Days of Destiny

by Aiden Vaughan

  Jason speeded up a little to see if he could catch up. They were beginning to close within two blocks of the gray van when it suddenly turned right. “Did you see that, Jason?” Daniel asked with some excitement in his voice. “The van turned on that street two blocks up.”

  When Jason got to the intersection of that street, he turned right. Luckily the van was still in sight, about two and one half blocks ahead of them. It was approaching a traffic light that had just turned red. “Stay red, light!” Jason urged as they closed in on the van. As they got closer, Jason wish was granted, and eventually they were in the same line of vehicles waiting for the green light.

  After the light changed, Jason was able to gradually pull closer to the van. When they were within a half block of it, Daniel began to have his doubts that this was the van he observed at Acme Imports.

  “I don’t know, Jason. The color looks a little lighter.” As they got even closer, he observed that there was a business name painted on the side of the van. “Sorry, Jason. The van I observed had no name painted on its side.”

  Disappointed, Jason pulled off at the next intersection and headed back toward Main Street. Fifteen minutes later, they were back in the parking lot across the street from Acme Imports, after making a pit stop at a convenience store to use the restroom and get some drinks. The rest of the afternoon was without incident, and no new vehicles made any deliveries or pickups at Acme Imports. Around 4:30, the woman inside got up, began locking doors and turning off the lights, then left.

  “I think we are done for the day,” Jason said. “Let’s go home.”

  “Good idea,” Daniel replied. “I want to relax and get ready for my rehearsal tonight. I emailed you the two pictures I took today of the woman’s car and the van. Maybe you can do something about discovering who owns those vehicles.”

  “I think I will set up a meeting with Joe Connor,” Jason continued. “Maybe he can give us some advice on how to proceed in this case.”

  It was just after 5:00 PM when Jason dropped Daniel off at his house. “Until tomorrow, my friend,” Jason said as he tapped knuckles with Daniel. “I’ll give you a call or text you about tomorrow later tonight. When do you think your rehearsal will be over?”

  “We usually end by 10:00. Everyone usually is tired by then and wants to go home. Since we are planning to work every night this week, I’m sure we won’t go any later tonight.”

  “I’ll call you after 10:30 then,” Jason said as Daniel was getting out of the Explorer. “If you get done any earlier, feel free to call me.”

  Chapter 15

  Profiling the Human Traffickers

  (February 22)

  Monday evening Jason called Joe Connor on his cell phone. Joe was a retired special operations agent who he and Daniel had first consulted with when they were trying to figure out who was responsible for kidnapping Jason. His advice to them was invaluable then, and he had helped them on several subsequent cases. Jason now employed Joe as a consultant for his foundation to investigate applications for assistance to see if they were genuine.

  Jason told Joe about their experience finding Jian-heng in that Chinatown closet and how they were trying to search for the human traffickers who had kidnapped the boy and taken his older sisters to become domestic slaves. Joe agreed to meet with Jason and Daniel Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM.

  Jason and Daniel knocked on the front door to Joe’s condo promptly at nine. Joe opened the door, shook hands, and invited them inside. Joe was in his early sixties, had white hair and a white mustache, and was casually dressed in his favorite outfit of a Hawaiian shirt, light colored slacks, and white high top chucks. “So you two are getting involved in another adventure,” Joe said after he had Jason and Daniel sit down with him in the kitchen. “Would either of you care for some coffee?” he asked as he poured himself a cup from a coffee maker near the sink.

  “No thanks,” Jason replied. “Neither of us are coffee drinkers yet.”

  “Then how about some hot chocolate? I still have some cocoa mix from when my grandchildren last visited.”

  “That sounds great,” Daniel said. Joe poured milk into two coffee mugs and heated them in the microwave. He then stirred in the cocoa mix and added a marshmallow to each mug.

  “I’m glad to use this up,” Joe said as he served the mugs of steaming hot chocolate to the boys. “Now tell me about your new case.”

  Jason took some time to review what he had told Joe yesterday about this case, the information that Jian-heng had provided them on Saturday, and their experience yesterday observing what went on at the Acme Import Company.

  “It sounds like you have managed to get involved with some very unsavory characters,” Joe said after Jason finished his report. “Human traffickers are among the worst type of criminal we have in the world today. Their motivation has to be more than just money. I think that they enjoy exercising the power that they have over the poor people they place into servitude, and because they place so little value on human life, they can be particularly ruthless and dangerous. I don’t think I need to tell you boys that after what you have already been through.

  “However, even though you are both a little older than the boys they prefer to grab and sell off, don’t have any illusions that you wouldn’t be a target, especially if they view you as a threat. If they are trafficking in boys in addition to the young women slaves you already described, they wouldn’t hesitate to kidnap you, hold you prisoner somewhere, torture and abuse you, then kill you. And they would consider that a weekend of fun!”

  Both Jason and Daniel involuntarily shuddered at Joe’s description. “That’s why I hate predators like that so much, and want to do everything in my power to stop them!” Jason exclaimed. “They are the worst kind of human scum in the world!”

