AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 61
It was 11 am Monday, local time, when I arrived back at my Geneva hotel. I did a quick freshening up in the bathroom, then restarted my clothing skill. It put me in a very nice three piece suit, perfectly tailored to my new fruit derived muscular form. I had a quick peach, and even made myself a non skill powered cup of coffee, which I managed to choke down. I didn’t have time to savor another pot of ambrosia.
I arrived at the Palace of Nations, the Geneva UN Headquarters, and formerly the Headquarters of the equally ineffective League of Nations. My UN passport got me through security, especially when I said I had a meeting with the JIU. Of the current inspectors there were only two available today.
The offices and building were grand, but the furniture was very utilitarian, and a bit worn with age. The secretary was out, but Mr Kozlov was available.
“Can I help you?”
“Mr Kozlov, I’m here because I need your help. My team was doing a special investigation for Mr Salzman, but with his death we no longer have a contact at JIU.”
His eyebrows went up, “What kind of investigation?”
“We were investigating corruption, money laundering, and terrorist funding by the Trans-National Construction Company.”
“But they aren’t a UN department, the JIU only investigates inside the UN.”
“That’s what made our team special. Mr Salzman expanded the role, and created a self funding investigative team. TransNat had bid on several construction projects for various UN departments, and usually won the contract, even though their bids were higher, and were known for expensive budget overruns.”
“That’s just the way the construction industry works. Nothing is ever as cheap as you expect it,” he said, waving it away.
“Well we found what we were looking for, but in the process my identity became known, and I had to flee for my life. I’ve had TransNat arrange several assassination attempts.”
“Really? Do they know you are UN affiliated?”
“No sir, they do not. Neither do the American FBI who have become involved. They are currently looking for me as well.”
“But why do you not explain this to them, why do you come to me?”
“Instructions from the team leader. He says that we need to get back in contact with the JIU so we can continue our investigations.”
“How many on your team?”
“I’m not supposed to say, sir. We refer to each other by number. The team leader is Seven, I’m Four, or at least I was. What Seven has asked is that I come back to work directly with you, as the contact point between the team, and the JIU.”
“This is very irregular. You said you were self funding, what does this mean?”
“It means we have our own budget, and independence. We can investigate anything, anywhere.”
“Where did the money for this come from? Was it from Salzman’s office?”
“I don’t know where it came from, just that it came from outside the JIU Budget. As I explained, Seven says it’s self funding. We don’t need funds, or equipment, or even direction. What we need is a contact, someone to send our investigation reports to, as well as a diplomatic explanation to the FBI so that they will stop chasing me, and focus their efforts on the criminals in TransNat.”
“Yes, I heard about the investigation, it is said that Interpol is investigating them as well. So what do I need to do?”
I handed him a sheet of paper, “These are the instructions to send me encrypted instructions that I can then forward to the team,” I handed him a second piece of paper, “This is the FBI officer who is investigating me, and the contact information of his superiors. Please let them know that I was working for the UN as an undercover agent, and that they need to cease their investigation and attempts to capture and interrogate me.”
“I can do those things, but I’m most curious why you came to me, when there are other JIU Inspectors.”
“Seven said that you would soon be leaving the UN, as your term would be up. He thought you could provide the connection we needed back to the JIU, as well as set up a hand off to the successor of your choice. I believe that this was part of Salzman’s contingency plan as well. I don’t know that part. I only met him once, when he recruited me.”
I pulled out a usb drive, and set it on his desk, “Seven gave me a video from Salzman, but said you should not use a UN machine to view it, as they weren’t secure.”
“Hmm, that’s a troubling thought. It would be nice to do something more than post covid mental health investigations among UN office workers. What device should I use?”
“If you have a cell phone, you can plug that into it directly, and watch the video.”
He followed my directions, and when it began with “Hello old friend,” I sat back and waited for it to finish playing.
“I saw you nod as the video played, do you agree with Salzman and his goals?”
I nodded, “Yes. There is too much corruption internationally at the top most levels. That won’t change unless it is addressed by the lower levels. Our research team is incredible. Part of why the FBI is so interested is that they came across a research file created by the team for one of the assassins sent after me. The team retrieved that file out of a locked file room, in the middle of an FBI field office. When you contact them, they are going to want to know about the origins of that file.”
“And what do I tell them about this file?”
“Seven suggest that you offer to ship it to them.”
“Why would I do this?”
“It would solve so very many problems. It was my fault that they got it, when I learned I was being targeted again, I panicked, and told the FBI to come get it. I was rather injured at the time from a previous attempt on my life.”
“How do I get this file?”
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