Torching the Crimson Flag

by Conrad Brasso

  Agent Imada fished around in her bag until she found the drone. It was in an elegant little black velvet bag with a drawstring. She pulled it out and studied it curiously.

  “Okay. The first thing you want to do is unfold it and then turn it on and make sure the little LED lights up green. That lets you know that it is fully charged and ready to go.”

  Michi gingerly pulled out the four little arms and found that they clicked into place. Then she found the power switch and toggled it on. “It’s charged,” she said, seeing the green light.

  “Good.” Boyd pulled out her mobile phone and opened an app that Justin had installed on all the operator’s mobile devices. “Next, you want to press the little button on top, at the same time that the app is opened. That pairs the device with this phone. Now watch this because it's cool. I think Saara is the one who designed this app.” She pinched the screen on the app and it opened a map with their location.

  Michi was watching carefully.

  “Okay,” Boyd continued. “You touch this red icon, and it tells the drone that this is home. When the battery starts running out, it will return to our car. Or, whenever we want, we can just press this again, and the drone will come home.”

  “I see.”

  “Now, when you press this blue icon, you can draw on the map with your finger like this.” Boyd drew an oval around the warehouse. “And the drone will fly that pattern.”

  “Really? That’s amazing!”

  “Then, all you do is select the speed. We’ll take ‘medium.’ Then use the slider to select the height. We’ll do … ten feet. Now all you have to do is hold it out the window, touch ‘start’ on the app, and the little birdy will fly away and take video footage for us that will appear on my phone and be automatically recorded.”

  Michi nodded. “Great!”

  “Let’s do this. We can look around the building and see what’s going on. When the drone comes back, we’ll just recharge it and repeat the pattern in about fifteen minutes. Okay, hold it out on your side.”

  Michi lowered her window and held the drone outside, carefully grasping the body between her thumb and forefinger. “When you feel it tugging, let go, okay?”

  Agent Imada looked over and saw Boyd tapping the start icon. Then, just like she’d expected, she felt the drone tugging in her hand and let it go. Unfortunately, it was at the exact same time that a dump truck was roaring down the street in front of them. It clipped the little drone, and the two ladies watched it fall to the asphalt. A pick-up truck followed behind, and rolled right over it. They heard the crunch. Then Boyd’s phone display turned gray. A flashing red word came on the screen, “Lost Signal.”

  Both operators looked at each other and burst out laughing hysterically. Maybe it was the tension of the day or the lack of sleep, but the laughter went on for a few minutes until they were both gasping and grimacing.

  Finally, Boyd squeaked, “I guess we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. Get out of the car and walk the block.”

  Michi wiped the tears from her eyes. “I guess maybe we’ll need to.”

  “It’s my fault. Ten feet wasn’t high enough.”

  Boyd was just about to get out of the car when a dark blue Toyota pickup pulled into the warehouse parking lot. It made a wide turn and then shifted into reverse, backing into a parking stall and stopping. Two men got out. They were both dressed in black combat pants and boots, with tight black t-shirts. Sidearms were clearly visible on their waists.

  “Well, this is interesting,” Boyd said, sliding her body a little further down into her seat.

  The two guys talked for a few minutes and then split up, one walking around the right side of the building and the other, to the left.

  “That drone would be handy now,” Boyd said with a chuckle.

  Michi was about to respond when another truck pulled up. It was a white Ford F-150, quad cab, with completely darkened windows. Repeating the same pattern as the other truck, it backed into the stall right beside the Toyota. Once parked, four men climbed out, looking the same as the first two. This time, two went into the warehouse, and the other two stationed themselves on each corner of the building.

  “I'm guessing the first two guys are on the opposite corners,” said Boyd. There was no laughter in her voice now.

  Michi nodded. “I think so, too.”

  “The question is, ’Are they protecting what is inside the building or are they expecting company?”

  “Okay, Bora. We’ve got about fifteen minutes before the helicopter gets here. Why don’t you share the highlights of what your team found?”