  “They sound to me like they are very well connected, both here and in Asia,” Joe continued. “It is not that easy to pull off a human smuggling operation like they carried out with the Chen boy, his sisters and the others. A lot of people are probably being paid to look the other way, and that would include some people at the ports, on the ships, and local authorities. To stay in business, they must be very good at watching their backs. If they sense that they are being followed or their operation has been compromised in any way, they are quick to abandon ship and move on. That could even include sacrificing some of the people currently being held in captivity!”

  “It does seem to me that these traffickers are running a side business selling off young boys and maybe girls too,” Daniel said. “How else could you explain what happened to Jian-heng? He was grabbed off the boat and left in that Chinatown closet all in the same day!”

  “Very good point, Daniel,” Joe replied. “It is very difficult to procure young kids these days because most families are very aware of the dangers out there. They do what they can to provide their children with a safety net, so it is very difficult to obtain a kid who has an active family life and friends in the community. Someone like Jian-heng Chen is a rare commodity, a choice plum dropped into their laps! An orphan stowed away in their container and his only other family slated to become domestic slaves. That young boy was very lucky that you found him first!”

  “What do think was going to happen to Jian-heng?” Jason asked.

  “There are two scenarios that immediately come to mind, and neither of them are pleasant to hear!” Joe answered. “The first would be that he was being delivered to a child pornography ring. The second is that he was being delivered to some pervert who wanted a young boy to become his sexual slave. In both cases, he would be kept in captivity, gradually broken down to do what they wanted him to do, used and abused, and then when he was older, either kept as a slave or sold off to someone else to be their slave.”

  “It’s hard to understand why there are people out there who could be so cruel to a young boy like Jian-heng!” Jason said, shaking his head in disbelief at Joe’s answer.

  “There is one other possibility. Someone or some coup
le who couldn’t have children of their own wanted Jian-heng to fulfill that role in their lives. But again it would be an abusive situation for Jian-heng, who would have been delivered to them against his will. Normally, adopting a young boy is handled through an accredited agency, where the prospective parents are carefully screened, the child and the prospective parents meet to see if they are compatible, and there is a lot of paperwork involved. Most likely, prospective parents who use a trafficker would have serious personal issues that would deny them approval from a legitimate agency. Could you imagine normal loving parents picking up their new child from a locked closet where he had been left bound and gagged?”

  “But in Jian-heng’s case everything happened so fast!” Daniel exclaimed. “How was that possible?”

  “I would think that because of what I described previously, the traffickers have an ongoing list of what their clients want,” Joe went on. “When they run across a kid who fits a profile on the list, they fill the order, and deliver whoever they have grabbed. I’m sure that is what happened in Jian-heng’s case.”

  “But why wouldn’t they just deliver Jian-heng directly to whoever was buying him?” Daniel continued his questioning.

  “Paranoia and privacy is why, Daniel. These people know what they are doing is illegal and very reviled by normal people in the community. Police and federal authorities are eager to arrest pornographers or pedophiles. They go to great lengths to protect their identities, and I am sure prefer not to ever meet face to face if they can avoid it.”

  “Now I am more determined than ever to find these two traffickers and put them out of business!” Jason said forcefully and with anger in his voice.

  “Again I want to warn you to be very careful in what you do, Jason,” Joe said with concern in his voice. “I have already mentioned the dangers you face in dealing with human traffickers. I know you have been successful in dealing with predators in the past, but you still are walking on a tight rope with these people. If you make the slightest mistake, everything collapses and they go underground!”

  “What can we do to prevent that from happening?” Jason asked. “Captain Garcia and the police can’t proceed until we provide them with actual proof or reasonable suspicion that trafficking is going on. They need an actual location to send in a SWAT team.”

  “Understood, Jason. You do have to act on the slim lead that you have right now. Just remember that when it comes to surveillance, you and Daniel are still amateurs. But there are a lot of things that you can do to make sure that you are not observed, and if you are compromised you have some backup to help you escape and call the police.”

  “What do you recommend, Joe?” Daniel asked.

  “The first thing is to vary your vehicles every day. If you went in Jason’s car yesterday, go in your car today, Daniel. If you have any friends that you can persuade to help you, take advantage of that. Make sure you always have your cell phones active, and arrange to have regular call-in times set up with someone not involved in your investigation. That way, if you are somehow exposed and captured, and your phones are taken away, that person will know to contact the police immediately on your behalf.

  “If you have to do any legwork, actually going to houses, or canvassing a neighborhood door to door, go as a team and be sure that there is someone else physically there as a back up. When you are out on the street, they need to be watching you the entire time. Only do legwork in broad daylight, never at night when it is dark. It just takes a few seconds for one of these criminals to grab you, immobilize you, or hold a gun on you. In the daylight, they may be hesitant to do this, especially if there are neighbors around. For the police to be of any help in such an emergency, they will need your specific location.

