Brazilian Cleansing: A Tor Medina Thriller, #2

By Gus Heyerdahl

Tor Medina's career starts with a bang! Or two…

On his first month on the job, Detective Medina is handed an apparently unimportant missing persons case. But when he discovers that his case is connected to a series of political assassinations taking place at the nation's capital, Tor finds himself over his head.

 

"This book is all action! Great story!" —Aaron

 

As bodies pile up and the circle of suspects starts to close, Tor doesn't know who to trust. The inexperienced detective is forced to follow the case alone, unaware of the dangers that lie beneath. 

If Tor is not careful, he or someone he loves could end up at the bottom of the lake.

 

*** DON'T MISS THIS PAGE-TURNING THRILLER! ***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gus Heyerdahl
• Release date: Jun 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533757814

Book preview

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For Debra, Tom & Rocky.

FICTION

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or places is entirely coincidental.

Brazilian Cleansing

A Tor Medina Thriller

Gus Heyerdahl

More Books from this Author:

www.GusHeyerdahl.com

© 2016

The tree of liberty must be refreshed

from time to time with the

blood of patriots and tyrants.

-Thomas Jefferson

Preface

Last Month

When people say it’s a less than perfect world, they are not kidding.

Tor Medina was home, watching yesterday’s deposition of Luiz Ygnacio to a federal prosecutor, on the news channel. Ygnacio was the senior vice-president of one of the largest companies in the world, BrazOil, the Brazilian national oil company.

A recent investigation uncovered a systematic plundering of the company’s assets and Ygnacio became exposed as a key figure in the biggest political scandal since the military coup of ’68. The scandal involved the government placing party members in key positions where they could pressure private companies into paying a fee or commission, to win the company’s huge contracts. According to the federal prosecutor, Ygnacio was taking substantial bribes to award public contracts and since at least half of the money was being sent to the government’s party, the Presidential Palace had been looking the other way. Eventually the public prosecutor found out, made deals with a couple of minor accomplices to testify and collected an enormous amount of incriminating evidence.

The investigation had taken huge proportions and the ripple effect was devastating. It involved the near bankruptcy of the country’s largest company and employer, owners and CEOs of the country’s largest contractors and worse, important politicians, ranging from congressmen to Senators, leading up to past and present presidents.

The news then moved on to an apparently unrelated story of a museum exhibit. As it turned out, the story wasn’t unrelated at all. The bulk of the artwork that comprised the exhibit was part of Mr. Ygnacio’s private collection. When the police arrested Mr. Ygnacio they found a large number of paintings and sculptures, presumably in an attempt to launder the income from the bribes. The police confiscated the art and set up an exhibit where the people could enjoy his collection for free. The artwork’s value was obviously incompatible with Mr. Ygnacio’s declared income and the exhibition became a public relations home run for the prosecutor’s office.

Ygnacio was temporarily kept in jail, waiting for his lawyers to free him while the investigations continued. Meanwhile, a special congressional commission was set up to make their own inquiries. According to the congressmen, they had a duty to keep the public attorney from transforming an isolated bribery case into a political witch-hunt. But to anyone familiar with the political scene, the real purpose of the commission was obvious. Half or more of the congressmen in the special commission were there with the specific task of controlling the investigation. In an attempt to minimize damages to both the corruption scheme and their own public images, the congressmen worked hard trying to disarm political bombs, searching for any flaws or technicalities in the process that could dismiss the inquiries. Obviously, they were also beneficiaries of the bribery scheme and owed loyalty to the government.

The case exposed the basic strategy of how the party in power planned to stay in power. After four consecutive terms, the party had followed the populist script and managed to create a government that orbited between Cuba’s veiled dictatorship and Venezuela’s pretend democracy. In their discourse, the officials claimed that a greater control of the country’s assets would ensure the eradication of poverty and the greatness of the nation. It was a nice rhetoric; unfortunately it was bogus. The plan was to institutionalize a bribery scheme that would fund the party and a few well advertised social programs that served as vote magnets.