  Leonard Stone had gathered everyone in the conference room, and they were all at the table, some with coffee in hand, and others with tea or water. The only two missing were Fox and Ashley. They were both resting in the medical clinic.

  “I’m going to have to move through everything pretty quickly, so if there are questions, just interrupt me at any time, okay?”

  “Great,” Saara answered as everyone else nodded.

  “We were going to start by investigating the financials, but Jennifer Wu will do a better job of that then we will, obviously, so we began looking at the different LLCs that surrounded Red Flag. I’m going to go through them and link people and companies.”

  She took a sip of water and then continued. “Red Flag has a board made up of numerous corporations. I’m sending a list of them to your tablets. The name that stuck out to me is Carrousel Shipping, which is owned by Linda and Helmut Wagner. They not only invested in Red Flag but also sent money to R.F. Global Fund, which Jennifer is looking into. The Wagner’s principle business is Sherpa Containers, a custom container-building company. It builds over 100,000 containers a year for clients that, honestly, don’t operate above board. We found connections to dealers of illegal art, known weapons traffickers, and more. I’m not going to get into details, but it’s interesting that they are on Red Flag’s board. Sherpa Containers not only contributed to the Global Fund, but every one of their clients did, too.” She paused and looked down at her phone. “Oh! It’s Jennifer. She wants to video conference.”

  Justin quickly connected with Wu in Hong Kong, and in less than a minute, her face came up on people’s tablets. He made a few adjustments to the audio settings, and then they could hear her.

  “Hi Jennifer!” he said, “Can you hear us?”

  “Yes, thank God!”

  “Can you brighten your camera a little? Your face is kind of dark.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t. I’m actually sitting in the back of a friend’s car right now. Leo, I think you know him. It’s the only safe place to talk with you. I don’t have long.”

  “Jennifer, are you in imminent danger?” Leonard asked.

  “No. I think I’m fine. But I definitely need cybersecurity. Thank Trey for his help when you see him.”

  Stone nodded. Although everyone else didn’t understand the conversation, he knew what she meant.

  “Bora, have you updated everyone?”

  “I was just getting started,” she answered. “Since you’re in a hurry, why don’t you share what you’ve found. I’ve sent them the list of companies that I sent you.”

  “Okay. Perfect. Hi everyone. I’m sorry that I’m just getting straight to business.”

  “That’s fine, go ahead,” Leonard said, looking at his watch and knowing that the chopper would be arriving soon.

  “So you’ve heard of the R.F. Global Fund. For almost a decade, companies have been putting money into it. Red Flag, obviously. Sherpa Containers. A real estate conglomerate called the McMantis Group.”

  “They’re the ones that owned the pig processing plant in North Carolina,” Bora reminded everyone.

  “Right. Pretty much every company on your list, Bora.”

  “Is the fund offshore?” Bao Zhen asked.

  “Most definitely. It’s all very cleverly done.”

  “What is the fund used for?”

  “Up until the last twenty-f
our hours, nothing, really. It’s just been building a substantial account. Over $435,000,000.”

  There was a collective gasp in the conference room.

  “Wow!” Lin Lin exclaimed. “That’s a staggering amount of money.”

  “But, almost ten hours ago, everything changed. Hundreds of millions of dollars went out in disbursements at the same time. It had to have been done with artificial intelligence. I won’t bore with the laundering details, but payments went out to all the companies that had invested in Red Flag. I had a strong sense you’d be interested in two of them. One of them was on your list, Bora, Coconut Harbor Consultants, and the other one was a company that I thought you’d like to pursue further, Dr. Stone. Reflection Models.”

  “You texted me about that last one. It was a front, right?” Bora asked. “Saara and I were going to try and book a model, but we didn’t have time?”

  “Correct. It’s a front for child trafficking.”

  Dr. Stone looked around the room, shocked. “Are you saying that the connection to our primary target is also directly implicated in child trafficking?” Then he realized, Jennifer didn’t know what he was talking about. “I’m sorry, Miss Wu. You’re not aware of our other mission. Keep going.” Then he paused, noting that he’d not heard of the harbor consulting company before. “Bora, how did that coconut company appear on your list?”

