The Woman who Owns the Shadows : After Midnight

May 19, 2017  00:11:47 : A small convoy moving cautiously through darkened streets, still a few people walking about in the International Quarter,  there is a light rain : The Emissary of Turkmenistan has decided to join them, his Mercedes following the SUV driven by Micha :
he is playing Radio Nowhere by Bruce Springsteen: 48.564077, 39.338077 Jenna is texting her editor to hold the story until the weekend, about the gas /transit pipeline corridor announcement 
*******************

I was tryin' to find my way home
But all I heard was a drone
Bouncing off a satellite
Crushin' the last lone American night

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

I was spinnin' 'round a dead dial
Just another lost number in a file
Dancin' down a dark hole
Just searchin' for a world with some soul

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
Is there anybody alive out there?

I just want to hear some rhythm
I just want to hear some rhythm
I just want to hear some rhythm
I just want to hear some rhythm

I want a thousand guitars
I want pounding drums
I want a million different voices speaking in tongues

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?
Is there anybody alive out there?

I was driving through the misty rain
Yeah searchin' for a mystery train
Boppin' through the wild blue
Tryin' to make a connection with you

*******************************************
After a quick security check at an entrance gate,
Micha drives the SUV quickly  down a steep ramp  into a small underground  parking area. It is mostly filled with expensive looking cars. Tcho notes that the one of the Audi's  belonging to The couple from Lichtenstein is parked, among them. Dietrich, the Bavarian Consul is smoking and chatting with the Korean Business Association representative, showing off his Volga Gaz3102 Attache that he'd transported by rail car, it's practically a one- off restoration.

Johnny gets out from his shotgun position first, opens the door for Jenna, taking her hand as Tcho, Umid and Micha emerge from the left side of the SUV, Kenzei had ridden in the rear cargo section, sitting cross legged. After they all nod to Diettrich and his Korean friend, they walk over  to the large double door of the entrance:  Третий клубная жизнь, Svetlana waits for them, dressed in all black, her hair in a ponytail. She chats amicably with the security man ,Bondar. They wait for Anwar and his assistant  to join them before entering the Club .

they settle into a corner booth upholstered with Maroon red, strewn with loose cushions emblazoned with popular internet symbols, as they enter, they are greeted by the Azeri owner of the club Elkhan:

Виктор Цой - Перемен   his music is perfectly equalized in the room, it feels like they are at a live concert, the video plays on the projected wall screen https://youtu.be/FU8csnZxdPA  Jenna: her sense of the smell of the place is intensely magnified, beers, whisky, a vague hint of Tequila, Vodkas of many types, and a faint hint of blood is in the air. The room has a high, expansive ceiling painted in a geometric mix of grey, red, black and white sections, with an apparently quite large metal tank dominating , nearly touching an arched section of the room's  steel girders : it has tripod legs and port windows , with a ladder ramp going steeply up into it's belly. It straddles the Disco floor.
The Deejay , she shifts into a techno/ House Music style segueing from the Victor Tsoi .
A waitress Dahlia, all dressed in Punk Retro, industrial style  black leather skirt spiked hair, pins and needles, black converse high tops approaches : She Brings waters and a pot of Johnny's preferred Chai , he'd texted her ahead of their arrival. He keeps his booth on an open reservation system.
Tcho: he orders his Mine Shaft Special he trained the bartender to make : Vermouth, Bitters and Capetown Kahlua he imported a case of for strategic exchanges.
Umid , he asks for the same,  the Mine shaft.
 Kenzei : he orders from the cold Sake menu some Junmai Daiginjo (remarking in Russian to Daahlia : it is my personal favorite, nice that you have it on the menu / smiles in a sly way)

Svetlana asks for a bottled beer Leffe Blonde , then checks her phone, looking down

Tcho: he  whispers to Jenna : If you reviewed your treatment guidelines, for some reason , Champagne is compatible, in modest quantities with The Biological agent's metabolic regime.
they have Spanish Sparkling wine here on the menu, interested ?
Jenna : Sure , it's cool here, I don't feel a bit tired despite the long day, why not?

THEY ALL ENGAGE IN A QUICK ROUND OF TOASTS, TOAST TO THE EMISSARY , HE
The Turkmenistan Emissary sits near them, yet a couple women, a couple of suits (men wearing suit jackets) ,other people quickly congregate to his table, he has 2 young men standing about who look to be casual party people, but they are security buffers, filtering the people who might approach his table

Johnny knows he must join them soon: after his tea

checking messages now, from Imran and his liaison in the SBUsbu/control about the girl, ANNA, 

NO NEWS YET ,  of  HER WHEREABOUTS  or  THE HUNTER'S BOAT ON THE RIVER.

