“The man who covered up the theft of the weapons? It was my assistant, Andrew Horton. It looks like he set the whole thing up. He’s young and aggressive, one of the brightest computer minds I’ve ever worked with. He’s only twenty-five years old. It never occurred to me he could be capable of something like that.”
“How did you find him?” Jessie asked.
“Bran’s friend, Tabitha, is a wonder. A genius, really. She sent me some software. We figured a way to put it to work, to link it with the information we had here—and there it was. Andrew’s signature all over the dark web auction. He managed the shipments, collected the payments, all of it. He also opened the Cayman Islands account in Colonel Kegan’s name.”
Hearing information that could clear her father, Jessie felt a surge of hope.
“So Horton was working with Mara Ramos and the terror cell in San Diego?” Bran asked.
“I don’t know anything about that. I just know he covered up the theft. He did such a good job it’s a miracle I found it in the first place. There’s a problem though.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” Bran asked.
“Horton left on vacation three days ago. He isn’t due back until next week.”
Bran softly cursed. “He must have been feeling the heat.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“So how does Holloway fit in?”
“You’re convinced he’s involved?” Frazier asked.
“Oh, yeah, he’s in it up to his lying, murdering eyebrows.”
“I’m afraid that’s over my head,” Frazier said. “Computers are my expertise, not people.”
Jessie looked up to see Maddox standing a few feet away, his hair still wet from the shower, damp patches on the dark blue Henley stretched over his massive chest.
“Seems like rotten people have a way of sniffing each other out,” Hawk said. “Like they give off the same foul odor.”
Frazier made a sound of agreement. “What should I do about Horton?”
“Do you trust De La Garza?” Bran asked. Frazier’s direct superior and the head of the civilian side of the plant.
“I believe so. But then I trusted Andy.”
“Go see De La Garza. I’ll call William Larkin and Special Agent Tripp at the CID. Enough people know, there’s no way to cover it up.”
“All right, then. That’s what I’ll do.” Frazier hung up the phone.
“Sort of like we’re going public,” Jessie said to the men standing around the dining table.
“Exactly,” Bran agreed. “You call Tripp. I’ll call Larkin.”
The calls set everything in motion. With De La Garza involved and the CID searching for Andrew Horton, things were moving even faster than before.
It was the end of the day when Special Agent Tripp phoned Jessie back. She put the call on speaker.
“Good news,” Tripp said. “Frazier gave us some intel that helped us go deeper into the bank in Cayman. Two more accounts showed up. One in the name of Andrew Horton and one in the name of Samuel Holloway.”
“No way!” Bran said. “Those idiots put money in the same bank they used to set up Colonel Kegan?”
“Arrogance knows no bounds,” Tripp said. “Horton opened all the accounts the same day. Neither he nor Holloway ever thought they’d be suspects. If it hadn’t been for Jessie, they never would have been.”
“So the accounts contained millions of dollars?” Jessie asked.
“That’s right. Whatever was left after paying whoever was involved. Holloway has been arrested. We haven’t found Andrew Horton, but it’s just a matter of time.”
