A Howard Watson Intrigue

Howard Watson here. Glad you could join me. Many of you have written and asked how I met my wife Carol. For those of you who have read The Gordian Knot this rendering might sound repetitive. My best friend and fellow FBI colleague John Mason and I were Army officers stationed in the same camp in Vietnam. Two years later by happenstance we found ourselves roommates in the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. After reporting to the Director of New Recruits, I was informed that all new trainees had been divided into teams. Before I could locate my partner's name on the list, a finger tapped me on the shoulder. It was John. Both of us had proven our ability to cope well with difficulties in Vietnam so there was nothing much to prove in the Academy. The last three weeks of our 16 weeks training was review, review, review. Although I was the younger man, I felt something that I just couldn't explain, it was like I had a brother in John and so I deemed myself his protector, tel...

I am Howard Watson.  Glad you can join me again. After my last post I received quite a few queries on how I met John Mason. For those of you who didn't read The Gordian Knot my best friend and colleague John Mason and I met in Vietnam. I remember it like it was yesterday. When I stepped off the transport plane in Vietnam a blast of hot air hit my face. The place felt like a furnace. The country was not at all like I thought it would be. Vietnam was beautiful, true, but it was not a paradise. The greenery was the greenest I'd ever seen - glistening, but somehow threatening. I remembered what really scared me was the strange smell in the air. I later found out that it was the stench of death. I had, six months prior, graduated from West Point Academy as a Second Lieutenant. After receiving my instructions and meeting other officers in the camp I arrived at the tent where I would be quartered for the next seven months. Inside were two other lieutenants unpacking their be...