The Chinese Woman: Red Dragons: A Spy Mystery Thriller: Li Mei Spy Action Series (The Chinese Woman: Li Mei Spy Action Series Book 4)

by Brian N. Cox

  Addison shook hands with Sean and Li Mei and thanked them for being open with him. He had never walked so quickly down a hallway in all his life. He was extremely pleased to get out of the Field Office and drive home to his family.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Special Agents Lisa Zhang and June Wong asked to meet with Sean and Li Mei first thing the next morning after Sean had interrogated the Red Dragon suspects. When they arrived, Li Mei was already sitting at the coffee table where most of Sean’s meetings with more than one or two people took place. Everyone greeted each other, poured themselves a cup of coffee at Sean’s invitation, and sat around the coffee table in front of the couch.

  We have checked and matched all the girls against the photos and names provided by Li Mei and there is one girl missing,” said Lisa Zhang. “Does anyone know what happened to her? Her name is Li Qu. She was only eleven years old and quite a small child.”

  “I realized there were only nineteen girls at the brothel when I was undercover there,” replied Li Mei. “There is a chance Li Qu was abducted by someone not connected to the Red Dragons. Have any of the girls said anything about her?”

  “We have asked the girls,” said June Wong, “but they won’t answer that question. In fact, they looked more terrified than usual.”

  “Let me talk to Xiaowei,” said Li Mei. “She wasn’t very talkative on our drive back to Seattle and said nothing about her experience, but I think we started to develop a bond. I will do my best to find out what happened.”

  “May I ask what happened to your head?” asked Agent Wong.

  “I got sloppy and stumbled; just bumped my head…nothing serious,” replied Li Mei.

  Shortly thereafter, Li Mei drove to the building, with the two FBI agents, where the girls were being held. Although the building was not new, the interior had been remodeled and was clean, spacious and well decorated. There wasn’t room for sleeping accommodations for such a large group so each evening, the girls were taken to a nearby four-star hotel where both FBI agents and Seattle Police were providing security. The FBI still viewed the young girls as vital witnesses so they must be kept safe.

  Li Mei met with Shirley Gong, explained to her why she was there, and asked if there was a private room where she could talk to Xiaowei. Having been shown a suitable room, Li Mei went to Xiaowei, who was sitting on a sofa talking to her friend Tang Tang, and asked her to come with her. As they walked towards the room, Li Mei had an idea. She recalled that Tang Tang was assigned number three at the brothel so she would be have been present when Li Mei shot the dreaded and feared brothel security guard, Li, and then sent the girls to their rooms to lie on the floor under their beds. Tang Tang would have realized that Li Mei was a friend and not to be feared; quite the contrary since she had killed a Red Dragon in front of the girls.

  Li Mei then doubled back and asked Tang Tang to accompany them to the private room. Tang Tang was a very attractive young girl and the tallest of the group. She had been a lifetime friend of Xiaowei.

  “I have only one question for you,” said Li Mei, “but it is a very important question and I hope you will answer it.” She paused for a few seconds and then said, “There were twenty young girls kidnapped in Beijing and the other cities but there are only nineteen here. The missing girl is named Li Qu. Do you know what happened to her?”

  Both girls looked down and did not answer. It was apparent to Li Mei that they were extremely upset.

  “If she is not alive,” continued Li Mei, “I must visit Li Qu’s parents. They deserve to know what happened to their daughter.”

  Both girls almost simultaneously lifted their heads and tears flowed down both their cheeks. After about fifteen seconds of silence, finally Xiaowei said, “They killed her. The Red Dragons killed her.” Tang Tang nodded while Xiaowei said this.

  “Please tell me when they did this and what they did,” asked Li Mei.

  Both girls’ chests were heaving as they cried louder and louder. Tang Tang said, “They hung her with a rope. No one knows why they did this.”

  “It was when we first arrived on the plane,” added Xiaowei. Both girls were crying so hard it was difficult to understand them.

  Shirley Gong was alarmed by the crying and opened the door, prepared to protest to Li Mei, but she saw that both girls were standing and were engaged in a mutual hug with Li Mei. All three were crying.

  Li Mei couldn’t remember being so upset and repulsed, and she had investigated many cases of child abuse when with the Chongqing Police. She knew the order would have been given by Fong Lei and the other leaders would have been present or even participated in the execution of this young child. She was so glad that she had kept them out of the American criminal justice system and turned them over to the Mei Hua Triad.

  *****************************************************************************

  Li Mei received a phone call that afternoon to meet with Lao Wu. They met on the waterfront at a prearranged location where both felt free from observation or being overheard.

  “Our Red Dragon friends were very talkative and provided much information, some of which we were not interested in, but you may be interested,” said Lao Wu. “Here is a note with information you may feel is valuable. The people on the list are not Red Dragons but they are almost as guilty.”

  “Thank you, Older Brother. I will check this out,” said Li Mei.

  “I am sorry your car is damaged. Someone tried to shoot me so there is damage from the bullets,” continued Li Mei.

