As I was walking from the student union to the engineering building, the man caught up with me. He wanted to talk, and I wanted nothing to do with him. He was insistent, and so was I. Two students came to my aid, with Dr. Joe following close behind. And, a campus policeman quickly followed Dr. Joe. My question was, why did Dr. Joe decide to take a walk at just this point in time? He had no idea.

The students and I gave our statements to a second campus police officer, none other than Detective Edwards, who had helped me when my final exam was stolen. After I finished giving the detective my statement, Dr. Joe and I headed for the Dean’s office. And we were surprised to find the woman from the dining room sitting in the outer office crying. Me being me, I told her off for a second time.

Dr. Joe and I met with the Dean, and he was unhappy with what had been going on. And when he mentioned that the name of the woman sitting in the outer office was Sheila Wilson. It hit me, she had the same last name as the man that was there. Were they husband and wife?

I left everything with the Dean to figure out. And, of course, Amy and I talked about it.

Wednesday I met with my two class that had been canceled so that the Dean, Dr. Joe, and I could go to a meeting at Los Alamos. And, because of the Vietnam war, it brought some questions from my students about the university’s feeling towards the war. And, I didn’t have an answer other than what the agreement was between the university and Los Alamos. I’d mentioned Max being killed in Nam, and that brought tears to my eyes.

After I’d taught both of my classes, I went to Dr. Joe’s office. The light was on, so he was there, I knocked, and heard a “Come in.”

I opened the door, walked in, and sat in a chair in front of his desk. He looked at me and said, “Good morning, Miss Nez.”

And, I said, “Yá’át’ééh abiní, Azee'ííl'íní Oshie.” - (Good morning, Doctor Oshie.)

“I assume that was, good morning, Doctor Oshie?”

“Very good.”

He shook his head. Then said, “I’m glad your here. The Dean wants to see us.”

“What now?”, I asked.

“I guess he’s talked to Dr. Lingham about this thing with Armbruster.”

“I just want it to go away.”

“I know you do.”

“When does he want to see us?”

“I’ll call and see if he can see us now.”

Dr. Joe picked up the phone, called the Dean’s office, and asked if the Dean could see us now. And, he could in ten minutes. So, Dr. Joe and I went down to the Dean’s office, and as we walked in, Sara saw us, and said, “Go on back. He’s waiting for you.”

Dr. Joe and I walked back to the Dean’s office, Dr. Joe knocked on the door, and we heard, “Come.”

As we walked in, the Dean looked at us and said, “Have a seat.”

We sat in two leather armchairs in front of the Dean’s desk. The Dean looked at us, then he asked, “Miss Nez, how do you feel about Mr. Armbruster?”

“Before Tuesday I could take him or leave him. But, after what happened on Tuesday, I guess you could say that I hate him.”

“I can understand that, Miss Nez. Dr. Lingham isn’t happy with what Armbruster was doing. I knew a while back that they went after Dr. Oshie, and lucky for us he told them no.

“And, Miss Nez, I think we were also lucky when you said no to them.”

“Dean, they didn’t get a chance to ask me. I said no before they could even offer me anything.”

“That’s even better.”, the Dean said. “Now, Miss Nez, would you like to confront Mr. Armbruster?”

“Dean, I really don’t care if I ever see him again.”

“Dr. Lingham would like you to confront him directly. He feels that the shock value would be an eye-opener for him.”

“But, doesn’t Armbruster know that I confronted that man and woman? The Wilsons, I think.”

“No. I don’t think so.

“When you left, and Sheila Wilson came back here, she was so distraught that she told me everything. Then while she was here, her husband came looking for her. And, the three of us had a long talk.”

“Dean, I need to talk with Amy about this confrontation thing. Where I met Armbruster was at the resort that my aunt and uncle run. And, Armbruster knows that. I’m concerned that there might be some repercussions to my aunt and uncle.”

“I didn’t know that. I’ll explain it to Dr. Lingham.”

“What’s happened with the Wilsons?”, I asked.

“When you left, and Shelia came back here.”, the Dean said. “She was so upset that she told me everything. And, she was ready to resign. Her husband showed up about ten minutes after she came back. We talked, and they both told me everything.

“While they were with me, I called the President and told Dr. Lingham what had happened and what I’d found out. We talked about it. And it was agreed that we give Sheila Wilson the option of resigning or being fired.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well, she was upfront about everything that had gone one. And, by allowing her to resign, she can keep her retirement.”