  “If and when you do see something suspicious, don’t try to do anything unusual, and don’t try to pry for more information. This is especially true if the person answering the door is someone you suspect. That will only tip him off that you are not a legitimate visitor. That’s why you always want to go in pairs. Then one of you can be making a sales pitch for a donation while the other looks directly at the person or inside the house for anything suspicious. When you finish and leave, continue on casually to the next house, and finish the block in case the suspect decides to watch you for a while. Again your safety is in numbers, and the fact that the suspect won’t want to try anything against you with neighbors present.”

  “These are all very good tips, Joe, thank you,” Jason said in reply.

  “I want you boys to be very careful,” Joe said. “The last thing I want to hear is that somehow you are in the clutches of another predator!”

  “I have had that pleasure too many times already in my life,” Jason said with a nervous laugh.

  “And you remember that what I said earlier is so true,” Joe went on. “You can bet money that these human traffickers will have a place where they can torture and abuse anyone who gets in their way. You certainly don’t want to visit there as their guests!”

  “I’ll never forget that torture chamber where Eric’s evil stepfather had strung him up. I still see that in nightmares!” Daniel exclaimed.

  “Or the underground hell where I found Nick and almost bought it myself!” Jason added. “We certainly plan to be careful, Joe, and will follow all of your suggestions!”

  As the boys got up to leave, Joe said, “Good luck to you both! And come back safely. Both of you have many more important things to do in your lives!”

  Chapter 16

  A Lot of Legwork

  (February 22-24)

  After Jason and Daniel left Joe’s apartment, they decided to drive over to Daniel’s house and get his mini-SUV, a Subaru Forrester that he had purchased with some of the reward money he received after they had solved the case of the stolen chips at DCC last year. They then drove over to the same parking lot in Milpitas where they watched Acme Imports yesterday. The morning was quite uneventful, with very little activity. The same young woman was inside the office but had very little to do, from what they observed.

  Around noon, Jason took a turn watching the office from outside, while Daniel went to get them lunch. Thirty minutes later, Daniel had returned with their food. Jason and Daniel were eating their lunches inside the Subaru when they noticed a vehicle driving into the Acme parking lot. It was a gray van.

  “Is that the van you saw yesterday?” Jason asked with some excitement in his voice.

  “It sure looks the same!” Daniel replied. “Maybe we will get another crack at it today.”

  This time the van parked right in front of the office entrance. Jason grabbed his binoculars and focused on the van. A muscular looking man wearing a baseball cap, dark jacket, jeans, and black boots got out of the vehicle and went inside the office. Jason was unable to get a look at his face, but the man seemed to match the general description they had gotten from Jian-heng.

  “This guy seems to look like one of the men who grabbed Jian-heng,” Jason said. “And he is driving that same gray van. Let’s follow him after he leaves.”

  The boys stayed in Daniel’s Forrester and waited for the man to leave. He spent about forty-five minutes in the back of the Acme offices. Then he came back out the front door and got back into the van. After the man had backed out from his parking place and driven onto the access road, Daniel started up the Forrester and began to follow him. The access road curved and approached Main Street. There was a stop sign at the corner for the access road. Jason could see the van stop and then turn right onto Main Street.

  “He’s turning right onto Main,” Jason said to Daniel, who arrived at that intersection thirty seconds later and did the same thing when the traffic cleared. They could still see the van about a block ahead of them.

  “So far, so good,” Jason said. “The van is still in sight.”

  They continued to follow the van for several blocks, and then the van suddenly turned left onto a side street. That street was only a block long, and as Daniel turned left on it to
follow the van, they could see the van turning right on another busy street, Abel. After turning right, they could still see the van but it was now further ahead of them. The van was approaching a traffic light and signaling to turn right. By the time Jason and Daniel arrived at that intersection, which was the entrance to an expressway, the traffic light had turned red, and cars were streaming across the intersection, preventing Daniel from turning right until all the traffic cleared. By the time they were able to turn, the van was no longer in sight.

  “Now what?” Daniel asked with frustration in his voice. “We have lost him again!” They were driving east on the expressway and crossing a long bridge which took them over several streets and a number of railroad tracks.

  “This expressway goes directly to the freeway,” Jason answered, “but it also intersects with a couple of main streets before then. If he is going to the freeway, we have no chance of catching him. On the other hand, he might just be using the expressway as a shortcut to another part of town. It would make sense that he has a hiding place here somewhere, instead of driving from miles away. Get in the left lane and turn at the next intersection.”

  Daniel was able to maneuver over to the left lane and turn when the left arrow signal turned green. Now they were heading north on Milpitas Boulevard. They were heading into an area of town that was primarily residential. But there was no sign of the gray van anywhere.

  “Let’s drive around some of these neighborhoods to see what they are like,” Jason suggested. “I still think that these men would want to have a local place to hold and train their domestic slaves.”

  They toured the area for a while. There were long blocks with houses, duplexes, and apartments. A number of the streets had courts or cul-de-sacs on them, and a few were circular loops. After twenty minutes of touring, Daniel said, “I can see that there are a lot of houses here with potential, but until we get a better fix on the man’s location, we are just wasting our time.”