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Jinnie collapsed on her bunk on the USS Jack H. Lucas and realised that she was both tired and hungry. But before anything else, she needed to clean her rifle and return it to the Gunny who oversaw the ship’s armoury. With a pristine gun in its bag, she handed it over to the old Gunny, who inspected it carefully before saying, “Whoever taught you to clean a gun did it right, I couldn’t have done this better myself. This is the first one of these I have ever seen, our snipers use a TAC-338 for this calibre rifle, but I hear this is a mighty fine weapon and outshoots our baby.”
Jinnie smiled and said, “I’ve fired a few different rifles, but in my opinion this and the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare take some beating. Of course, the AW is really a specialist rifle, good down to -40°, but what you see here is closely related, with the cold weather adaptations. In the hands of an expert shot, I’ve never seen better.” “Pity we can’t keep it and try it,” said the Gunny. “We have a few sharpshooters on board who would love it.” “In the British military,” said Jinnie, “we distinguish between sharpshooters and snipers. This is a sniper rifle. We have a different one for designated marksmen, it’s actually American, from the Lewis Machine & Tool Company, and is a 20-shot automatic. It’s not as good as this, but it’s a fine rifle and a lot cheaper.”
The next stop was the wardroom for breakfast before catching up on the sleep Jinnie had missed while being on duty. It was busy, and as she queued up she looked around and caught the eye of the XO, who had a plate of steak and eggs in front of him. He pointed at the empty seat opposite him, and Jinnie nodded. She decided steak and eggs looked the business, and when her turn came asked for a steak and two fried eggs, toast and butter, and a mug of coffee. Having had it on board before, she knew the coffee was good, but avoided the creamer and, much to the officer behind her’s amazement, added half-and-half milk meant for people having cereal.
Taking the seat opposite the XO, she said, “Good morning, Sir. Thank you for asking me to join you.” “No, thank you, Dame Jinnie,” came the reply, “I read from Commander Woodlouse’s initial report that the raid was 100% successful. He was also mighty impressed by your shooting, says one of our guys couldn’t have done better. Not only that, but Gunny Bates also says he has never had a gun back from an operation that he could only describe as immaculate. I only wish you were in our military.”
“I’m afraid there is no chance of that, Sir,” said Jinnie. “I only work occasionally for the Security Services. I am actually the full-time mother of twins and the managing director of an international hospitality and catering company. I am desperate to get home to see my twins and to check on the business before we are off on a Christmas and New Year cruise in this part of the world.” As Jinnie cut into her juicy steak, the XO said, “Well, we are heading for the US Virgin Islands in two days, and then it’s a flight back to Virginia for a debriefing. I suppose that won’t take long, and then you can be on your flight back to England. Oh, by the way, I hear your sister mission has gone equally well, and she is already on her way back for the debrief.”
***
The USS Jack H. Lucas anchored off Charlotte Amalie, and Jinnie had been told to pack her hold-all and be ready for the ship’s helicopter to take her to Cyril E. King International Airport. She had been to the British Virgin Islands on a cruise and thought them beautiful, and expected the US ones to be similar, but as the helicopter buzzed over the main US island, it looked as rocky as the British Tortola was green. Jinnie thought to herself, “The Yanks got the rough end of the stick.”
The chopper landed at the military side of the airport, and she was hurried to a navy car and driven directly to the steps of the American Airways flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, and its connection to Norfolk. The plane was being held for her, and she hurried up the steps. Before she was seated in domestic first class, the door was shut and the plane started taxiing. The stewardess said, “Welcome aboard, ma’am. We are delighted to have a serving officer on board. I’m afraid you missed the pre-takeoff drink. I can bring you sparkling wine or juice as soon as we are clear to do so. What would you like?” “Could I have orange juice please?” replied Jinnie, who was delighted to see the cabin was sparsely occupied and the seat next to her was unoccupied.