“Kind of going easy on her aren’t you?”, I asked.

“In a way.”, the Dean said. “She was a good employee until her husband dragged her into doing this thing for Armbruster. Who he works for.”

“So, we should go after her husband as well as Armbruster.”

“We just need to figure out how.”

I smiled as I said, “One thing that Shelia’s husband told her about me was how Los Alamos had offered me a job, and I turned it down.”

“So?”

“Very few people knew about that outside of Los Alamos. There was only you, Amy, Dr. Joe, and Dr. Joe’s wife. I wonder how Armbruster’s people found out.”

“Oh. I see.”, the Dean said. “Maybe someone from inside Los Alamos.”

“I do owe Dr. Millman a favor.”

“A favor?”

“He gave me a name that pointed to who had caused my problem with Los Alamos’s security people. And, I owe him.”

“Can I ask what happened to that person?”, the Dean asked.

“I’m not completely sure.”, I said. “But somehow the leadership of the Navajo Nation got a hold of the information, and somehow even my uncle did. And, the man got talked to.”

Of course, I knew how they found out, but the Dean didn’t need to know that.

“I thought your uncle ran the resort north of here. What could he do?”

“Wrong uncle. This uncle was the Chief of the Navajo Nation Police Department and, shall we say, he knows people. And, I guess once this person was talked to, he requested a reassignment.”

“Oh.”, the Dean said. “Well, maybe if Dr. Millman found out about this thing with Armbruster, it might affect their relationship with Los Alamos.”

“There’s a relationship?”, I asked.

“Yes, Armbruster’s company has won some bids to do work for Los Alamos.”

“Oh. The plot thickens.”, Dr. Joe said.

“You know, Miss Nez.”, the Dean said. “This might be better than confronting Armbruster.”

“I thought it might.”, I replied. “And, I’d like to suggest that this doesn’t go any further than the three of us in this room, and that includes Dr. Lingham.”

“He is the university’s president.”

“But, the fewer people that know, the less of a chance of a leak to Armbruster.”

“I understand, Miss Nez. Now, why don’t you make that call to Dr. Millman? And then let me know what happens.”

“I’ll do that, Dean Rutherford.”

As Dr. Joe and I went to get up to leave, the Dean said, “Hold on you two. There’s more.”

“More?”, Dr. Joe said.

“I had a visit from someone this morning.”

“Oh. Who?”

“A courier from Los Alamos.”

“Are you sure he was from the correct people at Los Alamos?”, I asked.

“Oh yes, Miss Nez. I checked everything very closely.”

“So, what do you have for us?”, Dr. Joe asked.

The Dean turned around in his chair, picked something up, turned around, and set a metal briefcase on his desk, and said, “This.”

“Oh.”, I said.

“And, it’s locked.”

“Locked?”, Dr. Joe said.

“Yes. I had to sign for it. And, the two of you also have to sign for it.”

“Okay. We can do that.”

“Then once you’ve signed for it, I have an envelope for each of you.”

“Super secret stuff.”, I said.

“Sounds that way.”, Dr. Joe said.

Dean Rutherford set a paper on his desk, shoved it in front of me, handed me a pen, and said, “Read the paper and sign by your name if you agree.”

I took the pen, read the paper, signed it, handed the pen to Dr. Joe, and he read the paper, and signed. Then the Dean handed us each an envelope that had our name on it.

I opened mine, and took out the sheet of paper, unfolded it, and all it had on it was: Left 9-6-0-3-8. I looked at Dr. Joe, and he opened his envelope, took out and unfolded the paper, and all it had on it was: Right 0-8-3-7-2.

I looked at the metal briefcase, and it had a five digit combination lock on each of the two lockable latches. Then, I said, “Well, Dr. Joe, it looks like we have work to do.”

“Good.”, Dr. Joe said. “Now, maybe we can keep you out of trouble.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“Going to open it?”, the Dean asked.

“Can’t.”, I said. “We can only open it in a secure office or lab.”

“I know. I was just testing you.”

I just shook my head. Both Dr. Joe and I got up. Dr. Joe grabbed the briefcase, and as he did, he said, “This is heavy.”

“Want me to carry it for you?”, I asked.

That got me a dirty look.

As we started to walk out of the Dean’s office, I said, “Dean, I’ll let you know what I find out from Dr. Millman.”

“I know you will, Miss Nez.”, the Dean replied.

