Justification For Killing
Page 35
Chapter Thirty-Two
THE GANGS ALL HERE
It was Monday morning in Washington, D.C., Captain Scarburg was arriving at his office for another workweek. “Good morning Krissy, how was your weekend?”
“Good... and yours?”
“Interesting... very interesting.”
Before he could offer an explanation, Krista replied, “Captain, Sam Lin and Si Lei are waiting for you in the conference room - they were here waiting when I arrived this morning.”
“Great! Glad they got home safely. Oh, Krissy, LJ and Rocky should be here soon just buzz’em in when they arrive. Another thing - call downstairs and get Forrest to come up here this morning also. I need them all together for this meeting.”
Entering the conference room Captain Scarburg could see Sam Lin and Si Lei had taken over his large mahogany table. Papers and notes were spread from one end of the table to the other; some papers had even fallen from the table to the floor. Down at one end sat the satchel once belonging to Doctor Joseph Rusnak. Dried bloodstains were still evident on its brown leather exterior. Both brothers were fumbling through the collection of Dr. Rusnak’s notes and papers to the point they were so engrossed in the information they did not notice the Captain had entered the room.
“Sam Lin, Si Lei take a break,” the Captain laughingly said to the two brothers, as he walked across the room toward them.
Startled, Sam Lin responded, “Oh, hello Captain. This stuff is just so interesting our minds were somewhere else. Just come and see, you won’t believe the things we have discovered. Sorry I got carried away - how have you been Captain?”
“That’s okay, I know you both are excited. I want the whole story. But first I have to get my cup of coffee. What about you two - coffee?” Over the inter-office communicator, the Captain make a request, “Krissy, would you mind bringing in a couple more coffee cups, no make it three, I know Rocky will want coffee when he arrives.”
‘Right away Captain, but Rocky can bring his own cup. He’s standing here sipping your special Columbian Roast as we speak.”
“That good-for-nothing! No seriously, tell him to help himself and sent him in. What about LJ?”
“I’m here too Captain,” Lonnie Joe responded.
After everyone had said his hellos, the men took seats around the conference table. “Well, looks as if everyone is here! Forrest should be here in a little while,” announced Captain Scarburg. “Sam Lin and Si Lei would you, please give us a briefing on your mission to Bangkok, and the significance of these papers spread around the table.
Si Lei looking at brother Sam Lin said reluctantly, “Would you mind Sam Lin, you are a much better speaker than I am. Besides, you have always been the smartest.”
“That’s not true Si Lei... but of course I will. Guys, Si Lei and I only arrived from Thailand this morning, so we did not have time to prepare a formal presentation - this one is going to be shooting from the hip. If you have a question, please feel free to interrupt me at any time. Either Si Lei or I will attempt an answer. Okay, here we go...”
Standing at the end of the table, Sam Lin began with their arrival at Concourse C at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. He was just beginning to get into the part where Katrina Ryabov walked across the concourse and greeted them under the Thai Pavilion. “Captain, sorry to interrupt,” Krista announced over the communication system, “Forrest just arrived, I’m going to send him in.”
Everyone’s head turned toward the door awaiting Forrest’s entrance. The door opened, Forrest made his grand arrival. “Hey fellows, hi Grandpa. What have I missed?”
Grandpa answered, “Not much Forrest. Sam Lin was just beginning to tell us about their trip to Bangkok. Go on Sam Lin now that everyone is really all here.”
“Okay, Forrest I’ll catch you up - I had just told the others that Si Lei and I arrived in Bangkok, walked into the airport, to get our bearings we had stopped under the Thai Pavilion when an attractive woman who later introduced herself as Katrina Ryabov approached.”
“Hold on Sam Lin,” said Forrest. “I want to know about the plane crash. That is the real adventure… this other talk is just spy stuff… I want to hear about your exciting near-death experience in the frozen wasteland of Siberia.”
“Sure Forrest… but first, it wasn’t in Siberia we crashed in Russia, and we weren’t anywhere near death. You make it sound so melodramatic, but Si Lei and I will tell you our entire story,” and for the next couple of hours, Sam Lin with Si Lei’s input divulged the intriguing details of their exploits. Throughout his briefing, Sam Lin was constantly stopped by questions from someone at the table. The group had sat totally mesmerized by the two Kim brother’s exciting narrative and hung on their every word. Finally, Sam Lin began to wind down his story with the death of Malita Smith and Katrina ‘Kat’ Sokolov. He emphasized both their deaths were the direct result of someone searching for the Dr. Joseph Rusnak papers. The same papers, which now lay scattered across the conference table where they were currently sitting.
Lonnie Joe asked, “Sam Lin do you or Si Lei have any idea who killed the two women?”
“Let me just say this – Katrina thought the CIA’s project MK-ULTRA was the key. She was terrified just saying the name. I believe she talked to Malita Smith who must have passed the information on to someone within the Company.” Sam Lin followed by dramatically explaining the car chase and the final demise of the Mercedes in the flaming crash into the bulldozer on the Highway Seven expressway from Bangkok to the International Airport. “I believe this automobile was being driven by agents of the CIA.”
“What makes you think the CIA was involved?”
“When Si Lei and I worked at the Bangkok CIA post, black Mercedes sedans were the official automobiles most agents drove. The icing on the cake was the license plate. I got a glance at it as the car pulled up behind us – it was blue with white letters. Those blue and white tags are only used on official U.S. government automobiles in Thailand. No one else connected with the government in Thailand would have known we were in town.” Pulling out a chair from the table Sam Lin sat down, “That’s about it if no one has any further questions? Oh, there is one more tidbit of information for you Captain - we saw your old, brown, sweat stained, tattered cowboy hat.”
“You did? I knew I could not find it, but where did you see it?”
“Anhur was wearing it when he and his friends cleared the snow from our downed airplane in Russia. Without his help, we would have never escaped from that barren, snow-covered lake. And we saw it once more – it was sitting atop Anhur’s head as he stood next to the tangled wreckage at the horrific, fiery crash on the Highway Seven Bangkok expressway.”
“By-ned that little rascal, my hat huh? So that’s where my hat disappeared! Well I’ll be, he’s still up to his old tricks, you say? That little guy saved you from the crash site in Russia and also caused the wreck that allowed you to escape in Thailand,” the Captain said grinning as he pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. “By-ned, that little rascal! By-ned!”
Walking to the podium, “Good job Sam Lin and Si Lei... you both did an excellent job.... with one exception... you did not return my cowboy hat,” he said laughing. “Excellent report and it proves the CIA was waist deep in the Kennedy assassination. In fact, I have a CIA story too that I believe will prove the CIA and Kennedy were at odds with each other as well. Settle back, this might take a while.
“This happened a number of years ago,” the Captain said as he began to speak...
The time was 11:00 a.m., Monday, December 5, 2012.