CHAPITRE 19 – HUMAN TRAFFICKING
21:15 (Washington Time)
Thursday, September 3, 1992 ‘C’
Nancy’s air bike, overflying the New York City Eastside docks area
Manhattan, New York City, New York State, U.S.A.
A happy Lucy Wong, sitting in the rear seat of Nancy’s air bike, affectuously passed her arms around Nancy’s pilot seat and bent forward to kiss her on the left side of her head.
‘’Thank you again for accepting me as I am, Nancy. You are my best friend, really.’’
Nancy smiled while still keeping a watchful eye around her air bike for other low-level air traffic.
‘’It would have been quite hypocritical on my part to reject you because you are a lesbian, when I am myself a bisexual girl, thanks to my past souvenirs. By the way, you can lower your hands a bit, if you want to.’’
‘’Oh, I certainly want to, Nancy: your chest is divine.’’ replied Lucy before lowering her hands and covering Nancy’s breasts with them before starting to fondle them. Nancy, who had just profited from Ingrid’s prolonged absence from home to invite Lucy for an intimate supper and private time together, moaned with pleasure before speaking up.
‘’So, where is that warehouse which belongs to your father, Lucy?’’
‘’It is next to Pier 36, along the East River, close to Chinatown. I can see it down to our left and ahead. You can land in the big parking lot next to that row of old warehouses.’’
‘’I see it! I am going to start my descent now. You are sure that your father will be there?’’
‘’Yes! I called my mother before leaving to know if my father was home and she told me that he was in New York, taking care of an import shipment that had just arrived at his company’s warehouse. I thought that it would make a nice surprise for him to see me visit him in New York. With luck, he will accept to return to Washington in your air bike, instead of having to use his chauffeured car.’’
‘’It would indeed save him from a long drive home, Lucy.’’ said Nancy, who then concentrated fully on her approach and descent towards the parking lot pointed by Lucy. While there were quite a few semi-trailer trucks and other heavy trucks backed up to the various loading quays lining the western side of the warehouse block, there was still plenty of room for her to safely land close to the Wong’s warehouse. As she was still some 300 meters away and some 100 meters up, Nancy suddenly noticed a few things which intrigued her. One was the presence of a half dozen men simply standing around the company’s loading quay and looking outward while not helping in loading the big van presently backed up to the quay. Another unusual thing was that there was a group of persons being led inside the rear box of the van. That, over all things, triggered a mental alarm in Nancy’s brain: you normally would use a bus or cars to move a group of people, not a windowless van. Also, the attitude of the men standing around the quay reminded her of that of sentries on watch. She then decided to temporarily abort her descent and instead flew directly towards the loading quay while accelerating, attracting a surprised question from Lucy.
‘’What are you doing, Nancy? You are going to pass my father’s company’s loading quay.’’
‘’I am seeing something suspicious, Lucy. Please trust me and stay quiet while observing things on the ground around that loading quay.’’
Nancy then switched off her landing and position lights, becoming that much harder to spot in the dark sky, and adjusted her low-level light goggles over her eyes while continuing in level flight towards the loading quay. The men on watch around the quay did raise their heads upward on hearing her propeller noise but were not able to spot her. However, there was a couple of lights on at the adjacent loading quays, which were presently empty, so Nancy had plenty of illumination with her goggles to clearly see what was going on at the quay as she overflew it. What she saw made her swear.
‘’Fuck! I see a good dozen women with gags on their mouths and with their hands tied in their backs, being forcibly led inside that truck van by armed men. Is this your father’s company’s loading quay, Lucy?’’
‘’Yes: I visited it a few times in the past and I can see the company’s logo over that gate. What is going on, Nancy?’’ asked Lucy in a hurt voice. Nancy bit her lips and continued to fly straight, taking some distance from the warehouse in order not to rouse suspicion among the armed men on the quay.
‘’Lucy, I hate to say this to you, but it seems that your father is implicated, either voluntarily or not, into human trafficking.’’
‘’Human trafficking?’’ said her friend in a horrified tone. ‘’That’s impossible!’’