Dr. Joe and I headed back to his office, I unlocked the door and opened it, we went in, I closed the door and re-locked it. Dr. Joe set the metal briefcase on his work table. He looked
at me and said, “You first.”

I set the combination on the left latch to 9-6-0-3-8, pushed the latch button, and the latch opened. Dr. Joe then entered: 0-8-3-7-2 into the right combination, and that latch opened.

We opened the lid and looked inside. We saw a binder and five packages. The packages were all anti-static plastic envelopes with integrated circuits in them and had an identification number on them. Dr. Joe picked up the binder and flipped through it and said, “Looks like we have some heavy reading to do.”

“Yep.”, I said. “And, I need to make a phone call.”

“Dr. Millman?”, Dr. Joe asked.

“Yep.”

“My phone’s all yours. Do you want me to leave?”

“Nope. I don’t have any secrets from you. Well, maybe I have one or two. Maybe even three secrets from you.”

Dr. Joe shook his head, picked up the binder, sat at the work table, and started reading.

I walked over, sat behind Dr. Joe’s desk, took Dr. Millman’s business card out of my purse, picked up the phone, dialed zero, and when the operator answered, I asked for an outside line. When I had a dial tone, I dialed the number on the business card. I knew the number was the general number for the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

When their operator at Los Alamos answered, I asked for Dr. Millman’s office. Then when the phone was answered it was by a secretary, and I said, “Hello, this is Kai Nez. Is Dr. Millman in?” … “Could I speak to him.” … “Yes, Miss Kai Nez from the University of New Mexico.” … “I’ll hold.”

I waited for a minute, then I heard Dr. Millman say, “Hello, Miss Nez. How are you?”

“I’m fine, Dr. Millman.”, I replied. “And, you?”

“I’m fine Miss Nez.”

“Do you have a minute to talk?”

“For you, yes.”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes, I am. What can I do for you.”

“It’s maybe what I can do for you.”

“And, what’s that.”

I went on to explain what had happened at the resort and then here at the university, but I left out the part where the job offer was mentioned. When I finished, Dr. Millman asked, “And what does this have to do with us?”

I replied, “One of the things that I overheard the man say to the woman, was that their contact at Los Alamos had said that you’d offered me a job and that I’d turned it down. I was wondering, Dr. Millman, how Armbruster’s people knew that?”

“Good question, Miss Nez. Only three people here were supposed to know that Dr. Fontheim was going to make you that offer. That was him, Dr. Höllmann, and myself.”

“On my side, it’s only my cousin, Dr. Oshie, his wife, and Dean Rutherford that knew that the offer had been and that I'd turned it down.”

“And, you trust them?”

“Completely.”

“I know Mr. Armbruster, and his company has won some contract bids with us.”

“I just thought that since you told me about the person that was involved in the other thing that I should tell you about this. I don’t know if it means anything or not.”

“I don’t either, Miss Nez. But, we’ll see. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sir. By the way, we received the new research project today.”

“Yes, I know. It’ll be interesting to see what you and Dr. Oshie come up with.”

“Yes, it will. Have a good day, Dr. Millman.”

“You also, Miss Nez.”

“So long.”

“So long.”

As I hung up the phone, Dr. Joe looked at me and asked, “Well?”

“I think I may have piqued his interest about Armbruster.”, I replied. “So, what have you found of interest in the paperwork?”

“Not much yet. I was listening to your conversation.”

“So, you heard him offer me the job at Los Alamos again?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Yes, he did.”

“No, he didn’t. You’re smiling.”

“So?”

“You do that every time that you mess with me.”

“Do not.”

“Yes, you do Kai.”

“Caught me.”

“Do you want to read this before I do?”

“No. Go ahead. Amy’s working at the ER tomorrow eight to four. So, I’ll come in tomorrow after I go to my grad level class and read until four.”

“Okay, but don’t forget to eat lunch.”

“I’ll grab something in the student union and bring it here.”

Before I left Dr. Joe’s office, I made another phone call. I called Dean Rutherford and told him that I’d just talked to Dr. Millman at Los Alamos. The Dean was very interested when I said, “Dr. Millman’s interest was piqued when I mentioned that the man had mentioned that Los Alamos had offered me a job and that I’d turned it down.”

The Dean then said, “Miss Nez, that’s interesting. Please let me know when you hear anything else.”

“Yes, sir, I will.”, I replied. If I ever do.”

“You may not.”

After we hung up, I said, so long to Dr. Joe, and headed to the apartment. Amy was waiting for me. As I walked in, I received a sweet kiss. I looked at her, smiled, and said, “What was that for.”

