Jade gasped, dropping the picture on the floor as she put her hands to the sides of her face and commenced rocking back and forth on the bed.

Jack picked up the picture and said, “You know her!”

“No,” replied Jade. “Can no be. Maybe make mistake. Picture not Hang.”

“Hang?” replied Jack. “Who is Hang?”

“She have two thumb, one hand?” whispered Jade, lowering her hands from her face.

“Yes.”

Jade uttered a sound like a wounded kitten and the tears flowed down her face. “Her name Hang,” she said, choking out the words. “Who do that to Hang?”

Before Jack could answer, Jade started crying and he pulled her close to his chest and held her. He heard a Vietnamese woman holler something from the next room, but Cuóng hollered back in Vietnamese and the woman giggled and then was quiet.

It took ten minutes before Jade quit crying enough to speak. “Hang on boat with me, but not same hole on boat. Everybody on boat older than Hang. Me ... Hang ... we good friend. Like sister. She go to United States and live with American family. That all I know.”

“That’s all you know? What about her last name? Parents?”

“Smuggler tell us no talk about our name or family,” cried Jade. “They say if police catched someone ... it better not know. They say they have people with us on boat who tell if someone talk too much. That person have to swim back to Vietnam.”

“So there is nothing else you know?”

“Hang telled me her mother from Dong Ha. Much Agent Orange. That why Hang have two thumb. But how Hang talk ... I don’t know ... I think she live in Saigon.”

“You mean Ho Chi Minh City.”

“Communist from North say that. We still say Saigon. I see Hang when father bring her to smuggler before we leave Hanoi. He ride bicycle, so maybe Hang no live in Saigon. Hang and father meet smuggler in Ba Dinh district of Hanoi.”

Jack asked Jade a barrage of questions, but she had little else of value to offer and became more upset with herself for not knowing. Eventually he asked, “Would you like out of this place now?”

Jade trembled at the prospect and said, “My family in Nha Trang. They ...”

“They will be okay,” said Jack. “I have a plan where you could leave and they would not think you ran away. We will talk about that in a minute.”

“Where I go? Where I sleep? Food ... money?”

“I have a friend. Her name is Holly and her husband died last year. She has two small children. A five-year-old named Jenny. She has a boy named Charlie, who just turned two this month. Charlie is unable to walk. Holly has ... some money. She is looking for a live-in nanny.”

“Live-in nanny?”

“A woman to live with her in her house and help her look after her children. I’ve already talked to her. She will pay you enough that you can still send money home.”

“No more men fuck me?”

“No more working in this ... this rape factory,” said Jack bitterly. “In time, I would be willing to testify at an immigration hearing for you. With how you have helped, along with the danger for you and your family if you were to return, I think we could work something out. Maybe for everybody.”

Jade started crying again and buried her face in Jack’s chest. “I like to do that, Jack,” she sobbed. “I work hard with kids. No more pretend smile and happy so men fuck me.”

chapter twenty-three

Jack left the Orient Pleasure and walked a block away before Laura picked him up. He told her what he had learned as they drove back to the I-HIT office.

“So the Russians are directly involved with the victim!” said Laura, making no effort to hide her anger.

“The victim has a name now,” said Jack. “It is Hang.”

Laura knew what Jack was getting at. They were no longer dealing with just another unknown or a statistic. Putting a name to the victim made it personal. A lot more personal.

“The Russians brought her here,” continued Jack. “But who she was passed on to is anybody’s guess.”

“Probably Dúc or one of his brothers ...”

“Possibly. One of them could have sold her to someone else or maybe it’s someone else the Russians know.”

“She was supposed to go to the States.”

“I know.”

“So how did she end up in a Dumpster in Surrey?”

“We know she has a father. Maybe living in Hanoi. Speaking of which, the Russians are arriving there next Wednesday.”

“We’ve got to go, too.”

“Definitely. With Randy, I bet that won’t be a problem.”

“So in the meantime, we pass this on to the Vietnamese police. Maybe get Connie to dig up phone tolls from all the businesses and see if she can match them to any perverts.”

“I don’t even want to think how many that will be ... or how long it will take,” replied Jack.

“Not much else for us to do until then, other than get permission to go to Hanoi,” said Laura.

“There is another thing that needs to be looked after.”

Laura waited for a moment before asking, “What?”

“In regard to the young woman I just talked with. I promised her I would get her out by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!”

“She’s really upset. I wish I could do it today.”

“How? Without endangering her family ... or her? Can’t it wait?”

“No. It has to be tomorrow. The Russians arrive in Hanoi on Wednesday. We should be in Hanoi a day ahead to make sure everything is arranged. With the time difference, we have to leave here on Monday.”

“What’s your plan?”

“It’s sort of ... a delicate matter. Just between the two of us.”

Oh, man ...

It was late that same afternoon when Laura and Connie sat together in a car parked near Lucky Lucy’s. A team from Drug Section was also on surveillance on nearby streets and confirmed Jack’s movements up until he opened the door and stepped inside the bar. After that he was on his own.

“You’re lucky you and Jack gaffed a trip to Vietnam,” said Connie. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Why doesn’t Randy send you, too?” asked Laura.

“It’s not him. Court. I’m starting a three-month murder trial on Monday.”

“I’ve done a bit of foreign travel,” said Laura. “Not always as glamorous as it seems.”

“Yeah, I heard you were in Colombia last year.”

Laura smiled and said, “Believe me, that was no picnic, either. Foreign travel isn’t as much fun as everyone thinks. Between time zones, work, and jet lag, you don’t usually get to see much. The taxpayer’s dollar doesn’t allow for much sightseeing.”

“Speaking of dollars,” said Connie. “I’m still a little confused. How does Jack scoring a kilo of cocaine from this Giang character really help our investigation?”

“It might get him an introduction to Dúc,” replied Laura. “Jack thinks he might be dealing heroin as well as being a pimp.”

“Even if he does, that is a far leap to having Dúc tell him if he knows anything about Hang.”

Laura eyed Connie casually. She’s right ... but how do I get her off this topic and to quit thinking about it? I can’t tell her what Jack is really up to with Giang ...

“Jack is pretty persuasive,” added Laura. “You’d be surprised how convincing he can be.”

“He must be, to convince Randy.”

“I suspect Isaac approved it personally,” continued Laura. “He must have, I’ve never seen approval granted this fast before.”

“So what are you worrying about? We’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Nothing to lose! How about our budget? We’ll be down by thousands of dollars to buy the dope, which in all likelihood, will only end up with a low-life like Giang on the hook. You were on Drugs, you know how it works. Giang will spend so little time in jail that it will be worth it for him, especially if he gets to keep the money.”

“It’s not your money,” said Laura, pretending to sound irritated.

“Comes out of our budget and that affects other investigations.”