‘’Maybe somebody else is forcing him into allowing this to happen at his warehouse, Lucy, but either way this has to be stopped. Please keep quiet while I call the police on my CB radio.’’
Slowing down and going into hover mode before pivoting her air bike around, so that she could face the loading quay and van truck from a safe distance, she then switched her CB radio to the police channel and spoke in her helmet microphone.
‘’New York City Police, this is private aircraft number WD 003, urgent call, over!’’
She had to repeat her call before a male voice answered her.
‘’WD 003, this is the New York City Police air dispatch, state the nature of the emergency, over.’’
‘’New York City Police air dispatch, from WD 003, I am flying in a Hiller AIR BIKE over the area of the warehouses located along Pier 36, on the East River. I am seeing suspicious activities at the loading dock of the Wong Import/Export Company, with over a dozen gagged and tied up women being forcibly loaded in the back of a big van truck. That truck is painted white and brown and wears the logo of a ‘Cathay Imports’ company. I have by now counted a minimum of sixteen women being led into the back of that truck. Be aware that about six armed men are visible around the loading quay. I urgently need some police presence at Pier 36, over.’’
‘’Wait one, WD 003.’’ said the police dispatcher, who then returned on the air after a few seconds. ‘’WD 003, from NYPD dispatch: a police helicopter on patrol over Manhattan has been alerted and is on its way towards your position. It should be there in about two minutes, over.’’
‘’Thank you, NYPD dispatch! Advise your helicopter that I am presently hovering some 200 yards to the North of the Wong’s Company loading quay and will have my positioning lights on. I intend to keep an overwatch position from a safe distance, over.’’
‘’Understood, WD 003. Advise us if something new happens, out.’’
By the time that Nancy terminated her conversation on the radio, Lucy was close to hysteria.
‘’How could my father be involved into something this monstrous? He is a good man, Nancy, not a criminal!’’
‘’Lucy, I sincerely hope that you are right about that and that someone is simply forcing your father to allow them to use his warehouse for their criminal activities. God knows that the Chinese Triads are both powerful and violent. Maybe they were threatening your father, or even threatening you and your family, in order to blackmail him. Anyway, we will soon know more about this, once the police will arrive and investigate. Now, I will ask you to calm down and to have confidence in me. The police should be here in a few minutes.’’
Some two minutes later, Nancy saw the blinking lights of a helicopter approaching the warehouse loading quay area. She then went back on her radio.
‘’New York City Police air dispatch, I now see your helicopter approaching. Be advise that there are now a minimum of 27 women and girls inside that white and brown delivery van. The way those women had to be helped to walk suggests that they have been drugged. Those six armed men are still posted around the loading quay. One of them is now starting to react to the approach of your helicopter and is apparently giving orders around him, over.’’
‘’Understood, WD 003: we are advising our helicopter of this, out.’’
Nancy, still keeping her air bike in a hover position at an altitude of a hundred meters, anxiously watched as the police helicopter slowed down and lit on its powerful searchlight while approaching the loading quay. From the air, Nancy could also see the gyro lights of two police cars racing along the FDR Drive towards Pier 36.
‘’Come on, guys, catch those bastards in the act.’’
Things then escalated…fast! The first indication of that was when Nancy spotted what had to be multiple gun muzzle flashes from the men posted around the quay. The second indication was when two men hurriedly closed the rear doors of the van and made signs to its driver to roll.
‘’Oh no! You ain’t fleeing like this, buster!’’ said Nancy before concentrating mentally while staring at the front right-side wheel of the truck. Just as the van was about to drive off, that tire blew up, heated to boiling point by Nancy’s power. She then started to fly her air bike towards the truck, in order to be in position to be able to see its other front tire, so that she could also blow it up and thus immobilize the truck. She could see two men inside the front cab of the van, who were getting quite agitated by now. While approaching the truck, Nancy made the rear right-side tire blow up as well: that truck was not about to escape the police now. However, things were not going so well for the police helicopter, which was taking some heavy gunfire from the area of the loading quay. With smoke coming from its engine, the police helicopter was forced to fly away and do an emergency landing some distance from the warehouse, out of range of the armed men. Nancy had now seen enough and landed her air bike behind the protection of a building standing between her and the loading quay. Shutting off her engine, she then opened her side door and pointed firmly her right index at her friend.