With the plane in the air, the orange juice arrived and Jinnie said, “Thank you.” The stewardess said, “You’re welcome.” She went to turn away, then turned back and said, “Excuse me for asking, but you have no unit badges on your uniform and you don’t have an American accent.” “That’s because I am British, and by tradition our special forces don’t display their units,” replied Jinnie. “Gee, you’re Brit special forces. No wonder we waited for you.”
From then on, the service had been perfect and attentive. Every time a steward or stewardess passed by, Jinnie was asked if she needed anything, would like a drink, wanted a snack before lunch was served, needed a blanket, or wanted wine with her lunch. It went on and on, with the cabin crew thinking they were doing good and Jinnie getting fed up. To Jinnie, the answer was to go to sleep.
***
The voice coming over the tannoy woke Jinnie. “The captain has switched on the seatbelts signs. Please return to your seat, ensure it is in the upright position, and your table has been stowed.” Jinnie brought the seat back up, but her table was already stowed and, as usual, her seatbelt was on. She glanced out of the window but saw only cloud. As she heard the wheels coming down, she knew they were coming into land soon.
Jinnie was in no hurry to leave the plane. She had nearly three hours before her connecting flight left. She followed the signs saying “Flight Connections,” found herself in a short queue at the connections desk, and was issued with a boarding pass. This time the flight was only one hour and fifteen minutes, and it was economy only. But as she had travelled first class on her connecting flight, she was allowed into the American Airlines first class lounge.
Jinnie found a comfortable seat from where she could keep an eye on the departure screen and ordered a Pepsi Max, no ice, and avocado on toast. It was not something she would normally choose, but the menu was not to her taste. She decided to make good use of her time by making a start on her mission report for Alan, so she pulled her iPad out of her carry-on bag and started writing.
The time passed quickly, and a ground stewardess suddenly appeared at her side and said, “Ma’am, your flight will be on the board in a couple of minutes, but you have been cleared for priority boarding. Follow me.” Jinnie followed her to the gate, and then she proceeded down the air bridge to the old Boeing 737 where she was greeted by the cabin crew and shown to her seat. The steward said, “We have instructions to disembark you first. You will be met at the gate.” Jinnie replied, “Thank you. I have been here before, so I’m aware of the procedure.” Once again, the steward looked at her in shock and said, “You’re a Brit.”
Escorted by the same two CPOs as on her previous visit, Jinnie walked to their car and was driven to the SEALs base at Little Creek. Her allocated room was just as she had left it, but her civilian clothes had been dry-cleaned and were in the wardrobe. A note propped up on the dressing table said, “Debriefing at 09:30 tomorrow. Transport will collect you at 09:15.”
Jinnie sat at the desk in her room and completed her mission report. Once home she could submit it to Alan’s secure email address. Realising it was dinner time, Jinnie headed for the visitor’s restaurant. Entering the sparsely filled room, she immediately saw Penny sitting with Rear Admiral Dobiecki, who called her over. In front of Penny was a half-consumed bowl of soup and George had buffalo wings. The servers bustled and Jinnie soon had a menu. Following her order for a shrimp cocktail and an ‘entree’ of barbecue ribs, a place was made up for her.
George smiled and said, “I understand congratulations are in order. I have seen the reconnaissance photos, and the facility has been totally destroyed. It is going to be some time before it is possible to use it again, if ever. You probably don’t know but Penny’s mission was equally effective. She has taken out about a dozen of their boats and they have stopped coming.”
Jinnie’s shrimp cocktail arrived, was promptly consumed, and the three sat talking while waiting for their entrees. Jinnie said, “I’m delighted that everything is done and dusted well before our Christmas cruise. The twins would never forgive me if it had been spoiled.” “Neither would Dan,” added Penny. “He rather looks forward to what has become a family Christmas tradition.” “How about you?” asked Jinnie. “Will you spend Christmas in Washington or will you get home to the UK?”
