Page 3 of Wolf's Whistle
“No, I still don’t like the taste. Remember that day when we were thirteen, and we stole the six-pack from your father’s garage refrigerator and proceeded to get wasted? I was so sick. I haven’t touched a beer since.” Richard grinned then became earnest. “It’s so good to see you. My parents called Social Services and tried to find you, but they wouldn’t tell us where you were because we weren’t relatives. Mom and Dad offered to foster you, but the state said they weren’t qualified, and they couldn’t have you anyway since we were moving out of state. I must have sent you more than two dozen letters the first two years, but when you didn’t reply, I thought you didn’t want to hear from me.”
“I wanted to see you. Social Services wouldn’t let me contact anyone since I was a minor and a ward of the state. They put me in a group home because I was gay and then promptly forgot about me.” Julio sniffed.
“We wouldn’t have abandoned you. We couldn’t find you.” Richard’s brow furrowed. “What happened to you?” he asked.
“Nothing good. That’s a long story better left for another time. It’s nice to know that your family attempted to help. What about you? Did you ever get into MIT?”
“Yes, and I graduated summa cum laude, first in my class.” Richard’s eyes misted. “I received many job offers, one I especially wanted to take, but Dad died of a heart attack in my junior year in college. Just after that, Mom developed breast cancer, so I accepted a job with Switched Power Designs in Chicago.”
“Isn’t that the company that was in the news for defective power supplies for the Cougar II?” One of Etienne’s eyebrows arched.
“Yes, it was. The power supply was my design.” Richard clenched his fist, and his eyes narrowed. “It wasn’t designed that way. I specified Charter components with a high heat tolerance. When it went into production, the production manager decided to use Minster components instead. I tested the design with Minster components because they were an approved vendor, but it ran too hot. I wrote several reports describing the problem and complained all the way up to the president of the company. When I saw they wouldn’t budge, I went to my congressman. It cost me my job. I could have sued, but I didn’t have the money because I spent my savings on a decent hospice for Mom.”
“Were you able to get a job somewhere else?” Etienne asked.
Richard shook his head. “Switched Power said I was fired for insubordination and poor performance. They blamed me for the Cougar fiasco and gave me a poor reference, even though I had signed documentation saying that changing out the components made the design faulty and downright dangerous.”
Etienne’s fist came down on the table. “Many of our people serve. It’s bad enough there is the danger of explosion from an enemy planted IED, but to have your vehicle catch fire because of a defective part is untenable. Especially if the manufacturer knew about the issue beforehand and refused to fix it.”
Richard hung his head. “They blamed me and therefore I’m toxic. Now I work as a clerk at a small grocery store, and I bartend at night. The two jobs pay my college loans, my rent, and my phone, but they don’t leave me with money for much else.” He took a deep breath and blew it out in exasperation. “I know I did the right thing, but I’m paying for it.”
Gilbert returned with the sodas for Julio and Richard and a beer for Etienne.Alpha, he had his computer and a folder with him when I picked him up. Maybe the folder contained resumes. Garou could…
“But enough of my sad story. I’m still sending out resumes, although I know what happens as soon as they check my work history.” Richard shrugged. “Even though I was fired, I’m glad I did what I did. They said a failure rate of a little more than five percent was acceptable. To me it meant five out of every hundred vehicles could catch fire and immolate the troops using it for transport. That wasn’t right, and I couldn’t let it stand. It was my design.”
“You have proof of this?” Etienne asked, jaw clenched.
“Yes, on my computer I have time-stamped emails and reports that I sent to management. I also have the specs for the original design with an explanation of why I didn’t use our preferred vendor, Minster, and specified Charter instead.”
Etienne’s lips thinned. “They’re not supposed to be able to fire a whistleblower.”
“No, they’re not, but there was nothing I could do to stop them.”
Julio gazed up at his Mate with firm purpose. “Etienne, Garou has divisions that use engineers…Maybe we could…”
“Garou?” Richard asked, his eyes growing big. “Garou is the top employer in North America for engineers, known for treating their employees with respect, and providing excellent compensation.”
Julio grabbed Richard’s hand. “Most of the people here today are on the board of Garou Industries. Do you have a resume with you?”
“I have thirty copies. I just came back from Kinko’s when Gilbert caught me on the stoop. Do you think they’d read it?”
“I can guarantee it.” Julio peered over Richard’s head at Etienne and let go of his friend’s hand.
“Of course, we’ll read your resume, if only because you’re a friend of Julio’s and our family loves him.” Etienne kissed the top of Julio’s head.
Richard’s hands were shaking. “I have them here in my satchel.” After he sat down, he opened his bag, carefully removed his computer and pulled out the folders that contained his resumes. He handed one to Etienne, along with copies of personal letters of recommendation from his professors. He also retrieved both the reports he’d sent to management and the sheets containing the test results with the Minster and Charter components.
Etienne read the documents.
“For what I want to do, I should have a master’s. I wanted to continue on to get it, but Mom was sick, so I had to make some money to keep her comfortable for her last few months.”
“Gilbert, please go upstairs and bring Armand, Julien, and Henri down to meet Richard.”
“Please, Mr. Daurensbourg, I didn’t come to tell my story, I came to find out how Julio was doing.”
“First, call me Etienne. You’re Julio’s friend. Of course, I’ll help, if I can. To be honest, Garou searched for you after the congressional hearings. We want to hire engineers of your expertise and integrity. At Garou, you would have been promoted for doing what you did.”
Julio grinned at the flabbergasted expression on Richard’s face.
