44
SPG OFFICES. AFTERNOON.
They’d found them. Or at least they thought they had.
Walker sat with the rest of his team as Musso laid out more information about the target set.
“We’d originally believed there was a Chinese connection. Based on the hard work Mr. Laws conducted deducing the elements of Chi Long, and perhaps identifying the supernatural connection, we were further lured into the idea that this was a Chinese Triad–organized endeavor. But the events of the last two hours have dissuaded us substantially from that. The sinolinguistic association was merely a result of the language shift in an ethnically divergent group within Myanmar.”
Walker glanced at Ruiz. Neither of them understood what the briefer had said.
Jen caught it and gestured toward Musso.
“Bottom line, we’re now certain that the origination of the crates comes from the Karen. They trace their history back to the Mongols. They still use a version of Chinese, but they use many of the more archaic terms and characters. This would be the reason for the ghost radical appearing in the
The briefer paused.
Holmes took the opportunity to ask a question. “How do you know specifically it’s the Karen?”
“I’ve been mirroring Laws’s efforts. While he searched the documents taken from the cargo ship for a Chinese connection, I searched for something else. What I discovered were Chinese literalizations—characters to represent sounds, usually for names—of a name that occurred several times in the documents we transferred from the cargo ship,
Laws nodded but didn’t say anything.
“So the name
“Is that all you got?” Ruiz asked.
“Initial searches indicate that Tun is involved with the Karen separatist movement, but that’s it. NFI,” Musso finished, meaning “no further information.”
The room was silent for a moment as everyone digested what they’d heard. Finally Holmes asked, “What does this have to do with us? Why are the chimera being shipped to America?”
“You’re speaking to motive,” Musso said.
“I am. Why us?”
“That’s an excellent question, but one for which we can make only educated postulations. Here’s what we think. If their intent had actually been to attack the U.S., they could have done it without our even knowing. We wouldn’t be having this conversation. Frankly, we all might be dead.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Holmes agreed. “We almost have too much information.”
“Precisely,” Jen said. “Peter, show them the pictures.”
Musso raised a hand and gestured to the back of the room. “Liz, please present the slides.”
The room darkened and an image of a sprawling city was superimposed on Musso. He stepped to the side. “This is Rangoon, or Yangon as it’s now called. It was the former capital of Burma and Myanmar. You’ll remember that we found the ships in the harbor. They weren’t hiding. They were at berth as if they weren’t about to ship death to America. Next slide, please.”
Another city appeared, this one not so sprawling.
“This is Thaton, located down the coast a ways from Yangon. You’ll remember the circus name on the crates was the Suwarnabhumi Circus. It turns out that Suwarnabhumi was a semi-mythical kingdom of the Mon, which is believed to be the present-day Thaton. So we decided to search here. You’d think that a warehouse filled with crates should be immensely difficult to find. Next slide, please.”
The next image was a truck bearing the logo of the same circus that had been painted on the crates. The quality of the photo was poor and it appeared to be taken from a low angle.
“One of our assets provided this photo twelve hours ago. He was able to follow it to a warehouse. Next slide.”
An overhead of a huge building with several outbuildings flashed on the screen. The resolution was magnificent. Soldiers with AK-47s patrolled the perimeter. Several trucks with the same logos painted on their roofs were parked near what was probably a loading dock.
“Why does a circus need a warehouse?” Walker asked.
“Bingo.” Musso grinned. “Anything else seem out of place?”
“Why did they paint the logo on the roofs?” Yaya asked.
“Double bingo. This whole thing is a lure. Let’s go back to the Chinese tech smuggler. I think we’ve been led to this location since we got the original lead to take down the sweatshop. The cargo ship in Macau was in a secluded location with only a few persons on board. It was too easy.”
“Easy?” Laws sat up as anger suffused his face. “We lost one of our own. That wasn’t easy.”
Musso held out a hand. “I meant no offense. I was just pointing out that if their intent had been to attack the U.S., they would have provided a more serious defense against possible intrusion. No one could have anticipated the ferocity of the chimera. Not you and certainly not Fratolilio.”
Musso waited to see if his words had a mollifying effect. Walker watched Laws sit back. The fire had left his eyes, but his face still burned red.
“Continue,” Holmes commanded.
“The ship provided us the logo, which we in turn sent to all of our assets. This circus has never had a show. It’s never pitched a tent. It’s never had a single flyer pasted to a Third World shithole telephone pole. This circus exists for one reason.”
“To lure us in.”
Ruiz rubbed his face. “Let me get this straight. They want us to come get them?”
“They want us to attack the Myanmar government. Look at the soldiers on guard outside the warehouse. They’re wearing official military uniforms. The ships are present in Yangon Harbor. They want us to recognize the affiliation with the government.”
“They want us to take down their military so that they can rule,” Walker said slowly, as he worked it out. “So what are we going to do?”
The door opened and Billings strode in. “You’re going to go in there and find out what’s going on.” Seeing their expressions, she added, “I’ve been on face phone with Senator Brunson and the vice president. They’re aware of the new information, but they’re not convinced that this is a lure. As long as there’s a potential threat to the United States, they want us to go in and see what we can see.”