  “Do you know who did this?” enquired Lao Wu. “Since the car had been driven by our Society members, and was registered to a company we owned, possibly the shooter thought you were Mei Hua Triad?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that, Lao Wu. I will contact you later about this when and if I have more information.”

  “Yes, this must be addressed. May I assume that since you are still alive, the shooter is dead?”

  “Yes. I was lucky.”

  “I assume you can foresee making many millions of dollars based on the flash drives you found with Wang Xicheng,” continued Li Mei, changing the subject.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about, but if someone had those videos, I suspect you would be right,” said Lao Wu with a laugh.

  ******************************************************************************

  Mervin Taylor was a very happy man. His services for the Red Dragons had resulted in almost three-quarter of a million dollars in his bank account, just waiting to be invested. He now was driving a current model Mercedes sports car and had a trophy girlfriend, Jill, who couldn’t do enough to make him happy in every way possible. Jill was twenty-three, blond, buxom and knew she had hit the jackpot. Taylor had made a great deal of money from the Red Dragons over the years, transporting both drugs and women, not to mention children, into the States from Mexico.

  He was sitting on his sofa, with Jill snuggled up to him, when the doorbell rang. He sent Jill to answer the door while he sipped his coffee.

  “I am here to speak to Mr. Taylor,” said Li Mei.

  Jill did not invite Li Mei in but called Taylor to come to the door.

  “Yes, what can I do for you?” said Taylor looking over Li Mei from head to toe and thinking it would be nice to replace Jill with this gorgeous Chinese woman. Li Mei’s had replaced the large white band-aid covering the wound on her forehead with a smaller flesh coloured band-aid.

  “Fong Lei has sent me here with a message,” said Li Mei. “May I come in?”

  “Of course.” Taylor took her to the living room and offered her a seat. He was very curious about this visit; maybe Fong had another high paying job for him.

  “Please ask your lady friend to leave the house,” said Li Mei.

  “Anything you have to say, Jill can hear,” replied Taylor trying to sound self-important.

  “As you wish. I will phone Fong Lei and tell him you will not cooperate with his wishes,” replied Li Mei.


  Li Mei had called Taylor’s bluff. “Jill, honey. Please go to the store or go have a coffee. I am sure this will only take about a half hour.” Jill, didn’t look happy but left the house without a word. Li Mei saw her get into the Mercedes and drive away.

  “Because you brought those Chinese children into the US from Mexico, and arranged the purchase of the Lounge and brothel, there are two groups looking for you,” said Li Mei.

  Taylor looked very nervous and replied with only one word, “Who?”

  “The FBI want you, of course, but you are also being hunted by the Mei Hua Triad. They should be able to find you very easily. Here is the picture of Fong Lei they sent me.” Li Mei showed the picture of Fong Lei on her smartphone and Taylor almost fainted and begin trembling quite noticeably.

  “Who…who are you?” Taylor said meekly.

  “It doesn’t matter,” replied Li Mei. “I can call the Mei Hua right now, but I will give you a better option if you like.”

  Taylor realized he could not let this woman phone the Mei Hua Triad thugs. His only option was to kill her. Li Mei could see him formulating his plans.

  When he looked up, he saw Li Mei pointing a gun at his head.

  “Don’t worry; I will not kill you,” said Li Mei. “I will only shoot you in the testicles so you will be alive for the Mei Hua to take you away.”

  Taylor looked like the world had come to an end and there was no way out for him. It was bad enough to be a dead man but to die in such pain….the thought made him weak; he thought he was going to throw up.

  “I have another option for you,” said Li Mei. “Do you want to hear it?”

  “Yes….yes…yes….please,” replied Taylor quietly.

  “Money is being raised for the children you and the Red Dragons put in the brothel. We can go to the bank and you can transfer whatever is left of the seven-hundred and fifty thousand dollars you have left in your accounts to this fund. It will probably be the only good thing you have ever done in your life. Then I will call the FBI to come and pick you up. You will, of course, confess everything and refuse bail and plead guilty. If you are released on bail, the Mei Hua Triad will be waiting for you. By the way, here are pictures of two more of your associates.” She then showed Taylor the pictures of Wang Xicheng and Chan Meng, in the same pose as Fong. Taylor slumped into his chair and threw up on his rug.

  Li Mei then had Taylor drive her car to his bank while she kept a gun pointed at his groin. Enroute, she phoned Sean to have him and his agents to meet her at the bank.

  “Don’t approach us to make the arrest until Taylor has finished his banking. He wants to make a big donation to the girls’ charitable fund.”

  Sean knew exactly what Li Mei had done, but he could never understand how she managed to pull these things off. “What a great FBI agent she would make,” he thought with a laugh. “She’d probably be Field Office SAC in no time. Of course that would be a waste as she would be too valuable as a field agent.”