Eventually the news channel returned to the developing story. Ygnacio’s arrest and testimony had the power to jeopardize the whole scheme. The man had the knowledge and evidence to expose and incriminate high ranking officials and was considered a political time bomb. His deposition could cause a snowball effect that would cripple and maybe even threaten the presidential term. The congressmen took turns questioning the man. Aware that the deposition was being televised, most took the opportunity to exalt themselves. Some, like the president’s allies, asked innocuous questions designed to create doubt and denial. The opposition tried to get the man riled up, in an attempt to force him to drop more important names involved in the scandal. In either case, Mr. Ygnacio’s answers were invariably a variation of my lawyers advised me to remain quiet.

The whole spectacle was ridiculous. Like a play in the theatre, the actors went through the motions as the audience passively watched. The truth was that the commission was a staged response to the crisis and as usual, would end up generating a lot of TV time but no concrete results. After hours of fruitless exchanges, the viewers were undoubtedly asking themselves if this commission was serious and if anyone would end up jail.

Tor wondered how many people were watching and how many people were fooled by this pantomime. Many viewers chose sides and had clear political stands but few were aware that the opposing parties were just pretending to defend their interests.

Tor hoped people could read between the lines and wished some would get upset. In his opinion, people need to stand up for what’s right and take action. Hitting a like button in some online social group is not an act of civil involvement. He wanted people to get involved and demand improvements and change. His wish would come true. He would soon find out some people got a little too upset.

Monday, August 1 I

A NEW LIFE

Chapter 1

Brasília, 7 a.m.

Another loathsome Monday.

Tor Medina, the new assistant detective was heading to his 2nd Precinct on Brasília’s North Wing and was uneasy about his career. It was only his second week on the new job and he was bored. During his first week he just sat at an empty desk, staring out the window into the void while the days went by. This was not what he expected.

Especially after four years of intense studying and training, plus another dull year patrolling the streets. He would never complain about that experience. It was awesome. After the whole deal with his family five years ago, Tor had moved to Brasília with his wife Lorena. With the help of Detective Almeida from Rio, who managed to arrange for a scholarship, he attended the Federal University and graduated third in his class in Criminal Studies. Like most graduates he thought he knew everything. Everything about Investigation Techniques, Crime Scene Analysis, Forensics, Psychology and all the other elective courses he took to make him a superstar detective. He actually believed he was ready to become a champion of justice and eradicate crime. He wasn’t. It took him another year walking the beat to gain some mileage.

One year on the streets was a requirement for the detective job he dreamed about. The patrolling gig wasn’t fun at all. Tor dealt with a lot of petty occurrences like theft, marital disputes and more than a few drunk and disorderly offenses which yielded a lot of paperwork and minimal sense of accomplishment. At least in his spare time he read and practiced martial arts.

In the last few years he had learned a lot and his body had also changed. Tor, who once looked like an under nourished teenager, was now twenty three years old, six feet tall and weighed almost two hundred pounds .

In the last five years, he practiced martial arts like Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Israeli Krav-Maga for some time, but what he really loved was Taekwon-Do. He was a solid first-degree black belt in the Korean art which is not that big a deal. His master had taught him that obtaining a black belt was only the beginning. He still had a lot to learn even if he excelled in sparring. His kicks and hand techniques were impeccable. He also extensively practiced escapes from grabs and locks, and immobilization techniques. Practicing Taekwon-Do had made him a great fighter and above all, a better person.

Tor had insisted and convinced Lorena to take a few classes. She also enjoyed it and was now a dangerous red belt. Her body changed with the training and she was even more attractive than before.

Like Tor, she was also granted a scholarship and attended the Federal University. She graduated in the same field but with better grades in Forensics and Psychology. She loved working in the lab but was still unsure what career path to follow, unlike Tor whose future had been carefully planned.