  “Linda Wagner’s on the board.”

  “You’ll love this, Dr. Stone. The payments to those two companies, in particular, were distributed across individual bank accounts. Bribe money that’s made to look legitimate.”

  “Bribe money to whom?”

  “Over a thousand different people all around the world.”

  Now the room was completely shaken.

  “A thousand?” Bora asked, her voice shaking.

  “I’m sending you a list of every person and company that benefited from the giant payouts to those two companies. If you look at it, I’ve organized it geographically. Notice that it includes ports in Shanghai, Pohang, Okinawa, Guam, Honolulu, Long Beach, and New Jersey.”

  “So, the fund paid people off in all of those port cities?”

  “That’s correct, Dr. Stone.”

  The list came up on people’s tablets, and as everyone was scanning it, Justin sat back in surprise. “Keahi Kahananui-Jones? I think that’s the name that I sent Michi and Boyd. He’s the harbormaster for Honolulu Harbor!”

  “And Tom Landow,” Bora said, grimly. “I was researching the islands of Hawaii, just to familiarize myself with their government. Isn’t he the mayor of Honolulu?”

  “Yes,” Jennifer confirmed. “Both the mayor and the harbormaster are on the board of Coconut Harbor Consultants with Linda Wagner. But they’re not the only locals getting payoffs. I found close to sixty people in Honolulu alone that are getting similarly-sized payments.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Leonard asked. “For what?”

  “I’m not sure,” Wu answered. “But there’s a lot of money going around.”

  “Besides the two that you mentioned, how many shell companies have you found that are connected with the Global Fund?” Bora asked.

  “Over nine hundred.”

  Justin cleared his throat. “That’s how many shell companies are getting financial disbursements from R.F. Global Fund?”

  “And each of those companies is paying numerous individuals. Conservatively, the payouts are to more than eight thousand people.”

  “And that all happened in the last ten hours?”

  “It all happened about ten hours ago. I’d guess that the payments went out in minutes, rolled around in cryptocurrency accounts, and came out the other side less than thirty minutes later.”

  “How is that even possible?” Lin Lin asked.

  Jennifer was about to answer when the door to LaunchPad burst open, and David came in, looking around to see where people were.

  “Bora, can your team wrap things up with Miss Wu?” Leonard asked.

  “Of course,” Miss Park answered.

  “Thank you for everything, Jennifer. I don’t know anybody else in the world who follows money better than you.”

  She smiled and waved.

  Justin, Saara, Jasmine, and Dr. Stone stepped out of the conference room and got to the door just as Tank came in leading the blindfolded Russians; Bruce, with Sasha; and Trey with Nathan Harris.

  Before he addressed them, Leo pulled Saara aside. “Text Michiko and Boyd, I don’t think they realize the shitstorm they’ve just stepped into. They can’t trust anyone. We need to rally any resources we have to Honolulu Harbor immediately. All of that money got transferred today, for some reason. Something big is going down. They need to be extremely careful.”

  As she hurried over to her office area, he turned to the people who had just come in.

  “Put the men into the two interrogation rooms,” Leo directed Tank. “Jasmine has them set up already. Justin, can you help?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Bruce, take the woman to the lounge and make sure she’s completely secured.”

  “Copy that,” Locke answered heading straight over to that area of the LaunchPad warehouse.

  Leonard gave David a big hug and then turned to the translator.

  “Welcome to our facility, Dr. Harris,” he said, extending his hand. “My name is Leo.” They shook hands. “I think you’ve already met my son, Trey,” Leonard said, giving his son a big hug.

  The translator was surprised. “Yes! Wow. He has been amazing.”

  “This is my daughter, Jasmine,” Trey said, making the introduction.

  “Really?”

  “And that’s my wife and mother-in-law in the conference room. I’ll introduce you later.”

  “My goodness. You’re like the Von Trapp family of covert operators.”

  Jasmine laughed out loud. “Just don’t ask us to sing!”

