Third Eye Watch (A Serena Shaw Mystery) (21 page)

“No F’ing way!”

Carter and Sam followed Audrey’s glance; an Escalade had pulled into the parking deck and stood by the stairwell and the elevators; from where they had just come.

“Audrey, slump down all the way in your seat and get your camera read. Sam, lean back and close your eyes as if you are feeling the after effects of alcohol, and put Serena’s head in your lap.”

Carter barked orders in a quiet tone, and they obeyed without hesitation.

Carter gave the parking deck a sweeping glance, cocked his ear; then waited another second before he turned the car on, backing out slowly so that the front of his vehicle was directly facing the Escalade, then halted abruptly as if he didn’t have enough space to back out, and pulled back into his spot. His movements were slow and smooth as he gave Audrey time to capture as many images as she could, without getting noticed.

Audrey turned on the camera and checked to make sure the flash was off. Then she pointed it outside, clicking away as she zoomed in and out, capturing images of the two men who jumped out first, and stood guard and then of the third man who emerged; She slumped lower as she watched his eyes scanning the parking deck, and resting on them for a moment, before he turned away and entered the stairwell, followed by the other two men.

Carter had fully backed out now, and keeping his speed low he drove slowly, peering out of the windshield as if he had difficulty seeing in the dark.

They passed the Escalade, but the license plate was obscured by the shadows, and they decided not to take a chance by pointing their flashlights at it.

“We’ll find it again.” Carter reassured them. Yes, they’d find it again, Sam thought, for today, it was a good first day; not only had they managed to capture images of everyone in the club, they had cloned a phone, and now also had a bit of luck with seeing the Escalade again. That man looked important, and hopefully Audrey had captured a full frontal image, which would go a long way in finding him, and also lead them to the Escalade. 

They made small talk on the way home, but kept their voices low as Serena lay with her eyes closed, her forehead furrowed in pain. Sam and Serena got out at the apartment, but Sam noticed that Audrey did not, even though her car was parked there too. He watched the taillights of Carter’s 'Vette disappear, with Audrey still inside.

Huh.

xxxx

Serena lay on the couch, a bag of ice on her forehead, as she dealt with the after-effects of her outing in an overly crowded place.

He got a beer, and rested his head against the refrigerator, guilt weighing him down. He knew firsthand how painful things could get; he’d been experiencing visions for years and even now, he felt drained for days after each episode. Serena was new to this and he had thrust her unprotected in a room full of people, asking her to capture as many thoughts as she could. He could only imagine the barrage that must have hit her, there had to have been at least two hundred people at the Criket Club.

He went back outside, and stood watching over her when she opened her eyes.

“Hi, honey.” He said, sitting down next to her, thinking how pale she looked.

“Hi yourself,” she smiled at him weakly.

“Want a beer?” he held up the bottle, offering it to her.

“Nah, I think I need to sleep.”

“Ok. I’ll be here outside.”

“You can go home, you know I won’t be able to take advantage of you tonight.”

He laughed and lifted her, taking her into her bedroom, and depositing her on her bed.

“Goodnight honey. Call me if you need anything.”

He changed into shorts, and lay down on the couch, not bothering to make the bed.

PAYDIRT

He arrived at work early again, but once again Audrey had beat him there. They spent the morning on the phone, talking to their informants, peers, and anyone who could tell them more about Thaqi and Rudaj.

“How’s Serena?”

“She was in a bad shape last night. I haven’t asked her about last night, but we can do that tonight, together?”

“Ok. I’ll ask Carter to come over.”

“What, hasn’t he moved in with you yet?” He looked at her in surprise. Then when she didn’t react, he asked, “So what’d you guys do last night? I noticed you didn’t get out of his car….” 

“Now look who’s being nosy?” Audrey retorted, swatting him none-too-gently on the arm.

“Ouch.” He exclaimed, rubbing his arm, then said thoughtfully, “I think I can make a case for violence in the workplace.”

Their banter was interrupted by a knock on the door. Audrey opened it to Soo, who stood there with a face-splitting smile on her face.

xxxx
 

“Sit,” he pulled up a chair for her and Soo placed her open laptop on the desk, and a large manila envelope next to it.

“You look pretty happy about something,” Audrey observed as she peered at Soo with tired eyes.

“I’ve got something that’s going to blow you away,” Soo promised.

“Ok. I’m all ears.” Audrey sat up in her chair, looking at her expectantly.

Sam nodded too, pushing away from his computer and turning to face Soo who said, “Ok, I’m going to tell you guys a story, it’s kinda long but important, so bear with me.”

They both nodded their assent, and Soo began speaking with the flair of a storyteller.

Aleksander Besjana also known as Sasha moved to the United States in the eighties, wanting a better life. He worked in various restaurants for two years and attracted the attention of Angelo Gjoni, when he broke up a fight in one of Gjoni’s restaurants, using only his bare hands.

Angelo Gjoni’s baby face had garnered him the nickname “Angel Face”. He was in charge of the Albanian mafia in New York, and he took Sasha under his wing. In addition to New York, the Albanian mafia operated in Michigan, Texas, and Miami and had long been engaged in extortion, kidnapping, murder, robbery, and trafficking of narcotics into the United States.

