“You have done an amazing job with Jian-heng, Mrs. Liu,” Jason remarked. “The improvement in his English is quite noticeable already.”
Mrs. Liu smiled at Jason and said, “Jian-heng is my pride and joy. He has been so polite and pleasant to be with, and has an insatiable interest in learning everything he can. I can hardly keep up with him some days!”
“I am so happy that things have worked out so well. We weren’t sure whether or not he would be an imposition on your family, but bringing him here to your house seemed like the most logical thing to do at the time.”
“Imposition!” Mrs. Liu scoffed. “This boy is no imposition. He is a gift from God! Already we love him so much, and consider him a part of the family!”
“That is really great to hear, Mrs. Liu,” Daniel said. “I know he is grateful for everything you have done for him.”
“Mom and Dad are thinking about taking steps to adopt him,” Richard said. “But that could be tricky given his legal status.”
“That is something that the lawyers will have to work out,” Mr. Liu added. “We will start to check things out. I would like him to be able to go to school starting in the fall.”
“I would think that the process would be relatively simple, due to the fact that Jian-heng is an orphan, and that he has two married adult US citizens wanting to adopt him. You can count on my foundation’s assistance should you need it,” Jason said. “Jian-heng is one gutsy and bright kid. I want to help him anyway I can. Right now that is to find the human traffickers who are exploiting his sisters and who probably were in the process of selling him to some predator when Richard, Daniel and I discovered him in that Chinatown closet.” Jason went on to explain why Daniel and he had come to that conclusion.
“That is pretty scary to hear that!” Richard exclaimed. “But now that you mention it, it unfortunately makes sense.”
“That is why I am very pleased that Jian-heng is safe here in your hands, and that he is adjusting to his new life so well,” Jason said to the Lius. He then turned to Jian-heng and continued, “I hope I haven’t upset you by saying what I just said, Jian-heng. But every kid needs to know that there are people out there who would harm them.”
“Yes, those men were bad, very bad!” Jian-heng said with determination in his voice. “Just like you, I want to fight back at them. And I want to find my sisters!”
“Well that’s the main reason we have come over today, Jian-heng,” Daniel added. “Jason and I are going to devote this next week to try to find out who was responsible and rescue your sisters from captivity!”
“Thank you! Thank you!” Jian-heng cried out. “If you find them you are my home boys!”
Everyone laughed at that comment. “I told you he picked up a lot of his English from watching TV,” Richard said. “I wonder what show he was watching when he heard that expression!”
Jason and Daniel then began to have a more serious conversation with Jian-heng. Mr. and Mrs. Liu went back to what they were doing elsewhere in the house, while Richard remained to help translate.
Jason started their questioning by having Jian-heng go over everything that had happened from the time he had heard about his sisters going away on the container ship. One of his thoughts as he was pondering how to proceed was that it might be easier to trace the two human traffickers from their start point in China where there had to be some records of who had arranged for that container to be shipped.
Jason next asked Jian-heng to describe the two men who grabbed him and took him to Chinatown. “I know you probably didn’t see them for very long, but anything you can remember would be helpful.”
“I will never forget those faces!” Jian-heng said forcefully. “They were very bad men and were mean to me! Plus they are the men who took my sisters away!” Jian-heng went on to describe the two men. Much of the description was given through Richard, as the young boy didn’t know all of the words he needed for the description in English. They were both tall and muscular, wearing dark clothing and boots. One man was definitely Chinese, but the other appeared to be more Mongolian in appearance. He didn’t hear them say much. They were clearly fluent in Mandarin, but he didn’t know how well they spoke English or other languages.
Jian-heng then described the last time he had gotten a glimpse of the two men, just as he was being left in the Chinatown closet. “All during the time I was brought to that closet, I was taped up and kept inside that burlap sack. When their vehicle finally came to a stop in Chinatown, I remember that after the door to the trunk or back area where I had been placed was opened, I was quickly carried away. I remember riding in an elevator, and then being shoved in the closet.
“The Mongolian looking man opened the sack and pulled me partially out to check on me and also make sure I hadn’t gotten loose from the tape. I remember him telling me to just relax and be quiet. Soon someone would be coming to pick me up. I tried to protest at him through the tape over my mouth, but his response was to put his hand over the tape and threaten me. ‘Be quiet, boy, or I will have to knock you out!’ He made a big fist and shoved it in my face to warn me. I had no choice but to be quiet. The man then shut the door and locked it. That was the last thing I saw until you guys came and rescued me.”
“I know you might not think so, Jian-heng,” Daniel said, “but you did the right thing not to resist! That man would have just hurt you some more. You were very brave!”
“I want to help you find those men!” Jian-heng exclaimed.
“Don’t worry about that,” Jason answered. “That is something for older people and the police to take care of. The last thing I would want is to put you in danger again. I feel good knowing that you are safe here with the Lius!”
“But I feel sad and empty inside that I am here safe while my sisters are still held captive!” Jian-heng countered.
