The Chinese Woman: The Barbados Conspiracy Read online

  When Sean was twenty-three, a few months after obtaining an Arts Degree at Boston College, he returned to Winnipeg and enrolled at Northwest Law Enforcement Academy and obtained a law enforcement diploma. Immediately after graduating from Northwest, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, taking advantage of his dual citizenship. It had always been his dream to be a “Mountie”, just as his grandfather had been, and he felt compelled to pursue this goal. After completing RCMP training at Depot Division in Regina, he was transferred to the northern town of Thompson, Manitoba with his best friend, Bill Dowey. After three years at that detachment, he was transferred to Surrey Detachment, a large suburb in the greater Vancouver area. He loved the west coast, with the ocean in front of him and the mountains behind. He also liked the milder winter temperatures, especially after having experienced winter in the frigid prairie cities of Winnipeg, Thompson and Regina.

  Sean McNamara left the RCMP after five years and returned to the USA where he enrolled in Harvard Law School. He had enjoyed living in Canada, especially Vancouver, but he was an American at heart and missed the familiarity of his native country. He and Lucas had met on the first day when dormitory rooms were assigned, and they had been the best of friends ever since. After graduation, Sean joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and following basic training at the FBI Academy, he had been posted to Atlanta, Minneapolis, Denver and finally Seattle. In Seattle, Special Agent McNamara was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent in charge of the Organized Crime Unit. Although he was the supervisor in charge of all organized crime investigations, he personally concentrated on the Chinese Triads which he viewed as the greatest danger to the American economy. These were organizations that operated below the radar but were far more sophisticated and successful than the groups that most law enforcement organizations concentrated on. One more promotion and he knew he would become a paper shuffler tied to a desk. He enjoyed his work as a street investigator so much that he had all but made up his mind to refuse his next promotion. He wasn’t all work however. He seldom missed his daily jog or speed walk, which he alternated each day, nor did he miss his three times per week weight training regime. Sean enjoyed reading and whenever he had the time, he would curl up in his favorite easy chair and read. Besides the morning newspaper, he usually had a non-fiction and a fiction book underway, as he seldom read one book at a time. He had always loved chess and considered it a great mental exercise, but had recently become interested in the Chinese game of wuziqi because it was easy to fit a game into ten or twenty minutes spare time. Unfortunately, other than his partner, Gary Webster, and a few contacts in Chinatown, there were very few people who knew how to play the game.

  Since being transferred to the FBI Seattle Field Office, he had bought a twenty-five foot cruising sailboat and was quickly falling in love with sailing. It provided extreme excitement when the winds were strong and waves were high, and complete relaxation and serenity when the seas were calm and the winds moderate. His only regret was that he hadn’t discovered sailing years before. He had plenty of invitations to go sailing when he lived in Boston and Vancouver, but somehow never got around to actually doing it. Another pastime he had taken up upon his arrival in Seattle was the Chinese art of taijiquan, or as it is more commonly called in the US, tai chi. He was only a beginner, and felt he was not very good at it, but he found it to be an excellent mind-body exercise to deal with stress. It was Lucas who had convinced him to try taiji and it was actually the only physical activity that both of them had ever participated in together.

  Women always seemed attracted to Sean, even though he never considered himself handsome, and by movie star standards, this was probably true. His face had early onset wrinkles and lines which gave his face character and a rather rugged appearance, pale green eyes and light brown hair, worn fairly short. For whatever reason, many women found this face very attractive. Sean was never too concerned about his appearance. He had a favorite jacket, a favorite sweatshirt and a favorite pair of jeans, and seldom wore anything else when off duty. Clothes were designed for comfort and functionality, in Sean’s mind, and attractive appearance was way down on his list of priorities. For this reason, he usually wore his favorite, slightly worn, Harris tweed jacket and one of only four ties in his closet. Several of his co-workers were upset with his appearance as they considered he was failing to maintain the FBI image of gentlemen law enforcement officers. In their opinion, Sean looked more like a city police detective with little formal education and lacking in sophistication. Sean was aware of these criticisms, of course, but could care less. When it came to advice or guidance, these same agents always came to Sean first. There was no one in the Seattle FBI office that was more respected for his investigative abilities and his knowledge of the law than Sean McNamara.

  Seven years ago, Sean had met a beautiful, blond airline flight attendant named Dolores Nelson. He couldn’t believe such an attractive, personable, intelligent woman could be interested in him, much less marry him. Dolores had graduated with a sociology degree from the University of Minnesota, and then decided to see the world by obtaining employment as a flight attendant with Northwest Airlines. Unfortunately for Dolores, she had been assigned exclusively to domestic flights, but enjoyed the job nevertheless. She had dated a pilot, Ron Madison, for almost two years, but always knew, deep within her mind, that Ron was not Mister Right.

