Last Op

Chapter 9

Chief Becker stood behind the desk, writing out the duty roster on a small rectangular blackboard attached to the wall.

Grant opened the door, then stood in the doorway. “Is Commander Henley in, Chief?

“He is, sir. I’ll tell him you’re here.”

“Have him meet me outside.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

Grant went back outside and adjusted his cap, hoping the weather didn’t get any worse. Walking away from the building, he wanted to make sure the conversation he was about to have wouldn’t be overheard as it had been last time.

He was pissed. Henley held back information. He had to find out why.

Henley poked his head out the door, spotted Grant, then lit up a cigarette as he glanced overhead at the darkening sky.

Grant turned and started going around the side of the building, away from windows and doors. Henley caught up to him.

Grant jammed his hands into his side pockets. Taking a deep breath, he stared Henley square in the eyes. “No more fuckin’ around, Jack.”

“What the shit are you talking about?” Henley asked with his voice rising. He flicked his cigarette onto the pavement, and defiantly took a step closer to Grant.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me your brother-in-law worked on base and that he knew Carter? Why, Jack? What the hell are you hiding?”

“Goddammit!” Henley reared back, ready to strike.

Instinctively, and in the blink of an eye, Grant grabbed Henley’s fist, squeezing so hard Henley thought his bones would break.

Grant’s voice boomed. “Are you outta your fuckin’ mind?!”

“Okay! Okay!” Henley grabbed his hand, massaging his fingers.

Grant just stood there, not believing what almost happened. It had to stop now. Leaning in towards Henley, he kept his voice deep and low. “One more chance, Jack, just one more fucking chance to tell me the goddamn truth — or you’re outta here.” He was close enough to Henley he could smell the odor of cigarettes on his breath. “I can do it, Jack. Believe me, I can do it — and you can bet your ass I will do it.”

Henley walked a few paces away, then swung around, with his face covered in sweat. “Goddammit, Grant! Why the hell did you have to come here?!”

“Stupid question! Now, I’ll give you ten seconds to start explaining or security will… ”

“It’s because… because of Victoria.”

Grant raised an eyebrow. “Victoria. Your wife?”

Henley nodded, then slowly started heading toward the parking lot with Grant staying close. “You need to keep her out of this, Grant.” He stopped and waited for Grant to respond.

“Whatever the hell you got yourself into sounds like she’s already involved, and by your own doing.” Grant didn’t take his eyes from Henley, waiting for the next surprise. “Talk to me, Jack.”

Henley started walking again. “Let’s go sit in my car.”

As they headed for the car, Grant took a quick glance at his submariner. He was running out of time to call Torrinson. Right now, returning to the harbor was more important. He couldn’t ask Gunny Baranski to run surveillance. Getting him involved this morning was enough. He just hoped Adler was on his way.

Henley unlocked the passenger door of his two-door, lime green Dodge Charger, then walked around the front, going to the driver’s side. He slid behind the steering wheel and put the key in the ignition.

Grant got in and closed the door. Taking off his cap, he tossed it on the dash, then rolled down the window a couple of inches. He turned slightly in the white bucket seat and leaned against the door, keeping an eye on Henley. Then, he waited.

Henley’s fingers curled around the steering wheel, with his nerves about to get the best of him. “About three months after I was stationed here, Victoria and I met at Sailor’s. She and Colin and a couple of their friends were at a darts’ tournament. We just started talking, and that was the beginning.”

Grant shifted in the seat, draping his arm over the backrest. “Was Carter at that tournament?”

Henley shook his head. “No. Not that time.” He continued staring out the windshield. “After we were married, she asked if I could get Colin a job on base. He’d just gotten out of the RAF and couldn’t find work. I heard there was an opening for a civilian mechanic for the Nimrods, and as it so happened, that was one of the planes he worked on during his last duty in Kinloss.” (The RAF station is located on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland.)

“He put in his application. He passed security checks. He got the job. All I did was put in a good word.”

Grant now regretted not having Adler run security on Victoria Henley’s family. His eyes narrowed as he asked, “All you did was put in a good word?”

Henley shot him a look. “That’s what I said! What? Don’t believe me again?”

“Any reason why I shouldn’t, Jack? I mean, you’ve been truthful so far, right?”

Henley turned away, catching sight of Chief Becker jogging toward the car. Henley rolled down the window. “What is it, Chief?”

“Sir, I have a message for the captain.”

Grant leaned toward the driver’s side. “Go ahead, Chief.”

