NOIR

Chapter Four

Fallacy

By Steve Edward

Friday, June 11th 1500 hours, Bistro, Paris, France

Mireille Bouquet stepping from the taxi accompanied by Kirika Yumura and Kelly Summers followed by the twins entered a quiet bistro and took a table to the rear. The proprietor greeting her took the groups order and departed to ensure that the orders were properly prepared.

Kelly Summers looked at Mireille then Kirika, "Both of you are assassins?" Mireille replied, "It is one of our skills, yes. If you imagine that we kill for shear enjoyment we do not."

Kelly pondered that statement and replied, "So how did you and Mr. Baldwin meet?"

Kirika replied, "In a situation, which nearly resulted in his death."

Mireille smiled, "It will seven years this September. This is how it happened…"

Kelly listened first in disbelief then astonishment as Mireille told of how she and Kirika first met Randy Baldwin, then how they would meet again and how they forged their friendships. Kirika described to Kelly how her late sister's loss had affected Randy Baldwin personally. How Noir had dragged the guilt from him and released it. Telling Randy Baldwin's life story from their perspective, at times humorous then of more serious times.

Irena and Nina described what they remembered from their dark pasts, how their step-father intervention saved them and their eventual adoption by Randy and his then newlywed wife Gina had changed their lives. The apparent difficulties that their step-father had gone through to ensure that their true pasts would not become public knowledge and of the sacrifice he made to admit to his participation in the military raid.

Their new friends at school and within the community, the children who had been adopted and provided loving homes. Their step-father had had a hand in that, ensuring that the newly adopted children would not be alone on the flight to the United States, by paying for the airfare of the families of the adopted children and chartering a commercial jet airliner to bring them all to their new homes.

Kelly Summers spoke, "First Randy then Gina accepted you for what you are Mireille. Do you or Kirika have any regrets over it?" Mireille replied, "No, I don't. Looking back I realize that our friendships have benefited each other. Randy and Gina carry a heavy burden that they accepted, the knowledge of what we do and what we have done. The Baldwin's and their children accepted us for what we are. Some would look to us as monsters, the Baldwin's view us a human and at times I feel he and Gina both treat us as their own daughters, their flesh and blood rather than passing acquaintances."

Kelly Summers gave a soft laugh, "When Randy told me of his involvement with my late sister Julia, the way he spoke about her it was like he had lost a daughter. I was only 12 years old when she died and because the circumstance of her death was so highly classified that the government could not truthfully reveal the circumstances; my parents and I would for years afterward kept finding fresh flowers being delivered to her grave in Iowa."

Kirika replied, "Her death affected him. He admitted to me later that I looked similar to Julia and that is why he refused to fight me or Mireille in the villa. When he involved himself in the gun battle inside the villa compound, he likely did it because of his memories of your sister."

Kelly Summers replied, "He admitted to me the circumstances of her death and that he was the one that was sending the flowers. He has never stopped sending them. My parents tell me they arrive rain or shine. They gave up a long time ago trying to have the florist tell them who the sender is."

Kirika spoke, "Then we know who has been sending flowers to Chloe's grave." Kelly looked at Kirika questionably, "Chloe?" Mireille replied sadly, "Another who was selected as Noir, she died during the final selection." The group was briefly interrupted as their selections were delivered and the proprietor left them alone once again.

The conversations continued through the meal, the women learning about each others pasts and how one man had managed to touch all their lives.

Friday, June 11th 1700 hours, North Atlantic, M/V Deep Sea

Carl Greensand had been called to the control room of the Deep Sea where operators of the remote controlled deep dive robot submersibles Observer and its smaller attached companion Micro had finally made contact with the sunken container ship resting in nearly 12,500 feet of water.

Carl Greensand a retired New York City Homicide detective had been hired by Randy Baldwin for Foundation investigations. It had been Gina Baldwin who had briefed him on his assignment one week earlier in Atlanta, "Carl, you will be joining the M/V Deep Sea a research vessel based out of Great Britain. They will be investigating a sinking of a US flagged container ship in the North Atlantic. The ship was enroute from Germany with a port stop in Iceland but never arrived. Out of a crew of 40, only three initial survivors. One died enroute to New York from his injuries. The remaining two low level crew members survived but added a wild story about large explosions."