At that moment, looking up from his phone, Johnny: he is startled,  like an electric voltage in his nerves upon seeing a well dressed,  hawk eyed  Indian compatriot, the man is chuckling softly : Ashevarwin !  What brings you here, out of nowhere? My good , yet quite  mischievous man !

Ashevarwin:   Well Zhenya , Surprise , surprise! I bring greetings from PM Modi, -reviews-
and most importantly, your much awaited Sarangi strings accompanied by a tuning master on loan  courtesy of /zohaibhassanamritsari.com ! With the repairs and tuning complete, you can continue to inflict your B-minus playing ability upon the world my friend.

Johnny: Ash,   smashing news ! And you're here to trip me up once more as you did so well during my first year on the Cricket team ?  heap sodden praises  upon  me up like the older brother I never wanted to suffer ? You are looking excellent tonight, how did you arrive in such stealth ?

Ashevarwin: Of course, it is always my pleasure to deride you mate !  The photo from today, of your kneeling down , working the concrete, with the grease smudge on your face, it's starting to rage in your personal Twitter-sphere ,  I asked my friend at Times of India not to publish your photo in connection with Modi's announcement of an upcoming official visit to East Ukraine! 
As to my arrival, I caught a direct flight courtesy of India Defense forces bringing some spare parts to your new regional security apparatus.
Johnny (he glares at Kenzei ) "you leaked your photo session in violation of our protocol ?
I am shocked and chagrined (he smiles ) I don't mind being shown down in the trenches, taking a hit for the team, it is a catchy photo! "

Ashevarwin :  Of course , you know don't you ? Your popularity has plummeted in Kashmir !

Your former colleagues  and staff , they weekly update your latest twitter photo to attach it to the  target of the office Dart  Board! India's intelligence agency has picked up mutterings of one more radical group who wants to kidnap you again and CANE you worse than they did before. Now they say that 3 lashes was not enough!

Johnny " We'll have to learn more about that , really Ash, you're not joking with me?

Ashevarwin : he Chuckles "They are incredibly jealous of your high profile initiative Zhenya, and of course you knew there is a fresh round of  budget cuts coming to Kashmir/ Jammu specifically ?
  The vacation times , perks were reduced even more; you could have staved it off my friend !
Really , I don't even know why you left that beautiful executive office with views of the inner gardens, you had a great career track ahead of you, now all the region's economy is in a bit of a backspin since you left. Of course  every tiny little problem is now blamed on you ! Some imputed mistakes of your management, strategy and what people say are  the "stolen Promises of your administration "  my friend ( he signals Dahlia, the waitress ) "Bombay Saphire with Quinine tonic"
And I hear that your family business has hired a new regional manager at a terrific salary, yet I also hear that the debt to equity is increasing to a potentially unsustainable point in the market index !

Johnny : Ash, I heard your investment group was  down calibrating, does this mean our deals we set in motion are getting shifted off the investment schedule? What of the tax incentives? You don't know the full story, that I hope to fix things in Kashmir working from here, via some licensing agreements and manufacturing deals ? We are in a good position to upend the entire Pakistan/ Indian auto market!

 Ashevarwin : yes,  I know most of all all that, but now they don't believe the rumors my friend!

Tcho: in the midst of this animated banter, finishing his Mine Shaft Special, he gets a text, looks quickly up, across to the far side of the room , in the shadows, he knew she was there....

He leans over to Jenna "Jen, we have an invitation to visit someone important for your story...."

Jenna (now  feeling vaguely bored by Ash's haranguing Johnny)
 she looks across the room, 2 serious looking body guards flank an alert looking Asian Woman , glancing towards them "Who is she, Tcho?"

Tcho : "....... Ai Jie_Shan , you don't know her ? 
her photos are carefully edited from the Chinese internet, she is perhaps,  one of the most powerful business women in China , shipping , trucking, logistics , manufacturing , hotels, Discos and various underworld activities are associated with her , she is the head  of the Green Dragon Triad, her uncle is at the top echelon of the PLA us-china-taiwan- (People's Liberation Army) the bulk of the PLA's black money goes through her hands, their unofficial budgetary regime. www.scmp.com She's very Cosmopolitan, she has been rumored to heavily favor extensive reforms and changes, plus she's a master of the Gu-Zheng https://youtu.be/ujzMHLac404?t=27s

Jenna: finishes her glass of champagne, nods in agreement, starts up "Jolly Well then, let's go !"