“Sir, a Lieutenant Adler called. He just landed at Mildenhall and is waiting for a chopper to fly him here. He didn’t have a timeframe but said he’d probably see you in time for chow.”

Grant gave an almost imperceptible smile before responding, “Thanks, Chief. If I’m not here, could you see he gets settled in at the barracks?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll see it’s taken care of. Anything else, sir?”

“That’ll be all, Chief.”

“Yes, sir.” Becker took off.

Henley rolled up the window, grateful for the brief interruption, until he heard Grant’s voice. “You were saying, Jack?”

“A couple months later I started hearing some scuttlebutt about him asking questions on what kinda munitions were stored on base.”

“And you confronted him?” Grant asked, hoping he got the right answer.

“Sure. Sure I did. He said he saw the marine guards and that made him curious.”

“Marine guards aren’t unusual on any base, Jack.”

“Of course not, but he assumed there’d be Brit guards on an RAF base. I tried keeping my answer simple. I reminded him it’s a NATO base, and since some of the munitions were from the U.S. and the Netherlands, we were put in charge.”

“Do you think that satisfied his curiosity?”

“At first I did, but then he started asking around about flights. Any time a delivery was made, he’d notice that area of the base was cordoned off while the shipment was safely offloaded, away from eyes, and then it was stored.”

Grant was getting more concerned. Henley’s explanation satisfied him so far but this brother-in-law, Colin Webb, was heavily involved in the security breach. He was sure of it now. More of the pieces were slowly fitting together.

Sweat formed across Henley’s brow. He rested his arm against the door, then he continued. “I had him meet me off base one day. I think he knew what was coming. I laid into him good.”

Grant sat quietly. Whatever Henley was about to tell him he had a feeling would send him in the right direction.

Suddenly, Henley swung the door open. “I need to get out!”

Grant quickly got out of the car, slammed the door, then went around to meet up with him. Screwing his cap down, he said, “You need to finish, Jack. I don’t think there’s much time left. Tell me.”

Henley paced back and forth. Finally, he stopped, staring up into Grant’s eyes. “That son of a bitch actually had the balls to threaten me, Grant!”

Grant leaned toward him, carefully studying his face. “You mean he threatened Victoria, don’t you?”

Henley pounded his fist on top of the car hood, over and over. “Goddamn him! How could he do this? Why…?”

Grant grabbed Henley’s fist. “Jack! Enough!”

All the blood drained from Henley’s face. He fell back against his car. “Oh, Christ! What the hell am I gonna do?”

Grant shook Henley’s shoulder. “You’re gonna help me, Jack! Where the fuck is he? Do you know? Is he still on base?”

“I… don’t know. The last I saw him was the night I picked up Victoria at his place.”

“You mean the night the cops showed up at Carter’s apartment?”

Henley nodded. He was ready to puke. “You don’t think he murdered…?”

“Right now, I’d say no. There wasn’t any indication he was meeting Carter that night. Carter even said he didn’t recognize his contact. Remember what was in the letter?”

Henley tried to clear his brain, trying to remember the letter. “Yeah. I do.”

“Do you also remember Carter said he was protecting you and Victoria by mailing that letter?” Henley nodded slowly, then Grant said, “Think about it, Jack. Why would your friend want to protect you two, yet her brother makes threats?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Grant backed away, rubbing his chin. “Well, I’ve got a couple ideas rolling around. I’m sure of one thing… your brother-in-law put that package outside the base for Carter to pick up.”

“Oh, Christ!”

“You have any ideas on what could have been in that package, Jack?” He hoped he got the right answer.

Henley turned away as he answered, “No. No. I just can’t help you. I don’t know.”

Grant nodded but he knew Henley was getting himself into deeper shit. It was obvious he was lying. Right now he didn’t have the time to press further.

He looked at his watch. Time to leave for the harbor. “Listen, Jack. You go back to your office. I know it’s gonna be tough, but try not to worry. What time do you usually leave for home?”

“About seventeen hundred.”

“No matter what time it is, you wait till I get back. And Joe — Lieutenant Adler — should be here by then. In the meantime, try and call Webb’s home, see if he’s there. If you make contact, just carry on a normal but short conversation. I’m counting on you, Jack. Don’t fuck this up. He’s probably the biggest lead we’ve been looking for. We can’t spook him.” Grant pulled his car keys from his pocket and jogged to his car, hoping he didn’t make a mistake having Henley make the call.