Carl mused over the remaining briefing, "The Baldwin Foundation has been asked to join the investigation at the request of several families and the shipping company. They want to know was it an accident, an act of sabotage, terrorism or just an Act of God."

Carl had read the interviews of the surviving crewmembers including the last testament of the deceased crewmember that had been the first mate, taken by the master of the Norwegian freighter that had rescued the men from a very cold Atlantic Ocean.

The lifeboat from the ill-fated container ship had been found to have been sabotaged, its engine fuel system cut and the onboard disaster beacon electronics deliberately tampered with. It countered with the inspection report filed at its last port of call in Germany, which reported all systems fully operational; hence Carl Greensand's involvement to assist in the investigation, it smelled of murder upon the high seas.

The automated tracking system of the shipping company had been able to give investigators a starting point, but when a ship sinks it rarely goes straight down. From the last known position of the ship, the M/V Deep Sea had finally located the wreck some 14 miles from its last position on the ocean floor. The master of the Deep Sea had pointed to a marked position on his chart, one of a much more well known shipwreck the Royal Mail Ship Titanic lying some 150 miles to the southwest had commented to Carl, "When Titanic went down her position was estimated, but Dr. Ballard found her 12 miles from her original position. Though she broke in two, both halves glided to the ocean floor dumping the contents within. That's how the good doctor found her. He followed the debris trail and we will have to do the same."

Carl had entered the control room and watched as a sunken shipping container passed beneath the submersible Observer. A crewmember of the Deep Sea verified the container number as being on the ill-fated ship, "Yep that is another one belonging to our target. That one was from the rear stack position. Looks like she was raining containers on the way down, so far nothing from the internal storage sections; hopefully she stayed in one piece."

The M/V Deep Sea had used side scan sonar to locate the container ship. During the operation three other contacts on the ocean floor had been discovered as well as small outcroppings that appeared to follow a straight line to a fourth contact. The master of the M/V Deep Sea had sent the unmanned submersible Observer to investigate the contacts of interest. Two of the contacts turned out to be sunken Liberty ships from World War II and the other was a German U-Boat. Making note of the ships and submarine locations the crew of the Deep Sea set their sights on the outcroppings which turned out to be containers that had broken free of the container ship as it sank.

Carl took the offered seat and relaxed, with coffee cup in hand as the operator of the Observer had to initiate a sudden upward maneuver to avoid a pile of shipping containers then the hull of the ill-fated ship came into view, the ships name Fallacy then Homeport of New York appearing below.

Strange name for a ship Carl thought. The Observer hovered briefly then the operator released the smaller robot, Micro for close exploratory work. The operators made note of the positions of the propellers on Fallacy. The variable pitch twin screws allowed the high speed diesels to run at a constant and fuel efficient speed no matter the ordered speed. Their estimated pitch setting indicated that the ship had been at its ordered transit speed of 18 knots, when it had sunk.

With Observer hovering over the now vacated storage area at the stern of the ship, Carl took note of the ships superstructure that was being seen through the camera's of Micro as he stood and joined the master of the of the M/V Deep Sea, Chad Walters "So much for an Act of God," as both men took in the mangled superstructure.

Chad Walters directed the operator to begin erstwhile exploring while the assistant operator and observer began taking still photographs both color and black and white, "Well it looks like the blast came from within, more than one origin source. Somebody wanted to ensure there were no survivors, they came damn close to ensuring that."

The starboard lifeboat, still in its launching position jammed by the blast, the portside lifeboat position empty as Chad took note, "Amazing they were able to launch it. It must have been one hell of a ride down, then to find that their lifeboat had been screwed with to boot."

Carl taking notes of his own commented, "The two crewmembers that survived said they were standing near the lifeboat when the First Mate came staggering towards them. They followed their training and launched the boat at the direction of the Mate. They said they saw the fireball and felt the blast as they launched, so there must have been a malfunction in the remaining device."