Tcho : Svetlana , you are asked to join us .

Jenna : Ashevarwin, so nice to meet you, / Johnny, we'll leave you two to abuse each other  a bit more  (she smiles, nods to Umid, Kenzei is adjusting his night lens to take some photos)

Tcho : Ash, pleasure to know you,  hope to see you later.

They cross the room laterally  filled with tables, skirt the Disco floor, Tcho:  briefly introduces Jenna to Juergen, the man from Lichtenstein and his wife Paulina : it's loud anyway, they pass on Business cards / for the University of Peace and Reconstruction .

As they approach Ai Jie_Shan, her bodyguards move  aside, 

each about 2 meters away, on her left and right side against the wall.

She stands to greet them, she is tallish,   young, mid 30's ? a lightly curled hair style with a loose bun kicked at a left angle, tasteful clothes not much differing from Svetlana's black outfit, except in a Black silk blouse , stiletto heels, smiling, she extends her hand to Tcho, then glances towards Svetlana, smiling "Privyet Svetlana ! 

Tcho,   So this is your brave Heroine Jenna Trimble ! I have heard so much about her, 
  I am Ai-Jie, please, have a seat , I hear you were wounded today.... You should drink water now as well. She has a selection of mineral waters set into a bucket of ice, she reaches  over to take an artisanal Mongolian Mineral water, and a special regional mineral water of the Lake Baikal region, plus there is Evian and Italian mineral water

Jenna, smiling, seating herself, takes the Mongolian water first offered by Ai_Jie.

Ai Jie : The Pineda Covalin gown is stunning on you Jenna, I had decorated a suite in my Shanghai Hotel with many of their products www.pinedacovalin.com/_eng/boHome. we are, parenthetically, negotiating a South China distribution partnership with Pineda Covalin,  through one of our retail outlets.Jenna,  I know you had a long day getting here and must be getting tired, and I have to warn you, (she pauses) that Doctor Tran's treatment, at this phase of it's biochemical process  ,  you are easily induced by hypnotic suggestion. Please excuse my down shifting to business here : 

I am exploring either buying,  or starting an entirely  new Asian media outlet, and would like you to consider becoming our South and Central Asia managing editor, money is certainly not going to be a problem, you'd have complete editorial freedom, a generous living allowance, yet I know you want to be close to your family right now,  and perhaps the Guardian isn't so much about money, it's about the platform you prefer to use as a journalist ? However, if you're interested, 

my agent, Mister CHoi, he will give you further details in the next day or so.

Jenna, as she looks in her eyes, she thinks of a particular Falcon she'd held one time,  whilst she was accompanying a hunting party of an Arab Sheikh bird-falcon-hunting-in-qatar

"Ai_Jie, can you give me something, what brings you here ? are you an investor in The Consortium ?

Ai_Jie : "well of course, the terms of the Consortium require my discretion here, I can tell you something important if you withhold it for now,  in total secrecy :

(at this point a very handsome Central Asian man has approached Svetlana, asking her to Dance, to which, upon Ai_Jie's nod, she agrees, and goes to the dance floor with him) 

now it is only Tcho and Jenna, Ai Jie has shifted to take Svetlana's seat, now facing the wall.  Our syndicate does stretch far and wide ,  and we have got evidence that one of our most valued captains of our newest industry,  he is being held in captivity, possibly injured greatly, and in need of urgent treatment  by Doctor Tran . We had invested in some movie studios and productions, our Captain/ man in charge marco-polo-stuntman-  Ju Kun, 

Aie_Jie:

We  are not quite sure yet, who keeps him, or what terms they exactly want, 

We need to exert pressure them to make a deal, we need to leak things, strategically, through the media, if you have an interest to be of assistance Jenna.?  she smiles, yet peers intently at Jenna's  responsive expression.
(Of course Johnny is also quietly,  inadvertently caught in this MH370 web , he's implicated in hints of some obfuscation of  Jammu/Kashmir military radar data, within  the thread of the  Baikonur theory,  )

Currently ,  our information about the missing plane and passengers,  is that a rival Triad, the   Taiwan' based Black Leopard Faction operates an elite private military- Industrial protection consortium, used  one  of their sub-units  known as the  Black Wasp Command,  yet there  is no absolute proof of this, there are other Triads potentially able to manage this,  or another  entity.

