by Brian N. Cox
“Wow,” said Sean. “That’s going to ruin their appetite for lunch.”
“Yah; no kidding. They sent me a photo,” said Gary as he showed it to Sean.
“That’s our friend Tang Ming, number two man in the Mei Hua Triad,” said Sean as he looked at the photo. “I guess I should have should have used past tense. Have they had an autopsy to ensure he’s dead?” said Sean as both men laughed. There was no doubt that Tang Ming’s death was welcomed by a select few in law enforcement assigned to organized crime investigations. Other than these investigators and intelligence officers, no one knew who Tang Ming was. The news media reported that he was a local businessman and everyone wondered how a person like that could meet his death in such a horrible way.
“Li Mei never told us how or under what circumstances she located Liang Xiao Xiao,” said Sean, “but I would assume Tang Ming was the mastermind behind the attempt to frame Li Mei.”
“No question about it,” said Gary. “It would appear he was acting without authorization from the top. This ‘kissing the penis’ is a signature of the Mei Hua Triad.”
“There must have been a good reason for them to do this,” said Sean. “The Mei Hua is fanatic about maintaining a low profile and not drawing attention to themselves. They are obviously sending a message to someone.”
“I agree, but who is the message for?” asked Gary.
“We’ll probably never know, but my guess is that this was a message for Li Mei, or more specifically, for Chinese State Security. Tang Ming was trying to engineer the death of a State Security agent, and since the plan fell apart and the Mei Hua was exposed, I suspect this is sort of a peace offering.”
“You’re probably right, Sean. I think the Mei Hua is too powerful to be afraid of anyone, but the possible exception would be the Ministry of State Security, and possibly the Shanghai Police.”
“That would be my guess Gary.”
Sean felt like a million bucks…make that a billion…no a trillion. Waking up in bed with Li Mei this morning put him on a high that would last all day. They made long, slow passionate love all evening and half the night. His pleasure was enhanced a thousand percent because he was so deeply in love with Li Mei, and she felt the same way about him.
Due to the unusual circumstances of their employment, it was difficult for either of them to envision how they could get married and live a normal life together, but both of them desperately wanted that. Maybe they would have to be satisfied to eventually spend their old age together. Maybe in America, maybe in China; it didn’t matter where as long as they were together.
“Sean,” Li Mei said, looking serious. Sean couldn’t take his eyes off her. Unlike most beautiful women Sean had known, Li Mei looked beautiful when waking up in the morning in disarray with tousled hair. She seldom wore make-up, except for very light lipstick, but always looked ready to attend a Presidential Ball.
“I have some more information about agent Paquette,” she continued. “He followed me home one evening a week or two ago with the intent to rape and kill me.” Only Li Mei could make such an alarming statement and appear to remain so calm.
“What?” said Sean, sitting up and appearing both shocked and angry. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“The time wasn’t right,” she replied. Sean had heard Li Mei reply in this manner many times, and he knew she would be providing no explanation.
“I am telling you now because I don’t want to put any women a risk. He has been under surveillance 24-7 so I would have called you if he tried to enter another apartment building. I suspect he has been laying low for fear I might tell you what happened.”
“Did you not think he might try to kill you to eliminate his risk?” enquired Sean quite seriously and emphatically.
“I am not immortal, but I am not easy to kill, Sean,” she laughed. “You should know that my now.”
Only Li Mei, thought Sean, could laugh when a dangerous serial killer obviously wanted her dead.
Li Mei sat in her office at CAC and dialled the phone.
“Rhona,” said Li Mei, “I hope you don’t mind me calling you by your English name. This is Li Mei.”
“No problem, Little Sister. This is the name I use here in America,” replied Rhona Lu from her office at the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. “What’s up?”
“You probably heard about the big explosion in San Fran?” Li Mei said as a question.
“Yes, it was all over the news…..apparently not an accident. Some media people are speculating that the local Mafia was behind it.”
“Did you hear that one of the houses destroyed had been owned by a lawyer, Vince Marino, and our friend agent Paquette lived there with him about fifteen years ago?” asked Li Mei.
“No, I hadn’t heard that,” replied Rhona Lu. “I know of Marino; he has a reputation of being dishonest and unethical, which results in him never losing a case. He’s infamous here for representing the Mafia.”
“Sounds like the type of lawyer the Mei Hua Triad would hire if they ever got charged with anything; which is unlikely.”
“Li Mei,” asked Lu, “if the police or FBI find anything in the ruins of those destroyed houses, will you hear about it?”
“I don’t know, but I will try to find out. There is another bigger problem here in Seattle involving Mr. Paquette. You have heard of the serial killer up here, the one they call the ‘Portland Killer’?” asked Li Mei.
“Yes, that is in all the media down the west coast,” replied Rhona Lu, getting very curious.
“Paquette is the serial killer.”
“What? I didn’t know they had made an arrest,” replied Lu. “How do you know this? Was news of his arrest just announced to the media?”
