Turbulence Page 5

  From school children to caring adults, drugs had adversely affected someone they knew. Someone had either fallen prey to it as users, or they found out friends or relatives were connected to some part of the burgeoning industry. The worst was when, tragically, innocents were injured or killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught in the crossfire.

  It is the number one problem of government, both local and national. Why? Simply because one of the poorer nations shares a common border with the richest nation on earth that has a voracious appetite for drugs of all kinds. Some of course, like marijuana, are grown locally, but much of the hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, are the result of geography, where that border-sharing country is a central location for the drug producers to use as the prime source of transport to the United States.

  With that information in mind, I was not pleased with my prospects and more than ever I am inclined to talk to Len in New York, probably sooner than later. But we have a meeting scheduled in my suite in about an hour. I eat breakfast quickly and am hardly out of the shower and dressed when the bellman shows up with my new navy blue blazer. Mr. Park is a genius, I thought, as I marveled at the perfect fit.

  At the same time, Helmut and Kim arrived. Kim had done his homework and made several discreet inquiries. It was, he said, a delicate situation.

  “It’s pretty obvious that we need to exercise extremely good judgment on whom we contact. That’s because we will only have the one opportunity, as Helmut has said, but not for a good first impression, but for our very survival as a business that continues in good standing with our government. Even if we were to receive an approval for our position from some official, if he was countermanded by a superior officer, we will be in a worse position than we are now and thereafter be subject to constant harassment.”

  “On the other hand,” interrupted Helmut, “we should not consider going all the way to the top, even though we have the ability to do so.”

  I knew what he meant, and as unbelievable as it seems, we did have prior access to the president of South Korea, even though our hotel should be a ridiculously small problem to the head of state. However, they see the hotel and Rainbow International representing an important gateway to increased exposure to American and Japanese businesses and tourists for a country recently torn in two and at the juncture of tremendous growth.

  Helmut continued, “If we were to secure access to the president, he may be forced to support his fledgling government as a way of proving South Korea’s recently hard won independence, now from big brother and protector, the United States, to his citizens.”

  “All right, I know you’re not suggesting that we’re screwed if we do and screwed if we don’t, because you didn’t come here without the solution, so what is it?”

  Kim allowed himself just a faint smile with just a tiny hint of Asian smugness when he said, “We are suggesting that we make an appointment with the president’s chief of staff at the Blue House. He is a powerful man in his own way because he has the president’s ear and there are very few, therefore, emboldened to cross him. But, again, on the other hand, if he moves favorably on our behalf and there are any repercussions, which are not expected, still the president was not involved.” Kim smilingly delivered his obviously self-satisfied solution.

  “I’ll be damned, you guys are good. I congratulate your thought process. Let’s run with it and fill in the details. Can you set it up for as early as tomorrow, and if not, the next day at the latest? Should I go by myself or does Helmut accompany me? What do you say?”

  “I’ll do my best as soon as I leave to make an appointment for anytime during the day tomorrow, at their convenience, of course, and you will have to plan to keep the entire day open,” replied Kim.

  Helmut said firmly, “You’re the deliverer of the hammer from American headquarters. I would only detract from the position of you both. It has to be mano a mano, but I will provide you with a position paper with details so you will be fully prepared for questions.”

  “Great. Thanks again, gentlemen. I’ll await your notice.”

  I looked at my watch and noted that the meeting had ended late morning, and that means that if can I catch Mr. Park now, I will be ready for my Blue House meeting tomorrow or the next day with the newest of hand-made suits. I head for the elevator immediately.

  “I like your outfit,” Mr. Park greeted me as I stepped through the entrance.

  “So do I,” I said as I turned around to show him the back of the blazer.

  “Are you ready for a new suit?”

  “Yes, I am, and it has to be a special one for an important meeting either tomorrow or the next day.”

  “So, since you are happy with the sports coat, we’ll just measure for the waist and pants length and we can start as soon as you decide on the cloth.”

  Back in my suite, I called the front desk and had them send me up an Official Airline Guide or OAG, an indispensable tool for fliers like me. It’s updated regularly and I wanted the latest. I’m looking for a flight connection from Seoul to Tokyo, allowing me time at the airport within an hour or two of arrival to transfer baggage, clear customs, and getting me on a plane to the coast, or if not available, then on to Honolulu. Then I’ll be ready to make immediate reservations after we get to visit the Blue House.

  There are only two flights daily out of Seoul to Tokyo, morning or evening. There’s a morning flight from Tokyo to the coast, but the South Korean flight is too late to make a connection. But there is a perfect connection to Hawaii leaving one hour and fifteen minutes after arriving from Seoul. Great. I used a marker to highlight it until I’m free to decide.

  We have a great hotel in Hawaii, the only major resort hotel ever built in Oahu that is not on Waikiki beach. It is a much larger hotel than the South Korean one, and required a joint venture partner on the island. Harrison and Rainbow together found one. It’s located close, but off the beach adjacent to Waikiki, and our development costs were millions of dollars less because of reduced land prices. We compensate with hourly complimentary trips to the beach on a small bus covered with tappan cloth and a straw roof named the Wiki-wiki bus, Hawaiian for quick. The hotel rooms are spacious and there are an abundance of suites, but most of all, the Honolulu airport is a major gateway between East and West and is one of the world’s most efficient, allowing many choices of carriers and times. And the OAG shows me a whole lot of options to the States.