Jason went over and put his arm around the boy and gripped his right shoulder. “Don’t feel bad. Somehow it was your fate to be rescued and not become another slave! Because of that we now have some clues to go on. One day we will find them and set them free, too. I promise you that, Jian-heng.”
Jian-heng turned and hugged Jason back. There were tears in his eyes. “Thank you! Thank you!” he said. “You are my three amigos!”
Richard, Jason, and Daniel all had to laugh at Jian-heng’s last comment. “What TV shows has this kid been watching?” Daniel asked Richard. Jian-heng looked a little surprised at their reaction.
“Please explain to Jian-heng that we weren’t laughing at him or his sentiments,” Jason added, “but that it just seemed so funny to hear an eight-year-old Chinese boy talking like a character out of a western!”
After Richard translated what Jason said, a smile came back to Jian-heng’s face. “So you think I am a funny man?” he asked.
“I think you are one awesome kid!” Jason said with enthusiasm. “Now give me some knuckles, little buddy!”
“Okay, dude!” Jian-heng replied as he tapped Jason’s knuckles, evoking another round of laughter.
A little after that, Jason and Daniel got up to leave. As they were sitting by the front door lacing up their chucks, Jason told Jian-heng, “As soon as we find out anything, we will let you know.”
“That is very cool,” Jian-heng replied, continuing to add American slang to his conversation. “And maybe sometime you could show me how to play some hoops?” he said hesitantly, not sure if he was saying it correctly. “I think I have the right shoes. Richard says you are a very good player.”
Jason smiled at him and said, “Sure thing, little buddy. I’d be happy to do that sometime. And yes, you have the right shoes, just like mine! These have done very well for me over the years.”
Chapter 14
On the Prowl
(February 21)
Jason and Daniel didn’t get seriously started on their preliminary investigation of the Acme Imports company until Monday. Both boys had family activities involving their girl friends on Sunday. One of Bill Hunter�
�s wealthy clients had given him his set of four tickets to a San Francisco Symphony concert Sunday afternoon, and the Hunters went with Laura to see the concert and then go out to dinner afterwards. The Holmes’ family was invited over to the Miglione house for dinner. Mrs. Miglione wanted to get to know Daniel and his parents a little better, now that her daughter, Diana, was going steady with Daniel.
Although Monday was technically a national holiday, with schools and government offices closed, a lot of businesses were open as usual, so Jason and Daniel figured that Acme Imports would be open. Jason looked at the report he had received from his foundation regarding this company. They had searched for as much public information that they could find about Acme Imports, but had not found much. There were no outstanding warrants or complaints against the company, and there was no rating by the Better Business Bureau.
Jason didn’t believe that Acme Imports would yield much information about where Eunice and Elaine Chen had been taken. According to the report he received, if they were being groomed for prostitution, the normal front businesses for that would be massage parlors, escort services, adult bookstores, or strip clubs — places that two teenaged boys would not have any access to. If their investigation led to anyone of those type of businesses, Captain Garcia had warned Jason in no uncertain terms to immediately turn things over to him, and he would forward that information to the vice squad.
Given that Milpitas was more of a bedroom community, with not much night life, it seemed more likely that the women were brought to America to become domestic slaves, forced to work long hours in involuntary servitude hidden away in homes or small businesses. Typical jobs for them would be work as maids or nannies, assembly line or sewing work in sweatshop operations, work in restaurants or as janitorial workers under the control of unscrupulous contractors.
To locate these workers, you had to know where they specifically were being held, since everything about these operations would be carefully concealed from the authorities and the general public. Jason and Daniel had decided that the best way to do this was to track anyone who visited or worked at the Acme Imports office. Their plan was write down any pertinent information that they could find, like visiting vehicle license plate numbers, makes, and models, descriptions of the people visiting or working at the office, and anything else that might give them a lead to follow. If someone matched the description that Jian-heng had given Jason and Daniel of the two men who kidnapped him, he would be followed discretely, with the hope that they would discover where he lived, other places where he spent time, and other contacts he would see during the day.
Monday morning, Jason picked up Daniel about 8:30. Traffic was light, and they were at the entrance to the Acme Imports Company by 9:00. Jason steered his Explorer into the driveway to the small industrial park where the Acme Imports office was located. As they drove around the parking area, there was very little activity to observe. In the front was a glass entry door and small reception area. Behind the reception area was a door, but it was shut. Jason then drove to the rear area of the industrial park. In the back of the building where Acme was located were two large automatic garage doors, which were closed. With no one seemingly present at the offices of the Acme Imports company, Jason began to look around for a place where he and Daniel could park, and snoop on whoever came to the door.
Across the street was another company whose workers had obviously already arrived, as the parking lot was pretty full of vehicles. Both boys had good sets of binoculars, and could observe very accurately what was going on. Jason decided to park the Explorer there. They could also move the Explorers around as needed, or one of them could actually cross the street and check things out up close. Today’s surveillance was to begin to get an idea of who actually came to Acme Imports on a regular basis.
