Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring

by Earley, Pete

  “We never even kissed good night when he brought me home,” she told a friend afterward. There was only one man whom Rachel was close to as a child. Her father, a veteran Navy officer, showered her with attention and affection, but was away much of the time.

  After high school, Rachel enrolled at Old Dominion University, where she took a full schedule of science courses. She also worked at a Hallmark card shop to help pay her tuition. During her first semester, Rachel had a 3.7 grade point average, but she had paid a price. Her weight had dropped from its normal 128 pounds to eighty pounds. She was fatigued, lonely, and depressed.

  During her second semester Rachel fell in love with a sailor eight years her senior. His name was David and he treated her as if she were the “most beautiful person in the world.” In truth, Rachel had blossomed into a beauty, but she didn’t realize it. Then, after a whirlwind romance, Rachel discovered that David was seeing other women. She was crushed and vowed not to be so trusting of men.

  When she pulled up to John’s houseboat on Father’s Day, Rachel made up her mind: if John was there without P.K., she would turn around and leave immediately. She was walking toward the boat when John appeared with P.K. at his side.

  “You’ve got to meet Michael,” John said. “C’mon.”

  Michael was already on the boat. When he saw her, he was tongue-tied.

  “I could barely talk,” recalled Michael. “I thought, ‘Oh shit! My dad’s hit the jackpot for once!’ “

  Rachel and Michael sat on the deck as John steered the houseboat out into the bay. Both were uncomfortable, not knowing what to say to each other. Then Rachel asked Michael the name of the high school he had attended.

  “You’ve never heard of it,” he replied. “It’s a small private school.”

  “Try me,” responded Rachel. “I’ve lived here all my life.”

  “Ryan,” answered Michael.

  “You got to be kidding,” beamed Rachel, “My stepsister goes there. Do you know ...” For the next hour, the two compared notes.

  Rachel couldn’t stand Michael’s best friend, but she approved of some of his other pals. By the time the foursome returned to the pier, Rachel was no longer in a hurry to go home. John fixed lasagna for dinner and at a quarter to ten, P.K. announced she was going to bed.

  “You know, John, you don’t get any if you’re not in bed by ten,” P.K. proclaimed.

  John jumped to his feet like a schoolboy. “Good seeing you Rachel. Glad you could make it out today,” he said, racing upstairs.

  Michael and Rachel both laughed. A few minutes later, Michael began getting romantic with Rachel. She didn’t mind a few kisses, but when he made it clear that he was interested in more, she stopped him.

  “I’m a biology major,” Rachel said, “and I know you are probably getting uncomfortable. I don’t want you to have any problems getting to sleep tonight, so I’m going to leave now.”

  Michael couldn’t believe it. She was serious. She got up and left.

  When Rachel got home that night, she woke up her stepsister. “Tell me everything you know about Michael Walker,” Rachel demanded. “He’s such a nice guy!”

  The next night, Michael stopped at The Lone Pine to say hello. When Rachel left work that night, there was a note under the wiper on her car. “Let’s go to the beach tomorrow. Please!!!! Love, Michael.” Rachel put the note in her purse, and when she got home she tucked it into a scrapbook. She was confident that Michael Walker was going to be someone special.

  Michael had a single rose with him when he arrived in the morning to take Rachel to the beach. He had bought it from a street vendor at the corner. From that day on, Michael always brought Rachel a rose when they had a date.

  Michael and Rachel drove to the beach and tossed a Frisbee around. Later that night, he stopped at The Lone Pine and left another note on her car. They went to the beach each morning that week, and Michael stopped by every night when Rachel was at work.

  On Saturday, Rachel invited Michael to go scuba diving and that night, Michael once again attempted to have sex with Rachel. As soon as he tried to slip his hand up into the top of her bikini, she stopped him. Michael got angry this time and the next day, he didn’t call Rachel or stop by The Lone Pine. She telephoned him the next morning.

