I bounced my eyebrows at him. “Anything?”
“He remembers unloading the container but says that’s all he did… said your guy was the forklift operator that hauled it away after telling him he could handle it on his own. I don’t think my guy knew what was in that container.”
Hansen and Pratt had received the same answers from the men they questioned, and so had House. I filled them in on my conversation with Medina. “He could very well be working alone. Hansen, Pratt, I want you two to pull records for every visit the Hong Long has made to port. See if this container was on board, and if it was, find out the name of the forklift operator. Also, Agent Ray mentioned this ship docked in Hawaii. Reach out to our field office there and see if they can poke around. Someone probably helped there as well, maybe checked on the girls or provided a new supply of food and water.”
“I’ve already alerted CSI,” House said. “You want me to oversee that?”
“I do. In fact, this investigation has task force written all over it, but the upside is we have an opportunity to take down a large ring, maybe more. Customs is now part of this growing task force. We need a command center where everyone can play nice together.”
House chuckled. “Wishful thinking but I’ll get that set up. We can have the container moved to a secure facility in the SOMA area where forensics can get to work. The place is big enough to act as our command center too.”
Kang and I walked back over to Medina.
“Hey, my knees are killing me,” he whined.
“Too bad. Remember him?” I pointed my thumb at Kang.
“I’m Agent Kang. I understand you’re volunteering to take credit for this entire operation. You need some serious cajones to do that. Inside federal prison, the lowest man on the totem pole is the one convicted for preying on minors. I hear the stories.” Kang’s body shivered. “Makes my stomach turn.”
Medina licked his lips. His eyes darted all over the place, probably searching for an exit from the mess he found himself in. There was none.
“Are you trying to think up a new story? I asked. “It might be a little too late for that. Your pals who were with you the night that container was unloaded… they all said you drove off in one direction and they headed in another. You told them to go home so you could be alone… because you needed to let the girls out.”
“That’s not true.”
“We think it is.”
“It’s amazing how the kingpin of an organization never looks like a kingpin,” Kang said.
“Kingpin? I’m not in charge of anything. I just work for them.”
A smile formed on my face. “A second ago you claimed to have had nothing to do with it. Now you’re admitting to working for someone. If you don’t start telling us everything right now, you will take the heat for this. I guarantee it.”
“Okay, okay. About a year and a half ago, I’m getting into my car after a shift and this guy approaches me.”
“Did you know him or see him before?”
“Never.”
“This guy have a name?”
“He never mentioned one. Didn’t even want to know my name.”
“What did he look like?”
“Hard to tell. It was dark the first night I met him. Plus he was dressed in black, had a hoodie and sunglasses. Every time I met with him after that, he always dressed the same way. But he was young.”
“How do you know?”
“The way his voice sounded, and the parts of this face I did see looked young. I really didn’t want to know much. I knew this was fishy stuff, so I felt the less I knew the better, right?
“Okay, so some guy you don’t know or even recognize approaches you after a shift, then what?”
“He asked me if I wanted to make some easy money. At the time, I was in a real bind financially. So I said I was interested. He goes on to tell me that every so often he would have a shipment arriving on a cargo ship. All he wanted me to do was to move the container to an area where he could unload the goods into a couple of vans. He said the entire thing would take fifteen minutes tops, and he would pay me five thousand dollars.”
“Did you see what it was he unloaded?”
“Well, yeah. Each time it was a bunch of girls.”
“How many times did you do this for him?”
“This was the third time.”
“So he would contact you with the shipping information, you would then set aside the container for him, and he would show up later and load the girls into these vans?”
“Yeah, two vans actually. He was always waiting nearby, because after I texted him that I had the container in the spot, he would show up a few minutes later. He would load up the girls, and they would be gone.”
“They? More than one guy showed up?”
Xiaolian did mention three men.
“Yeah, there were four, but they all dressed the same: black jeans, black hoodie. Ray Bans. But I could tell one was a girl just by the way her body looked. She had curves.”
“Did you see the inside of the container?” Kang asked.
“Nah, I always stayed seated in my forklift off to the side. I didn’t want to see any more than needed. In fact, I made it a point to look away.”
“So after they loaded the girls into the vehicles, what happened?”
“One of them hands me an envelope with five thousand dollars in it. They go their way. I go my way.”
“Do you have this person’s phone number?”
“Sure, but each time he contacts me, it’s from a different number.”
“How is it they are able to drive in and out? There’s a security gate.”
“There’s another gate here that leads directly to Market Street. It’s mostly used by people who work here.”
“So which security guard is on your contact’s payroll?”
Medina let out a breath. “Corey Watts.”
“Anybody else working here involved with this operation?”
“As far as I know it’s just us two. I don’t even think I’m supposed to know about him. They never told me, but I happened to see the guy talking to Corey on his way out. I don’t think Corey even knows I’m involved.”
