Drake and Melody were already receiving the per diem. Now all the teams would get it. Casey really wanted the race to continue. He talked about logistics. Today’s run would not count. They would start again the day after tomorrow from the point where today’s run would have ended if it had been completed.
A motel clerk came into the room and got Casey’s attention. He said that a visitor was in the lobby for Mr. Drake. Drake rose and signaled Casey that he had to leave. It was probably somebody from the military. He strode down the corridor and into the lobby, expecting to see a man in a military uniform. Who he saw was definitely military-or more correctly, retired military. He was in civilian clothes. He was-Drake’s father.
Drake was not easily surprised by most events, but this was a surprise. He hadn’t seen his father for over four years. From around the time he quit working for the federal government. It wasn’t that Admiral Justin Drake had disowned him. He just hadn’t communicated with him. He rebuffed Drake’s attempts at communication.
Drake saw his father before the older man saw him. He looked trim and fit as he sat ramrod-straight on the edge of a chair, reading something. Even his civilian clothes were worn with military precision, including a gleaming belt buckle. His short hair was snow white, and the wrinkles on his face had been earned by many years of service and sacrifice for his country.
Drake hated to disturb the peaceful scene, but he had no choice. “Hello, Father.”
Admiral Drake looked up from the piece of paper he was reading. “Hello, Oliver.”
They had always addressed each other formally. The admiral stood slowly, and Drake saw some strain in his face. He suspected his father had arthritis, but he would never admit that his body wasn’t in top shape. He didn’t smile as they shook hands. A hug was out of the question.
“I’m glad you survived the shelling today.”
“I am too. One of our runners was killed.”
“I know. I listened to the news on the way over here. There are four confirmed dead. The involved houses are still being searched for casualties.”
A dozen questions competed with each other in Drake’s head. He chose the least personal one. “How do you know the houses got shelled?”
“I got a call from Andy Anderson. He’s on the board of Giganticorp.”
Admiral Anderson. Drake knew that Anderson and his father had been in the same class at the Naval Academy. That also explained how his father had heard he was in the race. His father lived in Bakersfield, in the San Joaquin Valley. He must have hopped in his car and driven here as soon as he got the call from Admiral Anderson. Drake suspected that his main reason for coming was not to see his only son.
Drake knew the answer to his next question as soon as he asked it. “Why does Admiral Anderson think that the houses got shelled?”
His father looked surprised. “He said you saw shells being fired from a vessel.”
Bad news traveled fast and became exaggerated as it went. Drake had called Blade. Blade had contacted the military. The military pipeline apparently included retired admirals, like Anderson, and now his father. Drake knew one thing for sure. When he made his official report, he would have to word what he had actually seen very carefully and sign a document to that effect, if possible. Wars had been started because of inaccurate intelligence.
Something else puzzled Drake. “Why did you come here?”
“Isn’t the welfare of my son a good enough reason?”
No. It had never been before. Perhaps if he had followed in his father’s footsteps and attended Annapolis instead of enlisting in the army as a private, he would have won his father’s approval. As things stood, he was a failure in the old man’s eyes.
They were still standing in the middle of the lobby with Drake facing the entrance. He saw Slick open the door, stick his head in the doorway, and give a nod to indicate that he wanted to speak to Drake. So Slick was going to debrief him. He didn’t want Slick’s presence here to be generally known, not even by a retired admiral.
“I have to go to a meeting. Are you going to be around for a while, sir? You can have dinner with Melody and me.”
“Melody?” Admiral Drake smiled for the first time. “That’s right; Andy said she was your running partner. Always did like that girl. She’s got spunk. Unfortunately, I can’t make it. Andy and some of the other board members of Giganticorp are coming here. I’m having dinner with them. Maybe we can get together tomorrow. I’m staying overnight.”
Everybody was converging in Malibu. Events were getting curiouser and curiouser. Drake shook hands with his father and headed out of the motel. He saw a black Porsche sitting in the far corner of the parking lot and walked toward it.
Drake was sitting on a bed in the room belonging to Melody and Grace who were sitting on the other bed. He had told them both what he had seen or thought he had seen.
Grace looked scared. “Do you think we’re being attacked by the
USSR?”
Melody patted her hand. “That’s not likely. If they attacked us, they wouldn’t just destroy a few houses.”
“But it says on TV-”
“You can’t believe everything you see on the telly. Unless…”
“Unless they want to get our attention,” Drake said. “Show us how vulnerable we are.”
“Why would they do that?” Grace asked.
“Negotiating ploy. We’ve been making noises about atrocities happening at the Berlin Wall. People trying to escape from East Germany getting shot. Maybe they just want to direct our attention elsewhere. Anyway, we’ve got destroyers sweeping the area looking for submarines. The marines have set up a machine gun on Malibu Beach and put out barbed wire.”
“Will we go to war with them?”
Melody was the one who answered, saying that she hoped there would be no war. Before dark they had seen a couple of the gray naval vessels off the beach. It brought back memories of Korea to Drake.
He decided it was a good time to change the subject. “We had the two notes you delivered to me checked for fingerprints. There is one unidentified set of prints on the first note, but it doesn’t belong to anybody at Giganticorp. The only prints on the second envelope are those of the desk clerk at that motel. The note doesn’t have any prints on it at all.”
“I’m glad my prints weren’t on them.” Grace didn’t ask how they had gotten the prints checked. She looked conspiratorial. “I have some information for you.”
She pulled a folded sheet of paper out of the pocket of her shorts and handed it to Drake.
“During the confusion today I was able to open Fred’s attache case and look inside. Fortunately, he’s a neatnik, with all his folders labeled. I looked in one called ‘Personnel.’ It had three sheets in it, each one giving information about a man. I just had time to copy their names and telephone numbers and addresses.”
Drake looked at the handwritten names and numbers to make sure they were legible. He would pass these on to Blade and Slick.
“Good work. Just be careful. We don’t want you to get caught.”
Grace beamed. “I was careful. By the way, Drake, I understand that your father’s here. I’ve never met a real admiral. I’ve seen some at Giganticorp, but only from a distance.”
“Maybe you’ll get a chance tomorrow. He’ll like you. He’s got an eye for pretty ladies. Right now he’s out with his buddies telling war stories.” Drake realized he shouldn’t compliment Grace apart from Melody. He said to her, “I forgot to tell you that my father mentioned that he wanted to see you. He said you had spunk.”