After the raid, the team had returned to their hotel for some much needed sleep, a shower and something to eat before heading to the DEA office. Casey, who had a suite in the same hotel, met them for breakfast, but had refrained from asking them about the mission of the warehouse, preferring to wait until the more secure setting of the meeting.
Yesterday’s incidents were all over the news. The sniper attack had wounded three police officers, one critically, but the pursuit of the suspects had cost three SFPD officers their lives and left another in critical care. The bomb at the hotel had killed three and injured another fourteen. San Francisco Mayor Nicholle Pagliei had spent forty-five minutes at a press conference railing against the federal Government, the DEA, FBI, and the DHS for ‘endangering the citizens of the city with high-handed and foolish actions.’ There were already a few reporters outside the building, looking for answers from the federal law enforcement agencies located inside.
After Naomi and Liam distributed cups of coffee to the rest of the team, Vessler walked in, carrying an even larger mug of high potency brew, followed by Choi, who closed the door behind him. They took a pair of empty seats and nodded to the others.
Casey, at the head of the table, said, “Good morning everyone.”
“It is morning,” Liam said, sitting down next to Tanner. “The good part is debatable.”
The former FBI director shrugged, leaned back in his chair and looked at Vessler. “Maybe you can bring everyone up to speed on the current situation at the warehouse?”
Vessler glanced down at a sheet of paper in front of her, then looked up around the table. “We have sixteen bodies in the morgue, all Black Dao Triad members. An additional nineteen Triad members are under arrest, seven of them seriously wounded and currently in the hospital.”
She looked at Tanner, who sipped his coffee before replying. “We missed Mori by several hours.”
Vessler nodded. “Fortunately, by the time we showed up the Triad scum were too shell-shocked to put up much resistance. We seized one hundred and ten kilos of finished Red Ice, enough supplies to create a couple thousand kilos of meth, 110 Chinese nationals, including your friend the chemist, and enough stolen electronics to open up a store with.”
“Score one for the good guys,” Liam said.
Vessler folded her arms and stared at Tanner. “Now tell me, what the hell happened in there? A couple of the bodies look like they were fed through a meat grinder.”
“We met with some resistance,” Tanner said. “I told you we weren’t there to arrest anyone.”
Vessler sat bolt upright. “I’ve got other agents asking me what happened! What do I tell them, the government has a black ops team who got there before us? I need some sort of official answer!”
Casey interjected, “Tell them a mercenary team hired by the family tried to rescue Dr. Mori. Neither they nor you knew of the others’ presence, and they retreated when the DEA showed up. We’ve been in contact with the Mori family in Japan and they will back up the story.”
“The defense will have a field day. They’ll claim the mercenaries planted the evidence.”
“They can try, “Tanner said, “but the entire warehouse is evidence, with a hundred witnesses to testify to who was guarding it. No jury is going to believe a cry of planted evidence, even if we had planted any, which we did not. No need.”
Vessler leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temples. “I still don’t like the idea of having your team running around like a bunch of cowboys.”
Liam’s expression looked pained. “We are far from cowboys. It stopped being a law enforcement issue when Rhee and his men showed up. They’re fighting a war — a war you’re not prepared for. We are.”
Tanner leveled a steady gaze on Vessler. “You just worry about building the case against the Black Dao. Leave Rhee and the North Koreans to us.”
Vessler dropped her head to her chest for several seconds, then looked up. “I need some air.” She stood and left the conference room.
After the door closed behind her, Choi leaned forward. “Please forgive her. She hasn’t slept more than four hours in the last three days, even before the pier raid. She’s running on fumes.”
“I’ll order her to get some rest,” Glimsdale said.
Naomi rose. “Let me talk to her. I know her.”
Both Tanner and Glimsdale nodded. Naomi got up and followed after Vessler.
“Tanner, what’s your next move?” Casey asked.
“We’re looking at several more targets. I want to put pressure on Hong and the Triad leadership. If we can get them to stop supporting Rhee, we can make it harder for Rhee to move the Red Ice.”
Danielle looked up from the laptop on the table in front of her. “I’m still working through the records, but I’ll come up with a list of Black Dao businesses. We’ll chose a few and hit them.”
Glimsdale raised an eyebrow. “Hit them?”
“Best not to ask,” Casey said.
“I won’t.”
“Rhee will respond,” Choi explained. “If he’s as much of a fanatic as you say, he will push back, and in a high profile manner.”
Tanner nodded. “I don’t think Rhee is here merely to supervise the Red Ice. The ambush at the pier, the explosion at the hotel, and the sniper attack indicate to me that he’s here to cause mayhem on a larger scale than flooding the U.S. with a new drug. Intel indicates he has about thirty Special Forces soldiers under his command. That’s a whole lot of potential trouble.”
Casey agreed. “But he still needs Hong and the Triad to get the Red Ice into the illegal drug distribution network.” He looked down the table at Glimsdale. “Is there anyone else locally that Rhee could go see if his relationship with the Black Dao goes bad?”
Glimsdale pursed his lips and thought for a second. “Local players include the Russian mob, but they’re not likely to deal with Rhee. Most of the others don’t have the resources Hong does. The Mexicans would never deal with him — they seem him as a threat. If Rhee wants new allies, he’s going to have to branch out. Los Angeles would be the obvious choice, but that’s the Mexican drug cartels’ turf. If Rhee tries forcing his way into their markets, there will be all-out war, and he knows it.”
“Which is probably why Rhee is doing what he’s doing,” Liam chimed in. “He’s going to show the Mexicans how tough his army is by taking on the entire country. If the might of the U.S. government isn’t going to faze him, the Mexican cartels won’t either.”
Dante nodded. “Especially since the North Koreans don’t have families to target while the Mexicans do, and the Koreans don’t mind collateral damage in the form of innocent bystanders.”
Glimsdale glanced at his watch. “I have the mayor due in at any moment for a briefing about the recent wave of violence. As you can imagine, she’s under a lot of pressure from the police union and her political opponents to do something.”
“Which means the DEA is under pressure from the mayor’s office,” Choi added.
“I’ll brief her,” Casey said. “I can shift most of the public focus onto the federal investigation.”
Glimsdale nodded and looked at Choi. “If Sarah doesn’t want to give the DEA briefing, will you do it?”
“Of course.”
Casey looked at Tanner. “Your team better make itself scarce in the meantime. I’ve already had the Board of Supervisors President asking if there’s a federal black ops team in town, and definitely don’t want to have to explain to the mayor what OUTCAST is, okay?”
Glimsdale shook his head. “Don’t be too hard on the Board president. Kwan’s good people. He’s already announced that there will be a member of the Board of Supervisors at each police officer and DEA agent’s funeral. He’s always been a strong supporter of the police and federal efforts against crime. He’s faced off against Pagliei more than once when she’s wanted to cut funding to the police department.”