“You two never talked about it?”
“No way. I told you, I didn’t want to know any more than necessary for me to do my part of the job.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Corey Watts wasn’t scheduled for a shift that day, but his apartment was near the corner of Filbert and 7th Street, about a five- to-ten-minute drive from the port. Kang and I took the drive over there.
“I’ll be interested to see what forensics finds in that container,” Kang said.
“There’ll be a lot of DNA, that’s for sure, but I’m not so sure how much it’ll help us. Those girls most likely won’t be in our database. Finding them would be much better.”
Kang glanced over at me. “I’ll tell you, though, that container seems like it’s got everything needed for a journey overseas. Agent Ray mentioned it might even be equipped with a customized climate control system, one that’s modified to deal with humans and not just perishables. This doesn’t sound like your typical trafficking operation.”
“I wonder if the smugglers are a separate organization from the prostitution ring.”
“Usually the prostitution ring obtains their own girls, sort of the cost of doing business. But what you’re saying could be a possibility.”
“I was thinking it could be an answer for the suitcase. What if she was a separate delivery? Intended for someone else and not a prostitution ring?”
Kang pushed his bottom lip up as he thought about my theory. “So someone else takes Xiaolian. If we remove the other girls from the equation, it makes sense. It doesn’t answer why they dropped her off at our office, but it explains why she was the only one.”
“This is the address,” I said, pointing ahead.
Watts’s apartment was located on the second floor of a three-story building. Kang stood off to o
ne side of the door. I stood on the other side. We could clearly hear the television inside.
“Corey Watts. This is the FBI. We’d like to ask you a few questions.” I waited a beat for an answer before repeating myself.
Again, no one responded.
I checked the doorknob; it was unlocked. I shrugged and opened the door.
Sitting directly in front of us on a couch was a man engrossed with a show on killer whales.
“Are you Corey Watts?” I asked.
He placed a finger against his lips and then pointed at the television. Kang promptly walked over to the set and turned it off.
“Hey, man. Why’d you go and do that for?”
“Are you Corey Watts?”
“Yeah, man. Who’s asking?”
I removed my identification. “I’m Agent Kane, and this is Agent Kang. We’re with the FBI. We want to ask you a few questions.”
“Well, shit, man, you could have just knocked instead of barging in here and shutting my TV off.”
“We did knock.”
He scratched the back of his head. “You did?”
Kang picked up a plastic bag from off of the coffee table and shook the contents inside. “Are you high?”
“Hey, man, it’s for medical purposes. I swear. I got a card and all.”
“Mr. Watts, do you know a Mr. Carlos Medina?”
“The name sounds familiar. Is he in trouble?”
“He is and so are you. He fingered you as part of a gang that’s smuggling underage girls into the US.”
“What? That’s crazy talk, man. I don’t know nothing about smuggling any females.”
“First off, I’m not your man. Second, he ID’d you as the guard who lets a group of individuals into the port—three men and a woman. They’re all dressed in black and wear dark sunglasses.”
“Oh, them. They pay me money to let them in, but that ain’t smuggling.”
“We believe those individuals are part of a smuggling ring. That makes you an accessory.”
“Whoa, I admit I took the money and all, but I swear I didn’t know nothing about this smuggling you’re talking about.”
“What did you think they were doing?”
“They just told me they needed to get in, grab some goods, and then get out. Fifteen, twenty minutes max. That’s it.”
“And this didn’t strike you as something that could be illegal?”
“Man, oh excuse me, miss, I just thought it was something small, like maybe some counterfeit crap, since it came from China.”
“What makes you think the stuff they wanted came from China?”
“Because they looked Asian. I figured their cousin or something hooked them up.”
“Can you identify any of them?”
He shook his head. “Nah, they always wore them shades, but I could tell they was Asian. I had an Asian girlfriend before like you. If you was wearing shades, I’d still know you was Asian. You too,” he said, pointing at Kang.
“So as far as you could tell, they were all Asian?” I asked.
“Positive.”
“Did any of them have any distinguishing marks, like a Mohawk haircut or a tattoo or a scar on their face?”
“Nah, they always had their hoodies pulled over tight, they’re arms were covered, and they wore gloves.”
“Can you identify the vehicle they drove?”
“Same each time. Two black vans.”
“Right. Anything notable about these vans?”
“Nothing special about them except the paint job was crap.”
“How so?”
“It was like they painted them with spray paint from a can. They had a dull color. Or maybe it was that black paint that professionals use, what’s it called…” Watts snapped his finger repeatedly.
“An undercoat,” Kang said.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“And when they drove out, you weren’t able to see anything inside the vans?”