‘’Lucy, you stay here and you don’t move! Understood?’’
‘’But you…’’
‘’YOU DON’T MOVE!’’
With Lucy thoroughly intimidated by her firm tone, Nancy then closed the side door and started to run around the building in order to get close to the loading quay of the Wong’s Import/Export Company. One police car was now screeching to a halt in front of the van truck, blocking its path, while another police cruiser stopped behind the protection of a parked vehicle, with the two policemen inside stepping out in a hurry with guns drawn. As for the armed men around the loading quay, they were now retreating inside the warehouse while taking potshots at the police. Nancy could now hear more police cars approaching with sirens blaring: this area would soon be awash with policemen. However, the two men inside the truck’s cab apparently had not intention to surrender and started firing handguns at the two policemen in the patrol car blocking their path. To Nancy’s fury, she saw one of the two policemen getting hit and falling to the ground with a grunt of pain, while his partner hurriedly took cover behind the opened door of his patrol car and started returning fire. While walking quickly towards the truck, Nancy stared hard at the gunman who had hit one of the policemen, concentrating her power of telekinesis on him. The man, who was standing on the right-side foot rest of the cab, was suddenly catapulted high into the air, rising up to a height of fifty meters while screaming wildly, then falling down as Nancy released her telepathic hold on him. The man then splattered himself on the asphalt of the loading area and became inert. Both the intact policeman and the truck driver stared with disbelief at the dead gunman as Nancy concentrated her attention on the truck driver. The latter, still sitting behind his wheel and firing through his opened side window, was suddenly projected forward violently, with his face smashing into his windshield and cracking it. The man, his face bleeding, was then projected again twice against the windshield, ending up unconscious and sprawled over his steering wheel. While he couldn’t believe his eyes, the intact policeman took that chance to run to the cab of the truck and open its door, then roughly pulling out the driver and making him fall on the asphalt. As he was putting handcuffs on the truck driver, he saw Nancy, wearing a leather suit and a flying helmet, approach his wounded partner. Quickly finishing to handcuff the driver, the policeman then drew again his revolver and pointed it at Nancy while shouting at her.
‘’STOP! DO NOT APPROACH MY PARTNER AND RAISE YOUR HANDS!’’
Nancy then stopped, but kept her hands low while sending a telepathic message to the policeman, who clearly saw that her lips didn’t move.
‘Do not be scared of me, Officer. I am here to help. I can heal your partner.’
‘’WHAT KIND OF BALONEY IS THAT? WHO ARE YOU?’’
‘My name is Nancy Dows, but I am also called by many ‘Supergirl’. I have the power of touch healing, along many other powers, and I just took out those two criminals. Now, please let me heal him before he dies.’
The policeman, now completely overwhelmed, debated things for seconds before lowering his revolver.
‘’ALRIGHT, MISS. YOU MAY GIVE FIRST AID TO MY PARTNER, BUT I AM WATCHING YOU.’’
Nancy did not reply to that and kneeled next to the wounded policemen, who was bleeding profusely from a bullet in his guts and was in intense pain. She then spoke to him softly while approaching her hands to his wound.
‘’Do not be afraid, Officer. I came to help and heal you.’’
Her hands then started to glow, with the glow then enveloping progressively both her and the policeman. A police van screeched to a halt nearby at that moment, with the S.W.A.T. members coming out of its back at a run then staring with disbelief at the scene. Their squad leader, going over his shock, then shouted an order.
‘’COME ON! WE HAVE RATS TO SMOKE OUT OF THIS WAREHOUSE! FOLLOW ME!’’
The S.W.A.T. members then left at a run, leaving Nancy free to finish healing the wounded policeman. The latter, not feeling pain anymore, touched his blood-soaked shirt and looked with disbelief at the blood on his hand. Nancy helped him to sit down, then put one hand in his back to support him.
‘’Careful, Officer: you are now healed, but you lost a lot of blood. You will still need to make a visit to a hospital after this, in order to get a blood transfusion.’’
‘’Harry, are you okay?’’ asked his partner, coming at a run.
