Chameleons, a Novel Based Upon Actual Events Page 11

  “The bullet came from an M-1 which is the rifle we used back at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. But there’s a lot more.” Young downs the last of his beer, holds the empty bottle up and motions to the bartender for another.

  Gale takes a sip from her bottle as the bartender walks over and replaces Young’s empty bottle with a fresh one. Thus restocked, Young continues.

  “That’s just the tip of it.” Young takes a long drink.

  “There was a box buried with the body and in it they found some personal items, but most important they found a logbook from a Japanese submarine.” Young pauses as he takes another deep drink.

  “A logbook from a Japanese sub? This is kind of far-fetched Paul, how can you know it’s true?” She leans back again, intentionally drawing her dress closer to her neck and temporarily ending the subtle peep show.

  Young smiles as he guesses from Gale’s tone and facial expression she’s going to buy his product today. He finishes off the beer with a few long gulps and motions for another. Feeling more confident, he makes Gale wait until the bartender has replaced his empty bottle before continuing.

  “Your old friend Lieutenant Commander Pastwa is assigned to this case. In fact, that’s what caught my attention in the first place because if this was a routine matter he’d never be involved.”

  Gale smiles at the mention of Pastwa. She’s aware he’s part of some type of special investigative unit that’s headed up by Admiral Reardon, a man she has found to be a rather secretive individual and correctly reasons if Pastwa is on the case then there really must be something significant going on.

  “You are exactly right about that! They don’t assign Pastwa unless Reardon is involved. And if Reardon is involved then I need to be involved too. So tell me Paul,” she lowers her voice to a whisper, “what do you have for me in that envelope?”

  After downing several beers in short order Young is feeling much more comfortable and confident.

  “Lani, you don’t mind if I call you Lani, do you?

  “No, that’s my name, feel free to use it.” Gale smiles at him and takes a careful sip of beer, making certain not to smudge her lipstick.

  “Well, Lani, Pastwa called in Lieutenant Yamura who can read Japanese and he needs that skill pretty bad because the logbook’s in Japanese. It’s from a midget sub that attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th and it covers the months leading up to the attack, details the attack and describes how the two midget submariners scuttled their vessel over in West Loch and came ashore.”

  Young takes another gulp of beer. Gale is amazed at what she’s just heard and is working hard to conceal her excitement. Visions of yet another front page story are flying through her head as she fully appreciates the fact Young is all that sits between her, the envelope, a front page and maybe even a Pulitzer Prize.

  “So, Yamura believes there’s only the original and one copy of her translation. Except she apparently was pressed for time and filled out a project slip to have the original copied and guess who got the job?” Young smiles broadly.

  “I did! As soon as I saw the words ‘TOP SECRET-EYES ONLY’ I decided to make two copies, not one.” He motions to the envelope on the bench beside him.

  “This is my copy and it could be yours.”

  “You mean to tell me this logbook is authentic and describes in detail how they trained for the Pearl Harbor attack?” Gale intentionally sounds skeptical.

  “Yes, and it details the attack itself and how they fired two torpedoes and that the second torpedo turtled the old Oklahoma!” Young smiles and takes another gulp.

  Gale leans forward and motions for Young to do the same.

  “Listen,” her voice is barely audible, “just who else knows you have this copy?”

  Young laughs and whispers his response.

  “You think I’m crazy? I could land in Fort Leavenworth for a long time, or worse; find myself assigned to the Antarctic for an extended tour if this got out.”

  Young pauses so he can take a good look around the bar and satisfy himself there’s no one out of the ordinary milling around. He frequents the Plank enough to recognize any out of place ‘face’.

  “Lani, you and I are the only two outsiders who know about this. I figured you might be interested in compensating me for my efforts and in exchange you can have it all to yourself.” Young smiles, sits back and takes another gulp.