Chad replied, "That pretty much goes with we know about the lifeboat. It was pretty much burned on the outside, but the dunking in the Atlantic put the fire out. The Coast Guard was puzzled by it since there was nothing in the aft containers that could cause such a blast or fire event. So somebody was busy in their last port of call. Let's go have a look at the hull."

The operators retrieved Micro into its garage on the Observer then at Walter's orders began to survey the hull. What they found next surprised them even more.

Chad bent closer to the monitor, "One hell of a hole, punched through both the inner and outer hulls. Oh hello, take a look at that! Bill get photo's of that close up as you can."

Carl Greensand looked at a nearby monitor, "Say is that what I think it is?" as Chad Walters replied, "Yes indeed. A twenty-first century version of a limpet mine, ok guys what ever you do, do not bump it. It may be a dud but I am not going to risk the submersible to try to retrieve it. If it goes off we can kiss Observer and Micro goodbye."

The operators gingerly backed the Observer away and continued the survey finding a total of five additional blast points on either side with the portside containing two and the starboard hull three. Chad tallied up the number, "Ok so one malfunctioned, but the others did not. Considering two would have been more than enough to sink it, they wanted the Fallacy to go down and rather quickly too. Something is not right about this. Ok guys take the Observer back topside, and have a close look at what's left of that forward container stack."

Using Micro for close-in work among the shattered stack of containers, Carl Greensand and Chad Walters found what certainly had been chambers of horrors, mid-way through the stack near the center of the ship. Chad Walters ordering extensive photographs and video sat in a chair to observe the operation.

Carl Greensand joining him commented, "I worked homicide investigations for 15 of my 21 years on the force in New York. What those poor bastards must have experienced on the way down, well I frankly would not want to experience."

Chad Walters replied, "The explosions, then the sudden descent of the ship as it sank, driven by its own propulsion system. The entry of the water itself, the noise of the containers around them as they were being torn free and then the entry of the water into their own; then trying to find someway out someone opens the concealed hatch somehow. Must have been a shear act of fear of imminent death to do it but they are too far down anyway at that point and the pressure is increasing rapidly. The sudden decompression of the containers around them added to the horror then as they drowned they felt the pressure then the sea crushed the life from their bodies. That is all that remains of human beings after an explosive decompression."

The operator panned the video camera over the jumbled skeletal remains. Closer examination from both video and stills estimated that there had been ten each inside the two containers. The death toll officially rose from 38 to 58. The M/V Deep Sea after recovering the Observer turned its bow towards Great Britain where it would arrive late Sunday afternoon. Carl Greensand disembarking from the ship caught the first available flight to Paris, France.

Monday, June 14th 0830 hours, Baldwin Foundation Offices, Paris, France

Alfred Stolzberg had completed the introductions of the office staff and other investigators to Carl Greensand and Kelly Summers and a brief outline of the forthcoming meeting, when Randy Baldwin walked into the conference room. Pausing briefly with Adeline Adora to which he gave two CD Data disks, Randy continued to the front where Alfred greeted him then stood aside.

"Good morning to all of you. Carl I am sorry I was not able to see you Sunday night when you came in as I was in England with my step-son taking in a soccer game."

Carl briefly stood and smiling, "No problem Mr. Baldwin, I heard he and the team did rather well against the Brits." Randy chuckled, "Yes they did. Three-Nil was the score."

Randy continued, "Ok. Let's get started. Alfred has already given all of you an idea what this is all about. Adeline? Please load files 'A' through 'F' from Disk One then put them on monitor 2 side by side and have file 'A1' and 'A2' cued from Disk 2 and ready to run."

Randy looked briefly around the room. Noir in the guise of special associates were sitting next to Kelly Summers, who had spent the last three days getting to know them. Carl Greensand fresh from the M/V Deep Sea sat across from them.

Randy turned then picking up a wireless mouse clicked on the photographs shown on monitor 2, "March 23rd of this year a US flagged container ship named the Fallacy went down with heavy loss of life in the North Atlantic. The Baldwin Foundation had been requested to conduct an independent investigation into the loss. Investigator Greensand from the Atlanta office was tasked with this.

