Red Ice (7 page)

CHAPTER NINE
 

Tanner groaned and pushed himself off the floor. His ears were ringing and he felt like the entire Giants Baseball team had used him for batting practice. Next to him, Vessler coughed and rolled away from him, using the wall to help her sit up. Tanner glanced in the other direction and saw Naomi push herself off the floor, shaking her head slowly. All three were smothered in dust and debris. The air was thick with dust and smoke.

Tanner coughed. “Are you two all right?”

“Still breathing.” Naomi flexed her right arm at the elbow. “I don’t think anything’s broken, but I feel like I’ve been on a three-day bender without any of the fun parts.”

“Vessler?”

“I’m fine. What the hell happened?” the DEA agent demanded.

Tanner rolled into a sitting position. “The room was wired for both sound
and
explosives,” he said, his own voice sounding distant.

“What?”

“I found a listening device on the lamp. Nay found a bomb.”

“A block of C-4 in the bureau drawer,” Naomi confirmed. “With a command detonator.”

“Shit!” Vessler hissed. “Who the hell did this?”

Tanner got to his feet slowly. He could see the room they had been in was obliterated, along with any possible evidence. “We won’t be able to prove it, but I have an idea.”

“Rhee?” Naomi asked.

“Yes. Can you walk?”

Naomi got to her feet. “Yeah. Vess?”

Vessler nodded and rose to her feet. The three of them made their way along the hall and down the stairs. By the time they reached the lobby, the first responders—a pair of cops and a quartet of firefighters in full gear—were there. No sign of Cordo and the others who had been in the lobby.

#

“Damn,” Liam said as the Suburban travelled northwest on Columbus Avenue. They could see the smoke rising from two blocks away.

Dante nodded. “Looks like Tanner and Nay had as much fun as we did after all.”

Tanner’s phone call requesting a meeting had come when Liam’s team was a couple of blocks from the DEA office.

Despite being only a mile and a half, it took Choi fifteen minutes to drive the distance, using the SUV’s sirens judiciously. The entire intersection by the hotel was blocked off, forcing the team to park half a block away and walk. After identifying themselves to the police guarding the perimeter, they walked into the crime scene and stared at the building. Smoke still poured from the five-story edifice and they could see a hole in the hotel’s side large enough to drive a truck through.

“Over here!”

The four turned and saw Tanner, covered in a fine layer of dust, standing in front of a cafe a couple of stores away from where they were standing.

“I take it Alec didn’t talk?” Liam asked as the group walked toward Tanner.

“You could say that. Nay and Vessler are inside.”

Naomi spotted the group as they walked into the cafe and waved them over to a large booth in the back. Except for a couple of employees and a customer near the front entrance, the cafe was empty. As soon as they were seated, a waitress appeared and they ordered coffee, except for Stephen, who opted for tea. Both Naomi and Vessler looked the same as Tanner, covered in dust, though they had managed to wipe their faces clean.

Tanner excused himself and returned a few minutes later with wet hair and a clean face. He related what happened to them in the hotel, and then Liam recounted events at the pier. The waitress appeared with their drinks, and after each had a chance to take a couple of sips, Vessler put her cup down and eyed Tanner with a scowl. “We have to stop the bastards!”

“No argument there,” Tanner replied. “Rhee and his goons have us playing defense. We need to change that.”

“How?” Vessler demanded. “You don’t know where Rhee or his people are.”

Tanner took a sip of coffee. “Rhee needs the Black Dao because of their contacts for the manufacturing and distribution of Red Ice. We intend on making the Triad reconsider their arrangement with Rhee.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“Hit the Triad right in the wallet.” Tanner’s smart phone beeped and he pulled it from his pocket and pressed the accept button. “Go ahead.”

“I have a list,” Danielle reported.

“Good. I’m putting you on speaker.” He tapped the screen and placed the device in the middle of the table. “Let’s hear it.”

“I went through the city records and associated data,” Danielle led off. “I have a dozen locations that I can say with ninety percent certainty are owned by the Black Dao. One of these fits the profile of a drug lab where Dr. Mori might be.”

“Excellent,” Tanner said. He glanced at his watch. “Time to get some planning done.”

Vessler looked at Tanner in suspicion. “What are you going to do?”

“Go on the offensive.”

Vessler’s eyes widened, but before she could say anything, Choi said, “Let it lie, Vess.”

“I can’t!”

“We’re going to need you and Danny to do your jobs,” Tanner said. “We’ll go in first, try and locate Mori. Danielle will give you the evidence to get a signed warrant from a judge. You come in the front door; we go out the back with Mori, if she’s there. As far as everyone’s concerned, it’s a DEA raid.”

“Sounds good to me,” Choi said.

“But—”

Naomi placed a hand on Vessler’s arm. “Let us do this,” she said softly. “We’ve done it before, and against tougher opponents than Triad hitters. We’ll leave you the evidence. We just want to rescue Dr. Mori.”

