrell Dressler and this was the third robbery he and their gang have pulled in the past month, although the first bank job right here in Seattle,” said Boisvert.
“Yes, I know him. His older brother, Otto, is the leader of the gang, and a real psychopath. He’s going to be out for revenge for sure,” said Sean showing sincere concern.
“Let me show you the video from outside the bank,” said the Captain as he showed the second video.
“The woman looks in both directions and then walks to the right,” continued Captain Boisvert. “Someone is sitting in the driver’s seat of a dark blue Chev, probably the getaway car, with the windows open. The Chinese woman stops, looks in, and takes his photo on her cell phone and then continues walking. It looks like she took the time to say something, and then continued walking. We don’t know what she said.”
“Probably asked the guy to smile,” said Gary.
All three law enforcement officers laughed at that remark.
“Our informants tell us Otto is always outside the bank during these robberies, ready to shoot anyone who follows Tyrell out of the bank, although we can’t see him on these videos,” said Sean, “The getaway driver is probably Shorty Tachman. If we can get the Chinese woman’s cell phone, we’ll know for sure.”
“Leave it with us Todd, we have two teams assigned to these robberies. This is the first unsuccessful one. As you know, they shot and killed four people over the past six months during these robberies so we’ve got to take them into custody as soon as possible. No telling how they will react to Tyrell being killed.”
“The young Chinese woman is in danger, Sean,” said Captain Boisvert. “I’ll put out an APB to every law enforcement officer in the State to find her.”
“Hold off on that Todd. I have an idea how to find her. I don’t want to take a chance of her identity being disclosed and you know the media will be all over this like flies on shit. Some politicians will jump aboard also and try to give her a medal or a key to the city just to get a photo-op. She’ll be safer if we maintain a low profile on this and protect her identity.”
“OK, Sean, but this is on you. I’d really like to know how in the hell she was able to kill that asshole like that. Who in the hell is she? If you know who she is, you had better get her into WITSEC fast.”
“That’s exactly what we’ll do. Leave it to us Todd; we’ll be in touch real soon.”
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Sean sat at the desk in Li Mei’s hotel room at the Holiday Inn, quite concerned. Not only was Li Mei in great danger, her exposure would jeopardize chances of locating the child sex slaves and bringing the Red Dragons to justice.
“If I am in danger,” said Li Mei. “I must protect myself. Can you give me photos of the gang members and some information about them?”
“Yes, of course. Here’s a file with information and photos. It has all been transferred on to blank pages so there is no indication of its origin with the FBI, or at least no proof. Unfortunately, we don’t know where they are living. We’ve been looking for them for six months with no success. I am more than a little worried about this, Li Mei. We think there are only two, but there are probably others we don’t know about.” Sean would like Li Mei to enter WITSEC so she would be safe but he knew he would be wasting his time even mentioning it.
“Did you know that the bank they attempted to rob today belongs to the Mei Hua Triad?” asked Li Mei.
“Holy Shit! You’re kidding. What were you doing in the bank?”
“Nothing connected to my assignments. I just wanted to exchange some Chinese RMB for American dollars. I just happened to be driving by when I thought about exchanging the money I had in my bag. Just bad luck, or good luck, depending upon one’s point of view.”
“Bad luck for Tyrell Dressler, that’s for sure.
“Sean, can you go down to the restaurant and get us a table. I have to make a quick phone call. I’ll see you in five or ten minutes.”
“Yes, sure. By the way, our mutual friend, Bill Dowey of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, called. He says some friends want to get in touch with you. I told him you were working on a sensitive matter so you’d have to meet at some secret location.”
“I think I know what it is about. I’ll have to put some time aside to meet them; it’s an important matter. I think they read you in last year,” replied Li Mei.
“I know what it’s about, but not in great detail. I’ll see you downstairs shortly,” said Sean as he left the room. About fifteen seconds after the door closed, Li Mei dialed the phone and spoke to someone in Putonghua.
“Do you know who this is?” said Li Mei.
“Yes, I do. I am always surprised when you call me, but it’s not always bad news.”
“Can we meet later tonight, say eleven o’clock?” said Li Mei. “I am going to do you a favour. In fact I am going to do you two favours.”
Ma Shan, the leader of the Mei Hua Triad, did not like to talk on the phone, even though he had them swept for electronic interception regularly. He did not mention Li Mei’s name on the phone nor did he ask what the favours would be or why she would do him a favour. The Mei Hua Triad was not on the State Security’s list of good Chinese citizens.
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Li Mei entered the front door of the East Wind Company a few minutes after eleven pm. It brought back memories of the day she had finally captured Wu Xing, the Triad killer who had murdered her parents while, as a twelve year old child, she watched in horror from her hiding place in a closet.
Although she had wanted to kill Wu Xing herself, she fulfilled her assignment and took Wu Xing back to China where he was eventually executed for numerous crimes before and during his leadership of the Mei Hua Triad in Shanghai.
She was frisked for weapons by a young gangster in an expensive suit and shiny black shoes using a metal detector, and taken up to Ma Shan’s temporary office, the same office where Li Mei two years earlier had abducted Wu Xing. Ma Shan did not usually frequent the East Wind Company very often, but for this meeting it was ideal.
“Welcome Li Mei,” said Ma Shan. “You seem to get younger and more beautiful every time I see you.”
“You are right, Ma Shan, and thank you,” said Li Mei in the traditional Chinese response where good manners dictated that you agree with the person who compliments you.
“You want to do me two favours, Li Mei. I assume you want something in return.”
Li Mei liked the way Ma Shan did not waste time with idle chitchat but got straight to the point.
“In Barbados, you saved my life and I have not forgotten that. Today, one of your banks was robbed and I can provide you with information and photos of those responsible. If my intelligence is right, this is the second bank they have robbed that belonged to the Mei Hua.”
“I won’t insult you and waste my time asking how you know those banks belonged to us,” said Ma Shan, “but I very much would like to have those photos and the information.” He was not at all curious how Li Mei obtained this information.
“Do you think you can find these bank robbers?” asked Li Mei.
“That will be no problem,” said Ma Shan. “We spend a great deal of money recruiting people who know what’s going on in this town. We even have a couple of informants who are members of the local Mafia.”
“I assume therefore you want to kill these men?” asked Li Mei.
“You assume correctly, Little Sister. In fact, we will leave their bodies for others to find as a warning. Our banks are off limits. As you know, we usually don’t do that. Our policy is to maintain a low profile and not to attract law enforcement attention, so our enemies usually just disappear.”
“The only thing I would ask, in return for this information, is to ensure they are killed between eight and nine tomorrow evening,” said Li Mei. “Will that pose a problem?”
“Not at
all. Consider it done,” replied Ma Shan.
“You said you have two favours for me?” continued Ma Shan.
“Would you be interested to know the Red Dragon Triad from Beijing are setting up a child brothel in Seattle?”
Ma Shan seldom showed emotion of any kind, but he was visibly angry when told this news by Li Mei.
“They have entered our territory, which is bad enough, but to engage in such an activity will attract law enforcement attention. Why would they do such a stupid thing?” said Ma Shan.
“Because they are just stupid thugs,” said Li Mei. “Not only will the Seattle Police be investigating this, since they brought the girls from China, the FBI will be investigating also. I have heard they are going to form a large joint police task force. You can be assured the term ‘Triad’ will be on the front page of all the newspapers for weeks.”