“It was just because you’re you.”, Amy replied.

I grabbed her and kissed her back. Then I said, “And, that’s because you’re you.”

“So, how did telling your students about Los Alamos go?”

“It was okay. But, we ended up talking about how the university feels about the war. And I didn’t have an answer. I could only tell them about the agreement that the university has with Los Alamos. I also found out that at least one of my students lost an older brother to the war. And, that came out when I mentioned Max.”

“That must have been hard.”

“It was. For both of us.”

Then I told Amy about Dr. Joe and me being called into the Dean’s office and the discussion about confronting Armbruster. And, me bringing up the man and the woman in the dining room talking about me being offered a job at Los Alamos. And, how that brought up me calling Dr. Millman and tell him about it. Amy thought that what we’d come up with was the best option.

Then I told her about the new research project being delivered.

After dinner, I noticed that Amy had a lot of nervous energy. So, I asked, “Honey, what’s got you so wound up?”

“The seminar this weekend.”, she replied.

“Why? You were okay with it yesterday.”

“I know. Originally they had me scheduled for a small classroom. Last week they upgraded that to a small lecture hall like what you’re teaching in. And, that was fine. But, then this morning I learned that they upgraded it again to a large lecture hall. They have just over a hundred people registered for my session.”

“Wow!”

“Yeah, wow. I was hoping for twenty or maybe thirty people, and now … ”

“Honey, you are good at talking to people. You’ll be just fine.”

“I’m scared.”

“Easy. You’re going to be fine. Remember, when I got up in front of the clan that time at Window Rock.”

“Of course.”

“Think, I wasn’t scared.”

“You were?”

“Yes. But, I had one thing, actually two things going for me. My spirits. I’d dreamed about giving the speech, and my spirits were there with me as I gave it. And, then when I did give my speech, I felt them with me.”

“But, I only have one spirit.”

I took Amy’s hands in mine, and said, “One spirit or two. It doesn’t matter, you have a spirit. A strong spirit. She will be with you when you’re making your presentation and again when you are answering questions. You are going to be fine.”

We looked at each other, then Amy smiled, and said, “Kai, I love you so much.” Then she kissed me.

When I was able to, I said, “Your love for me is no greater than my love for you.”

After my classes on Thursday, as I told Dr. Joe that I’d do, I stopped by the student union, grabbed a cheeseburger and a Coke, and headed to Dr. Joe’s office. The light was off, so he wasn’t there, I used my key to open the door. I went into the office, closed and re-locked the door, and turned on the light. I set my food on the work table, and my briefcase on the floor. I retrieved the project binder from the fireproof file cabinet, took it to the work table, and spent the next four hours reading.

Just before four, I put everything back, double checked that the file cabinet was locked, turned off the light, and left closing and locking the door behind me. I walked over to the ER and got there just as Amy walked out. As we walked back to the apartment, Amy told me about her day. Was I going to tell her about my day? Why would I bore her telling her I spent the last four hours reading.

Friday was about the same as Thursday, except that Dr. Joe was in his office. So, while he read, I checked out the integrated circuits that Los Alamos had sent us. Four of the five integrated circuits were easy to find, and I read about them. With the fifth integrated circuit, I couldn’t find anything about it in the books in Dr. Joe’s library, so I asked, “Dr. Joe, how up to date are your books on integrated circuits?”

“I’m on the mailing lists for all new and updated technical data on them, so they should be the latest. Why?”

“There’s nothing on one of the ones that Los Alamos gave us anywhere in your books.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Try calling the manufacturer.”

I found the manufactures name, and then found them listed in one of Dr. Joe’s books. I called their technical support people and talked to them for a while. When I finished, and as I hung up the phone, I said, “That was interesting.”

“It sounded interesting.”, Dr. Joe said. “What did they have to say?”

“They’re sending us all the technical information on the integrated circuit by certified mail with restricted delivery.”

“Restricted delivery?”

“I had to specify who can sign for it.”

“And, that was who?”

“Either you or me.”

“Why such restrictions?”

“It turns out that that integrated circuit is special, and they were surprised that I even knew about it. And, I had to talk to someone special and explain who we were and what we were doing. Once I told them that we were at the University of New Mexico and doing research for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and they called Los Alamos to verify who we were and that we were doing research for them, then they
were fine with us getting the technical information. But, like with the information on the project, the information on the integrated circuit has to be kept locked up.”