  “Dr. Harris, we can’t keep you long. The White House has already called, demanding we bring you there immediately. But I need a huge favor from you.”

  “Anything,” Nathan answered.

  “We’d just like to ask you a few brief questions that might help shed light on another part of the operation our team is working on. We think it’s directly connected to you.”

  “Of course.”

  Leonard looked over to the conference room, and Bora was waving at him. He guessed the conversation with Jennifer was over, so he led the group into that room. Bruce and Tank grabbed some extra chairs from the kitchen area and came and joined them. Just before they got started, Saara hurried in too, not wanting to miss this moment.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  “Well, that was a sobering call,” Boyd said.

  Michi nodded. “Is your backpack ready to go?”

  “I’m all decked out for whatever action we face. You?”

  “Yes.”

  It was dark, now, almost 10:30 P. M. on the island. As the two ladies were wondering what to do next, a giant freighter ship could be seen berthing at Pier 42, directly across from the ship that was unloading Hondas.

  “How many containers do you think are on that ship?” Michi asked.

  “Hawaii doesn’t usually get the mega container ships. Those things carry over 20,000 containers. This one probably only has between two and three thousand?”

  They watched as the tug boats did their work, nudging the ship into place. Boyd was about to say something when a black Mercedes Benz pulled into the warehouse parking lot. The driver and an armed security guard got out from the front seat. It looked like the driver was carrying, too. Michiko quickly pulled up her phone and shot some video footage that automatically uploaded to LaunchPad when she stopped filming.

  The detail checked up and down the street and then opened the back doors. A lady got out of one side, and a man got out of the other. They were quickly escorted into the warehouse, but not before Boyd caught a glimpse of the woman’s face reflecting off the light from a streetlamp.


  “I know that lady,” Boyd said. “I killed her brother and sister-in-law in New Delhi.”

  “You did?” Michi asked, very surprised.

  “That’s Seiko Chiu. The founder and CEO of Red Flag.”

  Before Agent Imada could respond, another vehicle drove up. It was a black Cadillac Escalade. Security also sprang out and checked the area. One of them was shorter than the other, and Boyd guessed she was a woman. When the couple climbed out from the back seats, both operators gasped.

  “Linda Wagner!” they said in unison.

  “That must be her husband,” Michiko surmised.

  “Helmut.”

  “Right.”

  The couple went into the warehouse, dutifully surrounded by men with guns.

  “So we have two on the far side of the building. Two in front. The other two that went in earlier and then four more that came in these last two vehicles,” Boyd said. “Ten armed guards.”

  “Do we go in?”

  Carter shook her head. “Linda will recognize you, me too, maybe, although she was pretty drunk when we met.”

  “What’s this?” Michi asked suddenly.

  Big tour busses were coming down Libby Street and pulling up in the parking area next to the loading dock of Pier 42.

  “Tour buses?” Boyd asked. “Are they going to load them onto the ship?”

  “Thank you for meeting with us, Dr. Harris,” said Trey.

  “Please. Thank you, everyone, for rescuing me. Obviously, I’m still in shock, and it’s been an exhausting ordeal, but I’ll answer with what I can.”

  “Do you know who took you?” Leonard asked.

  “Russians, at first. Then I got driven to an underground parking garage, I think, and then transferred. At least one of the original kidnappers rode with me. I don’t know how long we drove, but eventually, I got taken by some Chinese guys to a pig farm or something. That’s when Sasha joined me.”

  “Sasha?”

  “The woman you have in custody.”

  “I’m sorry. Please continue. Do you know her last name?”

  He shook his head. “We got whisked out of there and put into the back of a semi trailer. The Chinese guys who were at the pig place stayed with me. I don't know how long we drove or where we went, but after we had parked for a while, we suddenly had to leave. They hurried me through a trapdoor on the floor and off to a boat, and I think that's when somebody from your team started shooting. Whomever it was, killed a guy named Bing. I don't know the last name. But he had been in the Jeep with me after the Russians handed me over.”