But in 1990, Gjoni sought diversification into a new line of business. As the second busiest border crossing between the US and Canada, the Detroit-Windsor border offered them tremendous opportunities for smuggling people across the Canadian border and into the United States. The customs officials at the border did not check every car or truck that crossed, offering criminals considerable latitude in their operations.

Sasha moved to Detroit in 1991, and was tasked with establishing the new line of business. In addition to bringing in illegal immigrants from China, Albania, Iraq and Syria, and who paid large sums of money to be smuggled in, Sasha began smuggling in under-aged girls.

He traveled to Europe, Asia, and Africa to form partnerships with local Mafioso. He offered them a lucrative business deal, offering to pay them top dollar for innocent girls, the younger; the better. A global marketplace was established.

Sasha’s people made trips all over the world to buy girls who had been kidnapped or seduced with promises of a golden future in America.

These girls were first brought into Canada, where they were taken to safe houses. From there, they were transported to Windsor for transport across the border into Detroit; in cars, trucks, buses, boats and trains; in deplorable conditions, including subfreezing temperatures.

Detroit served as a warehousing point, accepting shipments of girls, and then disseminating them to work in strip clubs and as prostitutes, all over the United States.

In December 2014, a massive raid had dismantled most of Sasha’s empire, and his top three lieutenants were arrested on a federal racketeering charge. Several clubs were shut down, and over ninety girls were rescued. But the feds didn’t find Sasha.

In January 2015, A Detroit Free Press reporter had published a three-part series entitled “The Albanians are in Town”, in which he provided in-depth coverage of the various criminal activities of the Albanian Mafia in Detroit. The article provided a history of Albanian organized crime in the United States. It mentioned that it had seen a rapid increase across the United States since the early nineties, and had established a new brand of violence, torture, and terrorist activity.

The reporter went on to say that the enormous crime syndicate had been primarily seeded from drugs and arms trafficking, but human trafficking including sex trafficking had in recent years, become big profit centers for them.

The reporter also talked about the structure of crime organizations and stated that similar to other organized crime groups, the typical fabric of the Albanian Mafia is extremely hierarchical; and steeped in a deep reliance on loyalty, honor, and blood relationships. Sasha achieved loyalty from his minions through swift punitive action, for even the smallest infractions.

The final article in the three-part series hinted that Sasha had received a tip at the nth hour, which had allowed him escape. The reporter’s “trusted informant” told him that Sasha’s reach had penetrated the upper echelons of Detroit’s law enforcement and several politicians, judges, and police captains were under his control.

Sasha is now the number two man in the Albanian mob and oversees the entire sex-trafficking trade in the United States. Aleksander Besjana, aka Sasha, is wanted in fifteen countries and a “special addition” to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list” in 2013.

“Guys, Meet Aleksander Besjana, aka Sasha”, and with a flourish, Soo turned her laptop towards them; On the left side of the screen they saw the photo of a man which had been captioned -
Most Wanted Fugitive - Aleksander Besjana
- and to its right was a full frontal picture of a man exiting an Escalade; courtesy of Carter’s Dashcam.

“Whoa, baby! Our case just went from “catch a murderer” to “find a top 10 fugitive”, Audrey exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air.

“All the details are in here, photos that Carter took, including the ones from his eyeglass cam, a list of all the names and short bios of the bodyguards and bouncers that were in and around the Criket Club last night, and a report from Interpol.” Soo pointed to the large envelop she had placed on the table beside the computer.

“Interpol?” he asked in surprise.

“My ex works there.” She closed her laptop and got up to leave.

“Didn’t even know you had an ex, girl?” Audrey looked at her questioningly.

“Eh,” she shrugged dismissively; then left, closing the door soundlessly.

“Wonder if the SAC is in town?” Audrey asked, putting her arms behind her head and rocking back in her chair. She was referring to their boss, Nick Schultz, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Headquarters.

“Let’s find out,” Sam picked up the phone and dialed the SAC’s office.

“His only opening is four days from now.” He said, hanging up the phone with the SAC’s admin.

“Okay, so what’s next?”

Sam slouched in his chair; his mind racing while Audrey paced the small office.

“Well”? She asked Sam, leaning against the wall and looking at him.

He met her eyes, and in a bad accent asked her, “vant tuh katch a mobsta?”

READY – SET - GO

Sam and Audrey spent the next three days out of the office. Carter, who was officially on short-term leave after his prolonged overseas deployment, joined them too. They had not invited Soo to join in the brainstorming, but had confirmed her participation.

Audrey’s home offered them privacy, something that the FBI building lacked; and a large working space, which was also hard to come by in the FBI building, given the number of new recruits in recent years such that conference rooms needed to be reserved two weeks in advance.

Serena had given them a filtered version of the thoughts she had heard that night; the most important piece of information being that the man whom she had encountered in the back office was Mirik Leka, his official job title was, Assistant Bookkeeper, and he worked alongside a team of bean counters who reported to the mob boss’s lead accountant.