Black Flagged Redux

Chapter 8





2:10 PM

Legal Attaché Section, U.S. Embassy

Buenos Aires, Argentina





Special Agent Susan Castaneda took another look at the manila folder on her desk and picked up the phone to dial Ryan Sharpe. He had contacted her a few days earlier with an odd request, which had been easy enough for her to research without attracting any attention. Sharpe wanted to know if the Argentine Federal Police (AFP) had started any investigations within the past three years into any fledgling terrorist or paramilitary organizations, with a focus on regional arms smuggling or cross-border operations. He was also interested in any unusual paramilitary style operations or violence over the past few years. Sharpe had been detailed enough with the focus, but nebulous beyond that.

He stressed the importance of keeping this quiet, and she understood why. Word had a way of getting around in the embassy, which made it difficult to get any real work done, even in a stable country like Argentina. So she had scheduled a leisurely lunch with one of her AFP counterparts, in a location of the city not known for embassy traffic. She trusted this law enforcement agent as much as she could trust anyone in the Argentine government and had given him enough information to dig around for something that might fit the profile Sharpe had provided. He had more or less come up empty handed, though he did provide a few bits of information that might be helpful. She wasn't sure how, but it had been worth a lunch away from the office and her counterpart, Dan Bailey.

Bailey was starting to wear on her nerves and had only been "in-country" for three months. He had chosen an "unaccompanied" tour, leaving his wife and two children behind for the year-long assignment, which was not uncommon for "Legat" (legal attaché) duty. Unfortunately, the reasons for Agent Bailey's choice appeared to go beyond the disruption and inconvenience of moving a family long distance for a short period of time. It apparently had more to do with the likelihood that Dan Bailey's wife might not approve of his weekly visits to local brothels, or that she might take issue with her husband lunching and dining with a different woman nearly every day.

As the senior "Legat," Susan had been approached by one of the more discreet embassy staff personnel, who also happened to work for the CIA, and provided the unsavory details of Agent Bailey's first month in Buenos Aires. His behavior immediately classified him as a security risk, and she was informed that the surveillance would continue. She could barely contain her laughter as the details were exposed, almost wishing that she didn't know about any of it.

None of it was illegal behavior in Argentina, though it strayed pretty far from what was expected from a representative of the FBI. Still, she didn't have any official recourse, beyond some uncomfortable lifestyle counseling and possibly some negative input on his performance evaluation. She was scheduled to leave within the next three months and wouldn't be around for his transfer performance evaluation. For all she knew, her replacement could have chosen the assignment for the same reasons as Agent Bailey. She didn't really care, as long as she managed to get out of here with her career intact.

She eventually managed to make some use of the information provided by the CIA employee. Agent Bailey had logically started with her first when he arrived. She was single, attractive, in her early thirties, and they worked in the same section, though thankfully they had separate offices. The advances had intensified to the point of discomfort and harassment, until she played one of the many Langley trump cards so conveniently delivered to her. One day, she called him into her office and slid a photo across the desk. His face turned ashen when he took a close look at the photo.

"Tranny prostitute #4" had been written across the top of the photo, in black permanent marker, identifying the "woman" at Bailey's door as the fourth transsexual prostitute photographed entering his apartment. Susan was aware that the series ended at #9, but thought #4 was good middle ground. Stunned, he stammered for a few seconds before she laid it on him. She remembered her words clearly.

"I don't want you talking to me again, unless it's official business. The same rule applies to all of the women at the embassy, or any women entering the embassy. Trannies too," she had added, before dismissing him.

Dan Bailey hadn't been a problem for anyone since then, and she smiled at the bizarre train of thoughts that had led her to remember Bailey's predicament. She dialed the number for Sharpe's office, and he answered it after the second ring.

"Special Agent Sharpe," he answered, always sounding crisp to her.

"Agent Sharpe, it's Agent Castaneda from the legal attaché office in Argentina," she said.

"Of course. Please call me Ryan. Thank you so much for taking the time to look into this for me. I'm working on a long shot, but this one is worth the time. I really appreciate it," he said.

"No, it's my pleasure, and it's Susan. Unfortunately, I don't think I found what you're looking for. There's not much in the way of new terrorism or paramilitary organizations. They have some neo-Nazi types that are pretty organized, drug cartels, Russian mob, all the usual suspects, but nothing that really fits what you described. I had one of my counterparts at AFP do some digging, and he came up with a few unusual events, but nothing they are actively investigating."

"I'm looking for anything here, so you have my attention," he said.

"Well, he found a few incidents spread over the course of the past eight months involving Chechen mafia and neo-Nazi gangs in Buenos Aires. Three separate incidents. The biggest incident took place at one of the Chechens’ dockyard strongholds, leaving eighteen bodies behind. The police and AFP have no idea what time of day they were hit, but the one thing they all agreed upon was that it was pulled off by professionals using suppressed weapons. Most of the gunshot wounds were precision headshots, and AFP's SWAT officials said that there had been multiple, simultaneous breach points around the building. Ballistics confirmed that the four Chechens stationed outside had been taken down by snipers. AFP thought this was an American or European black op."