‘’I, I think so, Jack. I don’t feel any pain now but my head is spinning a bit.’’
Both policemen then watched as Nancy got back on her feet and started walking towards the back of the van truck, negligently stepping around the criminal splattered on the asphalt on the right side of the truck.
‘’Hey, where are you going, miss?’’
‘’I was the one who alerted the police about an apparent case of human trafficking: I am going to make sure that the women and girls in the back of this truck are safe and sound.’’
‘’Go with her, Jack. I will be okay.’’ said the now healed policeman.
‘’Alright, Harry, but something tells me that I will need a stiff drink at the end of our shift. This whole business is unreal!’’
‘’Tell me about it, Jack.’’
The said Jack then followed Nancy to the back of the van truck and helped her open the large double doors at the back. Shining his flashlight inside, the policeman saw about forty young women and girls sitting on the floor, gagged and tied up.
‘’Shit! This is indeed a case of human trafficking.’’
‘’I am going to climb aboard, to untie those women and check that they are okay.’’
‘’Go ahead, miss: I will call for backup help for them in the meantime.’’
Climbing inside the truck, Nancy started undoing the gags and ropes tying the women and softly asked them a few questions as she proceeded down the double file of captives. It however became quickly evident to her that they were under the effects of some drug that left them incoherent. However, they said enough to make Nancy understand where they had come from. Her expression grim, she returned to the doors at the back of the van and spoke to the policeman waiting there.
‘’There are 37 women and girls in here, some barely in their mid-teens and with the oldest being 25 at the most. All are at least pretty and all speak in Russian. While I could recognize Russian, I can’t really speak it, so we will need someone with a working knowledge of Russian to come and help those girls. This smells like those girls were kidnapped in Russia, then smuggled to here by Triad gangs, so that they could be forced into prostitution. By the way, did you notice that the two gunmen from this truck were both Asian men?’’
‘’Yes, I did notice that, miss. You are probably right about those Russian girls being brought here for forced prostitution. We have had quite a bit of such cases recently.’’
‘’That’s not surprising, in view of the present chaos inside the old Soviet Union. Organized crime gangs are having an easy time to do as they wish there.’’
The policeman nodded his head, then looked her in the eyes.
‘’Miss, I thank you for healing my partner and for signaling this in time for us to react. You however will understand that I will have to ask you to come to our precinct after this, so that you can make a deposition.’’
‘’I understand, Officer. Just let me go get my air bike, which I parked behind a nearby building. I have a friend still inside and I would like to go check on her.’’
‘’Then go, miss. What is your name again?’’
‘’Nancy Dows. I reside in Arlington, Virginia. If you will now excuse me.’’
She then jumped out of the truck and walked back to her air bike. Thankfully, Lucy was still inside the machine, although she was now a near nervous wreck.
‘’My God! You are okay! Please tell me what the hell happened here, Nancy.’’
‘’Well, it is now a confirmed case of mass human trafficking involving Russian women and girls kidnapped in Russia and then smuggled to here, probably to force them into prostitution. I hope that your father will have some good explanations to give to the police. If not, he will be in some big doodoo. I am now going to fly my air bike to closer to the warehouse, so that I can watch on you while answering questions from the police. I am afraid that this will be a long night for us.’’
04:11 (Washington Time)
Friday, September 4, 1992 ‘C’
New York Police Department Headquarters
1 Police Plaza, Manhattan, New York City
New York Chief Detective Joseph Borelli shook his head after finishing to read the deposition signed a few minutes ago by Nancy Dows. He then looked at his police command team in charge of this human trafficking case.
‘’Wow! If not for a number of our officers being witnesses to what happened, I would have a hard time to accept this deposition as accurate and truthful. I heard about that girl in the past but what do we really know about her?’’
In response, one of his assistants, who specialized in archives and databanks research, passed to him a thin file containing a few sheets of texts and pictures.
