“At the end of the month.”

Jack tried hard to look solemn.

“In the meantime, I would strongly advise you to put your differences behind you. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. The administrative position that he will soon be responsible for is an important one ... that I suspect you would not perform well in.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll keep my interaction with him professional at all times. In fact, to show there are no hard feelings, I have a box I can lend him to pack up his personal belongings.”

Isaac locked eyes with Jack for several seconds before adding, “I will be watching you closely. You step out of line and I will come down on you hard. Understood?”

“I would expect nothing less.”

Jack arrived back at his desk and Laura looked at him and said, “So?”

“In a nutshell, my transfer to Highway Patrol is cancelled. I’m staying on Intelligence. Quaile is being transferred at the end of the month.”

“Are you serious?

“Very.”

“That’s unbelievable,” said Laura, getting to her feet and gripping each of Jack’s hands. “I feel like we’ve just won the lottery. What happened?”

Jack glanced at Bien and replied, “Quaile burned the Russians at the airport before they flew out to Costa Rica. That’s why they were so jumpy.”

“Intentionally?”

“No doubt in my mind.”

“That jerk!” Laura glanced at Bien and said, “I’m sorry.”

Bien didn’t respond and it was obvious that his mind was elsewhere.

“Anything more from CC?” asked Jack.

Laura shook her head.

“I’m going to call her. Isaac wants to meet Bien right away. “Why don’t you take him in and introduce him?”

Connie used her flashlight to knock on the wood panelling. There was no doubt that approximately one metre of the wall sounded hollow along a portion of the wall that one would have expected to be up against the cement walls of the basement.

“Shall I kick it in?” asked the young officer. “There doesn’t appear to be any handle or anything to pull it open.”

“Did you try pushing on it?” asked Connie.

“Pushing? We want to open it, not close it.”

Connie used her hand to push on various locations. She was rewarded by the sound of a metallic click and a portion of the wall opened outwards a crack.

“Magnetic push latch,” said Connie excitedly. “Got the same thing at home on a cabinet,” she added, putting her fingers in the crack and pulling outwards.

The section of the wall opened and Connie unconsciously held her breath.

The area she looked into was a large notch in the cement foundation that was meant to be a roughed-in fireplace. All it contained was a dresser and she swallowed as she tried to hide her disappointment.

The young officer pulled a drawer open. It was packed with money.

Two hours later, Jack, Laura, and Bien met Connie at the I-HIT office. After introductions were made, Randy took Bien into his office to explain some of the steps that had been taken in the investigation. He also had Bien look at mug shots of members of various Asian gangs on the lower mainland.

Randy didn’t expect it would yield anything, but he knew it made Bien feel better to think he was helping.

“Everyone demanded lawyers immediately,” said Connie. “Dúc and Cuóng are in Surrey cells right now. They’re going to be transferred to City lockup within the hour to face a joint indictment of keeping a common bawdy-house. Maximum sentence is two years. I expect everyone will be charged and released tomorrow morning on a promise to appear. Most of the women will be held for now and likely deported.”

“If we can’t keep these guys in jail, at least we can piss them off,” said Jack.

“That’s not all,” said Connie. “Dúc will really be pissed. We found where he keeps his money. It was hidden in his basement. Over a half-million in cash ... and get this. It also included the money you used to buy that kilo off of Giang. Might help if we could ever pin Giang’s murder on him.”

“I’m sure members of his gang were responsible for the actual dirty work,” said Jack. “Still, that’s good. He was trying to hide the paper trail. Proceeds of Crime should be happy.”

“Yeah, them and the taxman both.”

“What about credit receipts?” asked Laura.

“Got boxes of them. Lots with criminal history. Also dumped the phone records. Besides massage parlours, they just started operating as an escort service, too. We’ve got a ton of numbers, most of which are hotels. It’s going to take time.”

“Linh doesn’t have time,” said Jack, quietly. “Do you think anyone twigged as to what we were really after?”

“I don’t know,” said Connie. “I don’t think so. It went out over the media as a low-interest prostitution bust. All the media wanted to know is if there were any judges or politicians caught. They were told not this time. Some may not even bother to run it.”

“So now what do you intend to do?” asked Jack.

Connie shrugged and said, “We can try for a wire, but my guess is we’re better off looking for leads amongst the credit slips and phone numbers. We’ve got a criminal profile. A male, under the age of fifty. May fantasize by looking at pornography or lingerie catalogues and drawing pictures of chains and ropes on the female models. Likely suffering from other mental disorders as well.”

“Not suffering like his victims,” said Jack. “I agree with you about the wiretap. Unlikely anyone would ever open their mouth about it over the phone. But working through mounds of paper in the hope you’ll find the guy? We don’t have time for that bullshit!”

“I know what you’re thinking ... but you so much as glare at a prisoner these days and a judge will rule the statement inadmissible.”

“Why does everyone think I’d torture the guy?” said Jack.

“Wouldn’t you?” asked Connie.

“I actually do have a better idea. It’s even legal. Hard as it is for you to believe that,” he added, looking at Connie.

“I’m all ears ... except for my buns of steel,” replied Connie.

Jack ignored the comment and said, “It would be nice to hear what the Tran brothers have to say when they’re all put together today.”

“These guys have been around. Even if we did have a wire, once we put them in a nice quiet cell to listen, they’d clue in.”

“Not what I had in mind. How about putting someone in the general holding cell at City with them? Do it before Dúc and Cuóng even arrive. Someone who speaks Vietnamese.”

Connie shook her head and said, “Try and find an operator who speaks Vietnamese ... good luck. I know the City has someone who does, but he works the street and is well known.”

“We’ve got someone,” said Jack.

“Yeah? Who?”

Jack pointed at Bien.

“You nuts? He’s the father! We can’t do that! They’re liable to kill him, especially if they find a wire.”

“So we’ll stick some other operator in there for protection. Someone to stay in the background. Bien could gesture when he wants out. I’d do it, but Dúc and Cuóng have both seen me.”

“Christ, we can’t ask him to do that. Besides, the brass would ...”

“Bien will want to help. He speaks their language and definitely doesn’t look like a cop. Put him in for a couple of hours and take him out.”

“The brass would never allow ...”

“The brass have nothing to lose. Linh does, if we don’t find her.”

Connie took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before saying, “They won’t trust him. He’s a stranger.”

“I’ll give him a quick course on UC. I’ve got a story he can give that will make them want to be his friend.”

“That would have to be some story. These guys will be pissed off. We took their money and their girls. They won’t be in the mood for making new friends.”

Jack smiled. The steam had gone out of Connie’s protest. It was no longer about not doing it. It was about how to do it.

“We use that to our advantage,” said Jack. “Bien can say he got off the plane from Hanoi today and was arrested when the hotel taxi-van delivered him from the airport to the hotel lobby. He can say a nice young Vietnamese woman was also on the plane ... and just happened to be going to the same hotel where she got busted for bringing in heroin. All he has to do is wink and say, of course I never met the lady ... and she really doesn’t know me. Dúc will think Bien is a watcher.”