  One day, on a flight from Chicago to Washington, Sean struck up a conversation with Dolores Nelson, and within six months, they were married in a large Minnesota wedding in the town of Bemidji. For the first year, their relationship was ideal, although she was often away on flights while he was away from home on assignments. After she quit her job and they had their son, Victor, life became strained. Sean tried to spend as much time at home as he possibly could. He loved Dolores deeply and idolized his little son. Nevertheless, as a criminal investigator in the FBI, living a normal home life was not possible. The demands of the job, a job he loved, constantly kept him on the move, leaving Dolores to feel abandoned and of secondary importance compared to Sean’s job with the FBI. By the time they were divorced, after six years of marriage, they had been transferred to Seattle. Luckily for Sean, Dolores had decided to stay in Seattle with Victor, not only because she still loved Sean and hoped for a reconciliation, but so Victor would not lose contact with his father.

  Lucas Schultz followed a much more direct career path. Upon graduation from Harvard Law School, he went to work as a Deputy District Attorney in Boston, where he worked for nine years. He eventually married his secretary, Ann Booth, who was originally from Seattle. After two years of marriage, Ann convinced Lucas to move to the west coast, a move he never regretted. Lucas took employment with the Seattle District Attorney’s office and was now senior prosecutor for the city. He had occasional professional interaction with his friend Sean McNamara, but most FBI cases involved federal prosecutions, so most of their interaction was of a social nature.

  Sean’s immediate goal with the Organized Crime Unit was the investigation of the Triads who had been preying upon the Seattle Chinese community for years and had gradually expanded their operations outside this community. Although the Triads didn’t seem to be involved in the local drug traffic, Sean was fairly certain that they were the groups bring drugs into the country from Asia. Sean was unaware of the far reaching affects this investigation was going to have on him and his partner. Within a few months, Sean’s life would change forever. The many important cases he had worked on as a Special Agent of the FBI would pale in comparison to what lay just over the horizon.

  CHAPTER 5

  With five and a half years on the job, Gary Anthony Webster enjoyed being Sean McNamara’s partner in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not only because he could learn much from Special Agent McNamara, but because they viewed life in a similar manner. That is not to say they agreed on everything; they certainly had their differences, but in most things, they were on the same page.

  If anything, Gary Webster’s path to his present position in the FBI was even more unique than Sean’s. Gary was born in Minneapolis, but when only three years of age, his family moved to Hong Kong where his father was stationed in the United States Foreign Service. His father, Cornelius Anthony Webster, was a career diplomat who spent most of his career at various Asian postings. After several years in Hong Kong, the family had been posted to Guangzhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. From there, the elder Webster became the U.S. Consul in Shanghai, China’s most modern and upwardly mobile city, situated on the east coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Following this, the family was posted to the Embassy in Beijing where Gary’s father was a senior official, and then to Chongqing as a special business envoy tasked to promote American business in this booming metropolis which is the world’s largest municipality. As a result of his father’s Asian postings, Gary had literally grown up in China and was perfectly fluent in Guangdonghua (Cantonese), Putonghua, the official dialect of Mandarin, and fairly familiar with the local dialects of Shanghai and Chongqing.

  Gary’s mother was an accomplished linguist and a professor of the English language. As the wife of a high ranking official of the Foreign Service, she was expected to be gracious, have excellent social skills and play the part of a sophisticated hostess at the numerous functions she and her husband were required to host. Grace Elizabeth Webster was not content, however, to be window dressing at official functions. Although it was forbidden for someone in her position to take employment within the countries they were stationed, she was too rebellious and free spirited to pay close attention to these rules. Consequently, in every place they were stationed, she taught English to private clients and immersed herself in the local culture. Both Grace and her husband were not
only fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin, but had a greater knowledge and understanding of the Chinese culture than any of their friends and associates in the Foreign Service. They also made sure that their son, Gary, benefited from his life in China and was not isolated from the people, the customs or the culture. Gary had always been aware that he had inherited his mother’s rebellious nature.

  Gary returned to the USA when he was eighteen and enrolled in the University of Minnesota where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. Following graduation, he worked at an assortment of jobs for a few years: construction laborer, logger, railroad switchman, none of which had anything to do with his knowledge of commerce or accounting. Then, for reasons known only to Gary, he moved to New York and joined the New York Police Department. He enjoyed being a street cop, but yearned to be a detective, however, with only four years on the job, he was too junior in service to be considered for that position. For that reason, he decided to leave the N.Y.P.D. and join the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

  It was no mystery that one of the main reasons Gary and Sean got along so well was that they had both worked the streets as police officers prior to joining the Bureau. FBI agents who had not had this experience often did not understand the lessons that were learned and the things one would see when working as a street cop. Although the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the Canadian equivalent of the FBI, the Secret Service and the DEA, they are also contracted by provinces, towns and cities to be their police service. Therefore, an RCMP officer could be a federal agent, the equivalent of a state trooper, a city police officer, a small town cop or even a highway patrol officer. Sean had worked as a uniform officer in the Greater Vancouver area, a city plagued by heroin usage and violent crime, so his experience was not dissimilar to Gary’s experience in New York.

