Claire Gulliver #02 - Washington Weirdos (4 page)

She smiled fondly at these two men who had cosseted her through her ordeal in London during the earlier part of the year. Jack had hovered protectively about making her feel physically safe in spite of the danger which seemed to abound. But then she knew him, having just come off of a two week tour with him acting as the official tour director for Kingdom Coach Tours. Of course, by then she knew he was really an agent along for the ride and to watch everything they did. It hadn’t done much good as no one noticed anything amiss on the tour. It wasn’t until she was on the return flight, waiting on the runway that it all came together. She had almost blacked out with fright, but somehow she got to the stewardesses in the front of the plane and insisted they abort the flight. That had been scary. And until they determined she was correct and they found the bomb on board, she had visions of spending a long time as a guest of the British prison system.

Doug, on the other hand, had been a complete stranger when he appeared at the request of Vantage Airlines. His role was to make sure she was accorded the proper respect and comfort while working with the British authorities. He was with her whenever the British authorities had talked to her, and during the long hours of videotaping when her testimony was recorded. He said he was there to protect her rights and she felt he was fully capable of doing just that. He was attached to the State Department and he made her feel, and the Brits, too, that he had the authority of the entire United States government standing behind him. She had quickly come to trust him and was very grateful for his support.

She and Doug chatted as one does on seeing someone familiar far from home and then Jack inquired, “How are you this morning, Claire? Did you sleep well?”

She smiled wryly. “I’m fine. But I have to admit I didn’t get much sleep. With the excitement of this meeting looming and the letdown from my adrenaline rush I didn’t expect much more. To tell you the truth, at about 3:30 this morning I was seriously thinking about forgetting the whole thing and just going home.” She looked sheepish. “But I changed my mind. It would have been terribly rude.”

Doug looked at them both puzzled. “Adrenaline rush? Did something happen?”

“Claire had an incident on the Mall last night.”

“It was scary.” Claire closed her eyes a moment then looked at Jack, carefully composing her face.

Jack nodded, agreeing with her, and proceeded to tell Doug about the attempted mugging, only to be interrupted by the door opening.

“Hi, I’m Suzanne Queensley. Claire Gulliver?” She approached Claire with her hand outstretched. “I’m so pleased to meet you.”

Claire clasped her hand firmly, surprised to find the strong authoritative voice from her phone conversations belonged to this wispy, dusky, thirtyish woman. Suzanne’s physical presence might have been more diminutive than her voice indicated, but her professional manner wasn’t a disappointment. She was obviously in control as she turned towards the men.

“Jack and Doug.” She read off their name tags as she shook hands with each.

“I’m so sorry you’ve been kept waiting but we’re running a little over. Neil Pinschley, our Chief Financial Officer, is just finishing, and then everyone will break for a few minutes before the meeting resumes. As soon as they break, I’ll take you in to introduce you to the Lickmans. They’re so excited about meeting you. You are really special to this group of people as I’m sure they’ll tell you themselves in a moment.”

Then she changed the subject inquiring of Claire, “How was your flight? Are you comfortable at the hotel?”

Claire smiled. “Fine, fine. Everything and everyone was perfect. I’m getting spoiled riding in first class. I don’t know if I’ll be able to adjust to steerage the next time I take a trip.”

“Good. Good.” Suzanne laughed then returned to the agenda. “Now, after the break there will be a presentation from Wiley Blackford. He’s one of our senior vice presidents and he’s the Director of Safety and Security for Vantage. After his presentation he will introduce each of you and then open the discussion to the Board. I’m sure there will be questions. Don’t worry; it will be very informal at this point. If someone asks something you can’t answer, just refer those questions to Wiley. I suspect they will have lots of questions on this subject. Wiley has a lot to explain.”

She looked at each of them and seeing no questions, continued. “After Wiley’s presentation we’ll all adjourn to the Executive Dining Room for lunch, and after lunch we will continue back in the boardroom with a presentation of the new advertising campaign. I think you may enjoy that. Then it will be over.”

