by Brian N. Cox
“Very slowly, with two fingers, bringing out your gun and lay it on the floor,” said Li Mei.
Paquette was in a complete quandary as to what had happened. This was certainly not what he had expected. He had gained entry to the apartments of many beautiful women in the past and never experienced anything like this. Seeing the gun pointed at his head being held by a very serious and determined woman, he carefully laid his gun on the floor.
“What are you doing Li Mei? I was only trying to help you. It is a serious offence to assault a Federal Officer in the United States. Do you have a permit for that gun? You are in big trouble,” said Paquette, gaining confidence as he talked.
“Don’t talk. Put your briefcase on the table and open it,” ordered Li Mei “and step back two paces.”
Paquette did what he was told, placed the briefcase on the table and opened it. Inside the briefcase, were two lengths of nylon rope, latex gloves and foot covers and a small bottle of bleach.
“I see you have brought your rape kit with you agent Paquette.”
Paquette didn’t reply. He didn’t know who or what Li Mei was, but was quite sure she was not just a student at the University of Washington.
“It is very fortunate that you didn’t kill me as your payments from the Chinese Consulate would have been terminated. In fact, you would also have been terminated.”
Paquette immediately realized who Li Mei was. He also realized that he was lucky to be alive.
“You are Chinese State Security?” he asked.
“Don’t concern yourself with who I am,” replied Li Mei.
“Does Sean McNamara know who you are?”
“Of course not,” replied Li Mei. “Now pick up your briefcase and get out of here. I’ll keep your gun. You can spend the next hour or two thinking up a story to tell your superiors as to how and why you lost your gun.”
Paquette did not reply, but left quickly thinking he was very lucky to be alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Li Mei considered telling Sean about Paquette coming to her apartment the previous night with the obvious intention of raping and killing her. After much thought, she decided not to tell him, at least not at this time.
Paquette was still a beneficial asset to the Chinese State Security agency and her duty must take priority over her personal feelings. On the other hand, how could she live with herself if he continued to rape and murder other young women? She had already identified Paquette as the serial killer to Sean, and he had the photos of Paquette entering the back door of an apartment block when one of the women was killed. Paquette’s attempt to assault and murder her was just additional evidence, none of which could ever be testified to in court. Li Mei was also concerned that Sean would kill Paquette. Not that Paquette didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t want Sean to do anything ill-advised and without thinking through the consequences. When Paquette was to face justice, Li Mei decided it would be she who would be the instrument of his fate.
“Li Mei, you have had intruders in your apartment,” said Chin Tai of the CMSS Fourth Bureau.
“Two men entered at ten fifteen am and searched your apartment. They brought a leather bag with them. We couldn’t see what they did, but they were around your closet for a couple of minutes. They could have left something there or taken something away,” Chin Tai continued.
“Were you able to identify them?” asked Li Mei.
“Yes, we have them both on file. The older man was Wen Tai and the younger, Liu Wei. Both are members of the Mei Hua Triad.
“I know of Wen Tai. He has been a valued member to them for quite a few years and worked for Wu Xing in Shanghai. I don’t recall Liu Wei.”
“According to our files, Liu Wei, has been used strictly as a killer to dispose of people who get in the way. The file says he’s a psychopath, but I guess that’s true of all professional killers. Wen is definitely the brains of the team.”
“OK, I’ll read their files when I get into the office. Before that, however, I will meet you at the apartment and see if we can determine what they did there. Bring explosive detection equipment.”
“Is one pm OK, Li Mei.”
“One is good. See you then,” replied Li Mei.
When Li Mei and the Fourth Bureau team met at Li Mei’s apartment, they made a thorough search and found nothing left in the apartment. There was no explosive device, so audio surveillance devices, no remote cameras….nothing. Li Mei assumed, therefore, that they had taken something from her apartment. She had a Glock 22 on the closet shelf, but it was still there, including five magazines. She had two other guns, a S&W 8 mm and a Walther PPK, more securely hidden, but they too were still there. Li Mei had been shown the video of the intruders, and she too believed they had left or taken something, but most of whatever the intruders were doing was partially off camera, so she may have been wrong….just the paranoia that comes with the job she decided.
The next day, Li Mei left the apartment, dressed in a maroon shirt, black pants and a black hip-length jacket. She also wore the same black baseball cap with no markings or logo and large sunglasses.
When she left Seattle the last time, she had taken a taxi to the airport, but had not gone inside. Instead, she had taken another cab to the train station and took a train to Portland, changing her clothes in the washroom. Where she was going, and the reason, was top secret. It was important she not be followed by anyone, and that included the FBI and the Mei Hua Triad. It would appear to Li Mei, unfortunately, that the Mei Hua did not care where she was going, at least they didn’t care about her final destination. They had other plans, and so far those plans had been quite successful.
