Amy Lynn: Golden Angel

by Jack July

  “You will pay for this,” said Aida as she turned and stormed away.

  Sanjay looked at Louis and said, “You take care of her, okay?

  Louis smiled and nodded yes.

  Then Sanjay said in English, “Kristy, you stay with Louis, okay?”

  Kristy nodded but still feared Captain Sanjay after what she saw in Captain Bastos’ stateroom.

  “Okay, carry on,” said Captain Sanjay.

  CHAPTER 40

  November 27th 1:00 A.M.

  “And there it is,” said Edie.

  They all stared at the screen at the digitally enhanced photo showing an older Cai with plastic surgery.

  “Crikey, they can do that to somebody’s face?” said a shocked Cody.

  “Put the pictures back up on the screen, let’s compare them,” said Tatiana.

  There were hundreds. They sent the same information to Langley for help, and then they started going through them. After a while pictures started to run together, so they did it in shifts. Tatiana and Edie were taking their turn when Tatiana said, “Edie, go back one.”

  “That’s him, that’s the picture.”

  “HEY, WAKE UP!” yelled Tatiana. Everyone else was dozing in their chairs.

  “What do you think?” T asked looking at Elle.

  Elle rubbed her eyes while trying to focus. “Yeah, it could be.”

  “Cody?”

  “Maybe.” replied Cody.

  “Danny?”

  “Closest I’ve seen yet.”

  “Edie, send it to Langley and the BND, see what we get.” Edie nodded.

  Two hours and forty-five minutes later a message came from Langley, a 90% match.

  “Edie, do you have a name for him?” asked Tatiana.

  “No, the only information is that he has visited the embassy several times. Most recently...” she hit a few more keys..., “yesterday.”

  “How do you know that?” asked Tatiana.

  “We have cameras all around the Chinese embassy. He doesn’t have a name but he does have a number, O4527.”

  “Do you have his visits time-stamped?”

  Edie pecked a few more keys and started reading the times to herself. After a few moments she said, “Yes, he usually visits early a.m. around 6-7:00. A few times around 6:00 p.m.

  Tatiana looked around the room, stopped for a moment and said, “Danny, how would you like to be a spy?”

  “Really? Are you serious?” said a very surprised Danny.

  Edie nearly jumped out of her chair, looked at Tatiana and said, “Are you insane? Danny, it’s really fun right up until somebody puts a bullet in your brain.”

  “Why do you care?” Elle asked Edie with a little smile.

  Danny smiled and said, “Yeah, why DO you care?”

  Edie stuttered a bit and said, “I know this business, it is not a game. I am serious, it is NOT a game.”

  Danny gave Edie a little knowing grin and said, “Yes, I know. I’ve been around it awhile now. But if T thinks I can help,” he stopped, looked at Tatiana and said, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Watch the front door of the Chinese embassy. When you see that man,” she pointed at the screen, “let us know.”

  “They just tried to kill you and Elle,” said Edie.

  “I know. That’s why we can’t go back,” Tatiana thought a moment looked at Edie and said, “Why am I arguing with you? Danny, get some rest. I want you in front of that Embassy at 6 a.m.”

  “Do I get a gun?” asked Danny.

  “No, you would probably shoot yourself. You get a Cody. Cody, keep an eye on him.” Cody answered with a nod.

  November 27th 7:00 A.M., The White House

  The President sat at her desk talking to Connie Wilson, Kristy’s mom. “We know for a fact you spoke to her so that is good news.”

  She listened and nodded

  “Connie, the United States of America has never put this much effort toward finding one person,” The President didn’t bother with the fact that her daughter was one of twenty-three and the operation was way bigger than one child, even though Kristy was the center of it.

  “I will let you know…Okay, thank you…Goodbye.” The President looked across her desk at Director Dotson and said, “Okay Tim, where is she?”

  “We believe she is on the Constantinople somewhere in the Atlantic.”