“Actually, we are going to visit my father in Gdansk,” said Dobiecki. “I’m taking terminal leave. I’m leaving the Navy. I have grown to hate the cocktail party rounds in Washington and have asked for a transfer. But the MoD have told me they have nothing else for me, and I will have to see out two more years in the States before I will be rotated out. So, I have decided that I will retire and take an early pension. I can live on it quite comfortably.”
“Will you stay in the UK or go to Poland?” asked Penny. “I have only ever known living in Britain,” replied Dobiecki. “My wife is English, I was born in England, and I am a British citizen. My boys consider themselves English, even if we have brought them up to speak Polish. No, I don’t think we will move permanently to Poland, although we may spend the school holidays there. My wife is a head teacher of a big comprehensive in Portsmouth. She wouldn’t want to move to Poland, like she didn’t want to move to the States. She is a proper submariner’s wife, used to being separated from her husband for long periods.”
The entrees arrived and the conversation changed. Jinnie told George how the twins were proving to be remarkable linguists and had decided they wanted to be spies and restaurant critics when they finished school. This amused George, who said both his boys wanted to be footballers but neither had the talent. But he did ask about their language skills and just shook his head when Jinnie told him they spoke Italian, French, German and were learning Spanish. She explained about the special education they were receiving for high flyers and he said he wondered if his wife knew of the scheme.
By the time they had finished coffee they had all become firm friends and promised to keep in touch once the Rear Admiral had left the Navy. As the sisters walked back to their accommodation Jinnie said, “I rather like George and feel a bit sorry for him having to retire because they don’t have a position for him.” “It’s because the forces are not being maintained at such a high level these days,” said Penny. “Our ceasefire with the Germans is holding and they have even stopped fighting the Poles. They seem to be struggling with the Russians. Alan says don’t be surprised if they want a full peace treaty with us.”
“I don’t think we will sign a treaty with them unless they withdraw from the likes of Ukraine and Czechoslovakia,” said Jinnie, “and unless they are being battered by Russia they won’t do that. Besides, I don’t think their Fuhrer would agree.” “If you are so sorry for the Rear Admiral,” said Penny, “why don’t you find him a job? I bet it would look great on your board, a Rear Admiral. Maybe you could go for some military catering contracts.”
“You might have something there,” replied Jinnie. “I need someone fluent in Polish to oversee the operation there, and he fits the bill. He has commanded men and big budgets. We are head-hunting a new development director right now. I wonder if he would like to be interviewed. He could oversee our move into Poland. That’s a major development.” “Hold on a minute,” said Penny. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Isn’t Sir Nigel development director?”
“I have said too much already,” said Jinnie, “but you are a spy and can keep a secret. This can’t get in the media yet, but it is common knowledge in the company that Alberto is retiring on his birthday in February, and Nigel has agreed to be the next chairman of the board. But it still has to be formalised at the next board meeting.” “Now it makes sense,” replied Penny.
***
As the debrief meeting broke up, Rear Admiral Dobiecki stopped by the sisters and said, “That was most satisfactory. The Americans admitted that we British did a good job. Both halves of the mission are totally deniable by them, and I am sure will be. We have got some brownie points and they owe us one. I take it you will be on the first possible flight out.” “We are in no mad rush,” replied Jinnie. “We are on the American flight to JFK at around 17:30 and then the late-night Virgin flight to Heathrow. On the way out our return tickets were upgraded to first class, and the Navy travel office has confirmed the seats for us. So we should be in London just after midday. We are both just about to phone our husbands to pick us up, as it will be Saturday when we arrive. I expect the twins will want to be there to meet me.”
