Jack Taggart Mysteries 7-Book Bundle

by Easton, Don

  Jack gave Connie a brief account of their investigation into the Russians who were smuggling women to use as prostitutes for the Trans at the Asian Touch and Orient Pleasure massage parlours.

  He outlined the Tran brothers’ criminal history and how the one called Dúc headed a vicious gang of approximately fifty thugs. He also told Connie about the trip to Costa Rica, but did not tell her about the added excursion to Cuba.

  “What do you think?” asked Connie. “Is there a connection?”

  “The pathologist thinks the child was being tortured over a period of at least three or four months,” noted Jack.

  “That’s according to the various bone fractures,” replied Connie.

  Jack looked at Laura, but didn’t speak.

  “Come on, you guys,” said Connie. “Do you know something?”

  “I’ve got a Vietnamese friend,” said Jack, “who was smuggled by boat into Canada about four months ago by the Russians.”

  “That fits!” said Connie. “Who’s your friend? I want to talk to her.”

  “Confidential informant,” said Jack. “The same person who confirmed that the Russians were in Hanoi and that they looked at the girls before they boarded the boat.”

  “Didn’t you submit a report on what your CI told you?” asked Connie. “I never read anything of that nature.”

  “Quaile wouldn’t allow us to work on the Russians, let alone the Vietnamese, so I’ve never put specific reports in on the CI. I just found this out last week. The CI is someone I’ve been developing on my own. I’ve also done a bit of UC work on another character by the name of Giang who is a Vietnamese drug dealer and works for Dúc.”

  “UC?” asked Connie. “Are you buying drugs from him?”

  “Not yet. I’ve been doing this out of my own pocket.”

  “How much you out of pocket?” asked Randy, who had been standing behind Jack and listening.

  Jack turned in his seat, unaware that Connie’s boss had been listening.

  “Well, counting drinks for the drug dealer and his friends, plus a hundred just to talk to my CI, I’m out about two hundred and fifty. It’s no big deal.”

  Randy nodded and said, “Come into my office before you leave and I’ll give you five hundred dollars. Consider it payment to a confidential informant. A receipt from your CI isn’t necessary the first time. If you need money, overtime approved, rentals, travel, anything ... forget about Quaile. You talk to me. We’re running this show. Understood?”

  Jack smiled and said, “Understood. Do you think when it’s over you could use an extra corporal on your section?”

  “And constable,” added Laura.

  “Have you looked at the photos of the vic’?” asked Randy, curiously.

  Jack and Laura shook their heads to indicate they hadn’t.

  Connie passed a large brown manila envelope over to them and Jack took the photos out. The picture on top was an alley, after which the pictures progressed to the Dumpster and the torn garbage bag with the child’s face staring up. More pictures showed the child’s body after being removed from the garbage bag.

  “Still interested in coming over?” asked Randy.

  “I feel nauseated,” said Laura, pushing the photos away.

  “Likewise,” admitted Jack. “Also makes me determined to want to find out who did this to her.”

  “I’d love to have the both of you in here,” said Randy. “We have serious stuff sitting on the back burners that we just can’t get to. More stuff is arriving every day. Connie told me about your transfer yesterday afternoon, Jack. I’m sorry. I called Staffing immediately to see if I could get you in here. I was told to forget it. There was no changing it.”

  Jack picked up a picture of just the victim’s face and turned to Connie and asked, “Do you have a smaller version of this one that I can have?”

  “To show your CI?”

  Jack nodded.

  “I can scan it down to wallet size if you like,” said Connie.

  “That would be even better.”

  “The Orient Pleasure open on Saturdays?” asked Randy.

  Jack nodded. “Seven days a week, three-sixty-five.”

  “Let me know immediately after you’ve shown the picture,” said Randy, before walking back toward his office.

  Jack looked at Connie while gesturing with his thumb toward Randy. “You’re lucky, you know.”

  “You’re telling me,” said Connie. “He’s not afraid to come out and work either. Surveillance, take-downs, you name it. He’s the best boss I’ve ever had—even if he does make me drink Scotch.”

