Chapter 10: Failed Operation
Dragging myself out of bed, I took a shower and sat down for breakfast after dressing. I stared at my phone while I chewed the cereal in anger and disgust—angry at Killian and disgusted that I was attracted to a criminal, narcissistic b*stard.
I switched on my phone and a text message popped up. ‘Darling, I will be dreaming of you tonight. Don't keep me waiting for too long.’
It was the same number that had called. deleted the text message and stood up to clear the kitchen. Leaving the apartment twenty minutes later, I headed to the agency offices. On arrival, I found the office buzzing with the news of the counterfeit shipment from Hong Kong that was landing in New York in two days. The manifest of the cargo included Items from Ryuu holdings and the dots I connected have started lining up.
Arran was already seated in the corner when I arrived, and a steamy cup of coffee was on my desk. I smirked at him. “You snooped at the cameras again.”
“Thought you said I’m an alien,” he jested.
I lifted my hand and beckoned him. He squinted his eyes but still obeyed and walked over to stand in front of me. I picked up the cup and sipped the liquid. “Do you have the file on Killian Ryuu?”
“I am almost done, but there is nothing in it. Just normal education and work,” Arran informed me.
“Keep looking,” I said.
He stood in waiting and then huffed, “Just tell me what you have to say.”
“He called last night.” I took out my phone and gave it to Arran. He rushed over to his desk and plugged the phone into the laptop. I leaned over the desk and waited.
After a minute or two Arran unplugged the phone and slowly walked over to me. Placing the phone in my extended hand, he stated, “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“Whichever,” I snapped.
“The good news is that he called you from his personal line. The number is registered to Killian Ryuu.”
“How is that good news?”
“The bad news is that Killian Ryuu bugged your phone,” Arran stated.
“What? When? How?” I exclaimed.
“Did you press the record button when you accepted the call?” Arran asked.
Sh*t! This was something I did not want to discuss. At all.
“Yes,” I murmured. “How do I get rid of the bug?” I gave the phone back to Arran.
“Where is the recording, Vance?” Arran pressed.
“I deleted it,” I snapped.
“Why? You know we could have used it for voice analysis.”
I was silent as I sipped the coffee. Arran stood there in waiting and then I whispered, “He did not call to say hi. He called to seduce me. That is a conversation I would die before I let anyone listen to it.”
Arran blinked, once, twice, and then he walked over to his desk and re-plugged the phone back into his laptop.
“I know you want to laugh at the situation, Arran. Just go ahead.”
“I’m embarrassed on your behalf,” Arran murmured.
I strolled to my chair and sat down. Switching off the screen, I got busy reading all the emails. Arran brought back my phone and stated, “Done.”
“Thank you.”
“I am curious about something. On a scale of one to ten, how bad was it?”
“One hundred percent,” I seethed.
“Wow. Killian Ryuu is really special.” Arran voice was full of admiration.
“You do irritate me when you do that,” I snapped.
“Sorry. I can't help it. Anyway, about the shipment from Hong Kong, how do you want to handle it?”
“Get Captain Ace here, now. We need to go over every single piece of information before we plan.”
Ten minutes later, we were in a closed-door meeting with Captain Ace as Arran and I got busy planning the operation. Bringing him up to speed about Daxia being Killian Ryuu and leaving out the intimate details, Ace was in utter shock.
“F*ck me,” he breathed.
“No,” Arran responded, biting back a laugh.
“He is just cursing, Arran,” I retorted.
“Are you f*cking kidding me? Daxia is Killian Ryuu. There is no way to get his fingerprints. The man is untouchable,” Ace explained.
“What do you mean?” Arran questioned.
“Killian Ryuu is like the New York God. He is filthy rich, the most eligible bachelor, and almost every company in New York uses Ryuu electronics. Every household, business, you name it all.”
“So what?” Arran raised his eyebrows in distaste.
“So, we have a tall order if we are to arrest him. No one in New York will agree to touch him.”
“That is why we are here. We are from Washington DC,” Arran snapped.
Ace shook his head. “Where did you get the intel from?”
“Our Hong Kong office,” Arran responded.
“And do you think that Killian does not have moles in our Hong Kong office? He must be aware. Or else how has he managed to slip out of our fingers all this time?”
“I suspect we have a mole in the New York office,” I stated firmly.
Ace raised eyebrows and smirked, an indication that he had been suspecting the same.
“They were wrong about you,” Ace nodded. “You are a smart cookie.”
“Forget the gossip,” Arran scolded.
“And they were right about you, Arran,” Ace sneered. “You are a snob.”
I stared at the two of them glaring at each other and drawled, “Are you going on a date or what?”
They both responded in unison, “Hell no.”
“The chemistry between the two of you is undeniable,” I laughed.
“I would never date a man like him.” Ace shook his head.
Arran’s eyes widened and then he huffed, “Are you here to date or work?”
“Enough,” I commanded. “We need a proper plan when the shipment docks.”
And then we were back to planning with Ace and Arran taking over the conversation. By the time we were done, it was late in the day.
