Perhaps the most notable development during this period was that my employer finally felt satisfied that he had at least a passing knowledge of those under his command, and turned his attention to the job he should have been doing all along, which is to say administration. More and more he was willing to rely on his lieutenants to oversee the company’s field operations while he filled his time managing things on a grander, more long-term basis.
Unfortunately this meant that he was not standing swamp duty with the company when, as they say, it hit the fan.
“Are you sure this guy can deliver the goods, C.H.?” Phule said impatiently, glancing at the door of the cocktail lounge for the twentieth’ time. “If this turns out to be a waste of my time … “
“Don’t fret yourself none, Cap’n,” his supply sergeant said, desperately signaling the bartender for another round for his commander. “If my man says he’s got ‘em … he’s got ‘em. I just thought it would be best if the two of you met face-to-face before any money changed hands, is all.”
The subject of this oblique discussion was knives. Harry claimed to have found a source who could supply them with a large quantity of the latest design in “action” knives, which was to say spring-loaded. These beauties were unusual in that not only did the blade emerge straight out of the handle at the touch of a button, as opposed to the more traditional switchblades which opened from the side like a jackknife, but if one held down the locking lever while triggering the blade, it would keep going, launched like a dart by the forty-pound spring that powered the mechanism. All in all, they were deadly little beasts. They were also illegal … hence the cloak-and-dagger approach to closing the deal.