Chapter 17

“If you knew of this, and felt that Jason Hats could not be trusted, why did you agree to go forward with buy-out talks? But more importantly, why did you not inform myself or our lawyer?”

“Not hiding anything bad here, Janice. Yeah, some background on that crap. I have found that Hats’ various businesses routinely do stuff like that; that F-15 drop tank repair contract was just the latest example of his ‘aggressive’ way of doin business. I found that shit while snooping around in Justice Department files, so the feds do know the score. I figured that if they were cool with it, and because there was no active investigation, I just let it drop and forgot about it.”

“But you did not drop it. And then Hat’s security man drew a gun on you. It still does not make sense, Mark.”

“Seeing Hats’ security chief still around set me off. General Bradford is old-school corrupt. He just doesn’t give a shit about America or anything except himself. I dunno, why, but just one look at the guy and I knew we were dealing with one evil and dangerous mother fucker.”

“I have never seen you like that, Mark. Are you going to be okay?”

“Lady, you and me are going to be more than okay. Hats and me discussed shit all night, until zero dark thirty ... Hold on to your tits, but he has agreed, at least per our conversations this morning, to buy us outright, with only a single year of obligations, for ninety fucking three million. He agreed to Suzy running the test department, and for a severance plan for our people up to the next four years. His head legal beagle is writing up the contract.”

Shit, she knows. Damn, can’t get shit past her genius tits. Ya’d think that really big tits would require a larger blood flow, which would mean less blood to the brain, so it doesn’t follow why she is so smart. Maybe some tits contain parts of the nervous system such that...”

“Damn it, Mark. Tell me.”

“Huh?”

“What did you have to give him?”

“Yeah, I figured that you’d know that’s there is more to this ... I’m gonna be his Chief of Security, but I still get to play engineer.”

“You don’t know anything about guarding stuff.”

“Hats has a guy that manages that stuff. He was some sort of high-speed spec ops dude in the army. He runs the physical security, and reports to the Security Chief, aka, moi. So I will focus on the techy part.”

“Between last night and their new offer ... I do not know, Mark ... It is so over-whelming...”

“Janice, it’s the deal of a lifetime, and our troops get a good deal out of this. You’re gonna be filthy rich, lady. Think about it, not only will you be the hottest woman in Huntington Beach, you will now be the richest one. You’ll have studly studs lined up around the block.”

“I do not want a line of ‘studly studs’ waiting for me, Mark. I want you.”

“You do have me, lady. Ya know that I’ll be your friend forever.”

“No, Mark. I want you. I want us to be like before.”

Like ‘before’? What does that mean? She could have anyone. Why is she hung up on my ugly ass? Where the fuck is the manual for women? All the smart people in the world and not one of those fucking genius assholes are writing this essential manual? Shit.

“Mark? you are doing it again.”

“Doing it?”

“You are going inside of yourself, once again. Talk to me, Mark.”

I’d rather talk to your tits.

“I am talkin. Let’s get chow and get ready to go back to the Hats’ palace.”

“We are not due there for another five hours. Come here, Mark.”

Almost forgot how good it feels to have her tits pushed into me. Damn. Damn. And those lips ... Why the fuck not?

“Morning, sir. What can I do for the colonel?”

“Why do you insist on addressing me as such, Mark?”

“The Marine Corps brain-washed my dumb ass. What ya need, colonel?”

“We require more of those tracking devices. The plan is to install them on all of the transport vehicles out of the La Habra factory; and probably other company vehicles.”

“Yeah? How many ya need?”

“At least seventy. Who designed those things?”

“My dog.”

“Not possible. Only thing we’ve ever seen that dog do was eat, sleep, and run around the beach and the airfield.”

“Whatever. One problem, colonel, we’re runnin outa authorized channels. Don’t think the FCC dweebs are gonna grant us any more bandwidth, at least not this year.”

“Did you talk to Gary Raistron?”

“No. Why would I talk to a lawyer? That’s bad karma, colonel.”

Don’t shake your head at me, mister hi-speed army officer. I’m just a plebe.

“He knows people in the FCC chief counsel office. Mark, please listen. You need to learn to get comfortable with, and to directly deal with, senior management. You are now senior management, and you are assuredly no slouch.”

“Assuredly? Well, I do slouch some. Have ya noticed this huge fuckin chair I’m sittin in, colonel? How the fuck do they expect people not to slouch in this chair?”

“Why me, Lord? Mark, please, stay with the discussion. Okay, I will talk to Raistron. Please make me more trackers, Mark.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

That should set him off. Geez, that man shouldn’t be so easy to spin up. Do all army dudes take shit so serious all the time?

“Sandy, ya got a second?”

Damn, wish she wouldn’t wear those denim dresses. Too distracting.

What’s up, Mark?”

“Get rid of this shit. Too big.”

“This shit? Be a little more specific, Mark.”

“This stupid desk, this dumb chair. All of this weird-ass fancy garbage hanging on the bulkheads. Ya know what? Have someone put this desk and chair in Colonel Jacobs’ office. He definitely rates this high-falutin stuff. Please find me some normal-people stuff, Sandy.”

“I will get on it. Did you see the message from Billy? They have a three-game series at home in two weeks. Want tickets?”

“That would be cool. Call Janice and let me know about my schedule. And see if the boys downstairs are interested. Maybe I can fly our little gaggle down to the bay area for a day or two.”

“I’m on it, Mark.”

Why did I let Janice talk me into an admin assistant? And how did she get me to choose Sandy? Now I remember, Janice took her shirt off before she asked.

“Get up, my furry bud. Let’s get the fuck outa this palace.”

Whoa, nobody told me this place had a range. Nice setup. Guess the colonel’s people are doing their thing ... All of these guys seem to be decent shooters.

“Mister Watson? Can I help you?”

“Nah, thanks, dude. Just watching your guys. They look pretty good.”

“They are acceptable, sir.”

“Dude, I’m not a sir. I’m Mark. Spread the word, man.”

“I wouldn’t think that appropriate, Mister Watson.”

“You’re Henry, right? Look Henry, I’m just an engineer. As a manager, I’m faking it. Get used to it, because I don’t have a fucking clue. I am not a ‘sir’.”

“Uh, I see ... Would you like to try some of our weapons?”

“If I’m not gonna step on your training schedule, sure thing, man. What ya got?”

“Today, just our basic small arms. Baretas, M14s, and some ARs.”

“Fourteens? Cool, man. Assign me a spot.”

Holeee shit. These rifles are beautiful. Where did they get this stuff?

“Optics or open sights?”

“Just open sights, man. What’s the range to those four aft targets?”

“They are at a diagonal to the firing line, and are between three hundred and three hundred and fifty yards.”

Three hundred meters? Wind is straight down the range.

“Battle zero set for this rifle?”

“One hundred yards.”

Let’s see, 147 grain bullet, so muzzle velocity would be ... second derivative ... three clicks up should do it.

“Okay, how ‘bout a mag, dude?”

“Of course. Twenty-round magazine, sir?”

“Cool. Call it, Jeremy.”

Breath in. Out. Breath. half out. Relax. Sight. Squeeze. That felt good. Think I’ll empty the mag quickly. The furbag doesn’t like the range noise. Shit, should have thought about that ... I’ll give him some steak tonight.

“Jeremy. Henry. Thanks much. Haven’t sent anything downrange in a while. Felt good. See ya.”

Damn. Already? Now this looks like a usable setup. Now I can use this office.

“Sandy? You do this?”

“Yes. Is it okay, Mark?”

“Perfect. Good job, lady.”

“Where have you been today? You have over twenty calls to answer.”

“Me and the idiot were just walking around. Went down to the range, then up into the hills.”

“Yes, about the range. Apparently you caused quite a stir among your people.”

“Shit, did I piss ‘em off? Need to apologize to the guys.”

“Not at all, Mark. They were impressed by your shooting skills. Apparently they were considering asking the colonel to send you to their sniper training program; not certain if they were serious.”

“Whatever, they’re probably just joking around. Where’s these calls? Did ya talk to Janice?”

“She will be here tomorrow. The three-forty will be sent to John Wayne to pick her up ... Mark, about that. Surely you are not having her stay with you in that airfield hovel?”

“Hovel? Geez. Don’t get snooty on me, Sandy. It’s a nice apartment. And I like living next to the airport. And this idiot and Nyota like the place. Anndddd, if its good enough for my furbags, it’s good enough for me.”

Yeah, roll your blue eyes at me. She is too hot for a music teacher, though. Can’t believe she abandoned her dreams of teaching for this stupid job. Does she really want to do this shit? Why the fuck is she even doing any job? Sandy probably has more money than any two or three major deities.

“Mark? Your calls?”

“Yeah, yeah. Gimme.”

Never gets old holding her close. Never. Shit, popping a boner. For once, just fuckin once, I would like to hold her without getting hard and being a crass asshole.

“It is obvious that you missed me. Get those two off of the bed, Mark.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice ... No voyeurs this time, guys. Both of ya, out!”

“Mark, why are you living here?”

