The Threat

“Because you asked us to pop a flag on links with any kind of terror organization. And this International Blessings is an Islamic outfit. The guys who contracted for the delivery say they’re a humanitarian nonprofit, trying to put together a rapid-reaction package to go to Mideast countries suffering natural disasters.”

“So it might be up and up. Like Catholic Relief, United Jewish Appeal.”

Lynch said, “Except what kind of humanitarian supplies would they be importing from Mexico? The guys I talked to over at Transportation were thinking charter fraud, money laundering, some kind of reshipment. But they still haven’t gotten a lock on anything actually illegal.”

“What about it, Ed? You think this could be terror-related?”

The major said he thought it was more likely drug-related. He couldn’t speak specifically to UPS, but as Bloom had said, the international air cargo system was definitely porous. There was no accountability or tracking procedure for consignments. Customs was undermanned, so they didn’t actually look inside more than one in a thousand containers, and ramp security — of aircraft at the gate, being loaded and unloaded — was lax.

“There was a drop in theft when containers came in, but the crooks have figured out how to get access. The stats on drug shipments via air container are rising too. A lot of coke moves by air. You see it in walls and ceilings of containers. Shipments of concentrated pineapple juice, fresh asparagus, cut flowers, chocolates. They found some once in teeny plastic bags inside the stomachs of live tropical fish.”

They sat digesting that last one, so to speak. Dan remembered the consensus in Key West that now that they had a handle on the seaborne traffic, it would shift west, to air routes over the Mexican border. He shook his head, feeling that sense of sweeping against a rising tide with a busted broom everyone in counterdrug had to come to terms with. “Okay, you mentioned money laundering. How would that work?”

Bloom took that one. “That can run either with the smuggling or on its own. First you collect the currency. That comes from your local distributors, gangs or whatever. You run it through the legitimate banking system first. The cover’s gambling profits, or real estate. A lot of the run-up in real estate in L.A. is laundering profits. Shuffle it through wire transfers and cutouts a couple of times, to add smoke. Then it goes overseas.”

Dan said, “An aid agency, they’re going to be shipping things overseas, not importing them.”

“That’s why we were checking out the money angle. But we came up as empty as those containers.”

“Okay, whichever it is, it sounds like the kind of between-the-cracks stuff we want to keep everybody comparing notes on. Ed, why don’t you dig into it a little more, Miles has been putting in a lot of hours lately. Due diligence. Liaise with FBI, DEA, and Transport. Anything else?”

Bloom told him President Tejeiro had asked for a conference in Bogotá in one month with top U.S. and Central American officials, to coordinate a major movement against the cartels, possibly involving military force. General Sevinson, now confirmed as head of DEA, would lead the U.S. delegation. “It’s not billed as revenge for their blowing away his kid, but there’s not much doubt where Tejeiro is coming from,” the agent said. “Even among the Latins, he’s known as a guy who keeps score. Help him, you get rewarded. Cross him, he’ll fuck you up, no matter how long it takes.”

“That’s good — from our point of view. But in Bogotá? That’s going to take tight security,” Dan said. The cartel was wounded, and wounded animals were dangerous. “Does the White House need presence?”

“That’s up to Bony Tony. Sevinson might be enough of an executive-side marker. Aside from that, we got this hearing coming up on the the High-Intensity Drug Area program. That’s gonna be our big budget Donnybrook. You ever testified before?”

Dan said he’d seen it done, though he hadn’t been the guy on the hot seat. He remembered reading about HIDA but didn’t recall the specifics. Bloom said Meilhamer knew about it, he’d been fighting for it for three administrations. Dan blinked. Having that come out of left field made him wonder if the grubby little administrator might not be more of a mover and shaker than he looked. It also made him wonder why his second hadn’t mentioned that this morning. “Okay, I’ll ask him. Get back to work, you guys.”

* * *

Meilhamer hauled out an immense binder and pointed to two more behind his desk. He said HIDA was the only appropriation that went directly through the counterdrug office, $107.5 million that got allocated to various agencies over and above their operating budgets. Dan saw the idea. A pot of money to throw at emergencies until the dinosaurian budgetary process could lumber around and charge. “I didn’t know we had that much cash to play with, Bry. And Miles said you drove getting it?”

Meilhamer smirked modestly. “I had a role.”

“Where does it go?”