“Now before you fly back to Washington and your endless stream of cocktail parties,” said Jinnie, “I have been having thoughts about you being unemployed. When do you get back from Poland?” “I think it’s the third or fourth of January,” replied George. “Well, we are back from our cruise on the third, that’s the Sunday, and back to work on Monday the fourth.” Jinnie handed George a slip of paper and added, “Ring me on this mobile number when you get home. I think I might have a job for you by then. It would be based in Potters Bar but would probably involve rather a lot of travel. Canada, the Caribbean, the West Coast, Florida, Central America, France, and a lot in Poland.”
“I’d like you to come to the offices to meet some of the directors, a sort of interview,” continued Jinnie. “I really can’t give you many more details of the position right now. I haven’t yet seen the job specifications that HR have drawn up. But it is senior management, highly paid, comes with a car, a share of the annual bonus scheme and membership of the senior management non-contributory pension scheme.”
“That sounds too good to be true,” said the admiral. “It’s not,” replied Jinnie. “But you will be expected to work hard and put in some odd hours when travelling. But the rewards are good. The bonus scheme paid 12.5% of annual salary last financial year and is expected to be similar this year.”
***
The sisters’ American Airlines flight arrived at Terminal 8 at JFK a little after 7pm and their Virgin flight was due to take off from Terminal 8 at 11:45pm. Jinnie asked the head of the cabin crew how the transfer worked and was told to use the free AirTrain between terminals. He said, “Once you have collected your hold bags, follow the sign ‘Terminal Transfers’ to the AirTrain station and use the Airport Terminals Loop.” He pulled out his iPhone and said, “It says here to allow 2.5 hours to transfer from a domestic to an international flight as you have to go through check-in and security. I hope you have plenty of time.”
Jinnie smiled and replied, “Ample thanks. I was a bit worried how we were going to fill in our time before departure. We have no hold bags and as this is an internal flight, no security or customs to bother with. As we are travelling upper class on Virgin we have a separate check-in and fast track security.”
Rather than taking 2.5 hours to get from their American flight to being in the Virgin Clubhouse, it took them just over an hour. The AirTrain ran on a continuous elevated loop around the terminals and had arrived within minutes of them getting to the platform. There was a check-in desk for upper class passengers with only hand luggage and a delighted Penny said, “Look, no queue.” The girl on the check-in took moments to look at their passports and swipe them through the reader before saying, “Ladies, I’ve got good news for you. The computer shows you have been allocated seats 1D and 1G. These are the seats all the regular travellers ask for. They are the front row centre seats and have about twice the legroom of any other seat on the plane.”
The sisters went straight through the fast track security with hardly any delay and followed the directions on the signs to the Virgin Clubhouse. The bright red uniformed girl on the door checked their tickets and said, “Welcome, ladies. The lounge is a little busy at the moment, but it will clear very soon as the early flights to Heathrow and the Manchester flight leave soon, and it will thin out considerably. Your flight is not so popular. I think it’s because it doesn’t get in till midday.”
The lounge wasn’t too busy for the girls to find two armchairs with a large coffee table and views over one of the runways. A waiter was over as soon as they sat down and presented them with a drinks menu. Both chose a Pepsi Max and while the waiter went for the drinks they studied the food menu. Jinnie said, “I’m going to eat now. That way I can get to sleep shortly after take-off.” “That sounds like a plan,” replied Penny.
Jinnie ate her way through roast pumpkin soup, grilled salmon with market vegetables and fresh fruit salad with ice cream. She wiped her mouth with her linen napkin and said to her sister, “That was good, perhaps a little slanted towards the American traveller, but still decent.” Penny replied, “My chicken tikka masala was excellent. I didn’t think that Yanks knew how to make a good curry. Perhaps they have brought a British chef over.”
The girl on check-in was right. The girls’ upper class seats were the same width as all the other little pods, but half as long again. The instant the sisters claimed their pod the cabin crew arrived with pre-take-off drinks and menus. Jinnie took the orange juice and told the steward she wouldn’t be eating, but could she have her bed made up as soon as possible after take-off as she intended to sleep.