Clicking the mouse again, Randy continued "Carl was aboard the M/V Deep Sea that took the following sequences of photos. We have of course ruled out it being an Act of God in the loss and are focusing on sabotage or an act of terrorism with a bizarre twist."

Randy turned towards a green equipment case lying in the corner and opened it. Removing an item similar to that pictured, he placed it on the table. Carl Greensand eying the device looked at Randy, "With all due respect, I hope that thing is just a simulator."

Randy nodded, "It is Carl. It is on loan from the Military Attaché at the Russian Embassy here in Paris."

Randy picked a spot on the table and shoved it, where it slid to a stop nearly in front of Kelly Summers.

Kelly Summers reached for and turned it so she could see the center control panel, "Russian manufacture, underwater demolition. Can be used against various targets, utilizes shape charge explosives with 5 times the detonation power of conventional C-4."

Randy looked on in puzzlement, "Ok. How did you know that?" Kelly replied, "A military briefing about a year ago, before I came to work for you."

Randy smiled then continued, "Kelly is correct. The exploration of the Fallacy turned up that type of device still attached to the hull. From the damage there were five others that went off successfully. Carl for the record, Chad Walters was wise not to attempt a removal. The attaché advised that tampering with it would have likely caused it to detonate, so Chad was spared from loosing his robots."

Randy then looked at Adeline, "Mrs. Adora, please play those files," as Randy turned to the main monitor "This is video from an underwater test taken by the Russian Military on a decommissioned diesel submarine that was used as a test subject." The violence of the blast and shockwave disturbed the camera, but within moments the crumpled hull began to sink from view.

Randy had the second played, "The next test bed was a decommissioned heavy cruiser, as you can see the blast was violent and that ships water tight integrity was badly compromised. It went down in 2,000 feet of water in less than 15 minutes." Carl replied "Well if one was enough for an old armored heavy cruiser, somebody over did it with six of those things. Though five did go off, someone was bent on putting the Fallacy on the bottom."

Randy replied, "Yes they were. Carl, you likely found the answer. There were two containers in the mid-ships stack where the refrigeration support systems were on the Fallacy. The two containers, side by side contained human remains. We believe they were being smuggled. The container numbers were cross referenced to a delivery point in New York." Carl perked up a bit, "New York?" Randy replied, "Yes. New York. Carl, I regret you can not spend a bit more time in France, but I need you on the ground there. Your flight leaves at 1100 hours. Get with your old department friends on the force and see what they may know or might have heard. Keep it discreet." Carl stood and smiled, "No problem. I'll see to it. Who do you want me to report to? You or Gina?" Randy turned to look at the photograph of the Fallacy, "Report to Gina." Carl Greensand said his farewells and left.

Randy turned to Kelly Summers and Noir, "Mireille, Kirika, Kelly. You will handle the origination point of the containers. Mireille and Kirika have been there before Kelly, they will be able to brief you on the lay of the land. Our interest at this point is to determine who may have been onboard the containers then who actually carried out the smuggling operation."

Kelly replied, "What about the sabotage of the Fallacy? Who is looking into that?" Randy glanced briefly at Lucio Magnus, "We have others looking into that issue. That is all for the main briefing. Kelly, Murielle and Kirika please come to my office. Alfred, would you arrange for a messenger to return the dummy device to the Russian Embassy, and convey my thanks to them for their assistance."

Entering his private office, Randy sat at his desk and motioned for Noir and Kelly to take seats, "Mireille, you and Kirika were in Ukraine last year. How many of your contacts might be forthcoming in assisting?"

Mireille replied, "They may take some prodding, since this is an entirely different matter but most will likely cooperate given certain information." Randy doodled on a notepad, "Ok. But like Carl be discreet. I don't want to alert who ever is behind this that we are hunting them. My preference is keeping those with information alive, so stay your hands for now."

Kelly interrupted, "You make this like you are hunting wild game. That is a bit of a stretch." Kirika replied, "You will soon see Madam Summers, that Monsieur Baldwin's view of the smugglers is just that. They are animals when it comes to taking advantage of those much less fortunate. The toll in human life is already heavy. It could get higher if we don't intercede."