  It was one o’clock when Jack entered the Orient Pleasure. He had forgotten that Dúc spent his lunch hour there and they passed each other in the doorway as Dúc was leaving. Dúc looked up at him and smirked before continuing on his way.

  Jack glanced after him. I want so bad to choke your skinny little neck and bash your head into the floor until you talk ...

  “Oh, you come back, big guy,” said Cuóng. “You like Jade, yes?”

  Jade sat on the edge of the bed with Jack. “I glad you come,” she said. “I hear Mister Dúc tell Cuóng that more girls come in six week. I think I go to United States when that boat come.”

  “Why do you think that?” asked Jack.

  “Girls on next boat not so old like me.”

  “You’re what, nineteen?”

  “Some men like girls not so old like me,” said Jade. “I go to United States and you put Mister Dúc in jail and I no be sent back to Vietnam.”

  “Jade, this life ... I have another way, but first, I need to ask you to look at a picture of a girl’s face.”

  “Okay, Jack. Show me picture.”

  “It’s not easy to look at. It’s a young girl. She was tortured ... blinded in one eye. I need you to take a good look ... she may not be easy to recognize,” added Jack, as he handed her the picture.

  Jade gasped, dropping the picture on the floor as she put her hands to the sides of her face and commenced rocking back and forth on the bed.

  Jack picked up the picture and said, “You know her!”

  “No,” replied Jade. “Can no be. Maybe make mistake. Picture not Hang.”

  “Hang?” replied Jack. “Who is Hang?”

  “She have two thumb, one hand?” whispered Jade, lowering her hands from her face.

  “Yes.”

  Jade uttered a sound like a wounded kitten and the tears flowed down her face. “Her name Hang,” she said, choking out the words. “Who do that to Hang?”

  Before Jack could answer, Jade started crying and he pulled her close to his chest and held her. He heard a Vietnamese woman holler something from the next room, but Cuóng hollered back in Vietnamese and the woman giggled and then was quiet.

  It took ten minutes before Jade quit crying enough to speak. “Hang on boat with me, but not same hole on boat. Everybody on boat older than Hang. Me ... Hang ... we good friend. Like sister. She go to United States and live with American family. That all I know.”

  “That’s all you know? What about her last name? Parents?”

  “Smuggler tell us no talk about our name or family,” cried Jade. “They say if police catched someone ... it better not know. They say they have people with us on boat who tell if someone talk too much. That person have to swim back to Vietnam.”

  “So there is nothing else you know?”

  “Hang telled me her mother from Dong Ha. Much Agent Orange. That why Hang have two thumb. But how Hang talk ... I don’t know ... I think she live in Saigon.”

  “You mean Ho Chi Minh City.”

  “Communist from North say that. We still say Saigon. I see Hang when father bring her to smuggler before we leave Hanoi. He ride bicycle, so maybe Hang no live in Saigon. Hang and father meet smuggler in Ba Dinh district of Hanoi.”

  Jack asked Jade a barrage of questions, but she had little else of value to offer and became more upset with herself for not knowing. Eventually he asked, “Would you l
ike out of this place now?”

  Jade trembled at the prospect and said, “My family in Nha Trang. They ...”

  “They will be okay,” said Jack. “I have a plan where you could leave and they would not think you ran away. We will talk about that in a minute.”

  “Where I go? Where I sleep? Food ... money?”

  “I have a friend. Her name is Holly and her husband died last year. She has two small children. A five-year-old named Jenny. She has a boy named Charlie, who just turned two this month. Charlie is unable to walk. Holly has ... some money. She is looking for a live-in nanny.”

  “Live-in nanny?”

  “A woman to live with her in her house and help her look after her children. I’ve already talked to her. She will pay you enough that you can still send money home.”

  “No more men fuck me?”

  “No more working in this ... this rape factory,” said Jack bitterly. “In time, I would be willing to testify at an immigration hearing for you. With how you have helped, along with the danger for you and your family if you were to return, I think we could work something out. Maybe for everybody.”

