by Brian N. Cox
“The brass at FBI headquarters have already enquired about that,” added Gary. “We told them there was no video evidence on the premises.”
“The good news is,” said Li Mei, “the Mei Hua will blackmail the pedophiles for the rest of their lives. The bad news is that that the high ranking political leaders and judges amongst them will be making decisions under the direction of the Mei Hua Triad.”
“That is a cross we’ll have to bear,” replied Sean. “It may give us some leads to work the investigation from the other end; we’ll have to give that some thought. We may be able to identify some of them in other ways.”
“I hope you do, Sean,” said Li Mei. “At least we know their lives will be ruined one way or the other.”
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Sean only had to wait five minutes in the underground parking garage far from the FBI Field Office when Captain Mike Kelly of the Seattle police showed up.
“Thanks for meeting me again, Mike,” said Sean. “I didn’t think it would be prudent to talk about Weins in either of our offices.”
“No problem, Sean, but why the secrecy? Why is the FBI interested in Weins?”
“This is completely confidential for now, but one of Gary’s CIs told him that Weins was working as a contract killer. Interestingly enough, we received an anonymous phone call from a burner phone saying the same thing.”
“Holy shit! I assumed he may be involved in something illegal to get shot on the highway, and his badge and gun stolen, but never anything like that,” said Captain Kelly.
“We haven’t finished a thorough background investigation yet,” Kelly continued, “but he definitely had a lot more assets than his salary would warrant. His wife had incorporated a company with Weins’ brother as a partner and this company had purchased a large motor yacht, a Lexus and a BMW. Weins and his wife live in a very expensive home. He has always spread the word that he married into money.”
“What does his wife do?” asked Sean.
“That’s just it. She was a waitress from a lower income family although she got a business diploma from a community college. The brother is a lawyer….wills and mortgages mostly. Partner with two others in a small law practice.”
“What’s the name of the company owned by the wife and brother?”
“OMGO Ventures, and I can’t see that it does anything. The thing is, although Weins’ name is not connected to the company, he was the one driving the Lexus and the only one using the yacht. We don’t know where the money came to buy the home, but they have no mortgage.”
“If he is, or was, a contract killer, we’ll have to find out how he obtained his business. How would people or groups know to contact him?” said Sean. “I’m putting a team on this, Mike. I hope whoever you have working this can keep it under wraps.”
“No problem, Sean. Sergeant Jerry Dempster is the only guy on it.”
“Good. I know him. He’s A-1 and can keep a secret,” said Sean. “I’ll have my team hook up with him if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I appreciate the help, but why is the FBI so interested in this?” ask Kelly.
“The informant said he had a contract to kill a Beijing police officer. We had a couple of undercover cops from Beijing working on the Red Dragon investigation, so I assume one of them was a target.”
“Do you think one of the Chinese cops killed him?” asked Kelly.
“No, they were both in the city when it happened. They’ve both returned to China.” Although Sean wasn’t exactly telling the truth, he had to come up with a story to account for the FBI’s interest in the case.
“OK, Sean. Contact me when you want Dempster to meet your team.”
“Good, Mike. We had better keep in close contact on this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sean entered the board room with Li Mei and shut the door behind him. Already sitting at the board room table was Lisa Zhang, Diane Swanson and Gary Webster.
“Lisa, Diane, I presume Gary has already told you about our investigation of Detective Eric Weins?” said Sean.
“Yes,” replied Diane. “You received information, believed reliable, that he was a contract killer.”
“That’s right. I am assigning you and Lisa, under Gary’s direction, to do a comprehensive investigation of Weins. Go back to his elementary school days if you have to but I want to know everything there is to know about him. Here is a copy of a report I received from Mike Kelly at city Organized Crime. Sergeant Jerry Dempster has compiled this and he will be working with you on this.”
“I know him,” said Diane. “A good cop.”
“We are assuming, until you prove otherwise, that our information is true. We want to know who he is in the assassination business with and how they get their contracts. It is also possible that he is not a contract killer but actually belongs to some organization that gives him these assignments. We also want to know, of course, is he a lone wolf or are there other cops or anyone else with him in the killing business. As you can see from the Seattle Police report, he has assets at his disposal way beyond his income.”
“It looks like his wife and brother might be involved at some level,” said Gary.
“Yes, it certainly looks that way.”
“Now here is something else that might be relevant that most of you don’t know. Do you remember the case the media were calling the ‘Mystery Assassin’ about six months ago?”
“Yes Sir, of course,” said Lisa Zhang. “You and Gary made the arrest.”
“I found it interesting that the shootings occurred in the mid-west, but the assassin lived in Seattle,” added Diane.