About ten after nine, the first person came to the Acme Imports office. She was in her mid-twenties, had brunette hair, and drove into the parking lot in a very used and beat up Honda Civic. “She looks like someone who might be the office receptionist,” Jason said to Daniel. “Were you able to get the license plate number of her car?”
When Daniel said yes, Jason began to focus on what she was doing inside the Acme Imports office. Soon the young woman was seated at a receptionist desk inside the office. So far however, there were no customers coming in. They took turns observing her for a while through the binoculars, but all she seemed to be doing was paperwork and answering the telephone occasionally. It wasn’t until nearly ten o’clock that anyone else came to the office.
A middle aged man wearing a business suit walked in and talked to the young woman for a few minutes. Then he left the office, went back to his car, and drove away. The boys guessed that he might have been some sort of salesman. Fifteen minutes a package delivery service truck drove into the parking lot and pulled up to the sidewalk in front of the Acme offices. The driver got out, unloaded several packages from the back of his truck, and then delivered them to different businesses in the area. After the truck left, the boys could see that one of the packages was delivered to Acme. The receptionist was on the telephone talking to someone, and then she took the package into the back area. About five minutes later she returned to her desk in the front.
Things continued like this for the next couple of hours. “This is real boring,” Daniel complained. “I wish something would actually happen!”
“Patience, Daniel,” Jason replied. “I think that most surveillance work must be like this. Then all a sudden something important does happen and you have to be ready. Why don’t you scout out a place where you can observe them from outside. When you find one, let me know, and I will go out and pick up some lunch for us.”
Daniel got out of the Explorer and began walking around. Eventually he found a location across the street with several trees where he could watch the Acme entrance without being spotted. If someone did happen to approach him, he could duck behind a tree. Daniel got on his cell phone and called Jason to tell him that. A couple minutes later, Jason drove off to get them some take out.
When Jason returned, about a half hour later, Daniel went back across the street to join him. As they were eating their sandwiches, Daniel reported that there had been very little activity. Just one person had even walked near the Acme entrance.
The afternoon continued to be like the morning. Then about 2:30 a gray van pulled into the driveway and drove around the back. The van was a long delivery type of van with no windows in the back. It appeared to be an older vehicle, at least ten years old. Jason was only able to get part of the license plate number as it drove in. The boys continued watching the store front. About five minutes later, the woman in the front opened the door to the back of the office and went inside. After she was gone for ten minutes, Daniel said, “Maybe we should go around back and check on this van. It could be making a delivery or be picking something up. We aren’t accomplishing anything just sitting here.”
“All right,” Jason replied, “Go over there and check it out. Be careful that no one spots you. We don’t want to blow our cover.”
Daniel got out and began walking toward the street. He walked on the sidewalk past the parking area where Acme Imports was located. He turned right and walked toward the back of the next building complex. When he reached the point where he was parallel to the back of the buildings, he cut back into the driveway that would take him to the back of the Acme office. When he got to the end of the building, he peeked around the corner. He could see the van parked back there. The back door was open.
Daniel looked around to see if he could find a better vantage point to observe what was going on. Along the back of the property was a six foot high fence made out of cement blocks. Built onto the fence was a square enclosure where there were several large metal garbage containers. He quickly ran over to the enclosure. By hiding behind one of the garbage containers he could easily observe most of the back driveway area and duck down if anyone came his way.
Daniel watched the man br
ing in and out a number of boxes. It was impossible to tell what they contained and he couldn’t read any of the markings on the boxes. He took out his cell phone and sent a text message to Jason about what he was observing. Jason replied by asking Daniel to see if he could get the complete license plate number when the van started to leave.
After another ten minutes of loading, the man came outside, slammed the back door shut, and got into the driver’s seat. He started up the van, turned the van toward where Daniel was hiding out, and began driving toward the exit driveway. Daniel was careful to stay hidden while the man was facing him, then as the van slowed to turn left on the exit driveway, he snapped a shot of the van’s rear with his phone. He then craned his head around to see if he could read the license plate numbers and jotted them down in a text message on his phone. Next he called Jason.
“I think I got the license plate number and I took a photo of the rear of the van as insurance. The man seemed to match the general description that Jian-heng gave us. Do you think it is worth pursuing?”
“I think it is the first worthwhile lead we have seen all day. Hurry around to the street and I will pick you up. The question is whether we can catch up with the van once he turns onto Main Street.”
“Okay Jason. I will meet you at the driveway of the next business park. I don’t want to take the chance that the woman in the office will see me running away.”
A couple of minutes later, Daniel was getting into Jason’s Explorer. But they had lost some valuable time in their pursuit. Jason quickly drove down to the next street that would intersect with Main Street and turned left. When they reached Main Street they had to wait for traffic to clear before they could enter the busy street. Jason decided to head to their right, since it was the easiest way to turn. He drove down the street as fast as he could without doing something that would attract the attention of the police or other vehicles on the road.
After they had gone about four blocks, it was pretty clear that the gray van was no longer going that direction on the street. Jason made a U turn and they drove back in the opposite direction. They had driven about eight blocks when Daniel spotted something. “There! Up ahead! Doesn’t that look like a gray van?”
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