VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [14]
“Yes, he is that,” said Amy. “Murphy has managed our Oakton plant for many years. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was trying to run interference for one of our best customers, and I got no cooperation from him. He told me, no, he would not expedite, I guess because it would screw up his schedule. I mean, he was polite, but he just flat out told me, no. He said, and I quote, ‘Y’all got too dang many cooks a-messin’ with the soup.’”
Peter blinked his eyes several times in confusion.
“He talks like that,” said Amy. “Especially when he’s excited.”
“But what did he mean?” asked Nigel.
“I have no idea. He seems to know what he’s doing, but how and why he does things is anybody’s guess. What I do know is that last night I had one of our most important customers on the phone yelling at me, threatening to pull a contract because our delay is causing some serious issues–”
“This customer you spoke to last night,” Peter interrupted, “didn’t happen to be an admiral in the United States Navy, did he?”
Amy felt a chill wash over her.
“Yes. Admiral Jones, as a matter of fact.”
“Admiral Jones was put through to me late last evening at my home,” said Peter.
“I am deeply sorry, Mr. Winn. I truly did the best I could,” said Amy. “Sir, I spoke with the Admiral for over an hour–”
Peter raised his hand for her to say no more.
“And apparently you said the right things,” said Peter. “Because the Admiral told me that in the end he regretted raising his voice to you, as he put it, and he praised you highly for both your can-do spirit and your common sense.”
Amy breathed in relief.
“But that does not get you or us off the hook, Amy. There is a certain series of parts called, I believe, the V-Range Series?”
“Yes, sir, and I am told that some of these parts are very time-consuming to manufacture.”
“Whatever the difficulty factor, Admiral Jones told me that their short supply was affecting the combat readiness of certain Navy and Marine aircraft. This is, to the military, a very serious matter.”
“Yes, and with all due respect, it would seem that the matter should be taken seriously by all of us. We never know what may happen tomorrow. What state of the world we may wake up to.”
Peter Winn scrutinized Amy’s face. She was not posturing; she was sincere.
“In any case, the Admiral was extremely serious. He said that if the situation was not rectified quickly – and I could not pin him down on what exactly he meant by ‘quickly’ – that not only could the contract be rescinded, but there could be a congressional investigation.”
Amy tried to swallow, and found her mouth was so dry, she coughed nervously instead.
“Now, I think – at least I hope – that the Admiral was bluffing with respect to the congressional investigation,” said Peter. “But he did get my attention, I have to admit. This thing has to be turned around.”
“Mr. Winn, as I think I said earlier, anything that I can do from a sales or marketing perspective–”
“Let us cut to the chase, Amy,” said Nigel, as if taking a cue. “As you know, Randal Tourandos has departed for what he perceives to be greener pastures. Frankly, we are quite upset that he has decided to go. He made a great start and seemed to have matters well in hand. But he left us in a bit of a lurch, especially given the rather surprising mess he seems to have left behind. Not at all what we would have expected from Randal. In any event, we have a talent search for a replacement in progress. But that could take some time, and clearly we need someone to step in now and get things under control.”
“Come on, Nigel, we want someone to do more than just put the current fires out,” said Peter, saying it with a sense of sparks flying from his jaws. “We want to get from Hi-T the results that would justify our paying the premium for them!”
“Yes, exactly!” said Nigel. “But for now … Amy, I have spoken personally to a number people, including a number of customers – indeed, I too have fielded a few calls from the influential among Hi-T’s customer base – and the one common thread is that your name keeps coming up