Blowup

No one changes the world who isn’t obsessed.

—BILLIE JEAN KING

NEWCOMER WENT TO WORK Monday morning to find two phone messages that had been left by Kojima over the weekend.

Please call me. We need to talk.

This is Yoshi. We should meet again before I leave.

He tried calling him back without success. He finally dashed off an e-mail.

Sorry I missed your messages. I tried to call this morning but think you might have already left for Costa Rica. If so, please send an e-mail. Otherwise, I’ll be near the phone today and tomorrow.

They eventually connected late that afternoon, and Kojima promised to send him butterflies. There was just one catch.

Did Ted remember an auction site called InsectNet.com that Kojima had mentioned? Under no circumstance was Ted to use Kojima’s name, or that of his former company, Butterfly and Insect World, if he ever decided to post butterflies for sale on there. People would know they came from Kojima, and that could prove to be a problem.

Newcomer swore to abide by the rule.

They spoke again later, though a meeting was never arranged.

Kojima flew out of LAX on July 2, bound for Mexico.

NEWCOMER WAS STILL FLYING HIGH at having been taken under Kojima’s wing so quickly. He began to work on the next piece of the puzzle.

He placed a call to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jamie Holt. Would she mind entering Kojima in their Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS)? That way Newcomer would know whenever Kojima entered or left the country. He also asked that Kojima be tagged for random secondary inspections upon flying into the States. What better way to learn if Kojima was transporting contraband in his carry-on bags or luggage? Then Newcomer began to patiently wait both to hear from Kojima and for the parcel of butterflies to arrive.

Kojima finally sent an e-mail three weeks later. He planned to be in L.A. for only one day and then head back to Costa Rica. Would Ted have time to see him?

With bells and whistles on, Newcomer thought merrily. The sooner he got this case rolling, the quicker it could be brought to a conclusion.

However, a flurry of e-mails resulted in confusion as to the date that Kojima would be in town. Kojima’s notoriously short patience wore thin. The boy wasn’t as professional and on top of things as he had hoped. He didn’t have time to waste. Kojima abruptly ended the matter. He was sorry that things wouldn’t work out this time around. Maybe a meeting could be arranged for his next trip to L.A., in August.

What was Kojima talking about? Newcomer had absolutely no idea what had gone wrong. The last thing he wanted to do was alienate Kojima. The success of the case hinged on their relationship, but he felt as if he’d just been blown off. And what about the butterflies that Kojima had promised to send him? Newcomer had to become a trusted associate if he was ever to prove butterflies were illegally being brought into the United States. There was no question that a meeting had to be scheduled. Ted Nelson promised to make himself available any time, any place. All Kojima had to do was to name where and when.

But it was as if Kojima had sensed that something was afoot and purposely dodged him.

Newcomer was left to wonder what would happen next. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

He received a general e-mail from Kojima just a few days later. Kojima advised his Internet customers that they should check his Web site, worldinsect.com. He’d brought beetles back from Costa Rica, and they were now up for auction.

Newcomer promptly logged on. Son of a gun! There were the bugs in living color. Posted were probably some of the very butterflies that Kojima was supposed to have sent him. So much for his new best friend. That’s when it hit Newcomer like a two-by-four. He was on the verge of losing the smuggler. No way was he going to let Kojima slip out of his hands. He didn’t waste a moment but promptly responded.

VERY NICE! I love those silver and gold beetles.

By the way, I’ll be ready to start selling on e-Bay as soon as you have birdwings and beetles ready to send me.

Have a safe trip to LA and I’ll keep my schedule open so that we can meet.

Let him try and weasel out of that one.

Newcomer didn’t hear a word but was left to cool his heels. Damn the man! Three weeks later he sent Kojima another e-mail.

He hoped that Kojima’s Costa Rican trip was going well and that he was finding lots of interesting insects for them to sell. By the way, the eBay account was up and ready to go. Ted could start anytime Kojima gave the okay. Oh, yeah. There was just one other matter. He needed some butterflies to post.