“Let's keep this plan to ourselves.”
“But Director Dante is aware that we are meeting,” Ace stated.
“Is there any other pending case on our desk?” I asked.
“Nothing major. Just small cases that the captains and detectives can handle.”
“How about we tell him we were discussing the hacker and security footage of the Mara Coffee House and the David Zwirner gallery to get the signature of the hacker? We also have a plan on how to catch Daxia,” Arran suggested.
“Sounds good.” Ace stood up. “He will be more convinced if we go to the lab for an hour or so. In any case, I have an idea of how to track the hacker down. We just need to lay a web trap for him.”
In agreement, we left my office to go to the forensic lab. Arran got busy snooping at all the state-of-the-art equipment in the lab while Ace scolded him. Half an hour later, Ace chased us out of the lab, and we headed back to my office.
“When are you going back to your desk?” I complained.
“Have you read the news?” Arran smirked.
I stared at his face and knew that the media must have spun the event their way. Logging on to the news sites the headlines that hit my face angered me.
‘New York CIA Office Hot New Director.’
‘The most eligible bachelor in New York, Chairman Killian Ryuu, standing next to the new HOT CIA Director.’
What the hell was this?
“The blogs have it worse.” Arran laughed.
Scrolling for more news, social media blogs popped up.
‘Sexy Hot CIA Director, Vance Adira.’
‘It is burning hot at the CIA office as handsome CIA Director, Vance Adira, reports in from Washington DC.’
‘New York has an additional handsome bachelor CIA Director, Vance Adira.’
‘A Feast for the Eyes: CIA Director Vance Adira in a Picture with Chairman Killian Ryuu.’
I closed my eyes and leaned back on my chair. What the hell was wrong with the media? Had everyone gone bonkers? What about the news about the agency partnership with the Ryuu group?
“Is everyone in this city insane?” I muttered as I listened to Arran’s suppressed laughter.
“Vance, it would be best to partition your office and have me seated here. I am not going back to the assigned office,” Arran declared.
“Fine. How do we take down these blog articles?” I opened my eyes and stared at my screen.
“Bloggers are the worst kind. If you interfere, they will dig deeper. Just let them be. The best we can do is for our communications team to do a press release about the event.”
“Send an email to Zelma and have her prepare a press release to be out tomorrow. I don’t want to see this garbage online,” I commanded.
“Yes, sir,” Arran responded, and he got busy on his laptop.
***
Pacing up and down at the docks, we stood in waiting as the ship docked at the port. Since the operation was undercover, we maintained our distance as the cargo crew and port authority teams stood offloading all the containers one by one. It took almost two hours until we were able to inspect the containers.
Ace and Arran gave out the search warrants and to my surprise, the man who was with Killian at the event, Linus Bai, and Zoya Mio were present to receive the containers.
“I am surprised that high-level officials of the Ryuu group are at the ports today,” I drawled.
“Director Vance, we meet again.” Zoya Mia smiled warmly while Linus Bai smirked and shook his head in annoyance.
“Sir, the cargo is ready for inspection,” Arran announced.
“Do you have a search warrant?” Linus Bai questioned. “Not that we have anything to hide but all protocols must be observed.”
Ace walked over and handed the paper to Linus. They stood staring at each other until he looked down at the paper and nodded.
“And you are?” Linus question.
“Captain Ace Well, CIA Forensic,” Ace snapped and turned away.
“I have heard so much about you.” Linus Bai’s voice turned pleasant. “I am Linus Bai from the Ryuu group.”
“And you said I was flirting with him,” Arran laughed as he walked over to the junior detectives ready to open the containers.
“How do you even get along with him?” Captain Ace murmured.
“He is the best at what he does. That is all that matters to me,” I responded.
It was twenty minutes later when we finished inspecting all the containers and we came up with nothing. Someone must have tipped them off seeing the way Linus Bai was gloating. Zoya Mia maintained her cool and did not show any emotions.
Arran cursed while Ace sighed in frustration. We had failed. The clear look on Captain Ace's face was that we indeed had a mole in the New York office. Someone slippery and loyal to the Ryuu group.
“Will there be anything else?” Linus Bai asked.
“Tell your Chairman Killian Ryuu, I am well aware of his identity,” I said calmly. There was a flash of fear before it was replaced with anger in Linus Bai’s eyes.
“I will pass the message to him. Will that be all? We need to offload the cargo from the containers, and I doubt your presence is needed,” Linus said dismissively.
“I believe there can be other uses for your mouth other than being rude,” Captain Ace muttered.
His meaning was clear and Zoya Mio cleared her throat while Linus blushed with embarrassment. She turned to Linus and said, “The team will begin offloading. You should return to the office. I will handle everything.”
He nodded at her as she smiled politely at me and walked away.
“Back to the agency,” I commanded the team. One by one the junior detectives packed up together with Captain Ace and left.
I stood in waiting and then Arran announced, “The car is ready, sir.”
I walked over to Linus Bai, took out the card engraved by Daxia, and handed it to him with a smirk. “Game on.”
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone