Chapter 50: The General and the Sniper

“Grace, would you go back and wait with Catherine until I call you?” I asked while I scanned the sniper and then the area around him. I detected another person nearby, with a set of binoculars, but he did not have a rifle.

“What’s going on? Why do you want...?” Grace started to say. Then, “All right, Michael.”

I was too busy scanning to reply, and she must have sensed this, for she said nothing else as she went back in the Lodge.

They were both dressed in camouflage, and the sniper was lying prone, with a very long rifle in front of him. The rifle was mounted on a bi-pod, and had a big scope attached to the top. He was looking through the scope, and had become slightly excited when he spotted Grace and me leaving the Lodge. His position gave him a good shot at us all the way to the Dining Hall.

I found it odd that there were no negative emotions. Neither anger nor agitation about seeing us. Nor was there any real seriousness about what he was doing. He was listening to the other person with him drone on about last night’s trip to town. I also learned that the rifle’s safety was on, and the sniper had made no move to change that.

Sensing no immediate danger, I headed on towards the Dining Hall, scanning as I went.

Sandy, along with her mom and dad and Anna were waiting. There were a few other early diners, but no hostile feeling. I noted Penny was out on the rear balcony, alone. One more scan and everything looked okay.

“Grace, it’s clear if you want to join me.” I thought to her. She was running from the Lodge before I finished the thought.

I waited until she was on the porch and hugging me. “Thank you for not questioning me back there. Do you want to see?” I asked her.

She just nodded, as she caught her breath. So I replayed it for her. She just looked puzzled. “A test? What kind of test?” she asked.

“Why don’t we go see?” I said as we walked into the Dining Hall.

It was early for lunch, but there were a handful of people already there. I spotted Sandy, her mom and new dad, along with her new sister, Anna, all seated at a table in the back of the dining room. They did not have trays in front of them, so we headed that way without going through the serving line.

Sandy saw me and smiled. My heart went out to her. I knew she had been on an emotional roller coaster the last two days. First, the episode with me on the beach, then the revelation in her dreams, and then finding out her dad wasn’t really her dad. Then she discovered that her real dad was her uncle and her cousin was also her half-sister.

“Damn! That sounds like a David Jacobs* creation!” I thought.

The General stood as we approached, but since he didn’t offer to shake hands, I kept mine at my side. Instead, I held a chair for Grace and then turning to Sandy, I kissed her on the cheek.

“Good morning, beautiful!” I said to her. Then “Good morning, Jaye. Norm.”

I could feel him bristle at a teenager calling him by his first name.

I walked around Grace’s chair to Anna, kissing her on the cheek as I thought to her, “Please stay cool, darling, your daddy’s not gonna like this!”

She cringed a little as she tried to smile.

I returned to my chair, sat down, and looked straight at the General.

There are times when I refrain from using my gift, because it’s better to have someone voice what they are feeling. It seems to help us as humans to get it out.

Then there are other times. Like now.

I didn’t really care if Norm felt good or bad when I left. He only needed to be educated. So without preamble, since he chose to be rude, I let loose.

“Since you are going to be the grandfather of my first-born child, I’ll keep this between us for now. First, tell Anna you owe her a hundred bucks.”

He studied me for a moment. I had tied Grace into my thoughts and could tell she was fascinated by the General’s thought process.

“Anna, it seems I owe you a hundred dollars. You were right, he spotted the snipers,” the General said flatly.

“For the record, I understand your motives, but I didn’t appreciate you testing me by putting someone I love in danger,” I told him.

“Noted, but irrelevant,” the General replied.

Dropping my voice to barely above a whisper, I asked “Irrelevant to whom?”

“What you appreciate or do not appreciate is irrelevant to me, young man,” he said.

“Daddy! Don’t!” Anna said quickly.

“You stay out of this! This is between him and me,” the General growled.

“What? You wanna step outside and settle this man to man?” I laughed sarcastically.

“You don’t know who you’re messing with now, son. First, you fuck up my daughter’s life, now you want to screw around with my other daughter. Well I’ve got news for you!”

I didn’t rise to his bait. I just remained seated, smiling at him. I turned for a quick wink at Sandy, who face was ashen, then turned back to the General.

“Why you little snot nosed pencil dick! You see that man over there?” The General snarled.

I didn’t bother to look. I had spotted him when I came in. Instead, I just kept smiling at the General.

“All I have to do is nod my head and your grandmother is dead!”

That was it! I was afraid my temper would make me do something I’d later regret if it went any further, so I decided to end this little charade now! I connected to the man at the other table, and he dropped to the floor. Paralyzed, much as I had Dawn, last Sunday.

For the first time, the General hesitated, a look of surprise on his face.

“What ... what did you do to him?” he asked.

I now repeated the same process on the General and he slumped over to his side, falling out of his chair with a thud.

“Daddy!” Screamed Anna.

“Manny!” Jaye screamed at the same time.

“Don’t you EVER threaten one of my family again, you pig!” I thought evilly to him, making sure everyone around the table heard my thoughts. “Even if it is a test. You do that again and you’ll stay like this forever!”

I counted to ten slowly to allow my temper to cool, and then released my hold on his primary motor cortex.

Jaye and Anna helped Norm back to his chair. I turned and looked at Sandy, and she flashed me a worried smile. She was more upset that her uncle/father and I were fighting, than the fact that I had paralyzed him briefly. She had already made up her mind about me, and just didn’t want to have to deal with any conflict over it.

I’ll say this. The General is one tough old bastard. He sat there rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, and a wry grin on his face.

“Anna didn’t say anything about you being able to do that!” he chortled.

“As I’ve reminded her many times; she’s over thirty and getting senile.” I said.

The General laughed.

“I’ll ‘over-thirty’ you, buster!” Anna thought to me with a faux scowl.

Jaye and Sandy were confused.

“Manny, what’s going on here?” Jaye asked him directly.

“Michael was right. This was a test. And he was also right; it got a little out of hand,” the General told them.

Then to me he said, “I’m sorry about bringing your grandmother into this. That was hitting below the belt. But I needed to know how well you could handle yourself. By-the-way, could you let the Sergeant up now?”

I did so immediately. In all the excitement, I had forgotten him.

“Sandy? Would you be a dear and help him up and see if he needs anything?” I asked her.

Grace rose with Sandy and went to the downed soldier, who was moving his limbs experimentally.

The General asked, “What did you do to us?”

I just shook my head. I wasn’t prepared to divulge any more information to the CIA just yet.

“Okay. I can respect that. You handled yourself well, Michael. We’re going to have to talk some more about what your limitations are though, if we’re going to work together.”

“Manny? Work together? I thought we were here to talk about Sandy?” Jaye asked.

“Oh. We will. In just a minute. But I told Anna that in order to keep Michael’s gift a secret, I’d need to see it firsthand,” he said. “I just didn’t realize I’d experience it quite this way!”

“We’re sorry to have made you angry, Michael, but when you leave the confines of the ranch next week, you will be just like you described that other girl, Vickie. A walking time-bomb,” Anna said.

“And we’ve got to find a way to protect you without exposing you any more than necessary. That’s why the little test. I wanted to know for myself what we’re up against,” the General added.

“Sorry about the paralyzing stuff, sir,” I said politely. “I’m afraid I overreacted a little when you threatened Catherine.”

“That’s understandable. Like I said, it was hitting below the belt,” Norm apologized again.

“When did you figure it out?” he asked. I knew he was referring to the test.

“Some of it when I first sensed the sniper. The rest when I got to the Dining Hall. But I couldn’t find your reason, or predict an outcome because you were not really emotional about it and didn’t have a conclusion in mind.”