As soon as the seatbelt light went off she picked up her Virgin unisex pyjamas and headed to the toilet to put them on. The pair left in her pod were XL and she swapped them for large with the steward who immediately headed to convert her seat into a bed. Coming out of the toilet she bumped into Penny who was waiting with pyjamas and wash bag in hand. Jinnie said, “Good night. I hope to be in bed and asleep by the time you get back to your pod.”
The steward was just finishing up smoothing out the duvet when Jinnie got back to the pod and asked, “Will you be choosing from the breakfast selection Dame Jinnie or is it the hot bacon roll?” Jinnie answered, “Would it be possible to have two bacon rolls please, orange juice and strong tea please.” “Of course,” came the reply. Alone Jinnie climbed into her bed, eventually mastered the light switches and snuggled down. As predicted she didn’t hear her sister going through the same breakfast procedure as she was asleep.
Jinnie woke up slowly, initially wondering where she was and then remembering. She glanced at her watch, 08:15, and was happy to remember she had set it to GMT before boarding. She felt much better for her nearly eight hours’ sleep and seeing the ‘Lavatory Vacant’ sign popped off to change back into her clothes. Looking down the upper class cabin from a standing position she noted that it appeared to be about half full and maybe half the passengers were awake and breakfasting. As she passed through the galley a female cabin crew member said, “Good morning Dame Jinnie. I’ll convert you back to a seat if that’s OK and would you like your breakfast now?” “Yes please,” she replied.
Jinnie was enjoying the second bite of her second hot bacon roll when Penny’s head appeared above the partition between the two pods and she said, “Morning Sis. I think it was the smell of bacon that woke me. That was the best sleep I have ever had on a plane.” “Morning Pen. I hope you have ordered a bacon roll,” replied Jinnie. “This is really good, soft bap, loads of butter, decent amount of bacon and sachets of HP or tomato sauce.” “I’m off to dress,” said Penny. “I’m looking forward to my roll.”
The plane was a couple of minutes early coming into land and as always the upper class passengers were let off first. The sisters passed through the passport readers without a problem and headed towards baggage reclaim and customs. With no hold baggage to collect they both made for the green channel where a customs officer stepped out in front of them and asked, “Where are you travelling from?” Penny said, “This flight was from JFK.” While Jinnie thought, ‘Oh no, not again,’ and pulled her passport out of her pocket saying, “Last time I was stopped the officer complained that I didn’t immediately tell him we were SIS employees travelling on official business, so this time here is my passport for you to check before you start asking silly questions we can’t answer for state security reasons.”
Penny also handed over her passport and the officer headed to a scanner. Within a minute he was back, handed them their passports and said, “I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you. You’re free to proceed.” The sisters quickly passed out into the arrivals hall and Jinnie heard the twins shouting, “Mummy.” She hurried across to where the twins, Paolo and Dan were waiting at the metal barrier. She hugged and kissed the twins and Paolo while Dan was kissing Penny.
The sisters walked to the gap in the barrier and joined their families. Paolo took her bag and the twins started talking, telling her all about their new lessons and how much they were enjoying school now. As usual they were finishing each other’s sentences and it was rather like having a conversation with one person. Suddenly Millie stopped in mid tale and said, “Mummy, look, an artisan donut shop.” Jinnie replied, “That’s new. It wasn’t here last time I came through here. I know, you want one for your tea. Come on, let’s choose a couple of dozen. Then we will have enough for Izzy and George, Uncle Nigel and Aunty Penny and Uncle Dan. Maybe even Granny and Grandad. We can have a special welcome home tea.”
“Oh yes please,” said Millie. “Can we stop at that nice shop in the high street where they cut the ham off a big leg? Then we can have ham sandwiches and donuts.” “Don’t they sell little iced fancy cakes with butter cream in them?” said Penny. “That can be my contribution to the party.”
