Chapter 5

The next day Melissa decided to give us Jordan. He came early in the morning. His father was the one who assisted in the delivery. Stan and Jessica were talking to him for the last few days and showing him the ropes. Though we were up late, we trouped down to the Union Station and boarded the train. The red carpet had been rolled out for us because of the president's orders. Getting two extra cars attached to the train was something odd.

We did not know for sure but it was logical that Pat would fly. To compensate us, we had our weapons. There was not much we could do on the train but study. The pack of course dispersed to investigate and so did the students. The instructors had to follow.

I sat back in the seat and said, "I feel like a mother taking her hundred and fifty children on a trip. I'm glad you're with me."

Melissa was sitting back in the seat feeding Jordan as his father looked on with a lot of pride.

Herb said, "I know how you feel but I don't quite feel like the father figure to all of them, just a few. Sometimes you remind me of Ellen or my mother. You know what to do and do it. You're the glue that holds us all together."

"Don't say that! Don't ever say that. I'm only one person and we have to carry on."

Herb was taken aback with my exclamation. "You have to face the facts Piper. You're necessary. The pack is just too young to function without your guidance."

"The pack will go on," I said firmly.

"Of course it will but you keep us focussed. We see your dream and follow it. You do what the pack wants but it's done your way."

"Don't let me fail, Herb. Too much rests on my shoulders."

"You know I will always be here."

I just hugged him and I could feel the strength of all the rest flow into me. Melissa was worried and we hugged her too.

It took a while to settle down and some of it was from the sheer number of people in Toronto. When we got out of the city I found that I could relax more. Megan loved the train and Tiffany had no worries because Megan had hundreds of parents to look after her.

The pack found people to heal and I only regulated it so we did not leave a trail an investigator could follow one day.

The students even found one of the clients that went to the restaurant Cathy Keep managed for us. This woman was one who frequented the back rooms. The girls liked her because she was always clean and gave as much as she received. Today she was with her brother who was 67 and two years older than his sister. The two siblings could just eat up the girls and the girls knew it. Since we were on holidays in a way and we did not want to bring problems on. No business or even fun could be had.

The instructors acted as chaperones and kept people away from the pack. Some of the pack went to the people though. There were other children on the train which pleased me. We did not get much chance to react with people other than students and employees.

A chef was ready to prepare the meals. Since he was different. He was put to work by all of us.

The trip was by express and only four hours long. The plane would be faster but then you had to factor in all the wait times at the airports. The train even took us downtown which made it just as quick if not quicker. Nicolas saw this and wondered if we should invest more in trains as long as there was enough advertisement about the service.

A Marriot Hotel was near the docks. We had reserved all the available rooms and there was spill over to other hotels. We had time for another meal and everybody ate because it was new.

The students had money because they were paid to do well in school. They were now marked on how they shopped by the instructors. The idea was to teach everybody to purchase sensibly. I had some trouble in this area myself.

Herb, Ellen and I went down to the port. There was a real cold wind coming down the Saint Lawrence River. A taxi took us all around the port while we tried to get a feeling for the area. The same taxi took us thirty minutes to the east and south.

Charles Lostraco lived in a mansion surrounded by three hectares of land. The house was all of cut stone and beautiful. The homes around it were almost as good. We just got a feeling for the neighbourhood then went back to the hotel.

The staff of the hotel were run ragged but they were polite and helpful. They just didn't usually have to deal with so many exuberant people. Before it got dark, Herb rented a passenger van to get around in. Later we drove back to Lostraco's neighbourhood. There was snow on the ground and there was almost a full moon. It would not get any darker unless the clouds came in. Our invisibility would probably be enough unless there were motion detectors.

It was really cold and windy so we put up our shields which helped a lot. We flew high then descended to be near the house. Lostraco was not home but we gathered some information from the family and servants. This was slow painstaking work but we stayed at it until Lostraco himself arrived.

The man was a good father, contributed to worthwhile charities but also robbed and killed people. I could not fault him much on owning some prostitutes but I at least educated them and they did not have to stay. Even though he was bad, he was not the worst. He had to constantly slap down people that wanted to topple him. Some died and some were treated with kid gloves. He didn't want a gang war because everybody lost then.

One of his old enemies was showing renewed vigour and was pressing Lostraco in drugs. Some of Lostraco's semi-legitimate businesses were hit hard. He thought spies were apparently everywhere because his deepest secrets were discovered and exploited. His trucks, carrying stolen goods were hijacked and he could do little about it other than post more security.