His sponsor Detective Almeida had already arranged a job for him at the local police precinct. His recommendation was welcome but unnecessary. Tor’s grades and performance were excellent and his application to the precinct’s Special Crimes Unit also included a recommendation letter from one of his professors. His resume was impressive. A young black belt with excellent marks was a strong profile and the letter was the clincher.

Tor wanted to become a detective but wasn’t interested in regular police enforcement. Chasing ATM robbers wasn’t what he pictured when he imagined himself in the law enforcement world. He wanted to solve crimes. Tough, hard to solve enigmas. These don’t come along too often. He knew that in most cases the solution wasn’t all that hard. If you thought the husband did it, you were probably right. The work would be finding the evidence, not uncovering a mystery. And even that seemed trivial. You just had to probe into the suspect’s affairs and recent whereabouts and you would soon start finding fragments of evidence. Keep looking and eventually you’d find a case-solving piece. The key is diligence.

Tor wanted a bigger challenge, something that would keep him motivated so he applied to the 2nd Precinct’s Special Crimes Unit. He was accepted less than a month after.

The 2nd Precinct was located on the north side of the left wing of the airplane-shaped city. The police building was part of the city’s original design and like many other government buildings, was located on a vast estate. The building was, as official buildings should be, imposing. Its concrete facade could be seen from a distance and when you approached it you’d find it surrounded by a beautifully designed garden.

His first few days were actually cool. He was excited about everything new and especially about being part of the police department. He had met Deputy Chief Suarez, the supervisor of the police station and second-in-command, who shook his hand indifferently. Tor wasn’t upset with the man’s nonchalance; he knew he was a fresh fish and that respect had to be earned. He was proud, though. Just meeting the man made him feel a part of the force.

He also visited the twelfth floor, the penthouse where the police commissioner had an office. He did not meet Commissioner Costa but he had seen the office and it impressed him.

The Commissioner was responsible for the whole city and in the government’s hierarchy, was only below the Minister of Justice. The fact that the Commissioner’s office was in the building made it the most important police address in the city. These things made Tor feel like he was in the right place, where everything happened, supposedly.

His daily work proved him wrong. Nothing happened. Tor sat at his empty desk, staring out the window for most of the day.

He had been assigned as an assistant to Detective Jerry Burrel, an old school cop who was in his late sixties and was considered over the hill. The detective was only handed regular, presumably simple cases. Those were petty thefts and some missing persons cases. The thefts were usually committed by family members with an addiction or, in corporate cases, by employees with outstanding debts. All you had to do to find the perpetrator was to follow simple investigative procedures and know where to look. In most cases, if you had a hunch, it would turn out to be true.

Tor thought of how people perceive police work and how TV shows glamourize crime. All the crime dramas had incredible stories, unpredictable twists and unexpected criminals. In real life, out of ten crimes, the victim was familiar the criminal in nine. Regular cases seldom involved hit men or mobsters, or any obscure international conspiracies, or whatever else TV writers imagined these days. The truth was much simpler. In the missing persons cases, for example, a lot of them were elders who had passed away in their homes and weren’t really missing. In other less tedious missing persons cases, involving younger people, most of the youths would usually turn up in less than a week. Those generally involved some romantic escapade. Or missing grown men, who were skipping work. Or the ever-popular men abandoning their wives. Still, the police had to be diligent and check all these cases out. The worst thing about them was that they always involved a lot of boring paper work.

Tor hadn’t even completed a full week before realizing these cases were dull, and not the headliners he dreamed of. Nonetheless, he welcomed the opportunity to absorb any experience from Detective Jerry Burrel. But his first week did not involve any case; he was assigned two giant piles of folders to organize.

The police had a new, totally computerized case filing system in place and most of Detective Burrel’s cases followed the old system; hand written reports. So the detective had the newbie sort and file his old paperwork. At first, Tor didn’t mind. He read about the cases and learned a thing or two. But he found himself staring out the window more often than not, asking himself if he was making a difference. He would look back to the pile of folders and decide, definitely not.