“What is so special about that integrated circuit?”

“I don’t know, and won’t until we get the technical information on it.”

“How long?”

“How long. What?”

“How long until it gets here.”

“Seeing that it’s coming the way it is and if it goes out in today’s mail like they said it would, I’d guess it’ll be here either Monday or Tuesday.”

“Kai.”, Dr. Joe said. “I heard a little bit of anger in your voice when you told someone that you were not a secretary, but one of the researchers.”

“The jerk that I was talking to assumed that I was your secretary.”, I replied.

“Well, you are my secretary. Aren’t you, Kai?”

“In your dreams, Dr. Joe.”

“Kai, I think I’m going to call it a day.”, Dr. Joe said.

“Sounds like a good idea.”, I replied. “Amy is really nervous about this seminar tomorrow. They’ve moved her room twice to bigger rooms. And, she’s worried about being able to handle that many people.”

“Kai, like with you, I’ve heard her talk to groups of people, and like you, she comes across very well. She’ll do fine once she gets over the initial nervousness. Tomorrow you need to go with her to her seminar for moral support. Maybe even sit in the back of the room for a while, so she sees a friendly face.”

“Good thought, Dr. Joe.”

After we’d locked up everything, we walked out of the building, said see you on Monday to each other, and went our opposite directions. Dr. Joe to a faculty parking lot and me to the apartment.

When I walked into the apartment, Amy met me, threw her arms around me, and said, “I’m so glad to see you, godfather.”

“Huh?”, I said.

“Yeah. Godfather. Larry called a couple of hours ago, and Kelly gave birth to an eight pound four-ounce healthy baby boy at a little after Noon our time.”

“Really!?”

“Yes!”

“That’s so wonderful. So, how is Kelly doing?”

“Just great.”

“Have they chosen a name yet?”, I asked.

“Yes. Lawrence Randall Thomas.”, Amy replied.

“After Larry and his dad. And, not Kelly’s dad.”

“Yes. But, Kelly’s dad’s middle name is Thomas.”

“Oh. So, it’s Lawrence Randall Thomas Thomas?”, I asked.

“No, silly. It’s just Lawrence Randall Thomas.”, Amy said.

“As his godparents, we need to do something special for him.”

“Like a college trust fund?”

“Great minds. Something that others can also contribute to. I’ll call our financial advisor on Monday.”

“We’ve got to get a card too. And, they're going to call when Kelly and the baby are home from the hospital.

After I changed, we wandered over to Nunzio's Pizza. And, surprise, Dr. Joe and Mary were standing in line and must have just gotten there because they were at the end of the line. We joined them. Amy was so excited with the birth of Larry and Kelly’s baby that it was the first thing out of her mouth. Mary got excited too. And, Amy and Mary talked about babies as we waited in line.

We finally got the subject changed and had a nice dinner. I kept filling Amy’s glass with wine and drank very little myself. I was hoping that I could keep her mind off of tomorrow but getting her a little drunk.

After we’d said good night to Dr. Joe and Mary and we’re walking back to the apartment, Amy said, “I know you were trying to get me drunk. But I’m okay with tomorrow. I needed to talk with someone about it, and I went and found Vickie Etsitty. And we had a good talk about it. And, with what you did for me last night, I’ll be fine.

“But, could I ask you to do something for me?”

“Anything.”, I replied.

“Would you sit in the back of the hall and give me some moral support?”

I smiled as I said, “Dr. Joe said that it might be good for me to do something like that.”

“He did?”

“Yes. And, I was going to without telling you that I was.”

“I don’t know who is sweeter, you or Dr. Joe?”

“It better be me.”

“You know it is.

“Will you do one thing for me tonight?”

“I’ll do anything for you, love.”

“Sit and meditate with me.”

“I’ll be more than happy to.”

I took the Tree of Life rug down off the wall and spread it on the living room floor. This is the rug that my Aunt Ruth gave me. There are images on it that represent the four sacred mountains.

I helped Amy sit on one end of the rug, and I sat at the other. I reached out both of my hands, she placed her hands in mine, and we held hands. We sat there for a short time just looking at each other. Then I started a quiet chant, and Amy joined me. After the chant ended, we sat there for maybe ten minutes just holding hands.

We finally got up and re-hung the rug on the wall. And as we did, Amy said, “Kai, you are so special. You’ve made me feel good. And I know that everything tomorrow will be just fine.”

“Love.”, I said. “I have no doubt that it will because you are special in your own way.”