On their way back to the Hotel Happy Holiday, Sonny pointed at a passing motor scooter being ridden by two men. On the back of the scooter was a small cage containing three dogs.

“Look,” he said. “Those are dognappers.”

“Dognappers?” asked Laura, watching the scooter quickly disappear amongst the traffic.

“Dog meat is considered a delicacy to Koreans. Sometimes to tribes in northern Vietnam also. Men on scooters will drive by and steal dogs.”

“In Canada, people on scooters steal women’s purses,” said Jack.

“Was that really pork we had for lunch?” asked Laura.

Sonny smiled and said, “Yes, you don’t have to worry. Dog meat is very expensive. Pork is much cheaper.”

Back in Vancouver, Randy passed the taxi containing the two Russians as it entered the perimeter leading to the Vancouver International Airport. He parked his car at the International Departures level and was met inside the doors by Aaron, who was an RCMP officer attached to a special unit at the airport.

At the airport Aaron routinely did surveillance on people as requested by various departments, such as Drug Section. On slower days, he would pick his own targets who looked suspicious, sometimes discovering drug mules or money launderers passing through from city to city or country to country.

Aaron also had the right connections with airline services to obtain information to meet various investigative needs. Aaron didn’t look like a policeman and blended into the crowd like any other passenger ... except the attaché case he carried also took pictures.

“Not busy today?” asked Randy. “I didn’t know whether to call you or not.”

“Not a problem,” replied Aaron. “You want photos of these guys?”

“May as well.”

Moments later Randy saw the taxi arrive and Moustache Pete and Fat Man stepped out.

“These your boys?” asked Aaron.

“That’s them.”

“You should check with Intelligence. They took close-up pictures of these two just a couple of weeks ago. Man, it really shook them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s kind of funny, really. I was tailing this guy and didn’t know who he was. I didn’t find out until later when I scooped his licence plate and showed his picture around the office that he was one of our guys. Staff Sergeant Quaile from Intelligence. He was following these same two guys. Walked right up to them and said, Hello, comrades, or something to that effect and took their picture.”

“Quaile did that?” said Randy, in disbelief.

“Yeah. These two guys looked so rattled I thought they were going to run out of the airport. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but figure Quaile must have been trying to scare them from taking their flight or something.”

“Did you talk to him about it?”

“No, he was gone long before I found out who he was. It was none of my business.” Aaron gave a nod toward the two Russians and said, “Here they come. I take it you want to be discreet this time?”

“Definitely,” said Randy, through clenched teeth. “And after, I want copies of every picture you took last time they were here.”

chapter twenty-six

“It was simply a momentary lack of judgement,” said Quaile.

Isaac glowered back at him, pointed to the photos on his desk and yelled, “A momentary lack of judgement! Look at their faces! The only person more shocked is me!”

“Sir, I was following them and was about to take a picture when they turned suddenly and saw me. I considered it a good response. They’d never suspect the police of doing something like that.”

“Only if they presumed the police were competent,” said Isaac. “This is why the investigation fell flat in Costa Rica! A child was brutally tortured and murdered because of these two men. The same two men you had the gall to tell me weren’t worth working on!”

“We didn’t know that, then, sir. How was I to know? I believe I made the right decision with the information I had available.”

Isaac rested his elbows on his table, clasping his hands together near his chin as he weighed over the scenario that Quaile had just told him. “I’m going to give this some serious thought,” he said. “You’re dismissed ... for now.”

Moustache Pete and Fat Man arrived in their room at the Hotel Happy Holiday as scheduled. Fifteen minutes after their arrival, Sonny took off a set of headphones and turned a dial on a receiver. Both Jack and Laura heard the sound of two men snoring.

“Looks like we weren’t the only tired ones,” said Laura.

A light knock on Jack’s door was answered by Sonny, who spoke quietly to one of his men. He closed the door and turned to Jack and Laura and said, “When they checked in, they asked to be awakened at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

“It sounds like we can all get some sleep,” said Jack.

Sonny dismissed his team after telling them to be back at the hotel by seven in the morning. Laura returned to her own room and Jack and Sonny went to bed while listening to the static noise over the monitor of two men snoring in the room above.

The next day the Russians were awakened on schedule. They took a leisurely breakfast in the hotel while a surveillance team relayed their activities to Sonny, who stayed in the room with Jack and Laura. After eating, Sonny was informed that the Russians had decided to take a dip in the hotel pool.

Jack saw Sonny’s face as he wrinkled his nose while talking in Vietnamese over the phone. When he hung up, Jack said, “Let me guess, they both walked to the pool wearing Speedos, black socks, and sandals.”

“You speak Vietnamese?” asked Sonny.

Jack and Laura both laughed and Jack said, “No, only a few words ... but we have seen this unfortunate sight before.” It was not until mid-afternoon and after the Russians had downed several vodkas on ice while sitting in the hotel restaurant before Jack and Laura received some news of interest.

“They’ve just met a Vietnamese man,” said Sonny. “He arrived in a taxi. They are ordering more drinks.”

Minutes later, Sonny found out that the Vietnamese man had flagged the taxi down off the street. “Don’t worry,” said Sonny. We will find out who he is.”

It was early evening when the Russians and their Vietnamese escort left the hotel and crossed a nearby plaza to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, Sonny reported that the three men had gone to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

Sonny explained that this theatre was world renowned. He said the puppeteers stood behind bamboo screens in a large pool of water and used bamboo poles to raise puppets out of the water to complete a performance.

Interesting, thought Jack, but nothing to do with our investigation!

Following the theatre, the two Russians caught a taxi back to the hotel while the Vietnamese man took a taxi elsewhere.

It was ten o’clock at night when the two Russians arrived in the lobby and checked at the desk for messages. There weren’t any.

Sonny put on the headphones as the Russians entered their room. “They are angry,” he said. “They expected to receive a message and didn’t. Now they are tired and are going to bed—wait they are phoning ... no, they have just asked to be awakened at nine o’clock again.”

An hour later, Sonny took off the headphones and turned up the volume to the familiar sound of snoring.

Sonny received a call on his own phone. When he hung up, he said, “Good news for you. The Vietnamese man went to an apartment. We think it is his place because he had a key to the door. His name is known to us. He is the captain of a boat and has been suspected of smuggling drugs in the past.”

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Much better news than hearing they came for a puppet show.

Sonny broke off his surveillance team with the order that they be back at the hotel by seven in the morning as usual.