“No, he hasn’t been arrested. The reason I know is that he tried to make me one of his victims,” said Li Mei.
“I hate to keep sounding shocked, but I am? Obviously his plan didn’t work. Were you hurt? Did you kill him?”
“No, I wasn’t hurt,” replied Li Mei. “I considered killing him but I didn’t want the local police at my apartment and looking into my identity and background. The other reason was that he may still be a valuable asset to us.”
“Maybe I’m putting emotions ahead of duty, Li Mei, but you should have shot the bastard.”
“I have told my friend in the FBI about the incident. They have other evidence as well, but probably not enough to arrest him. As you know, nothing I tell the FBI can be used as evidence. From their perspective, it is just intelligence.”
“I think we had better cut our ties with this psychopath,” said Lu. “Our involvement with him could come out at a trial and you can be assured the American media will be sure to make us the ‘bad guys’. I will call Wang Xu to see what he thinks, but I’m sure he will agree.”
“That’s the main reason I phoned you, Big Sister. He will undoubtedly claim we forced him to become a traitor under some kind of threat or blackmail. Our superiors in Beijing will not be happy. They want to stop America’s ongoing ‘China bashing’, and this will make it worse.”
“Between you and me, Li Mei, it would be best for the FBI and best for us if Paquette just disappeared. The FBI’s reputation is going to be greatly harmed and we’ll be the primary scapegoat.”
“I was thinking the same thing, but it can’t be us that does it,” said Li Mei. “Even if we were remotely suspected of killing him or causing his disappearance, it could cause us great harm. You know, Chinese assassin kills heroic FBI agent.”
“This is a difficult decision,” said Lu.
“I have a few ideas, Older Sister. Let me run a few of them by you. If you agree, I may need your help.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Good morning Gentlemen,” said Jim Bridges, as Sean and Gary Webster entered his office, closing the door behind them, and sitting on the office couch. Jim’s office was always neat as a pin with hardly any papers on his desk, in stark contrast to Sean’s office which often lo
oked like someone threw a grenade through the door.
“Great job arresting Liang, the infamous ‘Mystery Assassin’. Minneapolis is a little miffed that we made the arrest while they were chasing the wrong person. I had a good laugh this morning when talking to their SAC.”
“I talked to the U.S. Attorney; they aren’t going for the death penalty,” said Sean. “It will probably be reduced to Second Degree as there was no premeditation on the part of Liang Xiao Xiao. The premeditation was that of the Mei Hua Triad, not hers. I suspect they will give her life in prison, but he thinks she may be eligible for parole after twenty years.”
“Those tough broads in prison are going to get a big surprise when they start trying to make Liang their prison bitch,” said Gary, who had spent most of his formative years in China. “A few years ago, when visiting my father in Beijing, a Chinese official took us to see the Snow Leopard Commando in training. You won’t find a tougher bunch than them. I saw them rappelling down the side of a tall building, head first, while hitting targets with automatic rifles as they slid, and their gongfu training was the toughest I ever saw.”
“Does Chinese State Security go through the same type of training?” asked Sean.
“No one knows anything about State Security training, but to see Li Mei in action, I suspect they do,” replied Gary.
“Sean,” said Jim, “you said you and Gary wanted to talk to me about something quite urgent?”
“Yes. I am now one-hundred percent certain that Paquette is the Portland Killer. He followed Li Mei home from a Starbucks, the same one where the four victims frequented. He entered her apartment using some ruse and tried to reach for his gun. Those cuts over his right eye and on his right cheek were the result. Li Mei said she made him open his briefcase and saw latex gloves and foot covers, two lengths of nylon rope and a bottle of bleach. She also kept his gun. By the way, how did he account for the injuries on his face and his missing gun?”
“Too bad she didn’t shoot the bastard,” exclaimed Jim. “He told me he rescued a girl who was being assaulted by three thugs in an alley. He fought with them and chased them when they ran off but couldn’t catch them. When he returned, the girl was gone; got the injuries in the fight. He hasn’t told me about the gun. He’ll probably use a replacement gun to give himself time to think up a good reason for losing it.”
“What a load of bullshit,” said Gary, looking disgusted.
“What do you suggest we do, Jim?” said Sean. “He’s definitely the killer but we haven’t got any usable evidence. We can’t use the photos at the back door of the Newbury and we can’t use the attack on Li Mei. The only thing we got is him purchasing nylon rope which proves nothing. There wasn’t a shred of evidence at any of the crime scenes to tie him to the killings.”
“On the other hand,” continued Sean, “we can’t leave this psycho running loose raping and killing women.”
“It’s difficult to know what to do on this,” said Gary. “If we had the evidence, we would have no choice but to arrest him and destroy the reputation of the FBI. Letting him roam free to rape and kill more women is even worse. I’m glad you make the big bucks to make these decisions Jim.”