“I don’t live here. I live in Huntington Beach with you ... Ya know, if ya stay the rest of the week, we can fly back together in the new TBM.”

“Do not change the subject. You know what I mean. They had a nice place for you in the south wing.”

“Yeah, about that. That apartment scares the shit outa me. Fuckin millions worth of art all over the place. Between me and the furbags, the place would’ve been toast.”

“I see. And it has nothing to do with Sandy?”

“Ya know, that’s another thing. Who’s idea was that? Yes, I do agree an assistant was a good idea, but why Sandy Collins? The girl still seems to have some weird thing for my stupid ass. She’s a good-lookin girl, she’s a decent person, and just like you, she could have some really studly dudes all lined up to date her. Makes no fucking sense at all. At least she has an excuse because she is not nearly smart as you.”

“Are we back to that, Mark? How can you not understand human attraction?”

“I can explain it easily. You’re hot. No, you’re totally hot. And way too smart. That’s all attractive. Thus, easily explainable. Then there’s me. Average dude, only recently rich, an engineering nerd. Not studly. Hence, not explainable.”

“You, Mark Watson, are an over-educated idiot.”

“Whatever. Ya want some chow?”

“No. I want you, Mark.”

Round number two? Yeah, it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it...

“How’s life in the big city, dude?”

“I’m hanging, Mark. Decided to come down from Mount Olympus and do your job?

“Eat shit, Bob. So where are we on the design acceptances for the GM and FMC contracts? This Desert Shield stuff is getting crazy. Everyone and their dog are yelling and screaming for test systems.”

“Right now, we are nowhere. We are waiting for Navy Department people to get their shit together. There is some unit at Camp Pendleton that do tactical vehicle eval and acceptance testing. We’re waiting for them to schedule us in.”

“Vehicle T&E on Pendleton? Never heard of it. Interesting. Who’s going?”

“Roger and you.”

“Me? No problemo. I’ll do it, but why?”

“You were a Marine. You speak fluent jarhead.”

“Yeah, but I was a winger. The boys down south are mostly ground forces and their support units. Only place I’ve been to on Pendleton was the Edson ranges.”

“I see Roger coming. He’s looking a bit stressed.”

“I’ll fix him up. We’ll be close to the Trestles; decent surfing. You ready for the big surf in the desert?”

“Bite me. If those people in Fallon freak on me again, I’ll be calling you.”

“When ya leave?”

“Manana. In fact, I’m loading up now. Have to go, see you around.”

“Be cool, Bob ... Hey Rog, how’s it hanging?”

“Good to see you back, boss. We need to talk.”

“Okay, let’s get into my office, gotta make some calls.”

“What’s up?”

“Those two of the four new engineers that you hired just out of school ain’t cutting it.”

“Which ones are good, and what’s going on with the ones that aren’t good?”

“Uh ... damn, don’t remember names. The one from Northridge and the one from Fullerton are good. The two from UCSD are worthless. Had to spend half of the day teaching them to run the spectrum analyzer with the feedback transformers, then I had to trouble-shoot their stuff when they got huge multiple zeros on the plot. They couldn’t even figure out which nodes to inject the signal. Like you say, morons.”

“Yeah? Thought that UC grads were supposed to be shit hot. How long they been working on the LTV project?”

“Almost two months.”

“And still no go?”

“Not one board, or even a proto, has come out of their lab, boss.”

“What ‘bout the senior-level engineer that Janice hired for that lab?”

“He quit two weeks ago.”

“Well, dog-shit. Double dog-shit. Janice and I will take care of it. Ya ready to go south to Pendleton?”

“Ready to go, boss.”

“I’m gonna call Janice now ... Hey lady, can I stop by your office for a few?”

She sounds strange. Wonder what’s up?

“Janice? You okay?”

She’s crying. Shit. I hate female tears, especially hers. I’m gonna stomp whoever hurt her.

“Come here, pretty lady...”

Damn, I’m a total shithead. Copping a smashed tit feel when she’s down. Whatever, ‘take what you can get while you’re still standing upright’, that’s what the gunny said.

“Talk to me Janice...”

“Mark, this war stuff. It’s just too much for me. So much killing ... so awful ... and our company is part of it. Why are we doing this, Mark? Why?”

“Because we’re assholes. Because there are too many like me, and not enough people like you. Simple as that.”

“Let’s go home, Mark. Take me home.”

“Wanna ride back with me on my bike? I got another helmet in my office.”

“Okay.”

Nothing beats a hot woman holding you tight on a hot bike ... Now how do I get her outa her mental swamp?