"This sounds like more than an incident. No investigation?"

"Not really. Two more hits, smaller in scope, occurred in the following months. A Chechen safe house was hit inside the city, at about two in the morning, and there were witnesses from adjacent buildings and houses. The assailants were in and out within the span of minutes. Witnesses swore it was a government operation. Roughly a dozen attackers in three separate cars hit the building at once.

"Someone managed to fire off an automatic weapon inside, but there were no signs that any of the assailants had been hit. Eight Chechens were found dead and one prostitute broke both of her legs trying to jump from one of the balconies. Witnesses said there were more women in the apartment, but they fled. Nobody has come forward to admit they were in the building, which is no surprise. FPA came to the same conclusion on this one and they're pretty sure one of the Chechens was hit from the outside by a sniper bullet."

"They don't know for sure?" he said.

"I'm not sure they really care. Twenty-six dead Chechen mobsters within the span of a month and only a pair of broken legs as collateral damage. One of the Chechens was identified as senior leadership. My contact didn't seem to indicate that this was a high priority," she said.

"What about the last one?" he said, pretty sure he had stumbled onto something pointing him in the right direction for further investigation.

"Last one happened a few months ago and involved the neo-Nazi group. They've been expanding their influence over the past five years, and it looks like they expanded it a little too far. This one was different. It took place around 1 AM at an underground neo-Nazi slam fest, or whatever the skinheads call them. Heavy metal, lots of 'Heil Hitlers,' hard drinking…usually spills out into the street later and ends up killing or maiming someone without a Swastika tattoo. On this particular night, the reverse occurred. Someone tore through the bouncers with a knife, then lobbed a combination of fragmentation and incendiary grenades into the basement party. Nobody made it out. Estimated thirty-five dead, including the leader of the cell represented at the party. He was shot in the face running down the stairs with his girlfriend from an apartment unit located on the second floor of the house."

"What about the girlfriend?" he said.

"She's the only one that survived the entire attack. Said there were four of them, heavily armed like Komandotruppe."

"I assume that means commandos?"

"Yes, my FPA counterpart has a sense of humor. The woman dragged one of the bouncers out of the blaze, and the forensics team determined that he had been stabbed through the neck, just above the collarbone. Knife plunged through the spinal cord on the same strike," she said.

"Can you get me that forensics report?" he said, feeling his pulse quicken.

"It shouldn't be a problem. Sounds like this might have been helpful?"

"Yes, I think it has. Were there any theories about who was doing this? Other than a foreign black ops team? I'm just having a hard time believing that this isn't being actively investigated," he said.

"Luckily, my counterpart has a little bit of a crush on me and likes to drink Sangria during our lunches. He was hesitant with this information, so I need your discretion," she said.

"Absolutely, Susan. I'll use this to corroborate, but nothing beyond that."

"All right. He said the only serious theory circulating through the ranks was that a man named Ernesto Galenden had hired an outside team to send these groups a message. This might also explain why the investigations have stalled," she said.

"I can't wait to hear this," he said.

"Ernesto Galenden is one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of Argentina, owning a huge stake in one of the primary oil companies within the country, and of course, dozens of lucrative business ventures. He also owns more real estate than you can imagine. For the most part, Galenden has retained a good reputation in Argentina across the board and has never been implicated in any illegal schemes.

"He owns a vast portion of the shipping waterfront along Argentina's coast, which put him at odds with the Chechens. He hasn't made it easy for them to expand their efforts to ship Andean cocaine to Europe and ports north. Once the strife turned deadly on the docks, Galenden turned to his government cronies to put some pressure on law enforcement, but this tactic didn't prove very effective. FPA thinks Galenden took matters into his own hands."

"It's not a bad theory. You said Galenden owns land all over Argentina?"

"He owns localized assets and buildings in most cities, but the vast majority of his land lies in western Argentina, along the Chilean border. This is where his father discovered oil," she said.

"Interesting. Susan, I trust you to keep this quiet there. I'm working on something very sensitive, and if the wrong person at the embassy found out, I could have a complication that would jeopardize my investigation. I can't thank you enough for the help. I'll be in touch shortly with some more questions, as soon as I figure out which direction to pursue. In the meantime, can you get me the forensics report of the knife attack at the neo-Nazi club?"

"Sure. I'll give my guy at AFP a call. I'm sure he won't mind another lunch," she said.

"Not very sporting of you to lead him on like that, but I'm not going argue against your methods. This was great work, Susan. Talk to you shortly."

She hung up the phone and smiled. She wasn't sure how to classify what she was doing with Federico. Technically, she wasn't leading him on because he had no chance in the first place. Despite his handsome, Italian inspired face, muscular build and pleasant manners, she had never been interested in him romantically. In fact, she'd never been interested in men and was on an "unaccompanied" tour to Argentina. Her partner of eight years, Stephanie, eagerly awaited her return to the states.