  “I will give you the address of a Michael Lee,” she said to Sean. “He was the bus driver that brought the children up to Seattle from California when they were off-loaded from Taylor’s boat. I will email him a photo. I am sure he can be convinced to plead guilty,” said Li Mei.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Sean, Li Mei and Gary Webster sat around the coffee table in Sean’s office first thing the next morning.

  “Li Mei, tell Gary exactly what happened on I-5 when that police officer tried to kill you,” said Sean.

  Li Mei related the story in detail, as she had told Sean previously, but this time added that she had been driving a car owned by the Mei Hua Triad.

  “How in hell could you be driving their car?” exclaimed Sean.

  “It doesn’t matter. They leant it to me.”

  “Are you getting too close the Mei Hua, Li Mei?” asked Gary, looking just as concerned as Sean.

  “Do your superiors in Beijing know this?”

  “You do not understand the Triads,” replied Li Mei. “An undercover operative is ideal, but almost as important are contacts within an organization….probably even more important because undercover operations eventually end, contacts within the organization are forever. Although there are many in the Mei Hua that would like to kill me, and will no doubt try to do so, there are other cooler heads who realize I hold an ace in the hole. Killing me or even having me disappear may incur the wrath of the State Security, Second Bureau, the one organization that they have reason to fear. Having State Security agents hunt them down is not good for business. They don’t want conflicts, fights or revenge; they want to make money…lots of it. The Triads are all about business and money.”

  “You think there are elements within the Mei Hua who will try to kill you?” asked Gary.

  “Of course; I will never really be safe. I must be both cautious and aware at all times, but the very intelligent Mei Hua members, including their leadership, don’t want anything interfering with them reaping in profits. The leaders may or may not prefer to see me dead, but the risk of consequences is not worth the risk of killing me. Besides, some situations involve a mutual benefit with no conflict of interest to either side.”

  Sean immediately realized who killed the bank robbery gang members that were going to hunt Li Mei down in revenge for her killing their boss’s brother in the bank. Li Mei benefited by having the threat to her life removed and the Mei Hua benefited by ridding themselves of a group who were robbing their banks. A win-win situation.

  “You are referring to the bank robbers who were killed,” Sean said as a statement rather than a question.

  “No comment,” replied Li Mei, her face revealing nothing.

  “Now, forget the car and the Mei Hua,” continued Li Mei. “Do you have any ideas about the police detective who tried to kill me?”

  “First of all,” said Gary, “I am going to find a bag with his badge and gun, etcetera, in a washroom at a Federal Building. This way, it can rightfully be taken into the custody of the FBI. If it was found in the city outside of Federal property, we would be obligated to turn it over to the Seattle Police. Will your fingerprints or DNA be on any of those articles, Lei Mei?”

  “No, I put on latex gloves before handling anything. I got the bag from his trunk so I assume any trace evidence found will belong to Weins.”

  “Good idea, Gary,” said Sean. “I met with Mike Kelly at Organized Crime and he said Weins was recently transferred to the Organized Crime Bureau. You would probably have met him within a week for two. He was considered a very bright, personable guy and an above average investigator. He was actually a model police officer; no blemishes on his record.”

  “A good cop except for his moonlighting job as a killer,” laughed Gary, causing more than a chuckle from Sean and Li Mei.

  “His body was found within a couple of hours of his conflict with Li Mei and of course a big investigation is underway by the State Patrol and the Seattle Police. Mike is checking his background very closely, including his finances. They don’t suspect him of any wrongdoing but they want to discover what happened and why,” said Sean. “I was very vague about why I wanted to know about him but he accepted that.”

  Li Mei never told them about the Triad thug she and Lao Wu had shot. His body may take weeks to find or may never be discovered, depending how close farm machinery would get to the fence. Coyotes and foxes would probably carry much of the corpse’s remains away. Her bullet would be in that body also, but the gun she had used was wiped clean and was now at the bottom of the ocean.

  “Sean, what do the Prosecutors think of all the Red Dragons pleading guilty?” asked Gary.

  “They are amazed, to put it mildly, but very happy none the less. Since Addison’s firm backed out, the Dragons have been assigned court appointed lawyers, but none of them have been able to convince the Red Dragons to go to trial.”

  “Of course,” said Gary with a smile.

  “Let’s talk about something we have all been avoiding,
” said Li Mei. “You were undoubtedly expecting to find DVDs or flash drives with evidence of the pedophiles raping the children. I’m sure you know every room had a closed circuit TV camera.”

  “Yes, we had hoped to find that video evidence,” said Sean. “I assume that Fong Lei or Wang Xicheng took it with them. May I assume it is now in the hands of the Mei Hua Triad?”

  “I wanted to see the pedophiles prosecuted as much as you did,” said Li Mei ignoring Sean’s question. “but there was another consideration that took priority. I know video evidence alone would not be enough to convict the perverts.”

  “I know what you are going to say, Li Mei, and Gary and I both agree. To force those children into court, watch those videos and testify about them would be unconscionable. If we had found the videos, we would never admit it.”