  “Why can’t we find that ship?”

  “It’s a big ocean. But we are looking, we will find it, soon.”

  “Any word from Golden Angel?”

  “Yes, ma’am. The Chinese are involved, the son of the Ambassador to Germany. The team believes he is the man. He has already murdered one girl in America as a teenager, then escaped under diplomatic immunity.”

  “Okay, I’ll call the Chinese President. They can find their own people.”

  “No ma’am, you do that and Kristy Wilson is dead. Whoever has her will kill her. She would become evidence.”

  President North thought for a few moments then said, “All right, but I want that child back, ASAP.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Dotson stood uncomfortably while the President read something on her desk.

  She looked up and said, “Anything else?”

  Yes there was, but he wasn’t sure how to say it. “I’m busy, spit it out,” she said tapping her pen on the desk.

  “Ma’am, what do you know about China?”

  “I can point to it on a map and pronounce it correctly,” Then she gave him a little smile. That’s what he liked most about her. She took herself seriously as a leader, but never pretended to know more than she did. What made her smart was not what she knew, but who she surrounded herself with.

  “Analysts have played out different scenarios of Golden Angel, all the way to its end. A couple of them have us in a serious confrontation with China. I just want to make sure that you are ready should you have to deal with them in a world-class pissing match. Are you?”

  She thought a moment and said, “I’m not sure. I guess in my position that’s a no. I have deferred most things to the State Department.”

  “That’s what all Presidents do, they get a Cliffs Notes pack, study and go. I want you to be the best you can be if this goes badly.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I want you to spend some time with Donna Ming. She’s our China expert at the CIA.”

  “Okay, I can make some time for her tomorrow.”

  “No, ma’am. This thing will probably be over in less than 24 hours. She’s standing outside the door waiting.”

  The President thought for a moment then said, “Send her in.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He turned to leave and she stopped him, “Hey Tim. Don’t ever be afraid to call me on anything like that, okay? That’s why you’re here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Long Cai planned meticulously for every event. From the time each of his ‘guests’ were picked up until they were sacrificed to his madness, every minute was planned. Tomorrow would be no different: an early morning breakfast with his father followed by a trip to the port following the exact path he would be returning on. Road closures for construction, weather or other reasons could be discovered, and he could choose a new route. This trip would not be as difficult as others had been because other than the outskirts of Hamburg, he would traverse mostly rural areas.

  However, timing was everything and he still had an unknown. When would the ship arrive? He tried to call, but was not getting through. Rosa was gone. Reyes couldn’t be found, so he called a friend at the cartel consortium. Cai was angered by the answers he received. Their freighters were being boarded and searched by the Americans. He had a fleeting thought, Are they looking for my girl? No, they couldn’t be, he reasoned, they would never do all of that for one girl,
never.

  CHAPTER 41

  Danny and Cody left for the Chinese embassy at 5:30 A.M. Danny took the train and Cody drove. They gave Danny an earpiece with a tiny microphone so he could communicate with Tatiana. Edie had different BND surveillance camera’s on each screen in the comms room. They could see most of the exterior of the compound. At five minutes till six, Danny showed up.

  Tatiana shook her head and sighed, “He’s not too obvious is he? Maybe he could hang a sign around his neck, I’m looking for a killer who is a Chinese National.”

  Edie spoke to him and said. “Danny, move away from the front entrance, and get out of the line of sight. Go sit on the park bench by the museum, read a paper, feed some birds, just get away from the entrance.”

  Danny began to walk away when he saw a young man with a ball cap and glasses making his way from the south/east corner of the compound. Cody was back a few hundred yards to the northwest trying to keep a visual on Danny without outing himself.

  “I think it’s him,” said Danny with a little excitement to his voice. Danny kept walking to the south end to pass him and maybe engage in conversation.

  “Danny, stop, stay where Cody can see you,” said T.

