Chapter 41

 

 

A call to the Albuquerque International Sunport and Dr. Curtis Henry was detained by local law enforcement—literally taken off of a plane and held until Federal Marshals could get there. A trip to Tunisia had been thwarted. In the days that followed, several off-shore accounts were uncovered, each containing millions. The confiscation and sale of PPE had been exceptionally lucrative.

Thanks to fingerprints on the gas cap in the stolen pickup and checked against the usual maintenance crew, the driver of the truck was apprehended and he gave up his partner, who he claimed was the shooter. Both of the men involved in the killing of Oscar Begay were behind bars. Both had a history of incarceration and both were linked to Dr. Henry via cell phone records.

But the links to local mayhem didn’t stop there. Raids of the apartment shared by Oscar’s killers revealed schedules and names of an organized group of marauders, who thanks to exact information of shipments, could run trucks off the road, beat up or kill the drivers, and steal the contents.

The chief had stopped by the office to share the good news.

“One part of the mystery solved,” Ben added.

The three of them were standing in the waiting room when Deputy Ashkii burst in.

“Sorry, but I just had to stop by. I knew you’d want to hear this. After Dr. Henry was stopped at the airport, I was assigned to go through his trailer here on site. Guess what? I found one very realistic bear costume in the closet. I guess we know who was the bear at the schoolhouse and who ordered the hologram. But that’s not all. Lists of possible resale opportunities were in a safe in his office. Corporations in the US and abroad—all putting in orders for PPE. There were even receipts. This was one big, lucrative operation. One that unfortunately cost lives.”

There were sighs of relief all around. The stealing of goods was a thing of the past; Dr. Henry was locked up. Julie was safe and together with Ben; and Zac and Nathan had won another soccer game—safely living some fifteen hundred miles away.

 

* * *

 

Dr. Black, feeling somewhat guilty for not cautioning his friend, Ben, about Dr. Henry’s reputation, took over the field operation until someone could be found to head it up.

And Ben and Julie promised their time until the holidays. Then, after a Christmas trip to Washington to spend time with Zac and Nathan, home would become Florida.