“Li Mei gave me these photos, Gary,” said Sean, “but they are strictly off the record. The Chinese are following Paquette for some reason, presumably something to do with his work on Counterintelligence, but these photos make it pretty clear that Paquette is our prime suspect in these serial murders.”
“Considering the killer’s profile, and these photos, I would have to agree with you,” replied Gary Webster. “He’d have to come up with a pretty convincing story as to why he was picking the lock on the back door of the apartment building at the time when the murder occurred. Especially since the killer entered the block without being seen on the CCTV camera.”
“Gary, I want you to take this ID photo of Paquette to Pacific Marine and ask the clerk if this is the man who bought the nylon rope; make it a photo lineup just to be safe. I don’t want to bring the JTF people into this just yet. I’m not yet ready to suggest one of our Supervisory Special Agents is a serial killer. There may be innocent explanations for all this and we don’t want to ruin his career if that is the case.”
“OK, Sean, I’ll do that right now,” said Gary.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Everyone in the hotel lounge in Marquette, Michigan, was paying close attention to the special news bulletin, including Li Mei, who sat with two friends.
“Hampton Forbes, a senior judge in the Illinois Supreme Court has just been shot on the steps of the Supreme Court building in Chicago. Paramedics and police are on the scene but apparently the judge was already dead as two shots had passed through his heart. The suspect, a young woman who appeared to be Chinese or East Asian, fled the scene before police could arrive. There had been several police officers in the vicinity of the courthouse, but early reports say they did not see how the shooter escaped. One witness reports that he may have seen her enter the back seat of a dark coloured, late model Chevrolet. The shooter is described as wearing a maroon shirt, a black hip-length jacket, black pants, black baseball cap and sunglasses. She has long black hair, almost to her waist. Police speculate that this may be the mystery assassin involved in the shooting last week in Minneapolis of Democratic Senator, Alastair Osborne. They further report there may be a break in the case as the shooter dropped a gun while making her escape. The gun, a semi-automatic handgun is currently under forensic examination. When more information is available,
it will be broadcast immediately.”
Now Li Mei realized what had been taken from her apartment. The gun dropped at the scene of the shooting will undoubtedly have her fingerprints on it, and probably her DNA. If she had checked the serial number of the Glock on her closest shelf, she would have realized it was not her gun. The Mei Hua had brought a variety of handguns that they knew State Security agents normally used and they had switched guns. The Mei Hua Triad were doing an excellent job of framing her, and not even Sean McNamara could save her from this situation. The Mei Hua plan was obviously to send her to the death chamber, and so far, she was half way there.
Li Mei took a circuitous route back to Seattle. She was anxious to return quickly before a warrant was issued for her arrest, but a direct flight to Seattle would not have been wise. She knew her fingerprints were not on file in the US so they could not confirm her identity until such time as she was arrested and fingerprinted. Once that happened, there is no question she would not be granted bail. Her career with the Chinese Ministry of State Security would be over, followed shortly by her life. She may be able to get out of the country using one of her many phony passports, and get back to China, but she had another and better option. She had to identify who in the Mei Hua Triad was engineering this operation, and more importantly, locate the mystery assassin.
Upon her return to Seattle, after taking two taxis, and then being picked up by State Security agents, she entered her apartment. She gathered her essentials into a bag, including firearms, passports and other documents where she would be taken to safe house.
She then went to the windows of her apartment and tried to determine where the Mei Hua had set up their surveillance post. It wouldn’t have been facing a side window as they obviously had to see her exit the building to determine what clothes she was wearing. They would also want to observe the parking lot exit, so they must be watching the front of the building. Normally, she kept her curtains closed, but sometimes opened them during the daytime in order to let in natural light.
Li Mei was quite sure the surveillance post was not in the small hotel across the street. She had, on numerous occasions, discreetly checked each window of that hotel and never saw anything suspicious. There was another larger hotel, a Holiday Inn, about a block away, with many windows with a sight line to the front of her building and in her windows. This was the only possibility that she could see.
Li Mei had a plan but she had to act fast. It wouldn’t be long before every law enforcement officer in Washington State would be looking for her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Li Mei entered the lobby of the Holiday Inn just after sundown wearing a fashionable tan pant suit and a stylish bucket hat, pulled well down, with her hair piled up inside the hat. She wore rectangular tinted glasses to help disguise her face but she could see where the security cameras were located and made sure her face was never exposed.
“I am FBI Special Agent Hashimoto,” said Li Mei, to the desk clerk, showing her an FBI identification and badge. I would like to locate the room of two East Asian gentlemen. I don’t know what names they are using but here are their photos,” as she showed the photos of Wen Tai and Liu Wei to the desk clerk.