  My selection of fine wool from England for my suit is complete. It is a dark blue and a silver pinstriped black, but Mr. Park is receiving unexpected new business and asking if noontime tomorrow would suffice. I don’t think it will be a problem, and the worst possible situation would still be the cleaned gray mohair, but I haven’t heard from Kim and won’t, I’m sure, for hours.

  It’s too early in New York to think about calling Len, so after securing a car and driver from Helmut, I take a tour of the city and then the hills beyond. The traffic is unbelievable. It seems to have doubled from the first time I visited almost three years ago. It looked to me a lot like a vehicular Pac-Man game where all these little cars seemed to be chasing other little cars, and with the space they allow between them, getting almost close enough to eat them. If that wasn’t frenetic enough, there were a large number of motorcycles weaving in, out, and around the Pac-Man chase, with a few bicycles thrown into the mayhem. But at least, there were no rickshaws as in Hong Kong.

  We drove up to one of the access roads that led to the high hills above. One could actually see the smog while looking down from above. Between the mass of automotive machinery spewing unfiltered exhausts and the restrictive valley location of the city, there appeared to be a major respiratory concern facing the city fathers.

  I had asked the driver to drive by one of the locations of the fabulous Kiseang houses tucked away in these hills. On our initial site visit, several South Korean businessmen and a couple of political officials, including an army general, all related to the project, invit
ed our travel party to one of these houses for dinner and true Kiseang hospitality.

  Kiseang women, the Korean equivalent to Japanese Geishas, were especially attractive, hospitable females who had been trained for many years in a number of entertainment skills, difficult to learn and taking years to master, such as playing a culturally significant musical instrument, refining exquisitely lovely singing voices, and developing special dancing talents. These women would also be your companion and server for the evening.

  But the overall intent in all of their endeavors was for one purpose only and that was to please the male. In male dominated cultures, especially Asian, this type of female companionship was fairly common, but completely foreign to us. If you pulled out a cigarette, they were immediately at your side with a gold or silver lighter. They served you drinks, they shared them with you, they rubbed your back, they played their instruments, they brought food and wine, and they sang softly to you in their native language.

  In the meantime, the men told jokes, toasted each other, and feasted. All the while the Kiseang girls, dressed in colorful silk gowns, were available, presumably, to meet your every need. Whether they were available beyond that, there’s no way of knowing, but for a great evening with wonderful companionship, it was one of the better evenings that all of us had agreed upon.

  I had wanted to see one of those houses in the daytime and actually came upon one that looked like it could have been the one we enjoyed. It was of excellent native architecture, but with ample parking and substantial acreage surrounding the property.

  Satisfied, we returned to the hotel where I had received a note from Kim asking me to call. Returning his call, there was a moment’s wait for his girl to transfer.

  “Yes, sir,” he said, “I have two lines on my desk, and if I thought I could handle it, I’d have three right now.”

  “It’s difficult now, Kim, but the good news is, this is the worst it’ll ever get, just before opening, but I assure you it will settle down.”

  “I hope so. I don’t know how Mr. Reiger handles it, but somehow he does.”

  “You will someday, too. What’s up?”

  “I’ve got good news, sir, we’re, uh—you’re on for late tomorrow afternoon with the COS.

  “Great, how’d you pull it off so soon?”

  “Well, a little not so truthful reason I gave was that you were leaving and couldn’t change your schedule.”

  “Good, cause that’s in fact true. I am planning to leave, if I can, the very next day.”

  “All right, Mr. Logan, you are due at exactly four p.m. at the Blue House tomorrow to meet with Mr. Lee Choo, chief of staff. I have already notified the driver to be alert to your call.”

  Now that I know my schedule. I cannot postpone contacting Len. With his number open in my address book, I rang New York from my desk.

  “Detective Len Graham here,” the no-nonsense voice states.

  “Hey, Len, this is Kevin Logan, calling from Seoul, South Korea.”

  “South Korea? That’s halfway around the world. What the hell are you doing there?” I explained that we now have a hotel here and are about to open it and then got right into it.

  “Listen Len, there’s a good reason I’m calling you from here. I’m in a jam and need your advice. The jam isn’t here, it’s something that happened on the way here, from Mexico.”

  Then, as briefly as I can, I told the story short and sweet. I explained how I used my influence to intercept my luggage in Dallas, how it was supposed to be bound for SFO, and then how I made my discovery. Leaving out details such as Allison, I told him what I knew, what decision I made regarding stashing it in a storage locker, proceeding on, and the business reason why.

  “Jesus, for a smart guy, how could you be so stupid?” he asks in a lowered voice.

  I started again to tell him why and he stopped me.

  “No, I’m not talking about your reasons, I’m talking about why you didn’t talk to me immediately. You can’t let something like that fester, this is serious, and you are in real danger. While the police, the DEA, the FBI, and others all will want to talk to you, the immediate danger is the cartel guys.”