Paolo parked close to the ‘Village Store’ and everyone made their way inside. Izzy didn’t buy much in the store. It was far cheaper to drive into Potters Bar or Barnet and use one of the big supermarkets, but it was handy if she ran out of something and popped in for the occasional pint of milk or batteries for one of the twins’ toys. But they sold ‘ham on the bone’ which was carved as you waited and was better than the prepackaged stuff sold in supermarkets. It wasn’t cheap but it was good and Larry loved a fatty bit as a treat.
While Jinnie was getting the ham and Penny bought the cakes, the twins and Paolo wandered the shop looking at the items on sale. Paolo asked the twins if they remembered having scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream at Ennio’s in Worthing. The twins nodded vigorously and Millie said, “Oh yes, it was lush.” Paolo said, “Would you like it again as part of our special tea?” Without hesitation the twins chorused, “Yes please.”
Paolo sent Willie for a wire basket to which he added two dozen fruit scones, which were labelled ‘Homemade’, several jars of Tiptree strawberry jam, and tubs of Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream. The twins skipped over to their mother and Millie said, “Look what Daddy has found,” pointing to the wire basket. Jinnie whispered to the twins, who ran off to the shop’s bakery section and returned with four dozen little sausage rolls, which were added to the growing pile of shopping.
While the food was paid for, the twins were intrigued by an old-fashioned bacon slicer with its big shiny cutting wheel. Dan explained what it was and how it worked before saying to them, “Did you hear about the little boy who sat on a bacon slicer? The shopkeeper got a little behind with his orders.” The twins took a moment before the joke sunk in and then started giggling.
Everyone descended on the kitchen where Izzy was making a Victoria sponge. After saying hello, Jinnie said, “I hope you have not got any special cooking for lunch.” Izzy replied, “No. I didn’t know if you would be hungry, so I planned on a snack lunch and ordering from DKL for dinner.” Jinnie said, “We have a change of plan. Yes to a snack lunch. I rather fancy scrambled eggs on hot buttered toast. Then a big high tea. We have most of the makings here. In these plastic bags we have sliced ham, fresh bread, iced French fancies, donuts, scones, cream and strawberry jam and sausage rolls. With your Victoria sponge we will have a great tea.”
Izzy looked at the huge pile of stuff and said, “We can’t eat all that. There’s far too much.” Willie said, “Aunty Penny and Uncle Dan are coming.” “So are Granny and Grandpa,” added Millie. “And I’m just about to invite Sir Nigel,” said Jinnie. “Well, that’s OK then,” said Izzy. “Who wants hard-boiled egg and tomato sandwiches as well? I can use some of that nice crusty tiger bread mummy has just bought.” “Me,” shouted the twins, much to Paolo’s amusement.
***
Willie swallowed the final bite of a French fancy and said, “Gosh, I’m full, but everything was so good.” Millie was struggling with an egg and tomato sandwich that she had returned to after a donut and could only nod her head in agreement. Sir Nigel, who was on his third cup of tea, said, “When I saw all that food, I never for a moment thought you two would eat half of it.” Grandad James chuckled and said, “You want to see them on a cruise. Big breakfast, huge lunch, a massive dinner and they are always ready for ice cream. I think they have hollow legs.” George added, “And they eat chocolate like it’s going out of fashion.”
Nigel said to Jinnie, “Can I have a few words about work when you have time? I don’t want to bore everyone talking shop.” Twenty minutes later, the twins were helping Izzy clear up and stack the dishwasher, the other men had gone to watch the Saturday early evening football game and Jinnie, who found herself alone with Sir Nigel, asked, “What did you want to chat about?”
Sir Nigel said, “Basically we are having trouble finding a new development director. The agency had a load of replies to the advert, but by the time they had filtered out the timewasters, the chancers and the unsuitable we were left with just three to interview. Only one was any good and she was not quite what we were looking for. She would make a damn fine assistant and a director in a couple of years.” “So basically she was a bit inexperienced,” asked Jinnie. “Exactly,” said Sir Nigel.
