Henry Wood Perception (26 page)

“You have been away from home for many years, perhaps even longer than Matthew.”

“Yes, I came over in ‘46. It has been a long wait.”

“Your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed.”

“Yours, either. I was sorry to hear about your untimely death.”

Pytor laughed and leaned back in his chair. He then remembered his children, and it seemed less funny. “It needed to be done. We all make sacrifices I guess.”

The coffee arrived, and Pytor whispered something to the waiter. A moment later he returned with a good bottle of Stolichnaya and two glasses. The waiter poured them each a shot and went back to the kitchen.

The man raised his glass as did Pytor; they brought them together and made a silent toast. Pytor pulled his mind back from his children and asked, “What do you have for me?”

“Our friend Oleg has done a nice job of keeping the CIA guessing. I'll let him tell you how he did it.”

Pytor took a sip of his coffee, then poured a bit of vodka in it and asked, “Do you hear anything about Kupton Manufacturing and our plans?”

“Yes, and it is not good news.”

Pytor’s expression remained much as it had with Matthew. The cheesecake arrived, and they stopped talking.

The man said, “The Americans who were going to help have employed a detective named Henry Wood.”

“Which ones?”

“Two of them,” he flipped open a small notebook, “Charles Wayne Hudson, who is in shipping, and Sir Richard Bessemer, the import/export millionaire, both went to see him today. I don’t know their plan, but it’s clear they intend to try something.”

“I believe they already have.”

The man ignored his dessert and asked, “When?”

“Today they went to see Matthew and convinced him they are on board with the whole operation. I fear he has gotten soft, unlike you. He likes his American toys and wants to believe them.”

“Though the CIA didn’t hear their plans, either, I'm sure they will be reaching out to him.”

Pytor took a bite and said, “Then we must reach out to him, too. Do you know anything about this detective?”

“I know plenty.”

“And you'll take care of it?”

“It will be a pleasure. What about the two Americans? We need them for the transport, don’t we?”

“American businesses and their English cousins are very efficient. If one cuts the head off the beast, another is waiting to take its place.” Pytor poured another round and smiled.

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

Henry wasn’t comfortable meeting in his office, so when Lawrence walked in, he said, “Hey, buddy, I was just heading out to get a beer. Let me buy you one.”

Lawrence was eager to tell his story about the guys he saw. “I think you'll want to hear this. I have some news which could be crucial…”

Celine could tell he was about to say more than Henry wanted broadcast, so she linked her arm with Lawrence’s and said, “There will be plenty of time for that. Henry said he is buying the first round, and I don’t want him forgetting.” She led him out of the office. “Henry, you’ll lock the door?”

“I will.”

Lawrence, feeling confused, asked, “What about Buttons?”

Buttons was sitting on the desk and seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Henry patted him on the head and said, “Buttons, we won’t be gone long. There is food and water in the bowl. Keep an eye on the place.”

Buttons seemed satisfied and hopped off Celine’s desk and disappeared into Henry’s office.

Henry locked the door. Celine and Lawrence were well down the hall, nearing Bobby’s office door. She walked past, gave a quick knock, and yelled, “Dublin Rogue; Henry’s buying.” A voice from deep inside hollered back, “I’ll see you there.”

Henry caught up to Celine and Lawrence just as she explained,. “We found out there are bugs in the office.”

Lawrence, still not quite up to speed, said, “My cousin is an exterminator; I could call him if you want.”

Celine giggled. “Not those types of bugs. You’re funny.”

Henry explained, and Lawrence blushed, but it might have been because Celine was still linked arm-in-arm with him. She had that effect on men.

Lawrence was still eager to share his news, but Henry made him wait. They arrived at
The Dublin Rogue
to find Charles and Richard already had a table. Celine grabbed a chair, Henry sat across from her, and Lawrence sat on the end. Henry introduced Lawrence and explained how he was working undercover. Henry was more interested in the news from Richard and Charles than Lawrence’s update. They went first.

Richard took the lead and began, “It’s pretty clear they intend to steal the parts to use in their own submarine fleet. It’s my understanding they are quite a leap forward in strength and durability when under the pressure of great depths.” He went over every detail and then when it got to the details of the shipping, he deferred to Charles.

“They have a shell company set up, and the intent is to deliver the parts there. It will look completely legitimate as they even have some projects which would use similar piping and such. Nobody will think anything of it.”

Henry had been listening closely while Lawrence fidgeted, and Celine checked her watch. “So it isn’t just the one shipment?”

“No, the plan is to use the parts for all of the new subs.”

Henry took a drink of beer. “When is the first shipment?”

“Matthew had it all figured out. He had all my company’s paper work and asked me to sign. It means his men can get their shipment aboard as soon as they are ready. I had to sign a half dozen sets to be a team player, but I didn’t like it.”

Richard said, “You didn’t have a choice; we needed him to believe we were on board.”

Henry agreed and asked, “So when is the first shipment leaving?”

Charles replied, “It can leave anytime, but he said they wouldn’t be ready until Wednesday.”

Lawrence leaned forward, then stopped himself.

Henry looked at him. “Did you have something to add?”

Everyone was looking at him now, even Celine, and he suddenly felt self-conscious but managed to find his voice. “I saw them working Saturday night.”

Henry surprised, asked, “Working? Making pipes?”

“No, I saw them unpacking and packing boxes…in the restricted area.” Lawrence then went over what he had seen, and everyone was on the edge of their chairs. When he was done he leaned back, exhausted but relieved.

“Why would they be unpacking and repacking? Aren’t all of the parts in the section to the same specs?”