  “What’s the problem?” she asked.

  “What’s your problem?” Michael responded.

  Rachel didn’t understand, so Michael spelled it out. “This isn’t my style,” he said, “to go out and just play around. I want to get serious.” They talked for nearly an hour, and Rachel agreed to go with Michael on the Fourth of July to Cape Hatteras, even though it meant lying to her father about the overnight trip. The combination of the beach, sunset, fireworks, campfire, and Michael proved to be too much for Rachel to resist. They made love that night in the back of Michael’s truck under a sky filled with fireworks. Afterward, Rachel told Michael about David and how much she had loved him and how he had hurt her.

  “You aren’t going to do that to me, are you?” she asked. “You’re different, aren’t you?”

  Michael assured her that he was.

  After that weekend, Michael and Rachel were together constantly. Rachel desperately wanted Michael to love her, and she was willing to do just about anything to please him. When they went to a nightclub favored by punk rockers, Michael paraded Rachel through the crowd.

  “Rachel, everyone thinks you are one hot chick,” he told her proudly.

  They found a table and ordered a pitcher of beer. The waitress asked if they wanted glasses, and Michael quickly said no. Rachel didn’t understand, but when the pitcher arrived, Michael took a big drink from it and passed it to her. “This is how we do it here.”

  Rachel loved it!

  When her college classes started, Rachel had a difficult time studying, and her grades began to fall. One night, after she got off work, Michael told her that he had something serious to tell her. They parked near the beach.

  “Rachel, I’m going into the Navy. I have to report in December.”

  “How long have you known?” she asked.

  “Since March.”

  “That’s before we started dating!” Rachel said, starting to cry. “Why didn’t you tell me? Have you just been taking me for a ride? Is this some little game you were playing? Get a good screw or two in before you get sent off?”

  “No, it’s not like that, I love you,” he said. “You’ve got to believe me. I love you more than anything.”

  Michael had bought Rachel a scuba-diving air regulator on her birthday. It was the most expensive present she had ever received. When his birthday arrived, Rachel gave Michael an expensive diver’s watch. It was much more than she could afford, but she had gotten a line of credit from the jewelers and planned to pay it off each month.

  “The watch was just a token,” she said, handing him a card. “Here’s my real present.”

  Michael didn’t pay much attention to what it said on the outside. It was the note that Rachel had scribbled inside that mattered.

  Your birthday present is ME! No matter where you are sent in the Navy, I will go with you. I love you and will stand by you.

  They hugged and that night Michael told Rachel that if he could find a way out of his obligation to the Navy, he would. He planned to talk to his dad about it. Surely an old seadog like John would know a way.

  After Rachel left that night, Michael told John that he’d made a mistake by enlisting. John listened intently and then went to work. He told Michael that going to boot camp would be good for him and Rachel. They could have some time apart to put their relationship in perspective. If Michael really loved Rachel, then joining the Navy was exactly what he should do. After all, it was a job and Michael would need a job if he wanted to marry Rachel someday. They spoke a long time and when John finished, Michael was confident that his father was correct. The next day, Rachel noticed a change in John. From that day on, he was never very friendly toward her.

 
The night before Michael left for boot camp, Rachel spent the night with him at John’s house. She couldn’t sleep, so she got up and went downstairs. Michael found her sitting in a chair, crying softly. Michael had promised her that he would find a way out, but he hadn’t. He began repeating all the reasons that John had cited to him. But in those early morning hours, those reasons didn’t make as much sense to Michael as they had before.

  He suddenly found himself repeating to Rachel, again and again: “I don’t want to let my dad down. I can’t let my dad down.”

  Chapter 49

  In September 1982, John flew to California to deliver $60,000 to Jerry from the Russians. He also needed to pick up whatever film Jerry had. Jerry’s performance at Stockton had been highly praised by his Navy superiors. He had not done as well, however, as a spy. He had photographed only a few keylists for John, and it was dear that his enthusiasm for copying documents had waned.