Vessler leaned back and folded her arms. “All right. We’ll play it your way. I’ll call in a few favors and get some guys from the Oakland DEA office for the raid team. Just make sure you leave the suspects alive and the evidence untainted.”

Tanner smiled, his mismatched eyes showing some warmth. “You bet.”

CHAPTER TEN
 

Chinatown

5:32pm

The Black Jade Dragon Restaurant occupied the heart of the city’s famous Chinatown. Located on a narrow side street and wedged between a gift shop and an employment agency, the three-story building was also the Black Dao Triad headquarters.

No one took notice of the three men walking toward the restaurant with purposeful strides. The sun was setting, casting long shadows on the street, and people, both tourists and locals, were thinking about dinner.

Rhee wasn’t thinking about food, though. In his suit and silk tie, he looked like an annoyed businessman or perhaps a crime lord. Muhn and Seonwoo flanked him, their eyes constantly alert for threats.

They entered the restaurant, made their way through the dining room and into the kitchen. A flight of stairs in the back of the kitchen led upstairs. None of the restaurant’s employees attempted to stop or speak to the trio. Most of them were Chinese illegals and knew better than to get involved with Triad business.

At the top of the stairs, Rhee and his men turned right and walked toward a door flanked by two Triad foot soldiers. Both men — known as 49s in the Triad — were taller and weighed more than Rhee, but that didn’t concern the major.

One of the 49s stepped forward, hand raised. He said in Chinese, “The Mountain Lord doesn’t wish to see anyone.”

Rhee’s jaw tightened. “He will see me,” he replied in the same language.

“No excep—”

Rhee drove a spearhand into the enforcer’s solar plexus, followed by a short, hard uppercut to the 49’s chin, snapping the thug’s head back. As his opponent staggered back, Rhee spun and slammed a sidekick into the man’s chest. The 49 flew back until he hit the door hard.

As the thug slid to the ground, Rhee unholstered his Baek Du San pistol, a North Korean copy of the Czech CZ-75. “I will speak to the Mountain Lord.” His voice was slow and hard as he pointed his pistol at the second guard. He cocked the hammer. “Or I step over your dead body and speak to him anyway. Your choice.”

The door opened, and Cho Lee, the Triad’s White Paper Fan, or senior administrative officer, stood there. He was pale with short hair and glasses, also wearing a business suit. He looked down at the 49 on the ground, then back at Rhee. “Is there a problem here?”

“I want to speak to the Mountain Lord.”

“We’re busy.”

With sudden speed, Rhee stepped forward and slammed his pistol’s butt between the second 49’s eyes, staggering the Triad member. The North Korean’s hand snapped back and forward again, striking the enforcer on the right side of his face with the Baek Du San’s barrel. The Triad thug half-spun into the door frame, breaking his nose, then slumped to the ground in a daze. Rhee’s pistol snapped up to point at Lee. “I want to speak to Hong.” Lee’s expression of annoyance didn’t change, but Rhee could see panic deep in the man’s eyes.

From inside the room, Hong said, “Let him in. The sooner he speaks, the sooner he leaves. But only him. His men remain outside.”

Rhee turned to his men and said in Korean. “Stay here. If I am not out in ten minutes, come in, kill everyone, then execute Plan D.” Muhn and Seonwoo nodded, their eyes as hard as their leader’s. Seonwoo consulted his wristwatch as Rhee walked past Lee and into the room.

The conference room equaled any Fortune Five Hundred company’s board room. Running the entire width of the building, the room featured paneled walls, with a Chinese motif across the chairs, table, paintings and standing screens. The table was long and wide enough for a dozen people, and sat perpendicular to the door. On the opposite wall, double doors, flanked by a window on each side, led to a balcony overlooking the street. The air was heavy with the aromas of food and cigar smoke.

The ten men and two women in the room watched him approach the conference table. Rhee immediately identified three of them as servants from the restaurant. Out of the others, the eight men sitting at the table he also dismissed as not important. Hong, the man he wanted to talk to, occupied at the head of the table to Rhee’s right.

Rhee holstered his pistol. “Gentlemen,” he began in accented English.

“Your rudeness is intolerable!” one of the men snarled. Rhee looked at the man. Kuang Lieh was the oldest person in the room. He was the Triad’s Incense Master, the man responsible for overseeing the group’s traditions. Unlike most of the others present, Lieh didn’t hide his dislike of Rhee.

“We have things to discuss,” Rhee said.

“Can it not wait?” Hong asked. He was trim and lean, a practitioner of the Hung Gar style of Kung Fu. With trimmed iron-gray hair and a round face, Kuan-Tai “William” Hong projected himself as a simple businessman, but Rhee knew that was a facade.

“It cannot.”

Hong looked at the servers. “Get out,” he said harshly in Chinese, “and do not speak of this to anyone. Go!” Once the servers were gone, Hong looked at a heavy-set man sitting to his right. “We need two new guards for the door.” The man stood and went over to a phone hanging on the wall, picked up a receiver and barked several words of Chinese into the handset. Then he hung up and walked back to his chair.