“Sure, we make them in the restricted area, the inspection team reviews each batch for defects, and they are boxed in crates.”

“What happens to the defects?” Henry asked, his mind starting to consider that they may have a second objective.

“They are kept together, so they don’t get mixed back up with the good ones.”

“Are they stored in the same type crates?”

Lawrence thought about it and said, “I haven’t really seen where they put them; I just know they are very careful to keep them separate. The boss is always checking the inspection station.”

Celine looked at her watch and said matter of factly, “They are probably mixing them in with the good Navy parts. That’s what I would do.”

Henry had just come to the same conclusion. The others were getting there slowly. Her casualness made everyone stop and stare. She stood up, “Listen, gentlemen, this spy stuff is great. I have a date; I'll leave you to figure out how to stop them. I like sailors, so you better not let any of their boats sink.” She stood from the table and waved at someone near the front door.

Henry turned and looked, as did the rest of the table, but her date was looking away. Lawrence tried the hardest to see who he was but couldn’t get a good look. Henry stated the obvious, “We need to stop them.”

There were nods all around. Richard, “If I may?”

“Go ahead.”

“You have a bright girl there, Henry, and she is right. It’s one thing to steal the parts, but to give defects to the Navy would be crippling. I would have thought it was just Pytor and Matthew overseeing the operation, but, obviously, if they have a crew in there at night, they have a bigger operation than I had thought. We need to catch them all. I think it's time to call your FBI friends.”

“I would agree, but there is one problem: they aren’t looking for Russians.”

Richard gave him an odd look.

“They are snooping around because they got wind of the CIA playing in their sandbox. We need something to make them believe us and act right now. We only have two days.”

Lawrence, feeling pretty good about having helped, blurted out, “We need to catch them in the restricted area. I’m not sure, but I think it's a serious violation of the Navy contract. None of the other workers will even walk past the door. My supervisor told me that the company put the fear of God into everyone when they won the contract.”

The next few hours were spent forming a game plan. They worked out each step.

Jack and Celine were in a cab. He was one step ahead of Henry.

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

Henry left the bar and thought about the plan they had cobbled together. His gut told him there were holes. Bobby walked next to him but wasn’t talking. Henry usually wanted him to get to the point and be done with his lengthy explanations, but total silence seemed odd. “What do you think, Bobby?

“I don’t know.”

“You think we have missed something?”

“I can’t think of anything, but yes.”

They didn’t say anything for a block. Henry lit up a cigarette and tried to put a finger on whatever was making his gut tie itself in knots.

“Henry, you know, I keep thinking about one thing. It may seem strange, and I wasn’t there, but I keep wondering about Celine. I talked to her today. She was watering the plant, and Buttons was watching. I thought it was cute. What was I saying? Oh, yes, we talked about how things were going. She never mentioned having a date. Why wouldn’t she say something? What do you know about this guy?”

That was the Bobby Henry knew. “She didn’t say anything to me. I had no idea she even had a boyfriend.”

“She doesn’t. He must be someone new.”

Henry suddenly remembered the song, ‘The Stranger,’ and a chill ran down his spine. He checked his watch. It was after 11:00 p.m. He started to walk a little faster, and Bobby was right there with him. They got back to the office and Henry expected or more hoped that he would find Celine had gone to dinner, retrieved Buttons, and gone home. Bobby was thinking something similar. Henry turned the key in the door. Before he could get inside, he heard a disapproving “Meooooow!”

Bobby stood in the doorway and looked worried. Henry walked over and picked up Buttons off the desk. “Hey there, Buttons, how ya doing?” Buttons purred for a few seconds, then struggled to get free.

Bobby asked, “Where do you think she is?”

“I don’t know. I can’t imagine she would have gone home without picking up the cat.”

Buttons was offended. “Meow.”

“Sorry, the boss.”

Buttons approved, crawled under the desk, curled into a ball, and set his head on his paws.

Bobby said, “It looks like he thinks Celine is going to be a while.”

“It looks like it's going to be a late night. I think I have Carol’s phone number around here; maybe she knows who Celine is out with tonight?”

“Maybe it’s nothing?” Bobby started to make coffee; and Henry picked up the phone. Carol had been asleep, but when he asked who Celine had been seeing and explained why, he had a new problem: Carol became hysterical. When she mentioned the name of the man Celine was seeing, Henry’s head started to spin. He walked over and picked up the bug Buttons had found and sent a message. Less than a minute later the phone rang.

CHAPTER SIXTY SIX

Dewey took the piece of paper and read it twice. “This came through the bugs?”

The analyst shrugged, “After he called us ‘bastards,’ he said to call. It just came in.”

“Thanks…that will be all.”

Dewey dialed and an aggravated voice answered the phone. “You have made a terrible miscalculation, whoever you are. Who is this?” Dewey wasn’t used to being caught off guard. “My name is Dewey, and, yes, I'm one of the bastards from the CIA. You wish to talk?”

“I want to know where Celine is right now!”

“Why do you think I would know anything of her whereabouts?”

“Don’t play stupid with me. I caught your boy Jack following me, and I know two things.”

“Oh?”

“I know he had something to do with Daniel Kupton’s death.” Henry paused for effect, though he was really just playing a hunch. In the detective game, sometimes a hunch hits harder than a bullet.

Dewey almost denied it as being absurd, but his instincts told him to let Henry keep talking. He waited for Henry to continue well aware that the silence would make it sound like Jack was guilty. Right now, he needed to get in a room with Henry Wood. When Henry didn't start right away with his second point, he said, “I think we should meet.”