Home Goes The Warrior (30 page)

“There’s one thing I still have to teach you about mowing a lawn,” Bill said as he reached into the car. “Both the mower and the person behind it have to be lubricated regularly.” He handed Lee a bottle of beer with a flourish.

Lee laughed appreciatively. “You know, I sure have a lot to learn about this civilian life. Thank you!” They clicked bottles.

By the time Lee was back in his BOQ room, he was exhausted and filthy, but as happy as he could remember ever being. Before he showered, he picked up the phone and called Maggie. The two talked for
hours. It was after midnight when he finally showered and went to bed. He was even happier than before.

At 6 a.m. sharp, his phone rang. He was just about to leave for a run, but he stopped to answer it.

“This is Lee.”

“Good morning, sunshine. Tried to get you last night, but your phone was busy all night.” It was Tom Wright.

“Yeah, Maggie and I were making sure Ma Bell stays profitable. Did you have news?”

“Uh-huh. Marie is dead. Died of cyanide poisoning in Scotland Yard’s custody at Heathrow airport.”

“Wow! I didn’t see that coming. What happened?”

“I’ll start at the beginning. She flew out of Philadelphia on a flight to Moscow. She was supposed to change planes in London and go on to Moscow. But she changed her mind when she got to London and bought a ticket to Cairo, Egypt, with a one-day stopover in Geneva, Switzerland, on her way to Cairo.

“That is totally weird.”

“Yup. Anyway, she had a long layover while she was waiting for the flight to Geneva. That gave our guys time to alert Scotland Yard. They put a massive team in Heathrow armed with our sketch, and they got lucky. From what I hear, they caught her just as she was boarding the flight. She never had a chance. When she saw them, she actually fainted! So they took her into custody and stashed her in a customs interrogation room while they waited for one of our people. But when he showed up, our Marie was dead as a doornail. Somehow she had kept cyanide tablets on her, and she used them.”

“Man, Tom. What the hell are we dealing with here? A thief that turns into a mass murderer and then takes cyanide when she’s caught. This is starting to sound more like a spy thriller than a robbery caper.”

“No shit!”

“I’m serious, Tom. We’ve got a mystery man who shoots people with a hunting rifle, even though he’s operating in a major city. We’ve got massive amounts of missing money. We’ve got a woman who kills people. When she runs, she gets a ticket to Russia, then Switzerland,
then Egypt. And now, the same woman suddenly and mysteriously swallows a poison pill when she’s taken into custody. Man, this sounds like a James Bond novel. What in hell are we into?”

“There’s more, Lee. She had a bunch of different passports hidden on her. All under different names and from different countries. All with her picture on them.”

That caused Lee to go quiet. He didn’t know what to say. But Tom continued anyway.

“There’s also some good news, my friend. She had all of the information on the Skimmers’ Swiss bank accounts in her briefcase. Our guys over there have been able to use her data to expatriate well over a hundred million dollars. The money has already been transferred back to the U.S. Treasury.”

Lee was still speechless. He managed to croak out a “Wow,” and then he went silent. This was a lot to absorb.

Finally he recovered somewhat. “Tom, I was just making noise about the James Bond stuff. But really, what the devil are we into? She sounds a whole lot more sophisticated than we ever suspected. This isn’t just a shop planner caper. None of the original dozen Skimmers, except possibly Rick Burley, were anywhere near this level of sophistication. Plus, the guy with the rifle is still out there. We need to re-think this whole thing.”

“I know. I’ve been awake all night thinking about it and I’m as baffled as you are. Something is very fishy in the City of Philadelphia and I don’t know what it is.”

“Let’s go quiet for now. We don’t know anything except that we ain’t done yet. Maybe if we just go quiet and wait, the rifleman will slip up and show us something that we can get our teeth into. In the meantime, we can be very quietly going over everything we know, looking for anything that might point us to the right people.”

“Lee, you said ‘people.’ Do you think there are more people still out there, other than the rifleman?”

“I really don’t know. But everything we know points to a smooth, well-run operation that is well above the levels of the Skimmers. If I had to guess, I’d bet on another organization that was just using the Skimmers. What do you think?”

“I think you’re right. I came to the same conclusion in the middle of the night last night. What’s even worse, I’ve convinced myself that the fact Marie was originally flying to Moscow wasn’t a coincidence. I think she was supposed to end up there with the money, but she decided to take a detour. If that’s right, this may be far bigger than we ever imagined.”

“Holy shit, Tom!”

“Yeah. I agree.”

“What now?”

“I think you had it right. But I think we have to get a lot more cagey with what we do from here on out. No more telephones. I’m going to get a small, secure, short-wave radio to you. We have a unit that fits in a briefcase, so it can be carried anywhere. I’ll arrange to have it delivered to you this evening. I’ll have someone contact you with specifics. What time can you be available?”

“How about if I’m at the Melrose Diner for dinner tonight at about 7 p.m.?”

“Is good. My guy will look you up. I’ll be keeping one of the same radios with me all the time from now on. I suggest you keep with you as much as possible during the daytime and in your BOQ room at night. If I can’t get you on the radio during the daytime, I’ll call your office and just say ‘please call home.’ Then we’ll get together on the radio.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you on the radio.” With that, the two signed off.

Lee sat down at the little desk in his room, the telephone still in his hand. His mind was running a thousand miles an hour.