  Both men were ideally suited for their jobs as Special Agents, but contrary to what most people might think, considering their backgrounds, they were by no means social right wingers. Although it wouldn’t be accurate to describe them as liberals, they both had a “live and let live” attitude but were cynical of the criminal justice system and intolerant of liberal courts. This social laisser faire attitude of Sean and Gary was not as uncommon as people might think it is within law enforcement, but definitely not mainstream. This probably resulted from their experience as field police officers as it becomes very apparent to anyone working the street that life is not fair, and it’s an uphill struggle for many to acquire and appreciate many of the benefits most middle-class people take for granted when living the good life in the USA or Canada.

  They had both seen and interacted with the numerous psychopaths, the wackos and the greedy predators who preyed on those around them, but most of the poor and disadvantaged were victims of crime, not criminals themselves. More importantly, both men believed in the police motto of pledging to protect and serve all people equally. If you are an intolerant person who lacks compassion for those who did not lead a life similar to your own, it is unlikely you could provide protection and service to all people on an equal basis.

  Although Gary, at thirty-two, had gradually begun to lose the idealism found in most young law enforcement officers, Sean was a true cynic, and his job satisfaction came not from any great sense of moral purpose, but from the fact he found his job interesting, challenging and even exciting from time to time.

  Like many people employed in law enforcement, Gary kept himself in excellent shape. He jogged daily and went to the gym at least five days a week. Unlike Sean who kept fit because he felt it was the wise thing to do, but did not enjoy working out, Gary actually looked forward to his daily workouts. At six foot, he was one inch shorter than Sean, and like Sean, hovered around the two hundred pounds mark. Gary was an unusually handsome young man who seemed to attract women like a magnet. Sean McNamara delighted in teasing Gary from time to time by telling him he looked “pretty” and lacked the masculine look of a real man. Unlike his partner, Special Agent Webster’s appearance was immaculate. His suits were expensive and often three piece, his shoes were shined to a gloss and he had a least fifty ties to choose from each day. Even when off duty or on a job requiring casual clothes, Gary looked like a male model ready for a photo shoot, his blond hair never out of place. Although their minds were on the same wavelength, the two partners did not look like they belonged in each other’s company.

  Gary was looking forward to visiting Sean’s old friend Lucas this evening as he had heard so many stories the two had shared. Although the purpose of this meeting was strictly business, serious business in fact, it was being held at Lucas’s house.

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  Lucas sat in his favorite living room chair with a very serious look on his face. His house was beautifully decorated with Scandinavian teak furniture and Aztec artifacts and wall designs. Aside from this, there were no knick-knacks or clutter and the house had a very simple, clean and luxurious look to it.

  Lucas wore expensive clothes when working at the District Attorney’s office or attending court, but while at home, he also chose the same type of old, shabby clothes that were favored by Sean. While sitting, his pot belly protruded and was even more noticeable, and along with his dark rimmed glasses, he portrayed a definite professorial look. Lucas had curly, dark brown hair which was thinning at the back and receding at the front. His face was narrow with rather hollow cheeks and sagging jowls just at the beginning stage. His eyes were brown and kindly giving him an appearance ranging between friendly and gentle,

  Sean and Gary both sat on the couch, which was actually quite comfortable despite its austere appearance. Lucas had asked the FBI agents to his home to seek their input into a plan he had put to the Seattle Chief of Police. The District Attorney’s office was organizing a Joint Task Force to consist of the Seattle Police Department, the King’s County Sheriff Department and the Washington State Patrol. Lucas wanted the FBI to be part of this JTF, and in particular, he wanted Sean and Gary to be the FBI representatives.

  “I’ve spoken to your Special Agent in Charge, Jim Bridges, and he has given it his approval,” said Lucas. “I think the JTF will be more effective if we have access to FBI resources and expertise. I know the city boys aren’t enthused about the FBI, but I’ve done my homework. They will have no problem accepting you two guys.”

  “I don’t know Lucas; we’re knee deep in work as it is,” replied Sean with some reluctance.

  “The FBI can use the PR within the community, and I’m quoting Bridges when I say that,” said Lucas. “Besides, you guys are working the Triads in Chinatown, so you’ll still be in touch with what’s going on there.”

  Lucas was talking about a Joint Task Force that was being organized to investigate a serial rapist-killer who had been labeled by the media as “The Chinatown Killer”. So far, there had been no solid leads as to the identity of this man and the people of Seattle were getting more and more nervous and upset. Chinatown was a favorite place to visit, especially for the restaurants. Besides, who could say that this killer wouldn’t expand his murderous activities outside the Chinatown area? The body of the most recent victim was found on the side of a highway about three miles east of Seattle and police weren’t sure where she was actually killed.