Kelly spoke, "Ok. What is my part in this?" Randy replied, "Mireille and Kirika will be going deep. You are their in country contact. I have already prepared a package for your use. It contains emergency contacts who have been vetted and who are trustworthy. Several are law enforcement officials; others are in various fields both public and private. If you get an indication that either Mireille or Kirika are in trouble, contact the listed law enforcement officials and they will bring the cavalry. The other contacts will be able to provide various services if needed." Randy turned and handed a small envelope to Kelly, "That contains the contact information for Burien Bence, he is a commander in the Ukrainian National Police and he is your primary contact. The other contacts are his junior officers. Work with him on this, as he is investigating smuggling operations as well. He had a hand with providing critical information into the child slavery operation last year. Without his help, those children still might be on that island."

Dismissing the women and turning to other matters at hand Randy Baldwin retrieved an expandable file folder and removed several items placing them on his desk and tearing off the doodled paper from the notepad began to make notes.

"1. Shipping containers arrive from Ukraine by rail to port in Germany. They have passed through various borders and through various customs entry points. Within three hours of arrival on March 20th, they are loaded on Fallacy.

2. Fallacy enters port locks and has underwater inspection within one hour of arrival and general shipboard safety inspection during hour two of twelve hour port visit.

3. Load out of Fallacy occurs from 1800 hours on March 20th to March 21st at 0530 hours. Ship enters locks at 0545 hours and passes sea buoy marking harbor entrance in the North Sea, at 0655 hours. Ordered transit speed is 18 knots to Iceland."

4. March 23rd from 0231 hours to 0244 hours, based on last signal from shipboard transponder limpet mines and hidden explosives detonate. Ship is on its way to bottom by 0245 hours.

5. Who boarded ship in Germany and placed explosives and the limpets? Why was Fallacy targeted? Are containers with human remains the reason or were they just innocent victims?

6. The Russian limpet mines. Stolen from naval arsenal near Moscow. Theft not discovered until discreet inquiry made by Foundation. Six found missing. Russian military conducting inventory of other military arsenals to determine if any others are missing. (God let's hope not)

7. Shipping concern is financially sound, operating within expenses. Fallacy and sister ships no reported major incidents till now. Fallacy was oldest at seven years and six months of service."

Randy reviewed his notes, "Ok the Fallacy was to pickup three containers in Iceland with frozen fish. They would have been loaded atop and next to the two containers bearing their human cargo, filling in the final gap of the container stack. Then off to New York for offload." Randy wondered if he was overlooking something then he turned to his computer and called up the still photographs of the shipping containers. Rotating them around on the screen he looked closely and enhanced the photographs. 10 minutes later he was on the phone to the port master of Reykjavik, Iceland.

Monday, June 14th 1600 hours, National Police Headquarters, Odessa, Ukraine

Kelly Summers was led into the office of Burien Bence, where the Police Commander greeted her warmly and offered her coffee which she accepted.

By agreement, Kelly and Noir had traveled to the Ukraine by different methods. Kelly officially was providing consulting services as cover. Her consulting services were to assist with developing new investigative techniques for the Ukrainian National Police. Commander Bence interacting with her would not be considered out of the ordinary.

Burien closing the door to his office, returned to his desk "Ms. Summers, I am grateful that the Baldwin Foundation accepted my request as is my government." Kelly Summers replied, "Mr. Baldwin stated that he looked forward to being able to assist in the matter at hand," as Kelly Summers removed a folder from her briefcase and placed it upon his desk.

Commander Bence making small talk reviewed the contents then returned it to Kelly, "The Baldwin Foundation is kept abreast of the smuggling activities of this region. The inquiry to the origins of the containers was received and acted on. They were shipped by rail from Kiev through Poland then into Germany. I reviewed customs inspections of the rail shipment. It seems only a selected few in the rail shipment were in fact thoroughly examined."

Kelly Summers replied, "How is some of the smuggling operations carried out?" Commander Bence stood then walking to a nearby map of Ukraine began, "Some are rather simple, others of course more sophisticated. Our borders to the east are rather fluid and we have had in recent years refugees seeking better lives, much like the Latino population of South America and Mexico who cross the American border by any means."