‘’Here is all the info and stories I found about this young Nancy Dows, Chief. I however must qualify my use of the term ‘young’, as her case is completely out of the norm. Officially, she is nine-years-old, while physically she looks more like fifteen, a very sexy fifteen. However, she is already a highly mature individual, thanks to the fact that she can remember her past life incarnations. When you speak with her, you feel like you are talking with a very experienced and seasoned person. While she admitted not to be able to speak Russian, something she told us from the start, she does speak over a good dozen languages, including Mandarin Chinese. Another aspect in which she is completely out of the norm is her having a number of superpowers. A number of our officers witnessed her last night demonstrating some of those superpowers, notably touch-healing and telekinesis. Publicized past incidents and episodes concerning her, which are well documented by those press clips and public interviews she did, shows that she can fly by herself via levitation, is a strong telepath and can fire devastating balls of pure energy. She gained, quite rightly I must say, the nickname of ‘Supergirl’ at her previous school, after thwarting in spectacular fashion the attempted kidnapping of a classmate in Arlington in May of 1988.’’
‘’And…do we know how she happens to have gained all of those superpowers?’’
‘’That article about a media interview she gave in the past years does tell us about that, Chief. Basically, she says that she holds her powers from what she calls ‘The One’, a supposed spiritual entity of immense power which I would tend to equate to what we call ‘God’. Her mother, the famous Ingrid Dows, also possess supernatural powers and claims to be a ‘Chosen’ of this ‘One’. Basically, this girl could be considered to be a sort of angel on Earth, Chief. This is no joke by the way.’’
Borelli needed a few seconds to digest that information, then looked at a senior detective in charge of Chinese Triad gangs’ cases.
‘’This Nancy Dows says in her deposition that she was going to that Wong Import/Export Company warehouse with her friend so that this friend, a Lucy Wong, could pay a surprise visit to her father. Was this verified?’’
‘’Yes, Chief! That Lucy Wong was interviewed and corroborated what Dows said to us. By the way, she is fifteen and also a classmate of Dows, apart from being a good friend of her. When we called her mother, a Jennifer Wong who resides in Washington D.C., she told us that her daughter had called her from Nancy Dows’ residence, asking if her father was at home. The mother then told her that her father was taking care of a late arrival of imported goods at his New York warehouse. The daughter then told her mother that she was going to surprise her father by making a quick trip to New York aboard her friend’s air bike.’’
‘’A quick trip from Washington to New York in a bike? How fast is that bike?’’
‘’The Hiller AIR BIKE has a top speed of 450 miles per hour, Chief. Basically, that meant a trip of less than forty minutes, with the air bike able to land vertically about anywhere.’’
‘’Damn! Maybe we should get some of those air bikes ourselves.’’
‘’We tried, Chief!’’ replied the officer in charge of the aviation unit. ‘’The answer was ‘no budget available for that’.’’
‘’The usual song.’’ replied Borelli, a bitter smirk on his face. ‘’Okay, let’s look at what we have on the bastards who are responsible for this human trafficking and the night’s shootout. What do we know about them so far?’’
‘’They are definitely part of the Chinese Triads, Chief.’’ answered the head of the Manhattan South District’s gang squad. ‘’Three of the men either killed or captured had lengthy criminal records and were known Triad members. All of the men arrested were also ethnic Chinese. Furthermore, the lawyer who showed up one hour ago to represent these gang members is no other than Lee Kwang Ming, ‘Mister Triad Lover’ himself. When he shows up, this normally means that we are getting too close to Triad business for their comfort.’’
Borelli couldn’t help make a sour face then: Lee Kwang Ming was undoubtedly a very talented lawyer, but he was also corrupt to the bone and was a creature of the Chinese Triads in New York.’’
‘’That Lee bastard! I would love to be able to put him behind bars and throw the key away. Okay, what about the father of this Lucy Wong, the owner of the warehouse where the shootout happened?’’
‘’John Wong was found and arrested by our men some two hours ago, Chief. He was actually hiding inside his warehouse and it took a detailed search to find him. By the way, that same detailed search revealed an illegal shipment of automatic firearms made in Russia.’’
‘’And what did this Mister Wong say when he was found?’’
‘’That he had been forced by Triad members to let them use his warehouse for their illegal traffic. However, nothing supports his claims, on the contrary. He had not been tied up or gagged and was found to be hiding by himself in a basement boiler room of the warehouse, well away from the area in which the Triad gunmen had barricaded themselves. My strong belief is that he is knee-deep into this traffic, Chief.’’
