Free Home Goes The Warrior by Jeff Noonan Page A

the old don as he gathered his thoughts.
    “There’s some rumors around about a gang of thieves working on the base. An independent bunch that no one knows much of anything about. I’ve heard that the FBI has been there, but didn’t find anything. But the rumors are still out there and I think there’s something to them.”
    He paused and Lee interjected, “What are they stealing, Tony?”
    “Money, but I don’t know how - or how much. Like I say, I stay clear of the military, so I don’t know very much about this.”
    He paused, obviously struggling with his thoughts, marshalling his words. Lee and Maggie stayed silent, watching him. “But there is one thing that I do know. There’s been three of the shipyard’s civilians killed in the past few months. The first one fell into a drydock. That was called an accident. But my neighbors that work in the shipyard don’t agree. They say the guy had worked in the shipyard for more than twenty years and his workplace was over a mile from the nearest drydock.”
    Startled, Lee spoke up. “That does sound suspicious.”
    “I think so. Anyway, then there was a shipyard worker shot dead in South Philly. The cops put a lot of heat on my friends over this one, but none of us know anything about it. Nobody’s been arrested yet on it. The rumor is that it was a dump job, with the killing taking place somewhere else. Then the body was dumped close to my home in South Philly.”
    “Then another shipyard guy was found about a week later with his throat slit. That happened across the river in Camden. They say thathe was robbed and killed by a streetwalker. It’s possible, I guess. But I don’t like coincidences. All three of these guys worked in the paperwork end of the shipyard, something to do with getting the machinery and parts for the ship-overhauls. Now, I don’t know what any of this means. But if I was you, Lee, I’d watch my back in that shipyard. Something smells bad.”
    Lee was silent for a long moment, absorbing this information. Agent Wright had never mentioned anything about people being killed. Maybe he didn’t know, or maybe they hadn’t considered the deaths to be related to his shipyard investigation. But this was definitely a new twist. He let his surprise show as he commented, “Wow! Are the cops looking into any of this?”
    “Probably, but I don’t think they’ve gotten very far. I’ll know more by the time you get to Philly. I called this morning and asked some of my people to look into this stuff. I’ve got some friends in high places in the Philly police force, and they’re gonna do some checking for me. When you get there, I’ll have more info for you. Can’t have you blindly walking into a meat grinder. After all, it wouldn’t look good for my godson to be whacked by some amateur on the Navy base, would it?”
    Maggie had been silent through all of this. Now she spoke up. “Tony, anything that you can do to keep him safe would be very sincerely appreciated by me. I wasn’t worried about him before, but if there are murderers on that base, I’m worried now.”
    Tony smiled and reached over, patting the back of her hand. “Don’t worry, little lady. I’ll watch over him. But he’s probably safe. None of the dead people have been in the Navy. All civilians - so far.”
    She smiled at him, “Thank you, sir. I feel better knowing you’re on his side.” She meant it.
    The subject changed, and the rest of the evening was uneventful. After dinner, the three moved to the living room as an army of waiters cleared away the remnants of the dinner. Tony enjoyed a cigar, seeming a bit hurt when Lee didn’t join him. But Maggie explained that Lee’s war wounds didn’t allow him to do any smoking. “But don’t worry. We both enjoy the smell of a good cigar.” They had several after-dinner drinks and were in a merry mood before it came time to say goodnight. Tony made apoint to give Lee his private telephone number so he could “call