Commander Bence tracing a path on the map, "The refugees of course know that there is much better work to the west, so they pay to be smuggled. Some thinking that they are being taken to another country soon finds them abandoned, still within our borders penniless. Then there are those who may be lucky to find the professionals, who demand high sums. The sums paid have been reported as high as 150,000 per head. The professionals use various means to carry out the smuggling, one of which is utilizing shipping containers. The smugglers of humans have become more sophisticated at disguising the containers and their contents. Perhaps it would be better to show you to help you understand how they work."

Commander Bence took Kelly Summers to a nearby training facility, where customs officers and police officers both were receiving training. Commander Bence recognized by the instructors asked that they continue, "The instructors are showing the officers some of the latest tricks. The containers that you see both on the ground and on the truck and rail car were seized after their human cargos were discovered Ms. Summers.

Kelly motioned by Commander Bence entered a 40 foot container, where the Commander continued "The interiors are heavily modified for the transport of humans. Small amounts of actual cargo are loaded after the human cargo is in place. As you can see the conditions are harsh, but this particular modification allowed ten men and women to live."

Kelly walked the length of the container and turned, "What tripped them up Commander?" Commander Bence replied, "Someone was careless and did not properly make a weld. A leak developed in the hidden sewage tank and a customs officer shall we say smelled them out." Kelly mused over that comment, "How long could someone live in here sealed up?" Commander Bence frowning, "This container was modified to support 10 people for 45 days, enough time to make the trip by rail and the voyage to your country Ms. Summers."

Commander Bence continued the tour outlining additional tactics used in human smuggling, and then taking her to her hotel for the evening he offered Kelly some reading material that would absorb her interest late into the night. Kelly Summers retiring to bed began to understand Randy Baldwin's hatred against human traffickers and why he viewed them as animals.

Tuesday, June 15th 0200 hours, Odessa, Ukraine

Kirika Yumura and Mireille Bouquet had arrived separately in Odessa after crossing the border. Both had changed their appearances to such an extent that Mireille was satisfied that even Randy Baldwin would not recognize either of them. Mireille waited patiently for Kirika to join her at a small hostel. When the two figures walking out of the darkness approached her, Mireille scrutinizing the individuals closely finally recognized Kirika, but the man walking next to her, leaning on a make shift crutch alarmed her at his presence, Keanu Benoit. The free-lance journalist who had revealed Baldwin's involvement in the raid of the child slavery compound in Africa was leaning on Kirika for support.

Kirika had crossed the border separately from Mireille. Each woman had joined a refugee group to make the dangerous crossing. There had been no problems until the man tripped a sensor in the darkness. While others in her group scattered, Kirika continued alone easily evading the security forces. When she found Benoit, he had become entangled in a barb wire trap injuring his leg. It was not till she had freed him and aided him away from the security forces closing in that she realized whom she had aided. Keanu had not recognized Kirika and thought she was just another refugee seeking a better life. Sitting him on a bench near the hostel she gave him the excuse that she needed to speak with her friend in private and joined Mireille well out of earshot of Benoit.

Mireille Bouquet greeting Kirika nodded in the direction of Benoit, "Why did you bring him? He could pose a problem?" as Kirika embracing Mireille like a long lost friend replied, "He was injured. There was the matter of the security forces finding him. He might have told where the refugees were to be going. He has told me who he is; he is trying to do an expose on smuggling."

Mireille replied, "Any other time this might be suitable but not now. However it may play out. We will keep him with us for the time being at least to keep an eye on him. Did he recognize you?" Kirika shaking her head no replied "He shows no recognition of me."

Mireille sighed then approached Keanu Benoit and introduced herself giving her false identity in halting French, which Benoit trying to convey his thanks took Mireille hand finding it rough within his own.

Keanu replied, "I am sorry I burdened your friend. Perhaps we can make journey together? I know many in France who would be able to help."

Mireille giving her thanks, then helping Keanu to his feet with Kirika they walked off into the darkness together.