A New World
Copyright© 2026 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 11: Shooting Range
On the way to Quantico Marine Base
Virginia, USA
Thursday, May 20, 1999
The bus and the Suburbans were crossing over the Potomac River. Bruce Maclaren was taking Claire and the extended Maclaren family to the FBI shooting range at the Quantico Marine Base.
“So your girls will be working with Claire for the rifle. What are your thoughts on training Claire to use the pistol?”
Will smiled. “They’ll help her with rifle, pistol, and shotgun. They’ve been working with Alyca on all three. Alyca has a part-time job as the assistant range master for the Lothian and Borders Police. It was easier and cheaper than building her own range. She did upgrade the range with the pop-up target system she designed. The 96 Olympics and this winter’s biathlon allowed her to try out her gun and ski designs that TDI is manufacturing for her. They’re also manufacturing the pop-up target system.”
“She competed in the Olympics and the Biathlon to test out her products?” The idea didn’t feel right for what he knew of the family.
“No, she never does anything for a single reason. She’s planning to explore the other worlds and colonize with us, but that’s all we know.” Will responded.
“She’s keeping a secret from the family?”
“Yes, in most ways we’re just like any family. I would say that our biggest difference is our closeness and willingness to help each other and also others.”
“I would’ve thought it was the abilities that your family has.”
“I feel that the abilities are a gift that allows us to do more to help others. Alice spoke of the need for another world and that there our abilities would be tested.
“Why are you interested in living on another world?” Bruce asked.
“Not just one world. With the windows, we can have a home across multiple worlds. Say you have a house with a large yard in another world. You could cross over to this world and walk to work. The big change won’t be so much that we have other worlds available to man but that they are adjacent to this world and we can move easily among them. We have global warming, ice ages, meteor strikes, earthquakes, and major volcanic eruptions among the things that could cause serious impact to man as long as we live only on a single world. With multiple worlds adjacent to each other, they would be disruptions but wouldn’t destroy man or even our civilization. There are many possibilities we can’t even guess at what man may do with what we will soon have. Don’t forget that the AJ Power Generator offers virtually free power. We wanted to be the first there, but knew from the beginning that we couldn’t and shouldn’t try to keep it to ourselves. We took the first step in the direction that we want things to go but knew that we won’t be able to control the direction of progress. With Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States being the first countries to go to the new worlds, we know that we will start out there with representative government. Again it’s a starting direction but it may not be the direction we actually end up going.”
“That’s a lot to think about. I’m glad that you will be here to give advice.” Bruce stated.
“I’ll have to leave in about a week. I’m needed back home. The Reynolds and the Smiths will be in Texas. They can answer most questions. There’ll be a good working relation between the three countries so it won’t really matter where we are if questions come up.” Will stated.
Their talk shifted to guns and target shooting for the remainder of the bus ride.
Firearms Training area of the FBI Academy
Marine Corps Base Quantico
Quantico, Virginia, US
Thursday May 20, 1999
The convoy that the Secret Service had used to transport them drove directly to the Firearms Training area. Claire was riding in the second vehicle with Robert, his mother, and sisters. Robert was the first to alight from the vehicle. After he did, he did a quick check of the area and offered his hand to Claire as she exited. They walked towards the bus where Bruce was organizing things. Leslie, Mary, and Brenda were chuckling as they exited. Mary offered her hand to her mother, and they broke into laughter. Robert and Claire seemed oblivious to what was going on behind them, but Robert blushed when he realized his family was enjoying seeing all the attention that he and Claire were giving to each other. Claire caught this understanding from Robert and started to blush. Her sense of the three women continued to grow. She realized that the closeness that she felt to Robert also extended to a lesser degree to his family.
Eric and Jerome exited the bus and headed over towards them. Eric grabbed Robert’s hand as Jerome grabbed hers. Their brother Jason escorted their great-grandmother Edna over to where they waited. Claire realized that the three boys were a group with a bond similar to the one that existed between her and Robert. Mary and Brenda also formed a group. The groups weren’t an exclusion of others but a strong, tight closeness. She realized that she, Tommy, and their parents formed another group. They had always had a weak awareness of each other, but in the past day, she had noticed that it had grown. It wasn’t as much as the awareness between her and Robert, but it had grown. She noticed that Rob and Kim, the boys’ parents, were also a group; no, Robert had called what they were Life-Mates. Robert’s parents were also Life-Mates. The baby, Alice, seems closely attached to all of them but most strongly to Kim, her mother, Jess, her grandfather, and Edna, her great-grandmother. It was almost as if there were two sets of attachments.
Claire’s thoughts were interrupted when Agent Bruce Maclaren asked for their attention. He introduced them to Rich Lee, the range master for the FBI shooting range. Rich introduced his assistant range masters. Bruce beckoned Claire forward and introduced her to the FBI personnel. The assistant range masters were a little surprised to see her there. She introduced Robert to them. Claire saw them sizing Robert up. She could tell that what they saw was very positive. She felt happy at their response. She had sensed Robert appraising them, not as competition but as to whether they were someone that he could trust at his back. She realized that was something that she had noticed about Robert’s immediate family. They evaluated the situation and the people as to possible dangers and as to adversary or ally. After her kidnapping, she found that attitude reassuring and one that she looked to copy. Robert’s father, Will, was introduced. She was surprised at the respect she sensed in several of the FBI men. Rich Lee called Will Sir William. He related how he and the members of his Green Beret unit had discussed his saving of the islanders during the Falkland War. She realized that yesterday wasn’t the first time that Sir William Maclaren had led an effort to save someone.