“What was never revealed, and it must stay within this room, is that the whole assassination plot was a plan by the Mei Hua Triad to frame Li Mei and have her arrested, convicted and executed, said Sean.”
Diane and Lisa look stunned at hearing this and looked at Li Mei who showed no emotion on her face.
“During that investigation, we discovered a Seattle detective who was in the employ of the Mei Hua Triad. His name is Lou Bradley. Do any of you know him?”
“I met him on a case once but never had anything to do with him except being introduced,” said Lisa.
“I didn’t know him, but why didn’t it hit the news? That’s a huge story,” ask Diane.
“Mike Kelly and one or two others at Seattle P.D. know of this, but it was mutually decided to leave him in place. We figured we could learn more about the Mei Hua and Bradley’s dealings with them if we left him alone. He has been under surveillance by a special JFO for six months now. Occasional physical surveillance, but his landline, cell phone and emails are monitored 24-7. The reason I am telling you this is that we would be very interested to know if there is a connection between Weins and Bradley.
“Do you know who killed Weins?” asked Diane.
“No. Possibly your investigation will lead to some suspects. I am assuming his last intended victim was a little more competent than he was,” replied Sean.
“How do we know he was killed by an intended victim?” asked Lisa. “Maybe he was just hunted down and shot.”
“Good question,” said Sean. “His car was parked at the side of the road but his body was found about twenty yards behind his car. At that point, there were tire tracks indicating another car was in the ditch. His body was right beside where the driver’s door of that car would have been.”
“Also,” added Gary. “There was powder residue on his hand and sleeve indicating he had recently fired a gun but his holster was empty. There were no casings in the area so he probably had two guns. The Seattle PD mostly carry Glock semi-automatics, but he probably used a revolver when his gun was fired. I can see his killer picking up his own casings but why would he pick up Weins’ casings?”
“Good point,” added Swanson.
“Mike Kelly has read in Jerry Dempster about Bradley being on the Mei Hua Triad payroll, so you can be q
uite open with him as you are going to be operating as a three-man team….I mean a three-person team,” said Gary. “I’ll give you all the help I can get; this investigation is top priority. For now, I’ll reassign your current files to others if necessary.”
“For the purposes of this investigation, hold your meetings and retain your reports at the west area safe house. Dempster knows that this will be an off-premise investigation. Give Dempster a call and you can hook up with him this morning.
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Special Agent Lisa Zhang drove the FBI car as she and Diane Swanson were enroute to meet Sergeant Dempster.
“Lisa, let me run something by you. If I had to take a guess, I would guess that Weins was killed by Li Mei.”
“You must have been reading my mind, Diane. I was wondering why Li Mei was at that meeting. She is here on the Red Dragon investigation. Why would she be present for a highly classified meeting about Weins?”
“I know that both the Mei Hua Triad and the Red Dragons would like to see her dead but they would certainly hire an outsider, a white American, to do the job. They wouldn’t take the risk of being exposed to Chinese State Security,” said Diane.
“Exactly, and as the ASAC said, Weins must have encountered someone more competent than him. I wouldn’t want to be assigned a contract to kill Li Mei,” replied Lisa.
“You’re right. That would be a risky job. I worked with her in New York. She is not only fearless, she seems to have a very highly developed survival instinct.”
“Actually, I said exactly that to Li Mei, considering the risks she took getting into the brothel and what she did to get the raiding party in, and she said “No. I am not fearless. Fear is an important ally that prevents you from walking into danger unprepared.”
“Yes, that makes perfect sense when you give it some thought. Courage and fearlessness are almost worshipped in our society, yet it often leads to loss of life needlessly,” replied Diane.
“Well, this is just speculation; we have no proof…anyway, if she killed Weins, good for her,” said Lisa.”
“Amen to that,” added Diane.
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“Hi Bill. This is Li Mei. Can you get away for a day or two?”
“Hi Li Mei. If it is important enough, I can probably get away,” replied Bill Dowey on his secure cellphone from his Vancouver office at RCMP “E” Division headquarters.
“Can you come down to Seattle and meet a plane with me. There is someone coming in that I want you to meet. She is going to join our little group and you can fill her in better than me since I missed the last meeting.”
“No problem, Li Mei. When is the flight arriving?”
“Friday. It’s an early arrival so can you come down Thursday?”
“Can do. I’ll be in touch,” replied Inspector Bill Dowey of the RCMP National Security & Intelligence Section.
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As Li Mei and Bill Dowey stood with hundreds of people at the Arrival area, they watched as passengers left the baggage carousels and came to meet friends and relatives waiting to greet them. Li Mei pointed out Rhona Lu as soon as she spotted her.