My God! Cyanide! What the hell have I got myself into?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - THE QUIET TIME

he next few days were uneventful. Lee spent Monday touring the waterfront and meeting with his division heads. The radio was turned over to him on schedule Monday evening.

Tuesday morning, he joined Tim at the shipyard commander’s ship status meeting and stayed behind afterward to brief Captain Jones on the investigation progress. The captain was ecstatic when he heard that the money was recovered, but Lee swore him to silence. “It’s not completely over, Captain, and we can’t afford any leaks right now.” The captain agreed.

Lee used the rest of the week to get completely up to date on the ongoing work in the shipyard. Except for a test call, the radio didn’t get used.

Thursday afternoon, the realtor called and said the paperwork was all ready, and he could close when he was ready. They scheduled the closing for Friday afternoon. He immediately called Maggie from his office to tell her.

“The house is going to be ours tomorrow afternoon.” She was even more excited than Lee had been, if that was possible. They talked for a half-hour before she had to go on duty. When he put the phone down, he thought back on the conversation and had to laugh. They were like two proud children with a brand-new toy!

The closing was anticlimactic the next day. Lee was the only one present who considered this to be any kind of a big deal. The closing
agent and the realtor did this routinely, and, although they were nice and congratulatory, they just weren’t into it as much as him. Somehow, in the recesses of his mind, Lee had expected that everyone would see this as a major event. It was just plain disappointing that they didn’t, even though he consciously understood their lack of passion.

Lee left the office with a stack of papers, a handful of keys, and a swelling feel of pride. He went straight to the house, where he set about prioritizing the work he planned for the weekend. Then he headed for the nearby mall to buy tools, cleaning gear, and other work items.

After dinner at Packy’s, he went back to the house and began cleaning. By 10 p.m., he place was looking much better, so he headed back to his BOQ room and bed.

Saturday morning found Lee going from building supply stores to furniture stores to bedding stores. He was careful to buy only non-controversial items; things that he knew there was no need for Maggie to see before the purchase. They had agreed on paint colors over the phone, so he was able to get paint and brushes. That would consume the next few free days. He also bought a queen-size innerspring and mattress, along with some very basic bedding. Now he could crash at the house, and, if Maggie wanted something different, they could always put this stuff in a guest room. Next, he got a frying pan, some paper plates, and plastic silverware. Then he hit a grocery store and bought bacon, eggs, bread, peanut butter, Coca-Cola and beer. Now he was ready to move in.

“Papa, are you sure she’s dead?” It was Marita’s sister, disheveled and red-eyed from crying. She was being comforted by Fedya, who often acted as a big brother to the group.

“I’m afraid so, Shura. Somehow these despicable Americans captured her while she was on a layover in London. She did the honorable thing and took a cyanide pill.”

Papa didn’t tell her that Marita had changed her tickets. There was no sense planting any thoughts in the minds of the others.

The portly blond man, Toma, was sitting at the far end of the table, also with noticeably reddened eyes. But he was thinking about much more than just the loss of his childhood friend. “How about the money, Papa?”

“She couldn’t protect it, Toma. It fell into the laps of the stupid Americans. Over a hundred million dollars. The KGB tried to get to it, but the Americans had Marita’s briefcase, so they got to it first and had it transferred back to this country.”

Fedya spoke up over the top of Shura’s head. “What can you tell me, Toma, about this man Raines? He seems to be the heart of our problems.”

Toma thought a moment before answering. “He’s a dedicated Navy man and a very sharp technical person. He would fit right in with the crowd you work with down in Crystal City. His specialty is guided missile systems, but he learns very fast when we talk about other equipment and systems. He’s been able to get Vince Askew under control and keep him there, even though he’s only been in the Navy yard for a few weeks.”

“What about his personal life?”

“He’s single, but he’s engaged to a Navy nurse who’s transferring out here from San Diego soon. Her name is Maggie. They’re always on the phone together sounding like love-struck teenagers. Raines just bought a house out in Delaware County and he’s doing some fix-up on it while he’s waiting for her to show up. Other than that, I don’t know much. He’s pretty tight-lipped about his personal life.”

“Toma, somehow I still question whether he’s a real Navy officer. The ones that I know would never have figured out the Skimmers’ scam. They’re too focused on Navy traditions and ship-driving crap.”

“Fedya, I don’t give a shit whether he is or isn’t. He’s dead meat as far as I’m concerned. I’m going to kill that son of a bitch! This is all his fault.”

That brought Papa back into the conversation. “Not yet, Toma. We must stay out of sight for a while. They still don’t know about us. They think Marita was just a Skimmer who tried to steal the other Skimmers’ money. We don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. We still have a mission to continue here. Toma, tell me more about this Maggie and the house Raines bought.”

“Papa, there isn’t a lot more to tell you. All I know is what I overhear on the phone tap. I’m not close to the front office, so I don’t engage in any small talk with Raines or his people up there.”

“Okay. Try to get the address of that place and find out when they’re moving in, please.” He paused and thought for a moment. “Don’t worry, my children. We’ll definitely take care of Mr. Raines when the time is right. He’s a walking dead man right now. We will avenge Marita. I swear this to you.” During the last couple of sentences, his voice had become shrill and a bit shaky. He was feeling the loss of Marita very deeply.