The idea struck me that Lostraco's shipment of cocaine was in more danger of being taken than just from the police. This would take some planning and perhaps we could take portions of two gangs instead of one.

Herb said, "That drug shipment is too valuable. Lostraco is going to have a lot more security guarding it. That old enemy is going to go after it. We better check him out too."

Ellen said, "I agree. Louis Tessier will try to hit Lostraco. If not to hurt the man but to destroy his business. Lostraco had to resort to borrowed money to get enough cash to pay for the shipment."

"That's true but Tessier has all but abandoned his home. He's thinking like a guerrilla fighter. Lostraco doesn't know what he is."

Herb said, "He has some ideas and I think we better find Tessier first. A three way battle for the coke is not something I want to see unless it's the crooks getting killed."

There was littler more we could learn from Lostraco in the time allowed so we went back to the hotel to get some sleep.

The next morning, the pack was out on the streets looking for anybody with information about Louis Tessier. This search included cops. Herb, Kim and I went to the docks to get another look. If a three way battle was going to develop then we would have to see the logical places where the three forces would place their troops.

Getting to the docks was difficult but we found some of the officials that controlled this area. These people had always been under pressure by smugglers to look the other way and some of the officials had succumbed. We took mental notes and looked for ways to back up our assertions if the men were turned in.

Tessier's name was well known too. He was seen as the up and coming power. He was an old man though and people wondered where he found the vigour to do what he was doing. The man's current whereabouts was not known by anybody we scanned. None knew of the shipment of drugs arriving but contraband came through all the time.

We took some time for sightseeing and usually kept up our scanning for information. Mindful of my promise to Jack Entris, we looked for drug dealers in the hopes of finding out who they bought their drugs from. We needed an excuse for Jack Entris to logically come here.

That night we had amassed quite a few names and these were put in a file. Nicolas found a WiFi away from the hotel and worked his way in. The names were in the police computers but the language used was French. We could speak the language and do an excellent job if we were near the person we were talking to. The written language was not as easy to parse. Some of the students were from Quebec and these were pulled in to help.

Jack was slated to come in the day before the freighter arrived. We had to scramble to get a worthwhile task for him.

I phoned Jack an hour after he was supposed to have arrived. "Hello Jack. How was your trip?"

His voice showed some relief to hearing me. "Not bad. Would you like to meet?"

"Not just yet. Is it convenient for you to find a public phone?"

"Give me two minutes. Are you going to follow me and then phone me? I still don't see how you can do what you did."

I had to laugh at this. When I recovered, I said, "I could pick the number of the phone if I was following you but I hope to have received a bit of trust. I'll give you my number and you can phone me. Cell calls can be traced as we all know. I would be disappointed if this happened."

"I'll be a good boy."

I gave him the number and I moved to be near a public phone of my own. When the call came in I gave Jack the public phone number.

He said, "Land lines are even easier to trace."

"But I won't be here long. I'm sorry Jack but you are going to have to take notes unless you record my voice. You do like carrying that little voice recorder."

"Do you know my favourite colour and dish?"

"Blue and stuffed green peppers."

"How do you know this?"

"We have the technology because we are a team testing it out. You're fairly important so we have to check you out a lot better then most. You have surveillance on many people so there is no reason for you to object. The only reason we are talking to you is because you passed."

"I ask again, how did you know this much detail?"

"Wouldn't it be a better question to ask how long you have been monitored and by how many people?"

"What you are doing is against the law."

"I'm quite aware of that. Just like the criminals, I can claim it's illegal only if I'm caught. You on the other hand only have to wrestle with your own conscience. An anonymous call gives you information that you either accept or not."

In a change of direction he said, "What information do you have for me?"

I gave Jack the locations of three cashes of drugs but we both knew the amount and placement changed all the time. The suppliers that had the drugs were wealthy and had links to the courts. Some of those men had paid informers in high places and these names were listed.

More data had to be given that should give the courts enough information for a reasonable assumption that drugs were to be found. This was actually the hardest pieces of data to gather. It was one thing to read a mind but another to prove that the information could have been found other ways.

One of the names of informers was a provincial court judge. Jack didn't even ask how I knew. Since Jack knew some federal judges, then the search warrants would be easier to come by.

With this done, I said, "Lostraco is being pushed hard by Louis Tessier. Already many illicit cargos have been hijacked. I expect that we might have a three way fight for the drugs."

"How do you know this? Why didn't you tell me this first?"