‘’Agreed! Let’s investigate his finances and bank dealings, to look for illicit or unexplained money transfers. Where is he now, by the way?’’
His legal affairs subaltern sighed audibly at that question.
‘’We had to release him minutes ago, after this damn Lee Kwang Ming came and paid his caution. He should be presently on his way to his Washington home.’’
In that, the legal affairs officer was partially incorrect, as John Wong was still in the headquarters building, escorted by Lee Kwang Ming. They were in fact approaching Nancy Dows and Lucy Wong, who were still waiting in a police lounge to be let go after having made their depositions. Lucy was actually lying on a bench, with her head resting on Nancy’s left upper leg and sleeping, tired by a long and agitated night. On seeing John Wong approach, Nancy gently shook her awake.
‘’Lucy, wake up! Your father is here.’’
Lucy, quite groggy from fatigue, woke up slowly and sat up as her father stopped in front of her. The look she gave him was however tainted with doubt and suspicion.
‘’Father? How could you let those men do such evil things in your own warehouse?’’ she asked him in Mandarin Chinese. John Wong also spoke in Mandarin, so that the few policemen around them could not understand their conversation.
‘’It is all a big mistake, Lucy. I was tricked into this. Now, let’s go home together.’’
‘’No!’’ replied at once Lucy, surprising her father. ‘’I prefer to return home in Nancy’s air bike. What I saw last night was unsettling and I need some time to sort things out.’’
‘’And sort what exactly, Lucy? You are my daughter and I am telling you to go home with me.’’
‘’I saw 37 young women and girls, drugged and tied up, being loaded in a truck and coming from inside your warehouse, and you are telling me that you were not involved at all in that? Please don’t take me for an idiot, Father.’’
That was when John Wong let show his growing irritation.
‘’Lucy, you are my daughter and you are also still underage, so you can’t defy my parental authority like this. Come with me!’’
That was when Nancy got up and faced John Wong while eyeing him severely and speaking in Mandarin Chinese.
‘’Or else what, Mister Wong? You know that I am a telepath and, right now, I can clearly sense that you are lying about the extend of your involvement in this sordid affair.’’
Nancy’s words alarmed Lucy, who threw a dark look at her father.
‘’Is that true, Father? Tell me the truth!’’
‘’Your friend is talking nonsense, Lucy, and is also meddling into our family’s affairs. Now, stop arguing and come with me!’’
John Wong then tried to grab Lucy’s left forearm with his right hand but suddenly found his right arm immobilized by some kind of invisible force. He was still trying to move his arm when Nancy spoke in an icy tone.
‘’You will leave Lucy alone, Mister Wong. I will not allow you to take her by force.’’
‘’WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE, DOWS? I AM HER FATHER AND SHE WILL DO WHAT I SAY!’’ nearly shouted in Mandarin John Wong, making the heads of the police officers present in the lounge snap around.
‘’What I am is her best friend, Mister Wong. She is also a sworn witness in this affair, while you are a suspect in it. She could in all legality seek the legal protection of the police, as you could well try to convince or force her to change her testimony while going home with her.’’
‘’What you are saying amounts to pure slander, young girl.’’ warned Lee Kwang Ming, also speaking in Mandarin as three policemen now watched intently the exchange.
‘’What I am saying is a simple fact, Mister Lee. Your soul is most dark indeed: be careful not to attract higher justice on you.’’
‘’And what is that supposed to mean?’’ shot back Lee, becoming angry. He however had to back away in fear when Nancy’s eyes then became two intense spots of white light.
‘’I am an instrument of that higher justice, Mister Lee. Now, you and Mister Wong will leave Lucy alone and depart this police headquarters without further delay. NOW!’’
Utterly intimidated, both John Wong and Lee Kwang Ming left the lounge in a hurry while looking back with fear at Nancy. The latter’s eyes then became normal again before she looked down at her friend.
‘’Lucy, I was able to read your father’s mind and what I saw in it was truly ugly. He is no i