  “I know it, and I think I have maybe found out not only the source of the stuff, but if it is what I think it is, they will also know where I’m from and where I work.” I proceeded to tell him what Al found out in Acapulco.

  “When are you returning?” he demanded.”

  “I’m not sure, I will know by tomorrow or the next day when I complete what I came here for.”

  “Can you get out of there then?” he asked.

  “Yea, I’m pretty sure.”

  “Okay, you know I’m in robbery and assaults and drug deals are out of my league, although other guys in our division bust them here all the time. We’re drowning in drugs here in the city. Even though these thugs are small time criminals, they are some ruthless sons-a-bitches, but choirboys to the cartel guys, who murder full time and think nothing of it.”

  “You’re not helping my concern, Len.”

  “I’m not trying to, I want you to be very damn scared from here on in. The moment you know you can leave, let me know immediately your flight number and arrival in New York. Is it a non-stop?”

  “No, no” I reply, amazed at what people in New York don’t know about the world outside their city, like the size of the Pacific Ocean.

  “Its not like flying from Europe. I’ll be staying overnight in a hotel at least twice. So the entire trip may take three, four days “

  “Okay, here’s my fax number. In the meantime, I’ll talk to a couple of people.” He gave me the number and a bye, not even waiting for a thank you.

  Morning couldn’t come fast enough for me and I was up early, conditioning myself to spending the day in the suite to prepare for not only the audience that I was granted, but the travel preparations also. It’s not because of brazen optimism that I needed to do so. I now had a time problem and if later I needed to cancel, I would. Besides, I needed to be available and stay put to talk to Al, and maybe even Len again.

  I gave a fleeting thought to last night’s conversation with Kim Yang. This was a difficult time for local management and if I were the CEO, I would not allow any home office officials anywhere near a hotel about to open. Of course, Russ was not a hotelman and was thinking of the company first, and this had to be taken care of, but I’m pleased about the meeting tomorrow and my hopeful getaway.

  From the bedroom, I heard the ring, click, and whirr of the fax machine in the parlor. It’s Al with an after-hours update from his suite. It gets worse. Maria asked for time off for personal reasons. She could not have found out about our calls and faxes, so whatever made her “ill,” it had to come from home.

  My mind raced. The cartel is not looking kindly on the Acapulco caper, of which Juan was probably the architect. Not that he had anything physical to do with it, put perhaps he passed on my plans to the people that did. That’s all that Al could give me, and worse, he goes on to say that now he doesn’t have access to her, or the reason anymore to find out what he does for a living. I have to catch myself.

  “Wait a minute,” I say out loud. Al only faxed me that she called in sick, period. And he doesn’t know anything about the drugs. All that other crap about the cartel only comes from my imagination. Nevertheless, I am now more anxious than previously, and I’m hoping that Len will call back today or tomorrow or before I get on a plane.

  As I’m standing there, intently rereading the fax, Helmut calls.

  “Good morning, sleep well in our new hotel?”

  “Yes, thank you. You must have checked the wake-up calls.”

  “That’s right, there’s only a few contractors and some installation people on our occupancy sheet right now, so the list is short and I knew you were up. I have the list of talking points along with the backup information. I will send it up with my secretary, not by the bell staff, to make sure it is handed to you directly.”

  “Than
ks, Helmut,” I said, relieved that I had this important duty to occupy my mind to offset what had just alarmed me. I get to work, noting first that I planned to check with tailor Park by noontime.

  Seven

  It was a very short trip to the Blue House. In my black pinstripe suit, I am prepared to meet Chief of Staff Choo. Again, I’m delighted with the price, the extraordinary delivery, and the excellent tailoring of Mr. Park. It lifted my spirits and my attitude for the meeting.

  The destination came into view. The blue is all in the roof tiles, but the house makes an impressive entrance at the security gate as we paused, viewing the massive residence framed by both the sweeping circular drive and the mountain behind it. I am greeted and led into a fairly subdued waiting room, all business-like, without the Asian flair. I am flattered that the secretary invites me in within a half hour of my arrival.

  Choo came from behind his desk to greet me, an energetic looking man with black rimmed glasses and younger than expected for such a high position. He clearly was briefed, and after congratulating me on the beautiful hotel, which he has not seen but heard about from many of the government officials who had business overseeing the permits and licenses at the near completion, he inquires, “So, Mr. Logan, what brings you here to the Blue House?”

  Because he cleverly put me in the position of supplicant and message bearer simultaneously, I silently credited his tactic. In reply, I moved right to the position of a wronged and concerned partner.

  “As you know, Mr. Choo, we entered into this project almost as a joint venture partner with the government, not a direct investment per se, but both parties, that is, we, and your government, recognized that the development of this hotel represented a shared need. And this need was to enhance both the business and tourism requirement for a true luxury hotel in the capital, and I daresay, the entire country.”

  “And it appears that you have done so, and we believe that we have supported you as much as we can, subject of course, to governmental requirements,” Mr. Choo reminded me.