Case of Rocklin Rais

Crime and international intrigue, old friendships and new love, spur the action in The Case of Rocklin Rais. Private investigators Elvyra Prezly and Chuck Paladino, now semi-retired, are lecturing part-time at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces. At the end of the year, they will decide whether to continue or end their practice. On May 1, 2084, Chuck receives a disturbing link from El Paso police detective, Tai Vanh. Rocklin Rais, a retired Marine Corps Captain, was found in a vacant house for sale in El Paso, unconscious and shot in the back.            Rais, in serious condition at El Paso General, was in Chuck's Marine Corps Intelligence unit in the Philippines and Kuwait. "e;Rocco,"e; now Head of Security at a small casino/hotel in Reno, remembers little about his abduction and asks about his girlfriend, Marta Della Rosa. Chuck asks Devonne Kimbrell, his best friend and Head of Investigations for the FBI office in El Paso, to meet him at the hospital to help jog Rocco's memory, but they are unsuccessful. Chuck suggests hypnosis and, though skeptical, Rocco agrees to the procedure, which results in sufficient information to pursue his assailants.After exhausting US resources, Detective Vahn's AI humanoid assistant, Olga, contacts Interpol and learns Marta and her crew are wanted in Eastern Europe for diamond thefts. Rocco's comm service tracks his stolen handheld and locates it at a hotel in Reno. Did Marta use Rocco as a front to plan a heist there? Chuck alerts Devonne. The FBI in Reno arrests Marta and her accomplices in the act of robbing several diamond merchants. But within hours, a Federal judge drops all charges against her and orders her deported to Belarus. Who is protecting her, and why? Marta agrees to have no further contact with Rocco but within a month she links to him. He cuts her off but she links again then shows up at his condo and threatens to kill him. Chuck contacts Rocco and realizes Marta is there. He and Elvyra enlist Las Cruces Police Detective Matt Donal to help rescue him. When they breach the door, they find Marta holding a gun to Rocco's head. Can they neutralize her without harming him? And what role does Millie, their AI robotic Welsh Corgi play in his rescue? A fast-paced story, with twists and turns, brings The Case of Rocklin Rais to a surprising conclusion.