“Nah, the windows were tinted, and they only rolled them down halfway. I could see inside through the front window but not into the back of the van.”
“How do they notify you when they need to make a pickup?”
“They call me. I got the number.”
Watts hesitated as he reached for a cell phone on the coffee table. I nodded that it was okay to grab it.
“This is the number they called me from a couple of days ago.”
He turned the phone around so we could see the number. Kang snapped a photo of it with his phone.
“They always call about a week before the day they need access, so I know to make sure I’m working. About an hour before they show up, they call again and then once more about ten minutes before they come.”
“Same number each time?”
“No, they change it, but that number might still be good.”
“Call them,” I said.
“What? I ain’t got no reason to call them. They’ll think something’s up.”
“They pay you in cash?”
“Crisp one-hundred dollar bills every time.”
“Tell them they shorted you a hundred.”
Watts shifted in his seat and licked his lips. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea—”
“I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. Now call.”
“Man…” Watts dialed the number with a pout. “It’s ringing.” A few seconds later, he pulled the phone away from his hear. “No one’s picking up.”
I could hear the ringing.
“You want me to keep trying?”
“You can disconnect the call and then you can stand up,” I said.
Kang produced a pair of handcuffs. “Turn around and place your hands behind your back.”
“Why? I told you everything. I cooperated.”
“And we appreciate it,” he said, “but we’re still arresting you.”
It was nearly five p.m. when we returned to the FBI offices. We were in with Reilly, updating him on everything.
“That sounds like an impressive container. Good job,” he said.
“There’s probably more we’ll discover about it when the techs are finished. So far everything the girl has told us checks out.”
“So we have an unspecified number of girls who were smuggled into the States via a cargo ship originating from Taiwan. It made one stop in Hawaii before coming here. Any reason to believe the girls aren’t from Hawaii?”
“Well, Xiaolian looks Chinese and speaks the language. So we’re assuming she’s either from China or Taiwan. I’m hoping she’ll eventually be able to remember more about the other girls.”
“As it stands, you’re now working with the theory that a prostitution ring and traffickers are involved and they may or may not be associated with each other?”
“It’s a thought. It’s the only way we can make sense of the suitcase. Why let one girl go but not the others, unless the shipment was intended for multiple customers?”
Reilly nodded in agreement. “My experience with traffickers is that they spook easily. If they even get a slight hint that someone in the chain as been pinched, they’ll close up shop. Make sure you guys stay on top of the other agencies involved and that they don’t go rogue. In fact, do your best to keep the number of players involved to a minimum.”
“From what we’ve gathered so far, the shipments come once every six months, so we should be able to keep the investigation contained,” I said. “We’re switching our efforts to finding those other girls and identifying the players involved in the Bay Area. That might lead to someone in Taiwan.”
“We don’t have an embassy in Taiwan,” Reilly said. “We have an agent stationed at the Hong Kong Embassy. I’ll put in a request to have that person quietly dig around. Keep me posted.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
As soon as we were done with Reilly, I headed home. I was eager to resume my conversation with Xiaolian. Dinner was fairly normal; she seemed to have acclimated pretty quickly to living with us. Ov
erall she still remained on the quiet side, relegating herself to being a listener; however, she had moved beyond using head movements to communicate with Po Po and the kids.
After dinner I asked Xiaolian to sit with me in the screened-in porch at the back of the house. I placed two cups of tea on a small table, and we sat on the rattan loveseat next to it.
“Are you having fun here?” I asked.
“Yes.” She smiled at me.
“Is it like your home?”
“No, it’s different.”
“How is it different?”
“It just is.”
“I want to show you something.” I pulled up the pictures of the container on my cell phone.
She drew a fast breath.
“You recognize it?”
“You found it?”
“Yes, but the other girls are still missing. I’m worried about them.”
She looked closer at the picture. “This was my bed,” she said, pointing to one of the bunks. “And this is where the food was kept cold. And that was a bathroom.”
Her memory was returning, and so was her vocabulary.
“You had a bathroom?”
“Yes, we had everything.” She cocked her head to the side. “Why?”
“Were you aware that you were on a ship?”
“Not at first. I woke up in there.”
“You don’t remember being put inside?”
She shook her head before turning away.
“How did you know you were on a ship?”
“I heard one of the others talk about it.”
I took a sip of my tea. “Was it hot inside there?”
“There was an air conditioner that kept the temperature perfect.”
“Really?”
“But we couldn’t control it. It was automatic.”
“And what about the lights?”
“They were automatic too. We had to use a flashlight if we wanted to go to the bathroom late at night.”
“Do you know how long you were in there?”
She let out a breath as her gaze looked beyond the screen. “A while. It seemed like forever.”
“Did you speak to the other girls?”
[Abby Kanem - SG 01.0] Suitcase Girl Page 9