Chapter 25

Jackie spent a lot of time looking at her hands ... sometimes in terror ... sometimes in awe. And sometimes she would point at inanimate objects and sorta ‘pull the trigger.’ Like kids sometimes do ... one or two fingers extended like aiming an imaginary gun. The thumb ‘cocks’ and falls like a hammer...”Bang ... you’re dead.”

“Am not...”

“Are too.”

“Ya missed me.”

“Did not!”

Every so often the situation gets out of hand and mothers want to know just how junior got a black eye. Dads generally side with the kid but mothers don’t think it’s one little bit funny. Sure it’s play acting ... but it makes mom squeamish. In the city it could escalate into a ‘driveby.”

Jackie KNEW it worked.

Alice thought Jackie’s hands were wonderful. Jackie had no idea HOW it worked.

But! when Jackie pointed at something ... it never worked. No trees died in splinters and no scampering squirrels fell from the branches. No pigeons fell from the sky. That didn’t stop Jackie though. She ‘practiced’ regularly.

‘Someday it’ll work.’ She was sure.

The flatnosed Dodge was a treasure-trove of information. Actual order sheets for size age and color from people in North Africa. A couple of order sheets specified ... by name ... the two girls in the van and there was one for April. They weren’t all from New York ... the rest of the country had at least two per state.

How they were getting out of country ... how much for attempting and a scale for success. One hundred thousand for specific targets and a descending scale for over and under subjects. Buyers names and delivery dates ... the name of the ship and the sailing date. It was all in code but computers had the specifics in nothing flat. The ship had already cleared port but was still in territorial waters.

The Coast Guard had a field day ... and got ALL the credit for rescuing 100 teens from sexual slavery ... and confiscation of a billion dollar NEW tanker.