  Danny kept walking the other way toward the rear of the embassy. “Danny, dammit, walk toward Cody,” T ordered.

  Danny never saw the other man coming up behind him. Danny got about five feet away from Long Cai when someone bumped him from the rear. A powerful man nearly lifted him off his feet, grabbed him under the right arm with his left hand while in stride, and stuck a gun in his ribs. Danny started to say something when a quick punch to his ribs drove the air from a lung. Long Cai strolled by as if nothing was happening.

  “Cody, move, they have Danny,” Tatiana said calmly.

  Cody moved as fast as possible, but it wouldn’t be fast enough. Once Danny and his abductor took the turn behind the south end of the embassy walking west another man joined in, grabbing Danny from the other side and quickened the pace.

  “Cody’s not gonna make it,” said Elle.

  “If they get him through that gate he is done. DAMMIT CODY, MOVE!” Tatiana exclaimed.

  Edie was strangely stoic and watched intently. Danny and his abductors were 75 yards from the south gate entrance at the rear of the embassy when, forty yards ahead of them, a man stepped through some parked cars and stopped. Behind them another man got out of a car and began to walk after the trio. Then a third man appeared from across the street with his gun drawn heading right at the trio. The men to the front and rear pulled their weapons, and there was a brief but tense standoff.

  “Who is that?” asked Elle.

  Danny was released to the three men who surrounded the other two. They grabbed Danny and backed out.

  T relaxed and leaned back in her chair, looked up at Edie and said, “That would be a three man BND hit team, isn’t that right Edie?”

  Edie allowed herself to relax and said, “Do you know how hard it is to find a good man? I will not lose him.”

  T and Elle both let out a relieved little laugh. T called Cody and said, “Cody, Danny is secure. Let’s watch for Long Cai leaving.”

  Cody held up his hand in a little wave.

  Sanjay had spent the evening going over charts trying, to cut time and still stay out of sight. He had run the ship dark the night before, no running lights. It was dangerous, but now he had to take chances if he wished to keep his job. He was running the Constantinople’s engines at 90% keeping an eye on the engine temperature. His second in command, assigned and chosen by the cartel, stood quietly on the bridge. Sanjay looked at him and said, “Well, Galeno, what do you think? We can be there in thirty hours or ten hours depending on when we turn east.”

  Galeno shrugged his shoulders and said, “You’re the captain.”

  Just as Sanjay suspected, he knew nothing about piloting a ship. He was a cartel stooge.

  Sanjay continued north until he hit the east/west shipping lane and headed in toward Hamburg. Later he would take the turn north to Cuxhaven.

  “Galeno, call Mr. Lew. Tell him we will be at the dock around 10 A.M.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  I will be speaking with Mr. Lew myself, thought Sanjay.

  November 27th 6:00 A.M., The Chinese embassy

  “Cai, I asked you to stay out of sight, you must listen. I need to know why they are looking for you” said Cho.

  “I don’t know Father. Maybe they are trying to hurt you through me.”

  Cho gave that some thought as he had made a few enemies.

  “I shouldn’t be separated from you because of fear. You are my father. I will brave them for you.”

  This made Cho’s chest swell just a bit, “You are a good son, but Cai, I can’t lose you. Please listen until we figure this out. After breakfast we will take you out through the tunnel.”

  Cai sighed and said, “Yes, Father. I got a call late last evening; I will be meeting a friend on the coast, and I won’t be here until this afternoon. I will call you when I return.”

  An hour later Cai entered the tunnel under the Embassy and exited behind three dumpsters in a fenced in area to the east of the embassy that hid the man hole cover. He stepped out of the enclosure under the tree that housed the BND camera with Cody 10 ft. behind him sitting on a park bench looking the other way. He walked across the park behind the museum, climbed into a rented Ford Focus, and began the two hundred and fifteen mile trip to Cuxhaven.