  Gale also leans back and pauses for a few moments as she certainly doesn’t want to appear overly anxious. Nor she does want to pay him for the logbook. After all, she reasons to herself, the front page is one thing, but it’s not something she cares to buy with her own cash.

  “First, how do I know this is the only copy you made? You could just have easily set the machine to make ten copies!”

  Young does his best to appear genuinely offended.

  “Lani, this sucker is more than two hundred pages long, double spaced so I couldn’t hang around making more than one extra copy. As it was, Lieutenant Yamura showed up and grabbed everything less than a minute after I finished. I just barely pulled it off.”

  Gale looks him over and decides it’s more likely than not he’s telling her the truth. She takes a couple sips of her beer, finishing the bottle.

  “Well Paul, I believe you. But what are we talking here? What is it you want?”

  Young starts to motion to the bartender, but Gale interrupts.

  “No thanks, I don’t need another one, not just now that is. I only want to know your price before we go any further. It’s as simple as that.”

  Young looks at her, waives off the bartender and continues.

  “Ok. Simple. I want Two Thousand Dollars. It’s a nice even number. Get me that, in cash of course and then you can have the log.” Young sits back smiling broadly and obviously quite pleased with himself.

  Gale’s mind is racing as she mulls over his demand. She has today’s front page story and if she delays writing the follow-up story for one day while stringing Paul out it might have a greater impact on readership. She’s repulsed at using her money to pay Young and knows the paper won’t pay him, so what should she do? An idea strikes her and she can’t disguise her smile.

  “Sure you wouldn’t like another beer?” Young asks.

  “I do, but not here.” She lets slip a semblance of a sexy smile.

  Young looks a little puzzled as he can’t figure out what she means.

  “Okay, so you want to go to another bar, or maybe a restaurant?” Young says.

  Gale smiles a little more broadly as she picks up her purse and slips it over her shoulder.

  “No Paul, you’re going to come over to my place. I have a twelve pack of Big Wave in my fridge, plenty of food and, besides, there’s not a chance in hell we’re going to finish our business in this dive. I want you to come over and bring the copy of the log with you. We’ll be much more comfortable and it’s a hell of a lot more private, not to mention cleaner!”

  Gale reaches into her purse and pulls out a business card. She writes an address on the back and hands it to Young. He picks it up, looks it over and recognizes the location.

  “Do you know where this is?”

  “Sure I do. Pretty nice up around there. No worries.” He starts to stand.

  “Hold it!” You stay here another twenty or thirty minutes. Have another beer if you like; then you can leave. I don’t want it to look as if you’re leaving with me.” She pauses a moment and looks around in disdain. “Listen, better make it more like forty five minutes. I’m going to need a shower and you might want to bring a change of clean clothes with you because this place stinks to high heaven.” She stares him straight in the eyes, allowing herself only a faint hint of a smile.

  “So, Paul, can I assume this plan meets with your approval?” She lowers her voice and changes her tone to something she thinks he will consider to be sexy.

  Young’s smile is so large Gale can’t help but notice he could use some serious orthodontic work and a good tee
th cleaning. She thinks to herself: “I thought the Navy covered stuff like that.”

  “Absolutely Lani! I’ll see you then.” As she turns to walk out Young calls over to the bartender.

  “Hey Mick, bring me another one!”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A NATURAL BLONDE

  Relieved to be out of the Plank she drives away in her midnight blue Jetta as if fleeing a hell-hole, the staccato clattering of the turbo diesel seemingly matching her excitement. She opens the moon roof and drops down all the windows in a losing effort to air the smoke and grime out of her hair and clothing while considering Young’s demand for two thousand dollars. Gale can’t help but think about how many pedicures she could buy, rather than hand the money over to that silly sailor. “His teeth aren’t that bad and at least they’re a little white,” she reasons out loud, “and this story may prove to be my ticket to D.C.”

  The forty five minute drive to her home is just long enough for her to formulate a plan of action. Upon arrival she immediately goes to her bedroom where a large walk-in closet bursting to the edges with clothing, purses and shoes awaits. She quickly looks through the racks and picks out a red dress followed by a bright blue dress, but just as she’s about to choose between the two an ultra-low-cut black dress, sporting frilly ruffles on the sleeves and along the bottom edge with three large, black buttons up the front of the dress screams out to her. She tosses the red and blue dresses back into the closet and takes out the black one.

  “He’ll forget about the money when he sees me in this, or at least when he sees this fall off me!” Again, she is talking out loud with nobody to hear. She likes to listen to herself talk. For that matter, she also likes to read her own writing.

  She quickly slips out of her clothes and decides to remove her panties, which is the only undergarment she’s wearing. After all, she reasons, it would only get in the way, so may as well get rid of it now and increase the effect when her dress falls to the floor. After pausing to admire her tanned and toned naked body in a full-length wall mirror she rushes into the bathroom and sits in front of the vanity to touch-up her makeup.

  Afterwards she examines her face from several angles and satisfied all is good, pulls out a brush and strokes her hair. She slips into her dress and fastens only the upper two of the three front buttons. Then it’s back to the mirror so she can brush her hair one final time, making certain it softly flows down her upper body. At that moment, the doorbell rings.

  “Perfect timing,” she says aloud.

  On the way to the front door she stops at the thermostat just long enough to set it down a few degrees. “That should have the effect I’m looking for.” She smiles a self-satisfied grin and walks over to the entry. She takes a deep breath and slowly pulls the door open, backing up a step in the process so as to afford Young a good look at her.

  As the door swings open, Young is pretty much overcome with a combination of lust and intimidation at the sight of Gale. While she is, to him, incredibly sexy and a first class “looker,” as he likes to say, she has an air of sophistication that truly intimidates him. Bolstered by several beers he holds his own, at least for now.

  “Why hello again, Paul, so good of you to come and see me.” She motions to the large manila envelope in his right hand and says, “And you brought me a present too. That’s great! Come on in.” Gale pulls the door fully open and gestures him inside.

  “Thanks Lani.” He quickly makes his way into her living room before coming to a stop.

  “Please, take a seat while I go get us a couple of cold beers.” Gale points to a sofa, smiles and disappears around the corner into the kitchen. Young seats himself on the far end of the sofa while dropping the envelope onto the glass-topped end table to his left.

  The sofa is straight-backed with wood trim and arms and he quickly realizes if he leans too far back his head strikes the wood trim. Trying to find a comfortable position he crosses his legs, but his shoe bangs against the glass of the end table, rattling it so severely the lamp nearly falls off. So he changes his mind, uncrosses his legs, swings his left arm onto the armrest and lays his right arm on his right leg. He still feels uncomfortable, since the armrest is wood, but it’s the best he can do. He very badly desires to appear calm and is doing his best.

  Gale walks in carrying two frozen mugs, each sporting a frothy head of beer. She walks over and extends one to Young, which he takes with a smile. As he does so he notices her nipples are extremely erect and his hand quivers as he accepts the mug. It’s only momentary, but long enough to satisfy Gale she’s having the desired effect on him as it’s her intention to keep him off balance.

  “Why thanks Lani, I don’t see frozen mugs in the bars I frequent. This is nice.” He takes a gulp, wipes the froth from his lips with his hand, then looks around desperately for somewhere to wipe it. Gale, of course, notices.

  “Here’s a napkin.” She picks up a napkin from a nearby end table and hands it to him. Setting her glass on a coaster she notices he’s having a hard time keeping his eyes from staring at her breasts. She smiles as she sits down next to him and leans over to pick up her glass. Looking at Young, she takes a small sip before returning the glass to the table.

  “So, how about letting me take a look at your merchandise?”

  Young smiles, picks up the envelope and offers it to Gale.

