Caught In The Shadow [Jenlisa]

Chapter Thirty-Six -

Day 10: 11pm

Jungkook had had a sick feeling in his stomach for the better part of the last hour. The feeling wasn't necessarily new; it had accompanied him many times on certain cases. The world was a sick, fucked-up place and he dealt with it more than most, but this case was shaping up to be a nightmare he'd remember forever. Every agent had a case that haunted them. Jennie and her Lisa would be his.

Some interesting hits had turned up via facial recognition, nation-wide records searches and the Homeland Security database. Jungkook, along with a few other agents had started putting the pieces together over the last five hours.

"I think Karachi makes the most sense given the intel," Agent Williams said. She'd flown in from Virginia once the sensitive nature of the case became clearer.

"I agree. The boys at the FIA aren't going to like what we have to say, but it looks like Choi Muhammad Jiyong has been making use of military resources to cover-up his human trafficking ring," Jungkook said.

Karachi was a coastal city, accessible by air and sea. It was an ethnically and socio-economically diverse area, capable of camouflaging rich and poor alike. According to information from SSgt Patel, who had access to the passenger manifests and air traffic control documentation, several high visibility persons of interest would be arriving in the next two days. Many were already in the city.

Unfortunately, none of the names on the list were Vladek Rostrovich or Demitri Balk. Still, Jungkook reasoned, he could be traveling under a different alias. One thing was certain though; Choi Muhammad Jiyong would be in attendance.

He thought about Jennie Kim and everything she had been saying over the last several days. She had no idea how deep Jiyong's involvement in the slave trade ran. Based on the pile of information on Jungkook's desk, he was beginning to suspect, Lisa, had no idea either. Jiyong had been in it for the money for a very long time. The evidence suggested he'd been a key player since 1994.

Jungkook held up a picture of Vladek Rostrovich and Choi Muhammad Jiyong taken in Pakistan that same year. Jiyong wore his military uniform and pointed to a table full of Russian weapons, his arm slung over Vladek's shoulder.

Jungkook's best guess was that Choi Muhammad Jiyong had acted as Vladek Rostrovich's arms broker during his missions in other parts of the world, most notably: Africa, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Perhaps guns had begun the connection, but it hadn't ended there.

Another photograph from 1997 showed Jiyong and Vladek at a Pakistani military dinner. Vladek sat at the officers table with Jiyong, also in attendance was Bapoto Sekibo. He was notorious for razing entire villages, killing men, women, and children in the pursuit of natural resources and valuable territories for corporate projects coming in from other countries. Some of the corporations even had roots in the U.S. In fact, all three men had been photographed at one time or another with U.S. Senators or CEO's of major companies.

Jungkook wasn't surprised sex, guns, and money were interconnected. Even Vladek's African diamond mines didn't come as a shock. No, the most shocking piece of information was an unsolved missing person's case from 1999 sitting on the pile. He couldn't resist picking it up and staring at the picture paper-clipped to the file.

"Pretty fucked up, huh?" Agent Williams whispered from across the desk.

The sick feeling in Jungkook's stomach flared and he rubbed his stomach. As he stared at the photo, he wondered what, if anything, he should do with the information. "Yeah. It is."

"You okay? When's the last time you ate?" Williams asked.

"Hours ago, and just a salad. Been on a steady stream of coffee since then," Jungkook said and offered a watery smile. It was nice working with someone, even if Agent Williams was a little too young and bright eyed for his tastes. She still got excited about the job and didn't hide it very well.