That ought to do the trick, Newcomer thought as he pressed the button and sent the message into cyberspace.

He was flabbergasted when Kojima responded from Madagascar. Was there anywhere in the world that this guy didn’t have access to?

Kojima replied he would return to L.A. soon, but it would only be in transit. As for butterflies, he’d brought some on his last trip to L.A. and had tried to call, but Ted was never around. Too bad he hadn’t been available.

It’s that damn undercover phone that’s screwing me up, Newcomer fumed. Kojima always called him on weekends, or after work hours, when the Fish and Wildlife office was closed.

However, Kojima did leave the door open a bit. He hoped they could do business together soon.

You bet we will, Newcomer promised himself.

He knew what he had to do: apologize whether this was his fault or not.

He was so sorry there had been a miscommunication. It was just that summer was his busiest season, and Kojima hadn’t been in town all that long. Ted was ready to start their eBay venture if only Kojima could bring some material.

He ended his note with what he felt was another good excuse for having not been available.

I’ve been seeing a lot of my girlfriend, so I usually stay at her house.

Kojima was a guy. He would certainly understand that.

Newcomer totally misread him.

Kojima was becoming increasingly annoyed that he couldn’t reach Ted by phone. Newcomer was growing equally irritated but for a different reason. He’d arrive at work Monday mornings, check the undercover answering machine, and begin to feel overwhelmed. There were always numerous messages left by Kojima.

What was he supposed to do about the situation? He felt as if his hands were tied. To make matters worse, it was beginning to seem that his personal time wasn’t his own. He’d made a vow to Allison and didn’t want to create any tension between them. Kojima’s calls were an unwanted intrusion. “I’d come in thinking, ‘Goddamn it! Why can’t I have my weekend to myself?’ ” he recalled.

At the same time, he realized the problem. Undercover work isn’t a nine-to-five job. It requires that agents be on “bad guy” time. One’s personal life always comes in second. He’d have to figure out the phone situation and somehow deal with it.

Newcomer began to hear less frequently from Kojima and started to worry that the case was slipping away from him. He needed to know when Kojima next planned to be in Los Angeles. Upping the pressure was that annual training was about to be held in West Virginia. Special agents receive forty hours of mandatory “in-service” law-enforcement training each year, including firearms classes. He would have to attend whether Kojima was in town or not.

He sent Kojima an e-mail, hoping to reignite contact and also divert a potential problem.

Ted Nelson explained that he’d been accepted to the Marine Mechanics Institute and would be in Florida September 8–26 to learn more about boat engines. Was Yoshi possibly coming to L.A. before then?

Newcomer dangled news that he hoped would prove tempting. He’d been checking eBay auctions, and birdwing butterflies were bringing high prices. He was anxious to get started on their site.

Kojima shrewdly waited until Newcomer was out of town to reply. The boy needed to be taught a lesson. He said he was in L.A. now but had to leave before Ted returned home. Maybe they’d have better luck next time.

Goddamn it! What is going on with this guy? Newcomer stewed.

If Kojima was jerking his chain, he was doing a hell of a good job of it. Kojima was clearly enjoying himself. He knew how to play the game and get what he wanted. It was taking a toll on Newcomer’s nerves. The challenge made him all the more determined to bag his prey.

He had a sneaky suspicion that Kojima was lying to him. Newcomer checked with Customs. According to their records, Kojima had flown into L.A. twice in the past few months.

Damn the man. Newcomer suspected that Kojima was no longer bothering to call him. In fact, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn Kojima had made several trips to L.A. that Customs wasn’t even aware of. Kojima had claimed to have a U.S. passport under a different name. If that was true, then there’d be no record of when Kojima entered and left the country. At one time he’d had an American wife, a home, and a business in L.A. Knowing Kojima, he’d probably managed to get hold of just such a passport. He’d confided that he frequently switched between the two passports to throw Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Customs off about his travels. There’d be no way to check his comings and goings unless authorities had Kojima’s fake American name. Kojima wasn’t about to give that out to anyone.