  Jade started crying again and buried her face in Jack’s chest. “I like to do that, Jack,” she sobbed. “I work hard with kids. No more pretend smile and happy so men fuck me.”

  chapter twenty-three

  Jack left the Orient Pleasure and walked a block away before Laura picked him up. He told her what he had learned as they drove back to the I-HIT office.

  “So the Russians are directly involved with the victim!” said Laura, making no effort to hide her anger.

  “The victim has a name now,” said Jack. “It is Hang.”

  Laura knew what Jack was getting at. They were no longer dealing with just another unknown or a statistic. Putting a name to the victim made it personal. A lot more personal.

  “The Russians brought her here,” continued Jack. “But who she was passed on to is anybody’s guess.”

  “Probably Dúc or one of his brothers ...”

  “Possibly. One of them could have sold her to someone else or maybe it’s someone else the Russians know.”

  “She was supposed to go to the States.”

  “I know.”

  “So how did she end up in a Dumpster in Surrey?”

  “We know she has a father. Maybe living in Hanoi. Speaking of which, the Russians are arriving there next Wednesday.”

  “We’ve got to go, too.”

  “Definitely. With Randy, I bet that won’t be a problem.”

  “So in the meantime, we pass this on to the Vietnamese police. Maybe get Connie to dig up phone tolls from all the businesses and see if she can match them to any perverts.”

  “I don’t even want to think how many that will be ... or how long it will take,” replied Jack.

  “Not much else for us to do until then, other than get permission to go to Hanoi,” said Laura.

  “There is another thing that needs to be looked after.”

  Laura waited for a moment before asking, “What?”

  “In regard to the young woman I just talked with. I promised her I would get her out by tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow!”

  “She’s really upset. I wish I could do it today.”

  “How? Without endangering her family ... or her? Can’t it wait?”

  “No. It has to be tomorrow. The Russians arrive in Hanoi on Wednesday. We should be in Hanoi a day ahead to make sure everything is arranged. With the time difference, we have to leave here on Monday.”

  “What’s your plan?”

  “It’s sort of ... a delicate matter. Just between the two of us.”

  Oh, man ...

  It was late that same afternoon when Laura and Connie sat together in a car parked near Lucky Lucy’s. A team from Drug Section was also on surveillance on nearby streets and confirmed Jack’s movements up until he opened the door and stepped inside the bar. After that he was on his own.

  “You’re lucky you and Jack gaffed a trip to Vietnam,” said Connie. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”

  “Why doesn’t Randy send you, too?” asked Laura.

  “It’s not him. Court. I’m starting a three-month murder trial on Monday.”

  “I’ve done a bit of foreign travel,” said Laura. “Not always as glamorous as it seems.”

  “Yeah, I heard you were in Colombia last year.”

  Laura smiled and said, “Believe me, that was no picnic, either. Foreign travel isn’t as much fun as everyone thinks. Between time zones, work, and jet lag, you don’t usually get to see much. The taxpayer’s dollar doesn’t allow for much sightseeing.”

  “Speaking of dollars,” said Connie. “I’m still a little confused. How does Jack scoring a kilo of cocaine from this Giang character really help our investigation?”

  “It might get him an introduction to Dúc,” replied Laura. “Jack thinks he might be dealing heroin as well as being a pimp.”

  “Even if he does, that is a far leap to having Dúc tell him if he knows anything about Hang.”

  Laura eyed Connie casually. She’s right ... but how do I get her off this topic and to quit thinking about it? I can’t tell her what Jack is really up to with Giang ...

  “Jack is pretty persuasive,” added Laura. “You’d be surprised how convincing he can be.”

  “He must be, to convince Randy.”

  “I suspect Isaac approved it personally,” continued Laura. “He must have, I’ve never seen approval granted this fast before.”

  “So what are you worrying about? We’ve got nothing to lose.”

  “Nothing to lose! How about our budget? We’ll be down by thousands of dollars to buy the dope, which in all likelihood, will only end up with a low-life like Giang on the hook. You were on Drugs, you know how it works. Giang will spend so little time in jail that it will be worth it for him, especially if he gets to keep the money.”

