In the Blink of An Eye by Jerry Baggett (ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📕

island. He would fly on to San Francisco, for his meeting in the corporate offices of Children’s Medical Care Associates.

He had finished his due diligence investigation into his new employer. What he found out had both shocked and pleased him. He thought he’d known all there was to know about his sister-in-law and her husband, his brother, until he peeled back the complete history of Doctor Robbin Goodrich McGowin. To his absolute dismay, he found Robbin was a billionaire international mover and shaker on the corporate board of United Equity Investments International. The single largest Japanese real estate investor in the United States. Furthermore, Robbin had been the sole heir to three generations of her family’s real estate empire before merging with the Japanese firm. His new employer, Children’s Medical Care Associates, a privately held non-profit children’s hospital corporation established by an endowment from Doctor Robbin Goodrich, immediately after her marriage to his brother. His look into the financial stability of his new employer clearly showed an enormous potential for growth. He now understood why Dammit and Robbin were so confident he would agree to their offer. He considered the investment opportunities offered. That alone would secure his future.

He turned his thoughts to the planes he would be flying and the people he would be working with. He planned to become familiar with them all, on this first short visit to San Francisco. He’d been driving for two hours. He hadn’t realized how bad traffic could be on I-405. He pulled into a truck stop for a quick hamburger and pee break, when his cell phone rang. Sam popped up on the screen. “Hi. You must be on your way home,” he said.

“Yeah, I just had a conversation with DEA Agent Hunt. First, I want to thank you for your call this morning, and express my congratulations on your promotion to commander. I’m also very pleased you’re going to be close by for a while and I agree with you about our personal situation. I do have high hopes. I won’t be coy and hide my feelings for you now, Dick. I think you know that.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t wait to see you and talk things through. And Dick, please be discrete about our meeting again until I smooth out my working relationship with Steven. The romantic involvement is over and I’m trying to salvage my job and a decent friendship. So far, Steven refuses to accept the fact that our romantic encounter ended naturally.”

She took a deep breath. “Now, the other thing. Hunt says the investigation into the death of that young woman we found in the surf turned up a great deal of information. Her name was Mira Langham of San Diego. Death was deliberate, caused by fentanyl, an opiate fifty times stronger than heroin. Even a small amount can kill you. The icepick was an extra step to make sure she wouldn’t survive.” Samantha stopped to gather her thoughts. “Hunt believes the people behind the counterfeit opiates are killing off addicts attempting to give away their identity secrets. In some cases, pushers are experimenting with these new opiates, like fentanyl. They’re using small amounts to cut heroin, and oxycodone, making it go farther, and less expensive. There’s also another new artificial opiate called carfentanil, which is one hundred times stronger than heroin. Until the providers get the mixture right, they’re going to keep on killing a great many addicts. Hunt says the most prevalent drug on the streets where we live is oxycodone hydrochloride, known as M 30s or Blues. He wants to meet with us when you know you’re going to be here for a while.”

“Duly noted,” Dick said. “However, I don’t think we should get too involved in all this death and destruction around the drug trade. The people dealing in illegal drugs are indiscriminate killers. Your life could be in danger, purely by association.”

“We should see what he has to say. I checked the patient records at the clinic. Mira Langham, from San Diego, came in requesting a prescription for heroin or some strong medication for spinal pain late last year. She even mentioned the fentanyl patch. I have to call Hunt back and let him know about her visit. I wasn’t aware of that. Angel, the other nurse here, must have handled it with Doctor Peyton.”

Chapter 16

Dick leveled off at forty thousand feet. She’s rated for fifty-one thousand feet of altitude, no point pushing it. He looked at the air speed. Mach 0.900 and increasing. He eased back on the throttles, circled wide out over the Pacific, losing speed and altitude, twelve miles out from the Golden Gate Bridge. The Gulfstream G650ER is a hell of an airplane, he thought. I’m going to enjoy this. He’d been pleased with the performance and smooth handling capabilities. His ouch-less touch and goes had been a real pleasure. He called San Francisco air traffic control and reported an end to acrobatic maneuvering tests and requested clearance for landing at San Francisco International Airport.

Chief pilot, Mark Wynn, spoke from the right seat. “I’m impressed, Dick. You stress-tested every critical aspect of this bird without pushing it beyond the boundaries of safety. I would be pleased to fly with you any time. I can tell your flight crew to relax. They’ll be in safe hands.”

“Thank you, Mark. I might say, I was equally impressed with the maintenance record on the aircraft. You’ve done a great job of record-keeping, as well as keeping up the airplane. I look forward to flying with your crew. I’ll take good care of them.” The two men bumped fists.

Mark tapped Dick on the knee. “After today’s lunch with that bunch, I believe you’ll be impressed. They’ll respect you and continue to serve the company well. As one navy man to another, you have my word on that.”

“I’m surprised that you have two highly experienced pilots, besides