“Well one thing is certain,” responded Jim. “We don’t have the option of doing nothing. Our problem would disappear if he disappeared, but that, unfortunately, is an option we don’t have. It would be nice if he was killed in a traffic accident today.
It was a facetious statement, which made everyone smile, but they all knew it would solve their problem.
“OK, I don’t pretend to have a good answer,” continued Jim, “but here’s what we will do for starters. You two gentlemen will interrogate him. The interrogation will take place off premises. We can’t do it here at the Field Office without rumours flying around like a swarm of locusts. We have to be very careful about everything we do because he’ll probably go on the offensive and threaten to sue us for destroying his reputation with no evidence to back up our allegations.”
“I agree, Jim,” said Sean. “We have to interrogate him. To demonstrate our fairness and concern for his reputation, I suggest we give him about three days advance notice of the interrogation, which we should probably label an ‘interview’. We can tell him to bring his lawyer with him; what could be more fair than that? If we’re lucky, he’ll take off and disappear.”
“There is an off-chance that he may confess,” continued Sean. “He knows that I will know about his attack on Li Mei, and he may not know she won’t testify. He knows she can testify to the photo at the back door also. He may think he’s sunk so he and his lawyer may try to cut a deal.”
“You’re right Sean,” said Jim. “His view of the case may be very different than ours. He can probably explain the contents of his briefcase as investigative materials and he just bought the bleach because he ran out of it at home, but he knows that putting all the evidence together, with Li Mei testifying, he may not be too confident.”
“This brings up another question,” continued Jim. “If he perceives Li Mei as the key to his conviction, how safe is she? Should we put her in witness protection, even though she won’t be a witness?”
“I’d like to do that but she would never agree,” said Sean.
“I think if he tried to kill her, our problems would be over,” said Gary. “He may start out as the hunter but he’d end up the hunted.”
“OK Sean; rent a hotel or motel room somewhere and set this up. By the way, I meant to tell you…they found some human bone fragments and teeth in amongst the rubble of the houses that were blown up in Frisco. DNA tests show they belonged to a missing university student from about fifteen years ago. I doubt if they’ll be able to tie it to the house owned by the lawyer, Marino, where Paquette lived, or tie it to them specifically, but it makes me think that Paquette may have been killing women throughout his career in the FBI.”
“I suspect the lawyer Paquette shows up with will be that bottom-feeder, Vince Marino,” said Gary.
Sean and Li Mei treated themselves to a steak dinner in a cozy, out-of-the-way restaurant they often enjoyed. They particularly liked the private booths so they could talk freely without being overheard. Sean told Li Mei about his meeting with Jim Bridges and about the planned interrogation which would take place at a small motel on the outskirts of Seattle. Despite Sean’s pleas, Li Mei was emphatic that she wouldn’t testify. It would destroy her cover and initiate an investigation into her background and her activities.
She did have the beginning of a plan in her head, but decided to give it more thought before approaching Sean with the idea.
After Sean dropped Li Mei at her apartment, she dialled her secure cellphone.
“Hello Wen Tai. Don’t say my name, but do you know who this is?”
“Yes, I know. I knew you would be phoning me, I just didn’t know it would be this soon.”
“I want to meet you tomorrow. There is a KFC near the north bridge at the waterfront. Be there at two pm.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Sean, Gary and Li Mei sat in their favourite pizza restaurant in a back booth beyond the hearing of other patrons, of which there were very few in the mid-afternoon.
Li Mei explained her plan and asked if both the FBI agents were in agreement.
“Are you sure you can pull this off, Li Mei?” asked Gary.
“Yes, I have already made the arrangements.”
“I like it, but this is way out there. What about the lawyer?” asked Sean.
“Don’t worry about him; I have made arrangements for him also.”
“Let’s do it. This will solve all our problems,” said Sean.
“I love it,” said Gary. “Li Mei, you’re a genius, but I wouldn’t want you as an enemy.”
“That will never happen, Gary,” laughed Li Mei. “We’re all friends for life.”
As they were leaving, Li Mei turned to Sean and Gary and said, “By the way, the Mei Hua have a detective in the Seattle Police on their payroll. His
name is Lou Bradley. Do what you want with this information but think about it first. He may be more valuable to you outside of jail than inside”.
Sean and Gary sat in chairs opposite Special Agent Gordon Paquette and his lawyer, Vince Marino. The motel was in the mid-price range; clean and well-appointed but no security cameras, other than at the reception desk, where none of the four had been. The room had been rented by a third party the previous day. They had all gone directly to Room 122 at the rear of the building. It was established that no one in the room was armed, including Sean and Gary.
Vince Marino and Gordon Paquette were dressed in very stylish and expensive clothes, making sure they were seen as distinguished gentlemen on the video camera which had been set up for the interview. Marino wore a grey, silk suit, a pink silk tie and had a wide brimmed black fedora which was on the table beside him. Paquette’s attire was more subdued, wearing a navy blue pinstripe suit and a wine tie.