Just then the young woman who had ushered Claire upstairs poked her head in the room and nodded at Suzanne.

“Okay, they’re on break. Follow me please.”

David Lickman was a pleasant looking man with white thinning hair and a tanned face and scalp. He was dressed expensively in a charcoal gray suit, snowy white shirt and attractively patterned red, black and white tie. He looked like an actor who was perfectly cast in the role of a CEO. He was very gracious and greeted them warmly before turning to introduce them to his wife, MiMi.

Claire felt as if she had been enveloped in a warm hug even though Mrs. Lickman had only clasped her hands and smiled at her. She liked Mrs. Lickman immediately. She looked like a very stylish grand-mother, slightly round and kind of short. Her hair was short and fluffy; its natural silver didn’t look as if it had been introduced to a bottle of hair color. She wore a light mauve suit with burgundy shoes and gold jewelry. And while her manner was warm, her eyes radiated her intelligence. MiMi Lickman had an unusual role in Vantage Airline, as Claire had discovered when she researched the Lickmans. MiMi’s father had started the airline and passed the reins to David on retirement. However, he continued to provide guidance to his son-in-law through control of the large block of stock he retained and when he died the stock was left to MiMi so she could have a say in the management of the company. While many women might have abdicated the voting rights to their husband, MiMi had not. She had become involved as her father had wished her to. And apparently her husband appreciated her involvement in the business.

The Lickmans were reported to enjoy a unique relationship of friendship, respect and love. They were reputed to be a happy, devoted couple and their track record in managing the airline included conservative but innovative actions that paid off.

“Neil, let me introduce you to our guest of honor.” David Lickman gestured to a younger man as he came into the boardroom. “Claire, this is Neil Pinschley, Vantage’s Vice Chairman and CFO. Neil is my right hand man. I sleep better each night knowing he’s here for Vantage.” He patted Neil’s shoulder fondly.

“Neil, this is Claire Gulliver.”

“Claire, I can’t tell you how glad I am to meet you. Thank you so much for coming to our meeting. Vantage Airlines owes you a debt it can never repay.” He looked earnestly into her eyes; his intensity embarrassed her.

Neil was handsome, self-assured and outgoing and, except for the slight tick she saw controlling his left eyelid, perfect in almost every way.

Claire continued to study him while David introduced Neil to Jack and Doug and then another man joined them. David went through the intro-ductions once again. This time he told them how Wiley Blackford, Senior Vice President and Director of Safety and Security would be explaining to the Board about the incident and describing what steps had been taken to correct the breach of their security.

Wiley said soberly, “And I’ll be sweating the questions. They love to make me squirm.” He was a big man, probably six foot four inches, and while easily well over two hundred pounds, there didn’t appear to be an ounce of fat on him. His military bearing gave his conservative suit the look of a uniform. His large coffee colored hand swallowed Claire’s in his grasp. “They’re going to be successful today. I squirm every time I think about the
what ifs
. I thank you very much for your brave actions.”

Wiley’s admiration shone from his eyes.

She demurred, “Remember, I was on that flight. I was trying to save my own skin.”

Suddenly the Board members were taking their seats. Wiley seated Claire next to him at the large oval table. The water pitchers, the glasses and the little bowls of mints, sitting at intervals down the middle of the table, were filled and waiting. In front of each person lay a little stack of papers, an agenda, a yellow lined tablet and a couple of sharpened pencils.

The faces turned her way were expectant. Claire felt their curiosity picking over her. She took a sip of water, her mouth suddenly dry with nerves. Neither Jack, nor Doug looked concerned and she envied them their panache.

David Lickman called the meeting to order and for the benefit of the guests introduced each member. Claire tried to concentrate so she could remember who was who, noting each one on the list of attendees provided for her with the agenda. Some registered well, the graceful, fifty-something Asian American woman, Bernice Eng-Smith, who was Vantage’s Director of Customer Service and, of course, George Warton the former senator from Maryland. There was a Robert Pollack, who needed no announcement that he was retired military, his whole body screamed it, and a stunning woman who was apparently the head of her own public relations firm. As David Lickman moved around the table Claire gave up keeping the Board members fixed in mind, resorting instead to nodding and smiling while she tried to read the names on the badges pinned to their lapels.

