“What? The entire ship? That doesn’t sound like a small thing. Should we notify the captain?” Josh didn’t want to do anything out of place.
“Naw,” O’Neil slurred. “We do this stuff all the time. Mostly when we’re bored.”
“All the time… on billions of dollars’ worth of equipment?”
“Relax, we passed all the classes.”
The attitude of the ship changed as it slipped into a dive. Josh grabbed his chair, but this time didn’t hold on as tight.
McLeary and O’Neil began removing panels behind ODIS’s portable case. They were presented with a mass of wire and cable. Like pros, they began to remove and splice the different wires together.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Arrangements Should Never Be Made in Haste
His palms were actually sweaty. Dan had never been this nervous when he met a woman. Granted, he was a little surprised that Sharon said yes, but he couldn’t shake this feeling. Maybe it was the restaurant he chose — Swanky’s on Eighth Street. It wasn’t the nicest neighborhood, but he did want to maintain a low profile for the next couple of days. Maybe he was nervous because he had asked her there under false pretenses. He knew he was going to pump her for information. He had done it before, just never on someone he knew so well — or thought he knew well. Sharon’s sexuality still had not settled with him completely. It didn’t bother him, but he was sure no one had ever guessed she played for the other team.
A waitress escorted her to his table. They were placed far in a dark corner in an already dimly lit room. The owner was trying to get a romantic look but only achieved sleazy. Sharon was noticeably concerned. The restaurant was strange to her, and she, too, wanted to talk to Dan. The whole setting was out of character for both of them.
“Thanks for coming,” said Dan, trying to display his best manners. “Want something to drink?”
“Yes. A stinger please.”
The waitress left, letting them converse more openly.
“Sorry about the restaurant. It was the only one I could think of at the moment.”
Sharon smiled. “It’s not so bad. I’ve been on dates in worse places than this.”
“That helps a bit,” Dan replied. He didn’t know where to go from there. Sharon was his secretary. Needling her for information would be tough.
She was just as nervous. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?” Again, she was afraid. Afraid that she had been wrong about Dan. She felt guilty that she had spoken to Levi.
Dan saw no course other than the direct one. “Yeah, Sharon. I want to talk to you about your job.”
She covered her mouth and spoke softly. Tears came to her eyes. “You’re going to fire me. I didn’t think you were, but you’re going to fire me.”
“What?” snorted Dan. “I’m not going to fire you. I told you that already.”
The news was a relief. “I thought because of the way we’re meeting that you were going to let me go.”
“We’re at dinner, Sharon. This is not a human resource office. Like I said, your job is safe. But I do want to talk to you about it.”
“Sure, Dan. Anything.”
“The reason I let you have a few days off is because I felt that there was an information leak.”
“Not me, Dan. You know that I’d never tell anyone anything.” The insinuation was serious. It was aimed directly at Dan’s foundation of trust.
“I know. It never seemed to happen before, but I’ve noticed some strange things since Levi got on the operation.” He watched Sharon, and her demeanor changed.
“He called me the other night,” she blurted out.
“Oh…”
“He scared me.” The waitress brought her drink, interrupting the conversation. “He made threats, or that’s what I thought.”
“Threats?”
“He said if he wasn’t completely in charge that people could get hurt. But he made it sound like he would do the hurting. He wanted to know what you were doing and if you were still in contact with George.”
“And?”
Sharon thrust herself halfway across the table. “Dan, I couldn’t tell him anything. Honest. I didn’t know the answers to his questions.”
“What else did he want to know?”
“What you did for the two days you were gone.”
“Ah, yes.” Dan shook his head. “The days when Levi stole the operation from me.”
“I couldn’t answer that question, either, Dan. I didn’t have any answers.” She was telling the truth and found comfort in that.
“Has he ever contacted you before?”
“No. I’ve never spoken to him as much as when this whole brouhaha started.”
The wheels in Dan’s head were turning. “Don’t you think that Levi has an incredible knack for showing up at critical times?”
“How?”
“Well, he became extremely interested after I spoke to him initially. Then he always seemed to pop his fucking head in right at the time I was trying to evaluate the situations. He’s always on cue. As if he knows what I’m doing. George, for example. He knew George was in my office before he walked through that door.” Dan was trying to put the pieces together. “And he still wants to know what I’m doing?”
“Dan,” warned Sharon. “He wants the director’s chair. That’s why.”
“I know. In fact, I believe he’s as good as sitting in it.”
She groaned at the news.
“There is something else, though. Something tied to this operation and George.” Now it became more important to find out what Levi really had up his sleeve rather than who was the leaker.
“You’ve got to understand.” Sharon was beginning to become her old overbearing self again. She saw her boss worried, and that was where she tried to pick up the slack. “He’s the meanest man in the world. Everyone in the company knows that he has deep and rather unflattering associations.”
“Yeah, and I don’t doubt that he’s motivated by those connections, but why now? Why on my operation?”
“You got me. I don’t even know what you two are working on. I’m sure whatever it is he has some whacked-out scheme for it. The man is crazy by our standards. I was telling Beth the other night just how insane he was…” Sharon, in her rambling observation, dropped the big clue. Dan pounced on it.
“Who?”
“What?” she replied.
“You told who, what?”
“I told… Beth. I was telling Beth that Levi was a monster.”
“Who’s Beth?”
“My housemate,” she returned, slightly embarrassed.
Enough said. Dan was smart enough to figure out that Beth, whoever she was, was Sharon’s girlfriend. “Does your friend work?”
“Yes. She works at a flower shop on the other side of town. But, Dan—”
“Do you ever talk to her about what goes on in the office?”
“Dan. She doesn’t know anything about our business.”
Dan pressed the point. “Do you ever speak to her?”
Sharon wanted to defend Beth but knew she had to give a straight answer. “Well, yes. But I never divulge anything. I just tell her the usual gossip.”
“Do you ever say anything to her about my schedule or who’s coming to see me?”
“I suppose I could have because it’s tied to my schedule. Dan, she has nothing to do with—” Sharon could see that Dan had locked onto the notion. She could reassure him until she was blue, but it wouldn’t make a difference.
“I’ve got to check her out, Sharon.”
She got a sick feeling about being exposed. Her life held up for scrutiny by the CIA, by her boss. But if she was to be trusted, she had to go through with it. “Okay. Her name is Beth Rudnick. Elizabeth Rudnick.”
Dan scratched the name on a paper napkin.