  “All Jerry talked about during my visit was how he wasn’t being paid enough and how the risk just wasn’t worth the money,” John recalled. “My suspicions were confirmed. Jerry was going weak on me once again. He was getting scared, and I sensed that he was pulling back.”

  John reminded Jerry of the danger, but this time Jerry didn’t seem afraid. So John switched tactics and talked about the $1 million payment.

  “Jerry, imagine going back to Muldrow and telling your relatives you earned one hundred thousand a year just by playing the stock market,” John said. “Jesus, they’d be impressed. Not to mention the things you could buy for Brenda.”

  “Jerry vacillated,” John told me. “One minute, he’d be complaining about the money and hinting that he wanted out. A minute later, he’d be figuring out some new way to photograph documents. It was crazy.”

  When Jerry’s tour ended, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise, an aircraft carrier that had just left on an extended eight-month cruise. Jerry was scheduled to fly to Subic Bay in the Philippines on October 11 to join it as a technical control chief. As such, Jerry would have access to cipher systems for the KW-7, KG-14, KG-36, KWR-37, and KY-57, as well as hundreds of operational plans, orders, and other messages.

  “This is really great news,” John exulted. “This can be a real gold mine. I’m sure we can get them to go along with the million-dollar deal! Just be certain to take along plenty of film.”

  Jerry took John seriously. He drove to the Pacific Camera Shop in San Francisco and bought a new Minox and the store’s complete stock of film – twenty rolls.

  When Jerry arrived aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, he discovered the carrier was going to participate in several unusual war games, including an exercise four hundred miles off the Soviet coast with two other aircraft carriers. It was the first three-carrier exercise ever planned in the Pacific, and the Pentagon was anxious to see how the Russians would react to more than thirty warships appearing off their shore. The U.S.S. Enterprise’s presence had already been noted by the Soviet Union.

  On September 23, while Jerry was buying his camera and film, the carrier was “the subject of extensive Soviet air, surface, and subsurface surveillance,” according to the carrier’s manifest. “Of note was the unprecedented Soviet use of backfire aircraft on 30 September and 2 October to reconnoiter the Enterprise battle group,” the book noted.

  Obviously, the KGB was going to be interested in learning everything it could about the Enterprise’s mission and the upcoming three aircraft carrier war exercise. John had been correct. There was a lot of money to be made by Jerry – if he had the guts to go through with it.

  Laura Walker was still having a difficult time during the winter of 1982. She had lost her job, and her car had been repossessed. She hadn’t heard from Mark Snyder about Christopher, and she had broken up with her boyfriend. She was broke, so as always she called John. All she needed was a few hundred bucks to get back on her feet, she explained.

  John was surprised to hear her voice. They hadn’t spoken since he criticized her for breaking their “blood oath of silence” by telling Mark about the spying.

  John didn’t make it easy for his daughter to ask for a loan. “What about our deal?” he asked.

  “What deal?”

  “C’mon, Laura,” John said. “Don’t be a cunt. You promised to help me by going back into the Army. Do you want to do it or not?”

  Laura dodged the question, but this time, John knew better than to give Laura cash without some proof that she was going to help him. No money unless she reenlisted.

  “I don’t know if I can reenlist,” she said.

  John began castigating her: Why not? The Army was the only real job she had ever held! Now that she wasn’t stuck with her son, she didn’t have any more excuses.

  Laura lashed back. If John really cared about her and her son, he’d help her get Christopher back.

  “You’re a private eye. You’ve got an airplane. All you’d have to do is fly to Maryland and grab him for me,” she said. “You do it all the time for people who hire you.”

  “No way,” John said.

  Like two snarling alley cats, father and daughter slashed at each other. Finally, Laura told John that she had never intended to spy. She was simply leading him on for the money.

  “I don’t see why I should get into espionage just to make you rich!” she snapped.