Newcomer had to do something quickly, or this case would never gel. In fact, it would bite the dust. Everything hinged on getting the phone situation resolved. He took his plight to his boss. “This is totally ridiculous. Yoshi can’t get hold of me on weekends, and he’s beginning to get pissed,” he explained to Palladini.

Surely, Fish and Wildlife would listen to reason. Newcomer worked for the U.S. government, not some two-bit, rinky-dink firm. He pressed for an undercover cell phone that would be with him 24/7. But like all federal agencies, Fish and Wildlife is a maddening muddle of bureaucracy. You’d think he’d asked to purchase a stealth missile. It would have to be approved by D.C., and getting anything out of Washington was like trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. But the FWS Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) was used to that. After all, they’d always been considered the bastard child of the agency.

Newcomer was an eternal optimist, but Kojima was beginning to wear him down. It was now October, and Newcomer was as agitated as a dog with fleas. He still hadn’t received any butterflies from Kojima and Fish and Wildlife was hemming and hawing over his request for a cell phone. What was wrong with those people in D.C.?

He had his own spin on an old saying “Desperation is the mother of invention” and decided to take a drive by Kojima’s apartment just to see what was up. What do you know? Kojima’s truck was clearly visible through the locked gate of the garage.

Was it possible Kojima had been here all along?

Newcomer walked to the front door, tempted to ring his buzzer, but Kojima’s name wasn’t on the directory. The apartment was listed under one Alexander Denk. Perhaps that was why no one had been able to find Kojima’s address earlier.

He went back to work and began to idly troll InsectNet, the Web site that Kojima had mentioned. He did it partly to see what was being sold and partly as a way to deal with his frustration. His Web surfing paid off. Butterflies from Cuba were being offered for sale, and the listing happened to have been posted by Kojima. His Web site was prominently listed as the source. Wasn’t that exactly what Kojima had told Ted Nelson not to do? Newcomer felt as if Kojima had been two-timing him. Everything the man had told him so far was a lie. He immediately shot Kojima an e-mail.

He kept it friendly, even though he was secretly annoyed. He’d had enough of the fun and games. Ted Nelson wrote of having seen the butterflies posted on InsectNet. Did Kojima still want to work together on eBay, or had he decided to handle it by himself?

Kojima strung him along with all the finesse of a striptease artist. After all, one never knew. He might actually need Ted Nelson one day.

Kojima was still interested in working together but very busy at the moment. He’d just been to the Paris insect fair, where he’d made eighteen thousand euros in one weekend. He was off to the Frankfurt insect fair next and expected to make a ton of money there, as well. If Nelson remembered correctly, he’d been away the last time that Kojima was in L.A. and had brought butterflies for him. Exactly what did he expect him to do? Kojima figured that ought to put him in his place.

Newcomer read the note and felt like banging his head against a wall. Dealing with Kojima was worse than dealing with a petulant girlfriend. At least a girlfriend would kiss and make up. Newcomer decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. He’d do what D.C. was still dicking around about. It was the only way the case would be saved, and he’d had enough of the bullshit.

He went to a Target store and bought himself a fifty-dollar pay-as-you-go cell phone. He registered the line under the name Donald Duck to make it completely untraceable. The phone could now be used on any of his undercover cases. Even better, he would appear to be even more of a badass if a target ever tried to trace the line. When the name Donald Duck popped, the perp would think Ted Nelson had his shit squared away.

Now I have a damn good reason to reconnect with Yoshi, Newcomer thought. This time, I’m not even going to press for butterflies.

Instead, Nelson congratulated Kojima on his success in France and wished him good luck in Germany. He also dropped the news that he had another cell phone number.

