King of War Tech novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Widows

The woman at the Admiral's kitchen table wore a church cardigan and held a mug in both hands.

She looked fifty-five and tired enough to be seventy.

"You're Wes," she said before I sat down.

"Yes, ma'am."

"My husband drove the test truck."

I stopped with my hand on the chair.

"He lost a bet to the cook," I said.

Her face broke open.

She laughed and cried together, one hand over her mouth, and Imogen sat down next to her and took the other hand without being asked.

"His last text said, if something goes wrong, find Wes," she said.

"I've been looking for a Wes for three years. Nobody at the Navy ever heard of one."

"I'm sorry I'm three years late."

"The lawyers came eighteen months ago," she said.

"The Merrick trust stopped paying, and the letter said the work was private."

"It said the Navy owes us nothing."

"All six families got the same letter."

She turned the mug in her hands.

"Tomorrow noon the Foundation is giving us lunch at the Navy Club. Mr. Merrick wants a photograph with us."

"I came to ask whether we should go."

"Go," I said. "Sit at the front table. I'll be in the room."

Imogen did not say a word.

She went upstairs and came back with her father's old checkbook, and she wrote at the table until two in the morning.

The next day, the small ballroom at the Navy Club had round tables, white cloths, and a newspaper photographer standing on a chair.

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