Chapter 34

"Stewart Swinton, Team Rocket Agent?"

Meanwhile, back in Lockerbie, Raymond Alden had been waiting for several days for the bodies of his daughter and editor-in-chief to be released to him. All he could do was sit in the bedroom of his hotel room and wait for news. The fact that they were being held was one thing, but why was another.

All Raymond could do was wait and wait. Finally, he heard a knock at the door and went over to answer it.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Police," answered a Scottish voice and Raymond opened the door revealing two Scottish police officers accompanied by a detective. "Are you Mr. Raymond Alden?"

"Is this about my daughter and editor-in-chief?"

"I'd rather discuss inside, Mr. Alden," said the detective and Raymond allowed them to come inside his room. "In fact, we have some news regarding one of your publishing employees."

Worried, Raymond allowed the authorities in.

"What are you talking about?" he asked and the detective cleared his throat firmly. "What does this have to do with Laura and Will?"

"Mr. Alden," said the Scottish Detective. "We believe that your daughter and editor in chief were personally targeted by a…Stewart Swinton."

Raymond was shocked by this news.

"Stewart Swinton?" he gasped. "Are you certain? He's now at my publishing house in Russia. This has to be a joke."

"It is no joke, Mr. Alden. The International Police in Russia believe that Mr. Swinton might have ties to the Team Rocket organization."

Raymond further couldn't believe what he was hearing that one of his workers was also doubling as a Team Rocket agent.

"I don't believe it, detective, with all due respect. What makes you sure that Stewart Swinton targeted Flight 103?"

The detective then pulled out what appeared to be a document with singed flames covering part of the writing. Raymond attempted to read the document, but was unsuccessful at doing so.

"Mr. Alden, do you know if there was anything unusual with Mr. Swinton? We ask because we also found in your editor-in-chief's briefcase that Stewart was to be permanently placed in Moscow and restored to his original position in New York."

Taking a deep breath, Raymond was forced to relieve a watershed moment in his business.

"It was one of the original plans I had after I took over the publishing firm in New York," Raymond said. "Will was getting old and I felt that maybe moving him to Moscow would do him good and let Stewart take over. But then my staff threatened to quit unless Will was reinstated as my editor-in-chief."

"And you did as they pleased?" asked the detective. "Mr. Alden, when you first hired Mr. Swinton, was he sort of reserved in any way?"

"No, never. He just felt like he needed to take Will Randall's place within the firm."

"This document we found in Mr. Randall's briefcase says that Stewart needed to be fired from your firm effective immediately because Mr. Randall believes that Stewart had something to hide."

"But it doesn't make sense as to why he would contribute to this?" Raymond wondered, burying his hands in his face. "This act of barbarism. Could it be that my daughter had Pokemon of her own? Was that it?"

The detective then needed to go into personal territory.

"What kind of Pokemon did your daughter have, Mr. Alden?"

"Ponyta and Rapidash. They were her pride and joy, Detective. Stewart would sometimes come over to the estate, but I never saw him interact with them."

"Our partners in Moscow would say otherwise," replied the detective. "They questioned Mr. Randall's wife, Charlotte Randall, and she revealed that Stewart was plotting to kill your daughter so he can obtain her two Pokemon."

The more Raymond listened, the more disbelief he felt. How could Stewart Swinton, one of his youngest and brightest employees at his publishing firm, want to do such an act?

"What was Charlotte doing in Moscow?" he asked. "What was Will Randall's wife doing there?"

"She says Mr. Swinton and her were having an affair behind Mr. Randall's back," answered the detective. "She also revealed that Mr. Swinton claimed to do whatever it took to get his position back."

Now it was becoming clear to Raymond that Stewart might have targeted them both after all. Of course, he knew that Stewart wasn't alone.

"Where is he now? Where is Stewart?"

"The Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow said that he boarded a flight to Tehran. Anything that happens in Tehran, is up to the United States Military and the International Police."

Disgusted, Raymond wanted to be left alone.

"Thank you gentlemen," he whispered, getting up from the end of the bed and paced back and forth for a few moments. "Can I have my daughter's body and my editor in chief's body?"

"Of course, Mr. Alden. They will be taken to Carlisle airport and you can fly home with them in the morning."

Respectfully, the detective and the two police officers left and Raymond was left alone. But he felt like he needed to have some choice words with the higher power and that was going to happen at Tundergarth Church later that night…

…

…