“I don’t imagine we’ll be sending Admiral George home anytime soon,” Warshaw said.
“Maybe not,” I agreed.
“Think he bit?”
“Maybe. It shut him up,” I said.
“He’s a prick. I’m glad he’s in the brig,” Warshaw said. “Who do you have next?”
“Fahey,” I said, trying to hide my distaste.
“You and Perry face-to-face? I’d pay big money to see that one,” Warshaw said. He could not be here. Every bit as much the engineer as I was the Marine, Warshaw “needed” to oversee every facet of the work with the broadcast equipment. He had not spent much time on the Kamehameha once the broadcast equipment started rolling in.
“I have a case of Earth-brewed that says that one of you will not leave the room alive.” How the hell Warshaw had found a case of Earth-brewed beer was beyond me.
“You’re not sure which one of us?” I asked.
“I can hope, can’t I?” He could also watch. Along with the audio equipment, there was a tiny camera in the ceiling. If Fahey and I got physical, the bastard would show the feed to every officer in the fleet …especially in the unlikely event that I lost.
“Save your beer, there isn’t going to be a fight,” I said.
“No, Harris, I want the bet. Tell you what, I’ll give you odds. You put up a twenty against the whole case. What’s that, five-to-one? Ten-to-one? What do you say?”
“Just don’t try to back out,” I warned him.
There was a knock on the door. I barked out an order, “Enter.”
The door opened and in came Perry Fahey, recently demoted back to senior chief petty officer; only now he was more of a “pretty” officer than a petty officer. He had on the customary eye shadow, mascara, lipstick, rouge, and false eyelashes. He had let his hair grow beyond regulation. It was only touching his ears, but that was long by Navy standards.
Watching the polite way the guards led Fahey into the room, I knew I had to arrange for my men to R & R someplace with women and soon. The MP who led Fahey into the room held the door and smiled at him. The MP bringing up the rear patted Fahey on the back. He did not shove him through the door, he did not give him a warning blow to the kidneys to show him what would happen if he misbehaved, he reached out and gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder. I watched this and knew whose side they would be on if Fahey and I came to blows.
I pointed to the chair on the other side of the table, and they led him to it.
“Why don’t you guys stay here for this one?” I said.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn I heard the word “speck” hiss out of the ceiling.
I had a good reason for having them stay. With them standing over Fahey, I could see if they reached for their pistols. If I sent them outside, they might well come into the room with their pistols drawn.
“Hello, Senior Chief. It looks like you are making the most of your stay here,” I began.
“Get specked, Harris,” Fahey said.
“Well, it certainly looks as if you have done just that,” I said, looking from Fahey to the two sailors/MPs guarding him. They both looked away from me.
“I’m trying to decide what to do with you,” I said. “I suppose I could leave you here till you rot, but I’m leaning toward other options—send your ass back to Earth or have you shot.”
“Put me back on active duty,” Fahey said. He could not possibly have expected me to put him back on active duty. He had to be pumping me for information. I decided to play along and see where he took me. “Do you expect to come back as a senior chief petty officer?” I asked.
“As an admiral,” he said. He sat there motionless, his eyes fixed on mine. He did not blink, did not look from side to side. His eyes were narrow and angry, and the smile on his face was angry and derisive.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Think about it, Harris. Who do you have that can run a fighter carrier. Who do you have commanding the Washington ?”
“Tom Hampton comes to mind. He’s a good man.”
Hampton was Fahey’s second-in-command. In truth, I did not trust him any more than I trusted Fahey.
“Hampton? You have got to be kidding me! Hampton can’t fly a ship. The guy doesn’t know his ass end from his hockey stick.”
“I don’t suppose you have personal experience on that matter?” I asked.
“Get specked, asshole,” Fahey growled.
“I thought you and Hampton were buddies.”
“Oh, I have a lot of friends, Harris. Believe me, I have friends.”
“I believe you. In fact, that is precisely why I came today. I’ve been looking over your record, Senior Chief. It says that you’re only twenty-six years old. Is that right?”
“What about it?”
“That’s awfully young to have made senior chief. You’re five years younger than any other senior chief in the fleet. Did you know that?”
Fahey smiled and shook his head.
“Impressive,” I said.
“Like I said, I have friends,” Fahey said.
“Whom do you mean? Who are your friends? What about Warshaw? Are you and Warshaw friends?” I asked.
“Sure we are,” he said.
“You were only promoted to senior chief just three weeks before I arrived. That makes you the least senior man of your pay grade in the fleet.”
“So?” Fahey sneered. “I’m good at what I do.”
I shot a glance at a guard, and said, “I bet you are.”
The guard flushed, but he did not reach for his pistol.
“Once you were promoted to senior chief, who placed you on my command staff? Who placed you so high in the chain of command? Was it Warshaw?” I asked.
“Forget it, Harris. You don’t know what you are talking about,” Fahey said.
“Maybe not,” I said. “So I suppose we’re done here.” We weren’t done, but I wanted to see how Fahey would react.
“I can help you,” Fahey said, showing me a downright friendly smile.
“How can you help me?” I asked.
He leaned across the table and spoke quietly, as if confiding a secret to me in a crowded room. “Warshaw promoted me.”
“Were you lovers?” I asked.
“Lovers?” Fahey asked. “What we did had nothing to do with love. I touched my toes for him, if that’s what you mean.”
“You piece of shit!” The nearly animal scream echoed from the ceiling, changing the mood in the room from tense to explosive.
“Warshaw?” Fahey sat up, searching around the room for the big man.
“You lying piece of shit! Harris, shoot that specking liar. No, don’t shoot him! I want to come down there and kill him myself!”
A mischievous grin spread across Fahey’s lips. “Sorry, Gary, I kept it quiet as long as I could.”
Until that moment, I had planned on executing Fahey; but now I felt sympathy for the bastard. I said, “That’s a very serious accusation, Senior Chief.”
“Harris, you can’t possibly believe that bullshit,” Warshaw said.
If the guards had ever planned on making a move, they no longer would, not now that they knew the room was under observation. I looked at them, and said, “Take Senior Chief Fahey back to his cell.”
They hesitated for a moment, and I rose from my chair. If they made a move, I wanted to be ready. But one of them helped Fahey to his feet, and the other walked around the table and opened the door. As he left the room, Fahey turned to me and spat out the words, “Specking son of a bitch Liberator clone.”
I met Fahey’s eyes and grinned. And then he was gone, and I was alone in the room with the disinterred voice of Warshaw.
“You let that backstabbing, son of a bitch walk out alive!” Warshaw said.
“I wanted my beer,” I said. “We had a bet.”
The room went silent. After a moment, Warshaw told me, “Don’t believe a word he said, Harris.”
“The stuff about Hampton?” I asked.
“About me,” Warshaw roared. “It’s all bullshit.”
“I’m not an expert in these areas; but as I understand it, there’s generally a big, strong protector for every lipstick-wearing queen; and you do take your weightlifting—”