“Yes, I believe they are here. Let me see….yes here it is; a Mr. Wong and a Mr. Lee. I don’t understand, is there something wrong?” said the desk clerk.
“Why do you ask if there is something wrong?” asked Li Mei, looking very serious and official.
“Well the notation here is that the room was rented by a Detective Bradley of the Seattle Police. He would have to have shown his identification.”
“Bradley, eh?” said Li Mei. “This is not to be repeated, but we are working on a Joint Task Force with the Seattle Police. I didn’t know which of the Seattle detectives had rented the room. The two Chinese men have done nothing wrong; they are just witnesses in a very important case. You must not repeat what I have told you to anyone. Do you understand the seriousness of what I am saying?”
“Yes, yes, of course. I will say nothing.”
“We want to put extra security on their room. What room are they in? I want to rent the room right next to them if it’s available.”
“They are in Room 509. 507 and 511 are rented. Will 505 be OK?” asked the desk clerk.
“Is 505 between the elevators and 509?
“Yes it is.”
“OK, we’ll take that room. Thank you. By the way,” Li Mei continued “are the two gentlemen in their room now?”
“As a matter of fact, the older gentleman is in the dining room. I assume the younger one is in the room. We found it strange they never come down and eat together.”
“Thank you,” said Li Mei. “You have been very helpful.”
All the time that Li Mei had been conversing with the desk clerk, she had kept her back to the security camera covering the front desk. She was convinced that no one could identify her from the CCTV video, especially with her hair under her hat, the hat pulled down and the phony eyeglasses.
Li Mei crouched in the doorway of Room 505 extending a small dental mirror so she could watch for Wen Tai walking down the hall returning from the dining room. Whenever possible, Li Mei preferred low tech devices over high tech, as there was usually no chance of a simple device not working. The little dental mirror fit easily into any pocket. She had her gun in hand with the noise suppresser affixed.
She didn’t have to wait long, as within five minutes, she saw Wen Tai coming down the hallway towards his room. As soon as he walked by, she silently moved in behind him and pushed the gun into his back.
“Don’t make a sound if you want to live another second Wen Tai,” she said softly. “I don’t intend to kill you. Instead, we will make a deal, but if you do anything stupid, you will die instantly.”
“Wen Tai knew exactly who had pushed the gun into his back and had no intention of giving Li Mei an excuse to kill him. From what she said, he had a chance to live, and he wanted that chance.
“Enter the room as you normally would. You know the consequences if you alert Liu Wei.”
“I have to ask him to remove the chain,” Wen Tai said very softly.
“OK. Do it,” Li Mei whispered.
“Liu Wei; it’s me. Remove the chain,” he said as he knocked on the door.
Within a few seconds, Li Mei could hear the chain removed and Wen Tai entered the room using his hotel swipe card.
Li Mei pushed Wen Tai into the room and said, “Lie down on the floor,” and as she pointed her gun at Liu Wei, she said, “Stand very still Liu Wei. Put your hands on top of your head.”
Liu Wei’s gun was on top of the coffee table within reach. Li Mei could seem him eying it with his peripheral vision, but her gun was pointed right at his head from only ten feet away.
Liu Wei decided not to risk grabbing his gun, but took another tactic.
“You won’t shoot me Li Mei. You are on the hotel security camera. The police will catch you in no time. I am going to track you down and kill you. You will be looking over your shoulder every day for the rest of your short life,” he said gaining confidence as he spoke.
“Thank you for the warning,” replied Li Mei.
“Phmpt!” The unique sound of a gun with a noise suppressor broke the silence as Li Mei shot Liu Wei in the groin. He fell to the floor with a scream and started whimpering as he held his groin in both hands.
“I have read in reports that you like to shoot your victims in the testicles before killing them Liu Wei. I thought you would benefit by the same experience.”
Liu Wei looked up at Li Mei, still whimpering, with terror in his eyes.
“Phmpt!” This time, Li Mei shot Liu in the head and ended his life.
“I would have liked him to suffer longer, but he was making too much noise,” said Li Mei to Wen Tai. Wen Tai was cringing in fear with his eyes tightly closed.
“Get up Wen Tai and sit on the chair. I am going to tell you how you can save your life and keep your job with th
e Mei Hua. First you are going to tell me who engineered this plan to send me to the death chamber.”
“It was Tang Ming. He is the boss; I had no choice.”
Li Mei knew that Tang Ming was the number two man in the Mei Hua Triad hierarchy in Seattle, second only to Ma Shan, the Dragonhead.
“In about thirty minutes, you are going to phone Tang Ming and tell him you returned from dinner and found Liu Wei dead. He had been shot in the groin and the head. It is almost certain that Liu Wei told Li Mei who planned the mystery assassin operation. You will also tell him to send some people down to get rid of Liu and clean the room so the police will not be investigating. Do you understand Wen Tai?”