"Jack, settle down. You're going to have a coronary. You learned everything in order."

"We have to get more people and that is going to warn the opposition. I don't have enough time to get all the men necessary. You should have told me sooner."

"If there is a hijack attempt, it may be after Lostraco decides to take the drugs from the warehouse. In that case, you have three or four more days."

"They may try to take it as it comes off the boat."

"Not likely but possible. Talk to the Department of Defence if you want. They may like to have a piece of this action."

"You're telling me how to run my business!"

"Do it your way. I can try to get the Girl Scouts to provide surveillance if you want."

In another change of direction he said, "Are you part of that organisation?"

"I actually have a pack but that is more related to cubs."

It was now up to Jack to see what he could accomplish. Dealing with Marcel, his counterpart here in Quebec was not an easy chore either. Doing all this on short notice would make the job even more difficult.

We continued to search for Tessier's whereabouts but the Greek Warrior came in first. The ship was a container vessel. This could take weeks to unload since a single crane could only remove 20 to 30 containers an hour. This particular ship had almost 8000, 40 foot containers. Two cranes can work on a ship to cut the time in half and some cranes can lift two smaller containers at once. It all depended on what port facilities were available.

The Greek Warrior had to wait a day for a ship to clear. We monitored the ship but I was positive that we were not the only ones doing so. Joy and Bobby flew to the ship during the night and found that the drugs would come off with the crane as opposed to going in the river to be picked up by smaller ships.

Jack called me back and we went to public telephones again. "I'm having trouble getting the warrants. Do you have anything extra to add?"

"Nothing as evidence but I know the combinations to the safes but that may not look good at the trials."

"How the hell did you get those?"

"You don't need to know yet. How about I give you the numbers to their off shore accounts? I could have robbed them for a total of 27 million but I was a good girl."

"$27,000,000? How could you pass on that?"

"Scout Law says I have to be trustworthy."

"I wish you hadn't told me that but I need something concrete. I'm in a catch-22 situation."

"The last time we called the police and then had a small gun battle to get them involved. We can use blanks. You can seal the area and there should be enough evidence around to warrant a warrant."

"I don't like guns and that's poor practice. Innocents get hurt."

"Documents take time to acquire and you need just enough clout to take on the Greek Warrior and Lostraco."

Jack said, "I may have to go with a favour instead of enough evidence."

"Your partner here in Quebec can gather the kudos and you come across as a friend sharing information. Tell me where and when you are going and we can feed you information. If you want, I can give it to Pat Linsey. You can build on each success."

"Not all searches lead to charges being laid."

"These ones will."

"I'm putting my career on the line here not you. Why don't we talk face to face?"

Let's finish with Lostraco and the Greek Warrior first. You can go by past performances. There's not much I can talk about in any case. I have to keep some of my secrets."

"Ok, after the drugs are seized then."

"Hopefully with Lostraco and possibly Tessier charged."

"Agreed."

When I got off the phone, Herb said, "Are you going to meet the man? He's not one of us."

Jack told me that Paul Beaudouin was the first dealer on the list. Jack was even kind enough to give us the time. This was going to be at nine in the morning because the man would be at his office.

We were at the office before the secretaries arrived because we went through the windows that were not usually opened. Since it was on the ninth floor, Beaudouin thought them safe.

We could get at the motion detectors because we could hug the walls and ceiling. There were two safes but one was quite well hidden. Kim opened one and Joy another. They just had to look through the metal to see when the parts lined up the way they should.

When the books came out, we photographed them all, then they went back the way we found them. A note talking about the Greek Warrior was added but there were no signatures. It was also vague and may give Jack some added reasons for monitoring the vessel's cargo after it was unloaded. Later we monitored those arriving for work and I gave some information to Jack by phone.

The raid was exciting. Security downstairs tried to warn those upstairs of what was happening but the button and then the phone didn't work. A man running to the elevators tripped and fell. The elevator was already going up anyway.

We learned that the cops in Quebec were just as pushy as they were other places. We had to hurry though because another raid was happening at nearly the same time at Beaudouin's restaurant.

We did not see Jack and more importantly, he did not see us. The raids went off well because of a snip or two here and there as well as a well placed foot and once, some fishing line.

The Sûreté du Québec was invited to the festivities while the RCMP claimed jurisdiction because of the smuggling, income tax evasion and tampering with federal employees.

The men knew about Louis Tessier but still did not know where he might be. We made lists of the pseudonyms used to represent some of the mid-level pushers listed in the various account books.