  “Fuck you, Laura!” John told his daughter. He slammed down the telephone receiver.

  Just before Christmas, Laura received an envelope in the mail with John’s return address in the corner. She thought John might have changed his mind and mailed her a check. But there was no cash inside.

  “He sent me a bill, itemized, and typed out,” Laura told me later. John listed every dollar of money that he had spent on Laura since her high school graduation: the costs of the clothes that he had bought her, the spy money he had paid her, the $500 that he had put down for the now repossessed Mazda.

  The total was more than $3,000 and at the bottom of the typed statement, John had written a message: “This is what you OWE me and I expect to be paid!”

  Laura tore the paper into pieces and responded with a letter of her own. “You have some nerve, you adulterous pig,” she wrote.

  “I used foul language,” Laura said later, “and wrote about the things that he had done to my mother.”

  At that instant, it was as if all the years that had passed didn’t matter. Once again, Laura felt like the teenage runaway John had beaten with his belt. She hated him.

  John telephoned Laura a week later. “I got your letter,” he said. “I’m glad to see that you got things off your chest.”

  He wasn’t angry. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

  “I hope you’re still thinking about my offer,” he said. “We could really make some good money together.”

  Michael did exceptionally well during his indoctrination at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, but the knowledge that he gained wasn’t quite what the Navy intended.

  “The Navy is just like everything else in life,” Michael told me. “You have to play by their rules. But once you learn the rules, you can move around them. After the first week in boot camp, I was making money – lots of it.”

  When a new class of recruits arrived each week, Michael was eager to make life easier for them – for a price. “I’d say, ‘Hey man, you want to learn how to iron your clothes the proper way so you can pass inspection? Okay, that’ll be five bucks.’ ”

  New recruits were not allowed to shop at the military store or leave the training center. “If anyone needed cigarettes, Playboy, or even stamps, they knew who to come to: me,” Michael recalled proudly. “I was Mr. Fix-it.”

  Each chance he got, Michael telephoned Rachel. He always called collect, but her father was happy to pay the tab. Her father also agreed to buy an airline ticket so Rachel could fly to Chicago for Michael’s graduation.

  Barbara Walker wanted to attend too, but she didn’t have enough money. She could have called John for the
cash, but instead she telephoned Rita and borrowed $200. Rita knew Barbara was good for it. “When they lived in Norfolk, she used to borrow money when her kids ran away from home. We’d let her use our American Express card and then she’d pay the bill.”

  At that point in her life, Barbara was doing everything that she could to avoid John.

  Barbara and Rachel were supposed to meet when they both arrived in Chicago at O’Hare Airport, but they couldn’t find each other, and when they finally got together, Rachel was in tears. “She had made arrangements in Norfolk to rent a car, but the company had screwed things up,” Barbara Walker recalled.

  Barbara rented one and drove while Rachel gave directions. Within minutes, they were lost. When it became dear that neither Barbara nor Rachel knew where they were going, Barbara pulled into a gas station and told Rachel to ask the attendant for directions. As she stepped from the car, Rachel slipped in the snow and fell down. She had spent her entire week’s paycheck on a long-sleeved silk dress with matching shoes, and she had her long hair styled fashionably atop her head.

  A few seconds later, Barbara and Rachel were following one of the attendants, who had offered to lead them in his car to their hotel.

  “I don’t know what that guy saw when I fell,” Rachel told Barbara, “but he sure volunteered fast to take us where we are going.”

  Barbara and Rachel giggled like best friends. While Rachel put on fresh makeup in her room at the Holiday Inn, Barbara opened her suitcase and removed a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red scotch. They hurried to Michael’s graduation after Barbara had several drinks. It seemed to take forever, and when it finally ended, Michael threw his arms around his mother first and then hugged and kissed Rachel. The three of them went to dinner with one of Michael’s boot camp buddies and his girlfriend.