  CHAPTER 42

  November 27th 8:30 A.M

  Danny walked into the comms room a little shaken from his ordeal. He walked up the two steps and took a seat next to Edie at the console. “Are you okay?” asked Edie

  Danny nodded his head yes. He looked over at Tatiana and said, “What did they want from me?”

  “They wanted to know why you were snooping around their embassy.”

  “What would they have done?”

  “Asked you a few questions until they figured out you were CIA.”

  “Then what?”

  Edie nudged him and said, “You don’t want to know.”

  Tatiana nodded in agreement. Then Danny asked, “How did they know I was snooping?”

  Look,” she pointed at the screens, the BND cameras still focused on the Chinese embassy. “Do you see Cody?”

  Danny searched the screens intently looking. Finally he said, “No.”

  “That’s the point,” said T with a little smile.

  “Who were those men that, well, rescued me?”

  Edie started to say something when Tatiana said, “Classified.”

  Danny knew enough to accept that as an answer and move on.

  “You got a look at Long Cai. What did you see?” asked T.

  “The first thing I thought was how small he is, and he looked like Joe from Blues Clues.”

  “What is Blues Clues?” asked Edie.

  “Children’s show on PBS in America. Some of my Sunday school kids loved it. They wore the T-shirts and other stuff,” said Elle.”

  Edie looked at Danny and said, “So, you have children?”

  “No, I baby-sit for my friend at work so he and his wife can go out on their little dates.”

  “Oh. Do you like children?” said Edie with a little smile.

  That question made T roll her eyes and Elle shake her head. Danny was clueless. Suddenly a light flashed, Edie sat up straight and hit a button. She changed the picture on the screen showing the drone image of a ship and said, “That’s the Constantinople pulling into Cuxhaven.”

  “DANNY, SCRAMBLE EVERYBODY, GET TO THAT SHIP AND GET CODY BACK HERE.” barked T.

  “It’s already happening,” said Edie. “German Coast Guard, Interpol, the Lower Saxony police…”

  “And us, lets go Elle.”

  Elle and Tatiana grabbed their e
quipment and made a run to the Helicopter pad where their ride was waiting. They jumped aboard and Tatiana all but screamed at the pilot, “CUXHAVEN, FAST!”

  “You got it T,” said Rocky.

  Louis was busy making a supply list for the trip home while Kristy sat on the counter drinking a glass of orange juice. Suddenly the door opened and in walked two of the crew members with Aida close behind.

  “It’s time to go,” said a brusque Aida grabbing Kristy’s hand and pulling her off the counter.

  Louis stepped forward shouting, “No, no, no, the captain said she stays here until he comes to get her.”

  One of the men punched Louis in the side of the head, knocking him to the deck. Kristy screamed as Aida picked her up and carried her away. A man loyal to Galeno was already preparing the gangway on the bow before the ship was even moored.

  Long Cai pulled into the port and parked his car off to the side behind an old shipping container. He got out, leaned against the car, watched and waited. Moments later he saw Aida dragging Kristy down the gangway. He stepped forward and waved.

  Captain Sanjay was watching through binoculars the preparations for off-loading the ship when he saw Kristy and Aida walking down the gangway. He yelled, “STOP THEM, STOP THEM NOW!” He reached for the ship’s 1MC loud-speaker system, but Galeno roughly grabbed his hand and said, “Unless you want to end up like Captain Bastos, stick to your job.”

  Another man on the bridge looked at him and nodded. Sanjay bowed his head in defeat and said a quiet prayer for her.

  Long Cai smiled as he saw Kristy approach the car. She is perfect, he thought. He knelt down as she approached.

  Aida shoved her forward and said, “Are you Mr. Lew?”

  “Yes.”

  In broken English Aida said, “Here she is; my job is finished.” She turned and walked away. Kristy stood in front of him as he smiled a gentle smile and said. “She’s not very nice is she?”

  Kristy shook her head no, still looking very afraid. “Well, I am. Are you ready to go?”