Hong looked at Rhee. “Would you like to have a seat?”

Rhee shook his head. “I will not be here long enough to become comfortable. There is a problem we must discuss.”

“That explosion near the Financial District this morning?” Lieh demanded. “Or the sniper attack on pier about the same time? More policemen died today, and the mayor has already promised to find out who did it!”

“Kuang,” Hong said. “Let the major speak.”

Rhee nodded. “While it is true that there were a couple of incidents today, neither your men nor mine can be tied to either scene.”

“What about the four dead ‘suspected terrorists’?” Lieh demanded.

“More of the same type that died last night. The Americans will look for something that doesn’t exist.” Rhee looked around the table. “One incident eliminated a loose thread that might have caused a problem, while the other was designed to keep the authorities off-balance. However, I will say that the Americans have moved faster than I expected. I believe that the people who rescued the DEA agents last night were a U.S. mercenary assassination team.”

The heavy-set man sitting next to Hong snorted in disdain. “You watch too many Hollywood movies. There is no such thing.”

Rhee shifted his eyes to him. Unlike most of the men in the room, he considered Meng-hau Cheng dangerous. He was the Triad’s senior Red Pole, the chief enforcer for those times when violence was needed. Cheng returned the stare, and unlike Lee earlier, there was no fear in his eyes.

“Then you are a fool. At the pier, my men were chased by men in suits who easily eliminated the four men acting as security for my team. At the hotel, they escaped a trap that should have killed them.”

Lieh scowled. “That is thin evidence.”

“Enough!” Hong’s tone cut through the growing tension in the room. “While I doubt Major Rhee’s claim of a mercenary team is real, it is possible there is a team of agents from Washington, D.C. John Casey is in town, supposedly to discuss anti-terrorist matters with the local leaders.”

Rhee nodded. “In any case, I think it’s time to bring the main lab on-line and discontinue the test lab.”

“Is that wise?” Lee walked over to a chair and sat. “There are still a few things that have to be finished.”

“The test lab is too exposed,” Rhee replied. “I think it should be closed down now.”

“I have a dozen men guarding the lab at any one time,” Cheng countered. “And our friends inside the police department will let us know if there’s a raid coming.”

“Like they warned us about the rescuers last night?” Cheng opened his mouth, then closed it slowly and nodded.

Rhee glanced about the table. “This operation is vital to both you and my country. The main lab is in a safe place, known only to you here in this room and a few of my most trusted personnel. Once the lab begins production, the Americans will be helpless to stop the spread of the drug.”

“You are poking a sleeping dragon with a stick,” Cheng said darkly.

“Which is why I wish to consolidate all project operations at the new lab. With your permission, I will pick up the materials and the chemists from the test lab tonight and take them to the new facility.”

“What about the slaves?”

Rhee waved a hand dismissively. “We have no need of them anymore. The new site has enough slaves, and I do not wish to transport any more to the site.”

“Very well.” Hong looked at Cheng. “Inform the warehouse guard that Major Rhee is sending a team to pick up the material and people.” Cheng didn’t look happy, but he nodded. Hong looked at Rhee. “Satisfied?”

Rhee nodded. “We will be done before midnight.”

“Good. I will have my people move the slaves out of the warehouse tonight. They’ve sat in one place for too long. Anything else?”

“I have resources looking for the American mercenaries. I suggest you do the same thing.”

“You can’t believe him!” Lieh shouted.

Hong settled deeper into his chair. “Under the circumstances, it’s a good idea. While I don’t believe there’s an American black-ops team, it would be prudent not to take chances.” He looked at Rhee. “Anything else?”

“That is enough for now.”

“You could have called.”

“The Americans have ears everywhere. I do not use the phone unless I have to.” He bowed slightly. “I will leave now.”

Rhee turned and walked out of the room. Muhn and Seonwoo were waiting for him, as were two new 49s guarding the door. Without a word, Rhee’s men fell in behind him and they exited the building.
 

#

Once outside, Rhee’s car, a dark sedan, rolled up and stopped next to them. Rhee got into the back with Seonwoo while Muhn took the front seat, next to the driver. Night had fallen, and the bright lights left many shadows, Rhee’s preferred time of day.

Once the car was underway, Rhee took a cell phone, one of three he was carrying, and called a number from speed dial. It rang twice before someone answered in Korean. “Yes?”

“Our hosts have allowed us to consolidate our assets at the new location. Begin the move now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rhee hung up and pocketed the phone. “Sir?” Seonwoo asked. “Do you think these American mercenaries are dangerous?”

“They have already shown some skill.” Rhee pursed his lips while he appeared to think about this. “Luck has been on their side, too. How soon can phase two of Righteous Blade be implemented with our own men?”

“Day after tomorrow. What about the shock troops?”

Rhee snorted. “I have a mission for them.”