Some things were all right, though. Tor met many of the other detectives and most of them were nice to him, willing to help him settle in, showing him around and offering to assist if he ever had any problems. He also met the guys at the Forensics Lab. They were also friendly and the lab was impressive, containing the latest analytical equipment. The technicians, the lab guys, all wore white overalls and the place looked like a hospital. Tor wasn’t too interested in the scientific part of crime solving but he knew the lab guys did essential work and more often than not, helped solve most of the cases.

He had considered all that during the weekend and decided to have a talk with Detective Burrel. First, he finished his task of organizing the old files. He decided to talk to the detective before he or anybody else had the urge to give him some more paperwork to sort. Apparently, noobs attract that sort of assignment.

The seventh floor, where Tor and the other detectives shared a huge office was incredible. The headroom was almost twenty-three feet high and the windows extended from the floor to the ceiling, surrounding the whole perimeter of the office and providing amazing light during most of the day. There were a few offices and a couple of storage rooms but the majority of the floor was open. The desks were well spaced and all of the twenty-five detectives had more than enough room. It was a very pleasant space, especially these days, where smoking was prohibited and cell phones and computers had replaced typewriters. The office had become much cleaner and quieter. It was certainly a great place to work. If you could find interesting work, that is.

While he waited for his boss, Tor read the paper, a habit his instructors at the academy insisted all students acquire. Tor did and he enjoyed it. It was easy to speed read the news. You just read the headlines and quickly scanned for the five W’s.

The main headliner today was the murder robbery of Judge Graham. According to the story, the Judge was jogging in the park at night, when he was shot to death. The killer or killers took his phone, his wallet and his inexpensive digital watch before shooting him. Lately, many robberies had been reported in that area and the news did not surprise anyone. There was so much violence in Brazil that people were becoming jaded. In this case though, there was an important detail. Graham was the judge in the BrazOil corruption case. Tor was following the case but too concerned with the judge’s death. The judge was considered a little too lenient by the press and there was a real chance the case would end without any convictions. His replacement was supposed to be much more of a hardliner, the reporter speculated. That was a good thing, Tor thought, more as a citizen than a policeman.

He put the paper away and waited some more. Tor was staking out the elevators when Detective Burrel arrived. He wore a wrinkled, dark brown suit and looked tired. The detective made his way to his desk mumbling a few good mornings on the way and started to settle for the day’s work. He put his briefcase on the desk, removed his jacket and headed to the espresso machine. Tor watched as he sat back on his desk, briefly looked at his messages and read a couple of reports. Tor was trying to find the perfect time to talk to him and decided to wait for a few minutes until his boss looked less busy. Half an hour later, Tor went over to the detective’s desk.

Chapter 2

Hi boss! Good morning!

Hey Medina, how are you? Detective Burrel looked up and smiled. Tor felt the Detective liked him. Their only issue was time. While the aging, experienced detective knew Tor needed time to grow, Tor wanted to speed up his development, impatient to cram as much experience as possible in the least amount of time.

I’m okay, sir. I’m done filing all your files and I was wondering if there’s anything I can do?

You’re done, already? The Detective wasn’t dumb. He could tell Tor was eager to advance, to do more. At the same time, he felt he needed to hold him back, just a little. Going too fast could be as bad as going too slow.

Yeah! I read all the reports and archived them accordingly. Those missing persons cases were particularly interesting in what motivates people and how they behave in certain situations.

Good! What else did you learn, Medina?

Tor thought for a second then said, I learned that people can have the wildest motivations, but to them, they are all valid and logical. And that people many times, prefer to run and hide instead of facing their problems. I’m sure understanding that is key when you search for a motive.

Pretty good Medina. When you’ve been through a lot of cases you become used to behavioral patterns and you can almost predict things. At the same time you have to always keep an open mind to new or unusual things.

So boss, can I help you with something?

"As a matter of fact, yes! I have a couple of fresh missing persons cases that I need to follow