Remind me to give it to you before you come back to the U.S. It will be easier to get in touch with me when you need a ride from the airport.

He planned to become Kojima’s newest cell phone buddy. Newcomer’s scheme seemed to work. Kojima promptly asked for the phone number and said that he’d see him soon.

That was like holding a bone in front of a dog. Newcomer waited a few days, heard nothing more from Kojima, and cracked. He sent another e-mail with a promise to be better about checking messages, and returning phone calls, even from his girlfriend’s house. But his undercover cell phone remained silent.

It had now been four months since the two men had originally discussed selling butterflies, and things hadn’t progressed any further. Newcomer couldn’t figure out what was still wrong. He had bought a cell phone and had fixed the problem.

Newcomer was no fool. He knew the agency’s unwritten rule: Screw up and it will haunt you the rest of your career. This was his first case, and it hadn’t exactly gotten off to a rip-roaring start.

Palladini assured him that everything was fine. He was just new to undercover work. It would take time for the butterfly case to kick in.

Time was exactly what Newcomer felt he didn’t have. At thirty-eight, he had already been a lead prosecutor and lawyer for eleven years. That initially gave him a certain amount of confidence as a special agent. But that boldness was now beginning to decompose.

He was the oldest agent in the Torrance office and found himself stuck in a cramped, windowless room that had previously been used for storage. The view from his open door was a cinder-block wall at the end of the hall. He didn’t take it as a good omen.

“The only time I ever saw someone was if they went to the kitchen to make lunch,” he recalled, and that wasn’t very often.

The room screamed low man on the totem pole and felt like the dead end it literally was. It also described how his first case was going. He had to do something to shake things up, or he might very well be a goner.

Perhaps obtaining Kojima’s financial records would help provide a clue. If nothing else, at least he’d be taking some action. Newcomer served subpoenas for records on Kojima’s two U.S. bank accounts. The Bank of the West had nothing on him. However, Kojima had deposited numerous checks for insect sales in 2002 and early 2003 to his Bank of America account. Since then, there had been no activity.

Newcomer was at a crossroad feeling more and more like a jilted suitor. He’d still received no insects, and Kojima no longer returned his e-mails or calls. All remained quiet on the Japanese front. It only made Newcomer all the more determined.

There’s got to be something I can do to get his attention.

Maybe Kojima didn’t really believe Ted Nelson could pull off the eBay auctions. If so, he’d have to prove him wrong.

Newcomer trolled InsectNet again while hoping to come up with a plan. There were lots of insects for sale but nothing produced a brainstorm. That is until he stumbled upon a discussion taking place about Kojima in a chat room. Kojima clearly wasn’t the most popular guy on the Web site.

An Indonesian dealer complained that he’d sent butterflies to Kojima and never been paid. Other collectors were equally unhappy. They’d tried to buy the butterflies he advertised on InsectNet, but Kojima always claimed that he had sold out. The guy was nothing more than a slick fraud. How else could his prices be so low? They accused Kojima of perpetuating a bad joke at their expense. Or maybe Kojima just hated Americans and that’s why he refused to sell to them.

Beware of this man was the phrase repeated over and over.

Newcomer immediately saw a golden opportunity. He slapped on his proverbial “white hat,” jumped on his charger, and went riding to Kojima’s defense.

Whoa! Hold on a moment. I can vouch for my good friend, Yoshi. In fact, anyone interested in obtaining his material should contact me. I’ve seen it and I’m working with him to make his specimens more readily available to U.S. collectors.

The word spread like wildfire. Ted Nelson was Kojima’s U.S. representative. He’d help supply species that American collectors had never seen before. Just e-mail Ted Nelson and he’d see what he could do for them.

How absolutely brilliant was that? Newcomer thought, thrilled with his plan.

Kojima would be slapping him on the back in gratitude when he realized that Ted Nelson had developed a new customer base for him.

What Newcomer forgot was that Kojima had specifically told him never to use his name on InsectNet.