Rhona Lu, a State Security Officer stationed at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, was tall, slim and very attractive, looking at least five years younger than her forty years. Her black hair was worn long, similar to Li Mei’s hair, and she wore a dark grey pant suit with a white blouse and a royal blue neck scarf.
Li Mei and Rhona met and grasped each other’s hands, but did not hug as that was not the custom of Chinese people. Li Mei introduced Bill and Rhona resulting in them shaking hands.
“Well, I have always wanted to meet a famous Canadian Mountie,” said Rhona with a big smile. We do not know the term “RCMP” in China but everyone knows of the red coats and horses of the Canadian police.”
“Well I don’t think I’m famous,” said Bill, with a laugh, “and they took my horse away and gave me a car. My laptop kept falling off my horse.”
All three of them laughed at this.
“You told me he was handsome, Li Mei, but didn’t tell me of his great sense of humour,” said Rhona.
“You have me at a disadvantage, Rhona,” said Bill. “Li Mei never told me how attractive you were. I suspect State Security only hires beautiful women.”
Both Li Mei and Rhona blushed and then laughed. It was obvious to Li Mei that her two friends were connecting on a level beyond the business at hand.
*****************************************************************************
An hour later, Bill, Li Mei and Rhona Lu sat in Bill’s hotel room as Bill explained to Rhona why they were meeting. Before commencing with his explanation, he had plugged a white noise generator into an electrical outlet to prevent eavesdropping, although he didn’t expect they would be under surveillance. Both he and Li Mei had used counter-surveillance techniques enroute to the airport and Bill was registered at the hotel under a phoney name, Bill Thompson, a businessman from Buffalo, New York.
“When Li Mei and two FBI agents, who you will probably meet later, were in Barbados last year, we encountered members of a group who were trying to engineer a military conflict between the US and China, possibly an actual war. This unknown group was never identified, but we learned they had some very high up contacts in both the FBI and the CIA. These contacts were able to suppress the investigation so their activities were never acknowledged.”
Rhona nodded to indicate she understood, but said nothing.”
“Later, the two FBI agents, Sean McNamara and Gary Webster, were targeted by a Deputy Director of the FBI to discredit them. There was even some unconfirmed evidence that if the plan to discredit them didn’t work, they would have been killed,” continued Bill.
“I should have mentioned that all of us, Li Mei, McNamara, Webster and myself were targeted in Barbados as the group tried to kill us. The assassins were carrying CIA identification. I was shot but obviously I survived,” added Bill with a laugh.
“Later, a CIA case officer stationed in Washington learned about this unknown group through a confidential informant. He hesitated to report this to his superiors, because somewhere high up in CIA there was someone who was a member of this group, maybe more than one person.”
“He met with Assistant Deputy Director Harding of the New York FBI Field Office, and told him of what he had learned. He knew that Harding was clean and had tried to protect McNamara and Webster. He also knew that the FBI Director was OK also.”
“It seems that you must be very careful and selective about who knows of this story,” said Lu. “I would guess that talking to the wrong person could be fatal.”
“You are right about that,” interjected Li Mei.
“The CIA officer, commenced more digging with the help of his informant, and found evidence that this unknown group had recruited or created a domestic terrorist sub-group to carry out their plans. He had to do this on the QT as the CIA is not authorized to investigate within the borders of the US.”
“Who is this unknown group, or at least what is their purpose?” asked Lu.
“They are high ranking executives of military-industrial complex companies. Their goal is to get richer than they already are. In order to do this, they need military confrontations, preferably war. They sell military hardware….planes, tanks, ships, guns, armaments, military technology, even uniforms and war causes sales to skyrocket. I assume they don’t want a world war as the possibility of being on the losing side would not be profitable, but they do want a complete mobilization of the military. Of course this is just speculation on my part; I don’t really know their actual goals.”
“American President Eisenhower warned Americans of the military-industrial complex but apparently the people did not listen, or have forgotten. As you know, most people are ignor
ant of history,” said Li Mei.
“May I assume this group is composed of American companies?” asked Rhona Lu.
“Primarily, we think, but not just Americans. As far as we can determine, there may be military equipment manufacturers in China, France and Britain who are also members of the group,” replied Bill.
“So why are you, a Canadian, involved in this? I didn’t know that Canada had a big military industry base,” asked Lu.
“I think I was asked to join the group because I was one of those who originally discovered the group’s existence in Barbados. Also, I am a conduit to McNamara and Webster. This group knows of the existence and involvement of McNamara and Webster in trying to have the group investigated so neither can be involved with us or our investigation as we would be discovered for sure.”