Jenna : I heard something about this before Ai_Jie , that a "Black Wasp" is a type of covert operation that co-opts a friendly, highly professional individual, with both intense psychological pressure, psycho -somatic drugs and sophisticated armed forces,
.So it was something like : your people had designs on obtaining the computer chip technology after the plane landed in Beijing ? Then another  group captured  the entire plane. There was a splinter group of Anti-Castro Black Wasps, those people?  or so,  maybe I'm confused  .  You have Proof of Life on this theory ?

 Ai_Jie : (nods ) Yes, of course we had an operation  in place and Ju Kun was in charge of protecting our asset on the flight      http://foreignpolicy.-chiang-kai-shek-won-the-war/  , Only our rivals , , they are the only other regional player  we know ,  capable of this ,  now we  think it was water landing  near the South end of    Pulau Raijua  and the fuel drained , the plane broken down enough to fit into one of their ghost cargo ships dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession-anchored-just-east-Singapore.html

Ai_Jie : , Even today, did Johnny tell you about the girl, the Red head, Anna ? My network is also searching her, my best people smuggler has gone to check the river for her trail, as well as everyone else. It is possible that she holds some part of the key to the entire mystery....

We have evidence the passengers  were  kept in a deeply hidden location,  a bunker at a remote Island in the Sulu Archipelago.We found the bunker, and located his sign and information he had about the counter-operation,  Now they have been moved elsewhere , this group, They have submarines and hidden smuggling and arms trading networks that rival ours.  Of course, Mister Putin had a   man on board the plane, apparently  his  people were looking at that flight :  They also want their man returned. We don't really know for sure yet, what  entities were truly  involved. 
The Pilot was secretly indebted with  the Black Leopards , we have learned of his gambling and the other matters of his obligation with them. 

For the moment , we need to get our man, Ju Kun, returned under any terms. We are no longer concerned with the chip technology, it is being reformulated on our super computers,  as it appears to be already nearly outdated. 
If you do as I ask, it's possible the passengers can be freed from captivity Jenna : After all, it was mostly our pressure on the Russian Federation that caused the release of all prisoners and hostages from this small  war of the Donbas, and started the settlement of the Peace agreement.
 it was getting so inconvenient for our interests to have it continue.

Jenna : "Wow, so that's quite a lot for me to take in : you are passing on the idea that I work for MI-5  or our intelligence apparatus no longer matters much, after the Brexit? 

By the way Ai_Jie, where did this secret biological agent working away, right now on me, where did it truly originate ? Doctor Tran developed the whole program at his laboratory ?
 And when will the next set of reforms, the much whispered about Greater Great Leap Forward start to emerge ?
Also,  I had heard that "your man" , Ju Kun he was rumored to be in with the Black Leopards.... (she smiles ) it's all quite interesting Ai_Jie, thanks for sharing (she batts her eye lashes) I will consider your offer sincerely.

Ai_Jie : (nodding in the direction of the Turkmenistan Emissary and  Johnny as they approach ) 

" Jenna, please excuse me , the fuller story regarding the Biological agent must wait ,  this is the Greater Great Leap Forward, you can watch it happen, or you can be a part of it, as you wish, "

She smiles, stands to greet Anwar, Johnny, Tcho stands , 

Anwar greets him once again, eagerly "Amandla, Awethu Tcho!  

Ai_Jie -, Jenna,  please tell Mister Choi, when you have a minute, if you wish  to continue our conversation ?

Mister CHoi: a dapper, slightly older  man, and strong bodied man,  dressed in a formal suit , with a turtleneck shirt and a black beret, friendly but restrained smile, steps forward, extends his business card to Jenna, " a great pleasure to Meet you Jenna " he withdraws.

Johnny: has approached, he turns  to Jenna (as the music turns to Deep House, Trance) 

you aren't feeling pain or disorientation Jenna ?

Jenna: I am still totally stick upright, yes, thanks ! ]

Johnny : Turns  to Tcho "looks like on of your dance floor favorites is over to the side Tcho, are you going to ask her to dance ? (smiles)

Tcho: yeah Zhenya, don't mind if I do (he stands up, nods to all around, walks away ) 

Johnny : are you interested in going up into the "space ship"  Jenna ? 
It's got a cool virtual reality interface  and it's a full on Faraday cage in there... http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/faradaycageexperiments.html

Jenna "Okay then, let's go! (as Umid approaches ) Umid, shall you join us?

Umid: I hear it sounds like fun !

the trio led by Johnny , followed by Jenna in her colorful dress crosses laterally the Disco floor and ascends the ladder ramp after  a ravishing  couple with matching jet black hair and silver and black outfits descends....