  “Thanks.” She opens the envelope, pulls out the pilfered copy of the logbook and tosses the envelope away. The words “TOP SECRET-EYES ONLY” stand out as if they were lit up in neon. Goose bumps run down her arms, all the way to her toes. Young takes a gulp of beer and settles a little more deeply into the couch.

  “Mind if I read a little of it, you know, just to make sure it’s something I can truly use?”

  “Not at all, Lani, help yourself. I have plenty of time.” He takes another gulp, almost draining the glass.

  Gale smiles and begins reading. She finds the first few pages to be a bit boring and skips forward a number of pages. She can’t believe her eyes as she recognizes that if what she’s reading is true, then not only will she have the front page again, but she’s going to have an ongoing series of eye popping articles. She skips still further into the log and jumps to the final pages where she learns about Yokoyama burying his shipmate, the very skeleton found buried in Auntie Lee’s backyard.

  Now she understands this is more than a matter of a successful infiltration into Pearl by a Japanese midget sub. This is a story of one of those submariners actually coming ashore and blending into the population. Gale wants this manuscript and she wants it bad. Already she’s considering asking the paper to post a substantial monetary reward for anyone who can prove what became of Lieutenant Yokoyama.

  Young stands and saunters into the kitchen to find himself another beer. He glances at his watch and realizes he’s been there over half an hour.

  “Say Lani?”

  Gale pauses and looks up.

  “You can read that to your heart’s content once you own it. So tell me, do you want to buy it?” Young resumes his seat and this time, buoyed by quite a few beers, he stares directly into her eyes. She slips the logbook onto the coffee table, picks up her beer, chugs it down, sets the empty mug back onto the coaster and returns Young’s stare.

  “You know darn well I want this log. And I want you to know I’m truly grateful you thought of me first. Truly.” She pauses a moment.

  “Tell you what, not only do I want it, but I’ll need you to continue nosing around on your end. Think you can do that and maybe keep me up to date on any changes or new discoveries as they happen?”

  “Not a problem. I know Pastwa’s aide Mike Clarke pretty well and if I stop in there with a box of donuts he’ll shoot the breeze for an hour.”

  “Great!” Gale stands and motions for Young to do the same. She steps closer to him until she’s less than six inches away when she lays her right hand on the uppermost button on her dress. “This is really bothering me, Paul, I can barely breathe. Thin
k you can help me out?” Her tone is soft yet taunting and inviting at the same time.

  Young visibly gulps, but responds to her request, opens the button and realizes there’s no bra beneath her dress. He’s keenly aware there is now only one button constraining the physical barrier between him and potential euphoria. What he fails to realize is Gale counts on him to feel exactly as he does.

  “Money is so impersonal, don’t you think?” Gale’s not really seeking an answer.

  “I like to keep things on a personal basis, Paul. What about you?” Young is breathing more heavily and he’s starting to think money is not necessarily everything. His eyes are fixated on Gale’s enticing cleavage and the remaining black button which is barely holding the two halves of her dress together.

  “Could you do me a favor and take care of this?” Gale glances down at the sole surviving button.

  Young slowly slips the button through its hole, leaving the entire front of her dress open. Gale breathes a little more heavily and lets out a sigh when he slips his hands beneath her dress and pushes it to her sides.

  “Paul, I truly admire your courage in making this copy and having the very good sense to call me first. In my opinion it takes a true man to do that.” Gale pauses just long enough to increase Young’s sexual tensions. “Don’t you think we’d be more comfortable in my bedroom?”

  Without hesitating, Young slides his hands down her hips, taking her dress with them. As the dress falls to the floor he takes a half step back, without removing his hands, so he can get a good look at her exposed body in the light of day. “She’s a natural blonde,” he thinks to himself.

  “Show me the way, Lani.” Gale picks up the pilfered log with her right hand while in the same motion taking his right hand into her left and slowly leads him to her bedroom. Once there, she slips the logbook into a drawer before tumbling into bed with Young, bad teeth and all.