  “It’s not your money,” said Laura, pretending to sound irritated.

  “Comes out of our budget and that affects other investigations.”

  “Ten to one says you’re craving lots of chocolate right now.”

  “Laura! For your information, I am not having my period.”

  “Sorry. Actually it’s me who wouldn’t mind a chocolate bar right now.”

  “Yeah? Come to think of it, that would be good. I deserve one. I’ve been working out lately, have I told you that?”

  Laura smiled.

  Jack sat at a corner table with Giang and negotiated the purchase.

  “Tonight,” said Giang. “You come back here at nine o’clock.”

  “Tonight? Here? Not likely!”

  “Why? I show you the stuff and you can go get the money.”

  Jack shook his head and said, “Someone already tried to rip me here. This is your turf and I’ve never done business with you before.”

  “How do you want to do it?”

  Jack chuckled and said, “Well, I live out in Surrey, but you probably don’t want to go out there either. Maybe some other ...”

  “No, you want Surrey,” said Giang quickly. “That’s fine with me.”

  Jack feigned surprise and said, “Okay, good. Except not tonight. I want it light out, so I can see. I’m willing to meet you in an alley somewhere. You come alone in a car and I’ll walk up and meet you. I don’t care if you have a piece. You can point it right at me. Once I see the dope, give me a minute to grab the cash from where I’ll have stashed it and then we’re done.”

  “That’s okay with me,” replied Giang. “I was in Surrey a long time ago. Played pool someplace. I think the name of the place was Billiard Bill’s.”

  “I’ve seen that place,” replied Jack. “It’s on the second floor of some building.”

  Giang nodded.

  “How about the alley behind it at noon?” suggested Jack.

  Giang forced himself not to smile. He nodded and shook hands with Jack.

  “One more thing,”
said Jack. “Because I don’t really know you yet, I want it done in two trips.”

  “Two trips?”

  “Yeah, just to be on the safe side. I want to buy half a kilo from you and make sure everything is okay. If it is, in ten minutes or so, I return with the rest of the money for the other half.”

  Giang smiled and said, “That’s okay. It is good to be careful.”

  “He’s out,” crackled the radio as Jack left Lucky Lucy’s.

  Laura grabbed the microphone and replied, “Copy that.”

  “Just getting in his wheels,” the voice continued. “Gave me the thumbs up.”

  “Good,” replied Laura. “See you back at I-HIT.”

  An hour later, Jack met with all the investigators and gave a debriefing.

  “It went well,” he said. “Giang wants to do it at noon tomorrow. He picked a place out in Surrey. It’s ...”

  “The Orient Pleasure?” said Connie.

  “Close,” replied Jack. “A block away in an alley behind a pool hall. He will come alone in his car and I’ll approach on foot. He is willing to let me examine the kilo before seeing the money. I think I’ll just take the money with me. He won’t be expecting me to have it. We’ll do the deal on the spot and it’s finished.”

  “Would be nice to follow him and see what he does with the money,” said one of the narcs.

  “No,” said Jack. “He is really paranoid. This isn’t just a dope deal. It’s a murder investigation. I don’t want to take any chances on blowing this. If Giang gets wise, I’ll never meet Dúc.”

  “You’re the guy sticking your neck out,” said Randy. “It’s your call on that.”

  “If it goes as planned,” said Jack, “You’ll see me stash the dope in the trunk of my car. Then we all meet back here.”

  “How long before you make contact again?” asked the narc.

  “Give him a week to cool down let him think I’m putting the stuff out. I don’t want to do anything that would make him suspicious.”

  “That will work out,” said Connie. “You’re taking off to ’Nam on Monday. By the time you come back, it will be just right.”

  “I want the Russians,” said Jack. “They’re the ones ultimately behind all this. With any luck, you’ll identify the pervert before we even come back. With evidence on the Russians, we’ll be able to take down the whole damned lot!” At twelve-thirty Sunday afternoon, Jack walked toward the red GTO as it pulled up and parked in the alley behind Billiard Bill’s. He approached the driver’s side and Giang wound down the window.