Chapter 54

Shadya Says He’ll Sing

     Thursday, December 22, still at Phyllis’ in Philadelphia, things broke our way.  Karma?  Good guys sometimes win?  Having lots of good guys to help?  Hard work and patience paying off?  Just plain getting lucky?  Who knows?  But by Thursday night we had everything we needed to go to the D.A. as soon as they would see us.  The first big development was Susie’s awesome report from Vancouver.

     After telling us all about her posse and her plan to run Heck for Jefferson County Sheriff as soon as the current sheriff was indicted for covering up the sex trafficking operation, she told us: “You can thank your friend Ken for that list.  We divided it up and less than an hour later, one of Stephanie’s friends calls and says she’s got a guy standing next to her who knows Shadya and Abdul, and is willing to go to the authorities with what he knows because he’s recently come to suspect they were financing the local jihadists, and knows for sure they were trafficking in young girls . . .”

     “OH MY GOD,” we all said in unison back at Phyllis’, “Go on!”

     “Well, Joey was exactly right about Shadya running scared.  When Joey mentioned the name of the guy who was willing to finger him, Joey says Shadya actually shuddered – from shoulders to knees – and Joey knew he had him; so he says to Shadya, ‘You know I know Dougherty.  I know you know Dougherty.  Neither one of us likes the fucker.  If I get you a lawyer who can get you a deal for turning state’s evidence, will you help me put Dougherty behind bars?’  Shadya said he would!

“Listen to all what Shadya can tell – if he gets a deal:

• One, from his pirate days off the Horn of Africa, he has friends who transport the young girls out of Thailand;
• Two, his job is to get them into Canada with fraudulent Visas, or whatever;
• Three, once they’re working in Canada, he turns them over to Dougherty to get them into the States;
• Four, after he learned about Abdul’s murder and Furbush’s acquittal, he got out of the business;
• And five, he’s heard that Dougherty has a new group that’s muscling the Somalis out of the business.

     “So that’s where we’re at,” Susie finished telling us. “Can you believe it?! You gotta get Shadya a lawyer?  Like right now!?

    “Ohhh, by the way, last night Heck was able to purchase sex with some young Thai girl and tonight they’re going for a repeat, only this time with Stephanie’s friends ready to rescue the girl, maybe other girls.”

     “WHAT?!” we all said, again in unison.

     “Yeah look, apparently this isn’t the first time some of Stephanie’s friends have been involved with the sex trade, so they coached Heck on how to approach his next encounter asking her questions like ‘Are you really doing ok?  Is she wishing she could get out of the jam she’s in?’  Then tell her he has friends who have an apple farm, just a half hour away, and have helped others, just like her, escape.  So tonight we’re gonna see if we can pull off this rescue mission, as well as nail the clerk at the motel that sets up these sex-for-hires.”

     “No friggin’ way – you guys are awesome – total heroes!  Tell Joey we’re gonna have a lawyer for Shadya within the hour,” Skip told Susie.

     Immediately Steve said, “Yeah, great, but the lawyer I’ve talked to in Vancouver wants money first – a lot of money.”

     “I’ll call Sally,” Skip said, “she’s got plenty of dough, and one of those fancy money transfer accounts.”

     “Hey Sal, you wonderful friend, fellow traveler, do-gooder, and soon to be married to a rich guy . . .  Listen, we’ve absolutely, positively, cracked the sex ring . . . Gonna actually rescue some young innocent underage girls tonight – Furbush’s sex slaves, and whisk them to – get this – to that Lesbian farm on the Skagit River we visited!  

“Here’s what’s going on: Like you know, we got an insider in the terrorist ring that we think, we hope, is going to get us the details we can take to the FBI, to head off the bombing, but just now we got a call from Susie – our waitress friend – and we think we can put a stop to the sex-trafficking as well.

“Get this,” Skip continues telling Sally, “Susie, on her own, with those cowboys we met at the Chat & Chew, drove all night back to see her kid, Joey, in Vancouver, and together they’ve found a guy – his name is Shadya Warsame – who can put Furbush behind bars for a long, long time on the sex-trafficking charge.  But that guy won’t talk unless and until he has a lawyer to cut a deal for him – ‘cuz he’s involved too.  The lawyer’s expensive.  Would you be willing to wire money to this Vancouver law firm right the minute we get off the phone?”

     “Give me Steve,” Sally said.  “I’ll do it. Steve can give me the details.  But Jesus!   I can’t believe how many times we’ve needed a lawyer on this . . . this fishing trip.”

     Steve went over the details with Sally, and concluded saying to the rest of us, “Make sure you add this to the list of what we negotiate tomorrow, the lawyer in Vancouver we hire for Shadya will want to know the parameters of a possible deal – and you should be able to get the New York D.A. to warm up whomever is chief prosecutor out there in Vancouver.”     

While we waited for the return call from the Vancouver law firm, we got back in touch with Ken – told Ken about our breaking news, with Skip emphasizing that Gordy, and, in turn, Jane, need to understand we’re going to put Jamie behind bars on the sex thing – for life if we nail him on the terrorist thing.  But we NEED the DETAILS on WHEN and WHERE and HOW the bombing is planned.  Tell Jane she can kiss Rafferty’s ass good-bye, he’s going away for a long time, and she can live in peace without worrying about him coming after her – knowing she saved a bunch of young girls from horrible lives as sex slaves . . . but we’ve got to get those bombing details from her, NOW!