“Well, I might have found a good candidate,” said Jinnie. “Go on,” said Sir Nigel. “I know a rear admiral who is currently our naval attaché in Washington and has just put his papers in. He hates the cocktail party circuit and wants to do some real work. He knows all sorts of people in government and contractors, knows how to handle staff, and speaks fluent Polish.” “Really?” said Sir Nigel. “But has he got a personality? Will he fit in with the board?” “I think so,” said Jinnie. “But he has one other thing going for him. He is the son of the Polish president.” “When can we interview him?” asked Sir Nigel. “He’s back in the UK next weekend,” replied Jinnie. “I did say we might have a job in the new year. But how about we try for the week after next? With any luck we could have him in place when you become chairman.”
***
As the interview panel chairman, Sir Nigel said, “Thank you, Admiral. Would you mind taking a seat in the ante room for a few minutes? We have a lot to discuss. Alice will find you tea or coffee.” As the door closed behind Rear Admiral Dobiecki, several of the panel got up and poured themselves coffee. Jinnie took her coffee back to her place behind the boardroom table and said, “Who wants to go first?” Sir Nigel said, “As chairman I think I ought to go last, with Jinnie as the penultimate speaker as she knows the candidate.”
Belinda said, “OK, I’ll go first. I found him most impressive and personable. I think we would be mad not to snap him up before someone else does. I think he would be easy to work with and having a Sir, a Dame and an Admiral on the board would be a huge thing in the press. I vote yes. Offer him the job this afternoon.” Harriet, the HR director, went next. “I completely agree. I have no hesitation in voting yes. He is way above any other candidate we have seen and his military record is spotless. My only worry is can we afford him? Surely his salary as a rear admiral is likely to put him out of our pay range.”
Jinnie listened with interest. When her turn came she would vote yes, but Andrew was still to go before her. Andrew said, “I haven’t sat on many of these panels but I don’t think I have ever seen a more impressive candidate. The fact that he speaks fluent Polish and German is more than useful. He might not have a lot of experience in hospitality, but he has commanded a nuclear submarine in wartime conditions and that takes some doing. The navy has rotated him into a nothing job for a man of his ability. I can’t blame him for resigning. I say yes.”
Jinnie said, “I have known George for several years. I can’t explain how, so don’t ask. But I think he is a perfect candidate for this job. I wouldn’t have recommended he apply if I didn’t think he could do the job and be an asset to the company and the board. Of course I vote yes. I also suggest we hire Susan Patterson as his deputy. I was impressed by her interview, perhaps she was better at her second interview. I know she lacks experience but as a deputy I think she will flourish.”
Sir Nigel sipped his coffee before saying, “You are all right. That was an impressive interview. As Belinda said, we would be mad not to snap him up. Harriet, from my previous job I happen to know that senior military officers are not paid anything like what you would expect. Offer him a decent amount, say two hundred thousand pounds, a big car, a place in the non-contributory pension scheme and a share of the management bonus pool and he will jump at the offer. My yes makes it unanimous, so I guess we call him in and offer him the job. But first can I have a show of hands on Susan?” That was also unanimous. “I’ll ring her and offer her the deputy job. She may be disappointed not to have got the big one. I think she will take it. She knows she was shooting a bit high.”
Jinnie sat in her new office with the rear admiral and waited for Alice to leave them. “I’m glad you accepted the offer, George. I really look forward to working with you. This company is going places and we need dynamic management. I expect we will turn over seven hundred million pounds this year and a billion within a couple of years. I’m on holiday over Christmas and the new year or I would suggest we got together so I can brief you on where I see the company going. But with Alberto retiring in early February and Sir Nigel becoming chairman, I suggest you start in mid-January. That way we can break you and your deputy in before you take over. Harriet will be in touch with the paperwork.”
Jinnie’s Story Book 10 will follow when I have decided on the story line
© WorthingGooner 2026