Newcomer received a flood of positive responses from collectors on the site. They flocked like hungry geese to get Kojima’s butterflies and almost everyone wanted Appendix II species. Newcomer wheeled and dealed with all of them. He suggested that one client would get a better bargain if he expressed an interest in buying more than one species, and that another should be willing to pay at least $450 for a pair of Prepona brooksiana.

A third collector sent a large list of butterflies that he wanted to get his hands on while someone else asked for a price list of all available lepidoptera Kojima had in stock. Yet another swore he’d forever be in Ted Nelson’s debt if he would just get him on Kojima’s “want list.”

Newcomer laughed to himself. Perhaps he should have been a salesman and had missed his calling. He couldn’t believe his luck. He’d hit a virtual gold mine. Collectors would do anything to get their hands on Kojima’s butterflies. The guy was a living legend. There seemed no question Kojima would have to be impressed with Ted’s initiative and enthusiasm.

Newcomer juggled it all while traveling out of town for Fish and Wildlife, doing his best to keep every ball in the air. He posted a message to collectors on InsectNet. Could everyone just hang on until Ted Nelson returned to L.A. on November 19?

It was then time to claim his reward. Newcomer proudly sent Kojima an e-mail. Not only had Ted set up their eBay auction site, but he’d also cultivated customers interested in buying directly from them. Could they still split the profits fifty-fifty?

Newcomer had no doubt that Kojima would be blown away. Kojima would probably give him the title Director of Business Development and Marketing. He included the list of requested butterflies he’d already received and then sat back and waited to be congratulated.

Newcomer received a reply but not the one he’d anticipated. Kojima had been in L.A. while he was again out of town for Fish and Wildlife. Kojima said that he’d called many times but Ted had never answered the phone. He hoped he had the right number and would try to see him perhaps on his next trip. No mention was made of InsectNet or the list of butterflies that had been sent.

As far as Kojima was concerned, Ted Nelson had once again screwed up.

Newcomer checked his answering machine. Kojima was right. He’d indeed left several messages while he’d been gone. Newcomer carefully listened to each. There was no doubt Kojima was becoming increasingly annoyed and suspicious that Ted Nelson could never be reached.

It was two long weeks before he heard from Kojima again. Newcomer’s heart leapt when his undercover cell phone finally rang. Maybe Kojima had a change of heart and decided to take the bait. Once again, it wasn’t the response that Newcomer had hoped for. Rather, Ted Nelson proceeded to receive a sound trouncing.

“You have to be very careful about sending e-mails to people you don’t know when dealing with CITES butterflies,” Kojima warned. “Fish and Wild, and the Department of Agriculture, are always on the lookout for dealers selling without permits. They monitor the Internet in search of amateurs like you that don’t know what they’re doing.”

Kojima grew more agitated as he continued to speak.

Fish and Wildlife would come to Ted’s house, check his computer and discover that Kojima had sent CITES butterflies to him by Express Mail. If that happened, Kojima would be the one to get caught.

Then Kojima dropped his bombshell.

He would no longer carry butterflies and insects in his luggage to the States. Kojima had been thoroughly searched by U.S. Customs on his last two trips to L.A. An inspector had gone so far as to specifically question him about butterflies. Why would they do that unless someone had tipped them off? Kojima was now under scrutiny and intended to be all the more careful.

Damn, damn, damn! Newcomer mentally kicked himself in the rear. Sure, he’d asked inspectors to do random checks on Kojima, but he didn’t expect them to pat the guy down every time he got off a plane. And why in hell would they purposely ask him about insects? Of course that would make Kojima suspicious and paranoid as hell. Now he knew he was on their radar.

Was there anything else that could possibly backfire on him?

Newcomer took his licking from Kojima and retreated for a few days. Then he continued to push by sending Kojima an e-mail just a week later. Would Yoshi please send some butterflies along with a basic description that could be posted on eBay? Ted specifically wanted CITES material.

