Home Goes The Warrior (31 page)

Lee found that he was happier than he could remember ever being. He went to work with a bounce in his step and easily did the tasks that the shipyard workday brought him. When he left work, he drove to his new house, changed clothes, and worked on the house until he could go no more. He lived on frozen TV dinners, bacon and eggs. He didn’t have time for anything fancier. He wanted this place to sparkle when Maggie arrived.

The walls and ceilings in the entire first floor were painted as the first order of business. Then he rented a big sander and refinished the hardwood floors in the living room and master bedroom. He left the kitchen and bathrooms untouched because Maggie wanted to take part in that portion of the work.

Outside, he found that he had fruit trees and grape vines. He bought books and learned to care for them. Then, as an afterthought, he bought rose bushes and planted them around the screened-in porch at the rear of the home.

By the time Maggie was scheduled to arrive, he was on pins and needles. He couldn’t wait to show off his work. Two weeks went by this way, with absolutely nothing happening in the shipyard to distract him from his efforts at home.

Only one week until Maggie was to arrive!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - GAME CHANGER!

ee arrived at work that Monday morning ready for a quiet day. He and Tim were planning to visit the ships today and check work progress. Then they were to meet with Ed Carvell, the electrical and electronic group superintendent. He was starting to look forward to those meetings. Ed was a great guy, and the conversation often veered from shipyard work matters to just life in general. Lee found that both Tim and Ed were bright people who held opinions on everything from the shipyard to politics to life in general. It was always a lively meeting when the three of them got together.

As he pulled in to his parking place beside the combat systems office, he noticed that there was a new Cadillac in the parking place where Thomas Sloan, the electronics division head, usually parked. He made a mental note:
I’ll have to give Thomas a ration about that. That’s a really strange phallic symbol of a car for a middle-aged bachelor to drive.
He went on into his office, pausing to greet Jane and check for messages.

He took care of some routine paperwork and was about to get Tim and head for the waterfront when he heard a commotion in the reception area. Jane’s voice was raised as she greeted what was apparently a long-lost friend. “Randall Symington! I haven’t seen you in months! How are you?”

Through his half-open door, Lee could see her coming around her desk with her arms outstretched to give someone a big hug. He smiled. An old friend would break the monotony a bit. Besides, he knew Jane well enough now to know that he would be hearing about this person
and his history for the rest of the day, at least. Jane was a great worker, but she also loved to talk. He realized that he had grown very accustomed to her. In fact, she had become a friend.

Grabbing his hard hat, he went past the two as they hugged and exchanged greetings. He stuck his head in Tim’s office. “Ready to head out?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it.” Tim grabbed his hat and a clipboard, and the two were ready to go.

“Lieutenant! Before you go, I’d like for you guys to meet someone here.” It was Jane.

Lee moved back into the reception area and extended his hand to the older man standing there. “Hi. I’m Lee Raines.”

“Hello Lieutenant. I am very happy to make your acquaintance. I am Randall Symington the Third. I was the electronics division manager here many years ago, way back before young Thomas Sloan took over. I remember Jane from when she was a brand-new high school graduate, just trying to find her way around the shipyard.”

Jane had to correct him at that point. “Yes. He was the electronics division head. But back then, the electronics division also included the engineering division and most of the missile section. He practically ran the entire place. When he left, they had to break up the group because they couldn’t find anyone who could understand all the different things that Randall ran by himself.”

She paused for breath while Randall good-naturedly dismissed her claims about him and his expertise by saying that he had been here when things were much simpler than today. Lee was intrigued by him. He must have really stood out in the plain-talking, somewhat rough shipyard world. He was articulate and very well-spoken, and his clothing was impeccable. There was nothing of the shipyard roughneck about him.

“So, Randall, how long have you been retired?”

“My, I guess it must be about twelve years now. Time certainly flies, does it not?”

“Yes, it does. Oh, excuse me. This is Chief Warrant Officer Tim Connors, the guy who does most of the Navy work around here. We were just getting ready to head for the waterfront.” Lee stepped aside and let Tim move up to shake hands with the older gentleman.

When the introductions were over, Randall turned back to Lee. “You’re fairly new here, I understand. How are you liking the shipyard? A bit different from shipboard life, is it not?”

“To tell the truth, Randall, I’m loving it. I like to have the feeling that I’m doing some good, and I have that here. Aboard ship, sometimes I felt like I was just putting new grey paint over old grey paint. It got boring. Here it’s different.”

The older man smiled at that. “Yes. I can relate to that. I always felt that my work in this shipyard contributed greatly to my chosen country. I loved that feeling of accomplishment.”

“Your chosen country? Where are you from originally, Randall?”

“Oh right here, Mr. Raines. That was just an expression of mine. By the way, congratulations on the new home. I hear you’ve been working hard on it.”

Lee held up his hands which were spotted with off-white paint that he’d been unable to totally remove. He grinned wryly. “Yeah. But I’m enjoying it.

“Well, I’m sure it will be well worth the effort. When does your fiancée, arrive? She will certainly appreciate all of your hard work when she gets here. Have the two of you set a date yet?”

“No date yet. We aren’t quite there yet. But I do hope that she likes the house. She’s planning to be here on Friday.”