The fallout about the raids had not settled when the container we were after was lowered onto a truck and taken to a fenced compound and then into a warehouse to prevent freezing. Only a few people present knew of the contents and only one of them was nearby. We stayed away and just watched from a distance. If bullets started to fly, I'd rather we were not in the way.

The cargo was checked by customs officers and cleared. One of the officials was dirty but still did not know of the actual cargo. Men finally came for the containers and the two clean containers were taken. We had found some watchers but they all reported to Lostraco.

Jack received an encrypted phone from us and we used this to communicate. So far it looked like nobody was trying to trace the call to us. We were near enough to Jack to know that he would not do this yet but his counterpart here in Quebec would.

With the phone was a good laptop. What was special about it was the software that tied in with the onboard GPS. The machine was tied to the cell phone system so we could send information to it that would be displayed on a map. The map would show all the players we would find when the operation began.

Montreal was an interesting city but our twenty four hour watches on the cargo began to tell. It was actually ten days after the drugs landed that a truck came to remove the last container.

There were a lot of excited people now. They monitored the container from as far away as possible. Five other vehicles escorted the truck at a distance. We followed in our own vehicles and stayed further away.

Because of the threat of hijacking and the chance to catch another gang, the police stayed further back. Jack had no problem selling this idea because of all the times Lostraco's loads were hit.

The pack drove through this and tabulated who the players were. The police were keeping their distance though most wanted to burst in and seize the cargo. There were five of Lostraco's vehicles with three men each. Tessier had thirty one men and they were even more heavily armed. They also had a wide assortment of nonlethal weapons because the underworld did not want the robbery to become public knowledge. This would bring down even more investigators to take the drug lords down.

The law was well represented. Grim men rode in cargo vans and numbered eighty two. Two helicopters and a plane were in the air and a further force of twenty officers were held in reserve. They rode a school bus to remain anonymous.

Missy phoned me and said, "Cap, there's another car. It's shadowing the truck. There's something odd here."

"What did you find?"

"I thought it was one of us in the car but it isn't. Somebody is concentrating on the minds of the driver and the escorts."

"Shit, pull back. Act like we did before. Minimum broadcasting."

"Got it."

Nicolas was in charge of communications. He phoned the rest with a text message giving the new orders. My mind went into overdrive. This information frightened me.

"Herb, Ellen! Somebody else may have been reading Lostraco's mind. That is why he was doing so badly."

Ellen said, "It could be a police force with lots of people and money to take Lostraco down."

"It could be but I don't think so. Tessier is the one showing the most gains. If he can read minds or has somebody that can do it for him then that would explain why he's doing so well. Tessier is expanding the most in drugs and the shipment is Lostraco's hope of beating Tessier."

Herb said, "This may not be important in the overall scheme of things but none of the literature hints of real espers before. Were they a natural phenomenon or something produced through some abnormal action on the brain?"

"Whatever it is, we have to consider this a acute threat, the same kind as Knox was to us but perhaps worse. We only scouted a very small portion of Toronto. Espers could crop up anywhere."

Ellen, Herb, Nicolas and I were coordinating this and we also formed the reserve force. I knew that if an esper guided force attacked the shipment then there was a good chance they would take the container. Our own ability to defeat Knox and Carstairs attested to this fact.

"Let's get going. If the shipment is going to be attacked, I want to be there."

Herb said, "What about the shooting?"

"A rogue esper is far more dangerous to the world. We have to strike now."

The truck was heading east on highway 20 toward Drummondville. We had to hurry to catch up. It was good that Quebec drivers usually drove as fast as we were.

Missy was still in the mind of the truck driver and she phoned to tell us that the driver was going to pull off where the cargo could be quickly shifted to another vehicles. She did not attempt to look into the other esper's mind for fear of warning him. We knew from the flavour that this one was a male.

The truck drove through Drummondville. On the other side, the driver was given last minute telephone instructions by one of Lostraco's lieutenants to pull off. They were going to a small warehouse to transfer the goods to seven smaller vehicles.

I phoned Jack and said, "They are going to break up the load in an empty warehouse on Rue Cockburn near Rue Dorian. Apparently the shipment is on seven pallets." The computer he now used zeroed into the location. "I have to tell you now that we have a joker. One of the hijacker's cars is loaded with sophisticated equipment. If you jump in too soon the hijackers will leave." This car was now circled when the map zoomed out. I wished that we could use the spy satellites but to do so would alert the American government. The closest Canada got to this type of surveillance was a plane with a camera.