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“Sure, Chase anything in particular you want?”
“Nah, I’m fine with anything, whatever Carson likes. Thanks.”
I get back on the line with Jaxson, who confirms he’ll be here by eleven. I make another phone call to my uncle, “Sam, if you aren’t busy could you swing by the office? I think this is something you’d be interested in; you’ll get a free lunch out of the deal... Great. See you then.”
My brother’s meeting is running late so I wait in the reception area for Jaxson and Sam to arrive.
“Hey, Jaxson. Thanks for coming over. I’m anxious to hear what you and your team have discovered. Carson was still in a meeting, but he should be done by now. Sam’s going to join us, too. He should be right behind you.”
Jaxson and I both turn as Sam comes through the lobby, “Hi, Sam. You remember Jaxson. Let’s go on up.”
“Carson, your brother, uncle, and Jaxson Gibson are here. I’ve ordered lunch for all four of you. Do you want it here in your office or in the conference room?”
“Show them to the conference room, if you don’t mind. That table is bigger. I’ll join them in a few minutes. There’s no need for you to attend the meeting, but I would appreciate you bringing our lunch in when it arrives.”
She turns to us, and I let her know, “We heard Carson; we know the way. Thanks, Suzanne.”
Jaxson opens the door to the conference room and we all three take a seat.
“Sorry about the wait, everyone.” Carson sits down. “What do you have for us, Jaxson?”
“The company, Pro-tech, who provided the vests, has been having some financial problems. It appears that the owner’s son, who took over the company last year after his father passed away, has a gambling problem. He’s in debt, heavy debt, a couple of million dollars of debt.”
Carson and I just nod for Jaxson to go on, and Sam just sits there, taking everything in.
“It looks like Junior, that’s his actual name, was trying to cover it up by manufacturing lower quality vests and ciphering off the extra money. His father, the original owner, had been looking at some of the new tech. He was hoping to begin manufacturing a lighter-weight vest with better ballistic resistance. The company did some preliminary testing last year, which are the specs that were sent to you. Unfortunately, that isn’t what the company is manufacturing.”
Jaxson opens the file he brought with him and hands each of us a copy.
“Here is the ballistic resistance of the vests their company is manufacturing and shipping to their customers.”
We look down at the stats. “Shit! This isn’t what we paid for. It’s a violation of our contract. This isn’t adequate protection for our guards or anybody.”
“Here’s the thing. The substance inside the protective pouches that are inside the vests starts out with the correct ballistic resistance. However, after a while, the chemical that offers the protection becomes less effective. Over time, the vests lose their resistance entirely. In order for the lower resistance to remain undetected, the workforce was asked to start layering the products by date. Older batches we packed on the bottom of the shipment, and newer batches went on top.”
“Junior, the son, had to know that sooner or later, he would get caught. He was risking people’s lives. This is criminal.”
“Yes, my team believes that as soon as Junior had enough money collected to pay off his gambling debts, he planned on leaving the country. We found evidence that he was trying to purchase property outside the United States under a fictitious name. The people he owes money to were probably threatening his life or bodily harm. Two million is a lot of money to owe a loan shark. He probably used the company as collateral.”
“Do you have the proof we need to take this to the authorities?”
“Yes, one of my men got hired on at the company. It took a few weeks for him to locate the proof we needed. Namely, the true ballistic resistance after the chemical started to break down, and the projected timeline of when the vest loses all resistance.”
“Damn, good work, Jaxson. We appreciate this.”
“We’d like you there when we take this to the police and our attorney.”
“Of course, I or someone on my team familiar with the details will always be available.”
Carson turns to our uncle, “Sam, you obviously figured out why we wanted you here as well. Sorry to just spring this on you. We didn’t know until this meeting what Jaxson would find.”
“Understood.”
We hear a knock and then Suzanne comes in with our lunch.
“What did you get for us today?”
“it’s Mexican food. This is from Añejo Cocina in Riverside. I also have iced tea for your drinks. Unless anyone would prefer a soda?”