Lee was calm with his answer. But his head was spinning. Only a very few people in the shipyard knew about his home purchase. Not only that, but he had told absolutely no one in the shipyard about Maggie. Not even the shipyard commander. He had done this deliberately because he hadn’t wanted to expose her to danger. Only Tom Wright knew about Maggie, and he’d been sworn to secrecy. Now here was this old man talking about her as if she was common knowledge to everyone.

Now Jane jumped in. “Mr. Raines! You have a fiancée and you didn’t tell me? How dare you? She’s arriving this week and she’s going to that half-painted bachelor pad of yours? What are you thinking? We’re going to have a talk about this.” She had planted herself, hands on hips, in front of him.

Lee grinned and slipped around her. “Randall, I’m very glad to have met you. But I think it’s time that Tim and I head for the waterfront. It looks dangerous in here.”

“I agree, Mr. Raines. I’ll see you again.”

As Lee went out the door, he heard Jane behind him. “You just wait, Lieutenant Raines! I’ll talk to you when you get back.” Jane was excited about his mysterious fiancée, obviously.

Lee and Tim went about their normal shipyard tour and meeting that morning. But Lee’s head wasn’t into it. The fact that this man had known about Maggie was a major concern. Lee racked his brain, trying to figure out where he had slipped up. But nothing added up. He certainly hadn’t told anyone at the BOQ or officers’ club. He had not been that close to anyone there. As far as the combat systems office went, Jane’s reaction said it all. If there was any kind of gossip in the office, Jane was always the first to know it. But she hadn’t known about Maggie.

There was only one explanation. Someone was spying on him, and they were probably listening in on his telephone calls!

Not only that, but this old man, Randall Symington, knew details that could only come from those sources. He had to be somehow tied in with whoever was doing the spying.

When they arrived at the office, Randall was just leaving, driving the new Cadillac that Lee had noticed earlier. He and Randall exchanged friendly waves and he entered the office.

Jane was waiting for him, following right behind him as he walked into his office and hung his hard-hat on a wall hook. “Okay, mister! Time to talk!” She was smiling, but was very obviously wanting to know all about the Maggie situation.

Lee decided to use her curiosity to get information on the old man.

“Come on in and have a seat, Mrs. Herperowski. I’ll confess and tell all.” He walked around his desk and sat. Jane took a seat in front of the desk.

“Okay, here’s the story. Her name is Maggie, short for Margaret. Her last name is Gardiner. When I was shot up in Viet Nam, she was one of the Navy nurses assigned to my group in the hospital. Then when I was in recuperation in the San Diego Navy hospital, she was
transferred there. To make a long story short, we’ve been together, more or less, since then. Now we’re engaged and she’s being transferred to the Philadelphia Navy hospital for duty.”

He paused and Jane hit him with a barrage of questions. He answered as best he could, and they talked about Maggie and her arrival for another fifteen minutes. Then Lee changed the subject. “Jane, tell me about that old guy, Randall. What’s the story on him?”

Jane giggled. “Oh, you mean the Third.” She giggled again. “That’s what everyone here used to call him when he wasn’t listening. Sometimes they dropped the ‘H’ out of the name. I guess he’s turned into an elderly gentleman these days. He was a real dictator when he worked here, but he seems to have mellowed over the years. He stops in every once in a while to make sure we aren’t screwing his shipyard up. He has some odd ideas, but he’s harmless.”

“His shipyard?”

“Yeah. He retired about ten or twelve years ago. He was the head of the electronics division, the same job that his adopted son, Thomas Sloan, has now. But back when Randall had the job, the electronics division included all of the engineering division and some parts of the missile branch also. It was a lot bigger job then than it is now.”

“Thomas is his son?”

“Yes, his adopted son. He has four adopted children. Sonya, the woman who works in the vault, is his adopted daughter. He has another adopted son that works in the Navy’s electronics systems command down in Washington, D.C., and another daughter working somewhere out west, I think.

“Wow. That’s a lot of adoptions.”

“Yes. You see, Randall and his wife never had any children of their own, and his wife was a social worker for the state. Over the years, they adopted four kids who were about ten or twelve years old when they took them in. Then they raised them as their own. They even put all four through college. Randall’s wife died a few years ago and he’s a bachelor now. He’s a member of a bunch of engineering societies, and he gives a lot of speeches there. Other than that, he just stays home, I think. Occasionally he gets lonely and wanders in here, and we all give him the royal treatment. He goes away happy.”

“He must be very well-educated if he’s giving speeches to engineering societies.”

“He has at least one Ph.D. and a bunch of other credentials. His business card is covered with initials that I don’t even try to understand. When he was in the shipyard, he was well-known for being our in-house academic.”

“That’s really interesting. I’m surprised that he didn’t go to Washington, D.C. with those credentials. That’s where most exceptional shipyard talent ends up from what I’ve seen.”

“No chance. Randall couldn’t even get selected to be our chief engineer. He had all the qualifications, on paper. But he was known to be a petty dictator. Besides, he was always getting mixed up in political messes. He marched on Washington about a hundred times during the sixties. He was forever telling the shipyard officers that they should just lay down their arms and refuse to support our corrupt government. Things like that. Everyone just regarded him as a kook. He did a good job, but his attitude and politics stopped them from ever selecting him for promotions. I think it must have made him a bit bitter. But you’d never know it to talk to him.”