Newcomer was overly anxious but felt there wasn’t any time to waste. He wanted to get straight to the heart of the matter and going through the motions of selling legitimate bugs would have been a pain in the ass. It meant keeping track of all the money made on unprotected butterflies that were sold on eBay. Why be responsible for a lot of bugs that weren’t an issue just to get to the big-ticket items? He wasn’t a damn bookkeeper. Newcomer wanted to cut to the chase.

In truth, Newcomer was afraid that he might possibly screw up. The longer the case went on, the greater the risk that he’d lose Kojima. If he did, Kojima’s global network would remain in place, and endangered butterflies would continue to be whacked. Meanwhile, all of Newcomer’s time and work would have been for naught. He wanted to reach indictable territory as quickly as possible. That would prove to be a fatal mistake on his part.

Kojima’s reaction was to respond with a “Dear John” e-mail. Kojima had decided against doing eBay but wished Ted Nelson good luck with his own business.

No! Newcomer nearly screamed aloud as he read the note. Kojima couldn’t pull out of their venture now. He had to do something to quickly salvage the case.

Newcomer wrote back and did his best to apply a good dose of guilt. What about all those people he’d found that wanted to buy Yoshi’s butterflies? He couldn’t let them down now. Kojima’s reputation was at stake. Besides, he’d gone so far as to check out the new potential clients on an Internet detective site. None were agriculture or wildlife agents. No way would they make trouble. Couldn’t Yoshi just send him the requested list of CITES butterflies? He’d like the opportunity to try and sell them. Ted Nelson would accept all of the risk. Newcomer threw in another approach while he was at it.

By the way, I fully agree with your decision that eBay is not the way to go. I’d much rather develop a private list of customers to sell your material to. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. Why end now?

But Kojima refused to be swayed. He didn’t trust Ted’s new “clients.” The butterflies they wanted were expensive and difficult to obtain. Someone would realize that Ted knew nothing about butterflies and report him to Fish and Wildlife. Then agents would come asking questions about import permits and where he got his material. Exactly how would Ted Nelson answer them? Kojima would be left a sitting duck.

The more Kojima wrote, the more he stoked his own fire.

Ted Nelson knew nothing about the business. That was precisely why Yoshi had called so often and tried to meet with him in L.A. But Ted was always away or with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Kojima was the one with everything to lose.

Newcomer tried to be reasonable but the quarrel continued to escalate. He argued that he would have gladly sold butterflies on eBay if Kojima had only provided material.

If Ted Nelson wanted a fight, Kojima was more than happy to oblige. The bickering was akin to two boxers duking it out. Kojima now promptly delivered a jab to the head, a right cross, and an upper cut to the chin.

Ted only wanted to make money. He had no interest in the nuts and bolts of the business. Did he know anything about pricing and how to handle rare butterflies? How did he plan to get payment from his customers? And what would he do if a butterfly broke in shipment and that was the only one in stock? None of those issues had ever been discussed. He was already taking orders without any material on hand. Ted Nelson had absolutely no experience in the business of selling butterflies.

Newcomer made one last attempt. He’d read of butterfly collectors that had gotten into trouble because they’d sold to undercover agents. Ted would never sell to anyone that he hadn’t checked out first. In addition, he would never tell who supplied him with butterflies.

That proved too much for Kojima who flew into a rage. Wasn’t that exactly what Ted had already done on InsectNet? Ted Nelson had openly declared himself to be Kojima’s U.S. agent.

He now went in for the knockout. Ted was greedy and not willing to put in the work, he was too busy having fun with girlfriends, and Kojima was tired of running after him.

Kojima finished by completely spelling it out for Ted. He would no longer keep an apartment in L.A. or sell butterflies in the States because it had now become too dangerous. Their business relationship was over. It wasn’t going to work out.

Kojima cut him off cold. There was no resuscitating the patient. Ed Newcomer had run his first undercover case into the ground.