When Wiley began his presentation, Claire was intrigued with the story he told. It wasn’t a new story for her. She had been there. But somehow Wiley’s factual accounting became a suspenseful drama.

“Excuse me, Wiley.”

Claire thought the woman who spoke was the one in the public relations business and found her name, Katherine Gilford-Merrith, on her list.

“I don’t understand about this Carol Daley. How did she explain her actions? How could she have so flagrantly ignored our safety rules? Why would she allow that woman to pass through to the boarding area without the proper screening?”

Wiley looked very uncomfortable. “Good question, Katherine. One we asked ourselves. Unfortunately, we will probably never hear the answer. Ms. Daley left early that day, shortly after this group was boarded and the plane had pulled back from the gate. Naturally, as soon as her role in this was revealed we conducted an all out search for some answers from her. But too late!”

He looked around the room, his eyes focusing on Katherine. “That day there was an incident in the Tube Station near her house. You might have heard about it? Two groups of rival football fans had a rather severe ruckus. Three people were killed, one died later in the hospital and about twenty were injured to varying degrees. One of the dead was Carol Daley. She was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time. She never made it home. And we never got the chance to question her.”

Shock appeared on Katherine’s face; this whole incident had just become more real for her.

Claire felt a wave of sadness wash over her. Somehow when she agreed to come she hadn’t thought about it all being dredged up again.

Carol Daley, the Vantage Customer Service Manager, who met them at Heathrow, had been a godsend for Claire just when Rosa refused to have her computer X-rayed at security for fear it would damage the hard drive. Then to complicate matters, Rosa’s battery was dead. Had Claire been a more experienced traveler she would have known Rosa needed to keep her adapter plug with her so she could plug into an electrical outlet to boot up the computer for the security check. But Rosa had packed the adapter, relying on the fickle battery. Claire thought she was going to have to leave Rosa and the computer in London until Carol pulled strings to get them through security.

It was only later she had realized what a disservice that favor had really been.

She remembered how she had become nauseous when she learned what had happened to Carol, but then it was only one of many things which had that effect on her during that time.

Neil Pinschley looked sharply at the attractive Asian cast woman. “Bernice, she was one of your people, wasn’t she? What’s your explanation of Carol’s behavior?”

Bernice Eng-Smith spoke calmly. “Carol Daley was one of our best senior Customer Service Managers. Ordinarily she was used to assist our most important customers. No one knows how she got involved with this Springer tour group. Frequently she would get a request directly from a senior executive without going through the usual channels and when that happened she usually reported those to her supervisor either before or after she took care of the situation.”

“Are you suggesting that a senior executive of Vantage Airlines instructed her to break security rules?” Neil was outraged. “Wiley, have you had any indication of this?”

Wiley shook his head as Bernice continued, “No, of course I’m not accusing anyone. I’m just explaining how Carol worked.

“One of the ladies on duty in the Advantage Club that day said Carol did receive a phone call before hurrying out. The timing was such that we assume she went directly out to the check-in counter and connected up with the Springer tour. However, there was no indication as to who the call was from or even if it had anything to do with the tour.”

Bernice continued in her calm voice. “As you know, delicate situations develop frequently and this group of employees is prepared to fix whatever is wrong.

“Actually, I remember that one of our people took care of one of your clients for you once, didn’t they, Katherine? Some emergency situation you had in New York?” She waited for Katherine’s agreement. “That’s their job, solving problems. Ensuring the customer is being served appropriately. That’s the Vantage way.”

She paused, looking around the table, then said firmly, “Carol Daley was one of our best. We can’t conceive how this happened. All of her colleagues and the people she worked with over the past years had nothing but respect for her. They are devastated at what happened to her.”