Bruce divided them into groups. Claire found herself grouped with Robert, Mary, and Brenda. Unlike the other groups, their group had no assistant range master. The other groups entered the shooting range. Claire realized that the three young boys, their great-grandmother Edna, and their grandmother Beth hadn’t joined any of the groups but stood watching them. Bruce, Will, and Rich Lee walked over to their group. Brenda and Mary were introduced to Rich.
“My daughters have been training with their cousin Alyca Maclaren. Besides the rifle, Alyca is an expert with a pistol and shotgun. Monday, Brenda and Mary surprised me with how they had progressed. There are some things that they learned from Alyca that they would be able to pass on to their brother and Claire. I would like to have them do the training for Claire and Robert.”
Rich smiled. “I was going to ask if Alyca was related to you. I saw her shoot in the 96 Olympics in Atlanta. I was impressed with her shooting. This past winter, I followed her in the biathlon when she won the championship. I have wondered why I haven’t seen her competing more.”
Mary answered, “Shooting is just one of Alyca’s activities. She has doctorates in mechanical and electrical engineering. Her rifles and skis are her design.”
Rich was surprised at the breadth of Alyca’s accomplishment. He planned to bring the subject up with Will once he had this training set up. “How does her skill with a pistol and shotgun compare to her rifle skill?”
Mary continued to answer, “Shotgun is a little worse. She is best with a pistol, especially two-gunning pop-up targets.
Neither my sister nor I are as good with any of them. We are also best with the pistol. That is probably because of what Alyca has taught us. We are above the level of the police that we had shot with, even the local range master. There were Olympic shooters that came by to work with Alyca. Most of them were better with their chosen weapon, but we were better all around. This year, Alyca easily beat all of them.”
“Well, I look forward to seeing the three of you shoot in Sydney next year.” Rich said with a smile.
“Oh, none of us are planning to compete.” Brenda stated.
Rich was surprised, but Will cut off the Olympic discussion before it slipped into what they planned to be doing. “They have skills in shooting but not in training. I would like you to monitor what they are doing and give them some guidance when necessary.”
“Dad, we have been training. Mostly the police, but a couple of times Alyca was busy, so we helped some of the Olympic shooters.” Mary interjected.
Rich smiled at Will. “I guess I will monitor anyway and see what I can learn.”
Bruce agreed. “I think I will too.”
Robert and Mary picked up the gun cases, and they moved to their assigned location. The two spots were the last two available. Most of the range was in use by law enforcement officers. There were FBI agents in their blue FBI jackets but also a large number of uniformed and plain-clothed officers. The new shooters included a good number of women. Their youth and the even younger boys following them drew attention.
Soon, Claire was recognized, and the interest grew. Bruce walked over to the group next to them. Even with her attention on the pistol that Brenda was showing her, Claire could hear her name and the Maclarens mentioned. Bruce walked back and pulled a pistol and shoulder holster from the case that he had been carrying.
“Claire, your father wanted you to use this pistol.” He removed the magazine and checked for a round in the chamber. He then handed the pistol to Claire.
Claire was surprised by the feel and weight of the gun. She realized that it was plastic.
Bruce had watched her as she discovered the nature of the gun. “Yes, it is plastic. It’ll go undetected in a metal detector. Everyone will know that the agents around you are armed. Your father decided that it would give you an edge not to have it known that you were carrying. I don’t know if it’ll last long. We forgot that there would be a lot of people here. I asked the FBI agents next to us to talk to the people here. After yesterday, they’ll realize that you may have more trouble coming your way and that having surprise on your side may help both you and those protecting you. The fact that you are here learning how to use a gun will be a big point in your favor since most officers believe in civilians being trained to protect themselves. We all have relatives that are civilians.”
Brenda helped her put on the shoulder holster. She and Bruce discussed the gun as Claire listened. Not all of her attention was on the conversation. Claire was surprised at how different her training would be from what she had expected. She had expected that she would be stuck with some old guy who had been training beginners for the last thirty years. Instead, Robert’s sisters would be training them. They were Olympic-quality shooters and had actually trained some Olympic shooters. She could sense that they weren’t going to be easy on her and especially not on their little brother. Something about wanting to find out what he had learned. She also sensed that part of what they were going to be teaching wasn’t something that she could learn from the other trainers.
She noticed that the three boys had been following every word that was said and possibly some that weren’t said. She turned and smiled at them. Jason nodded his head in agreement. She frowned. Would they be able to follow all her thoughts? She glanced at Robert. Contact with Jason cut off, followed by contact with his brothers. She looked at them. Contact with Jason cut on and then off. She understood how he had done it. Interesting. I can tell that the boys are still in contact even when I’m not in contact with them. Therefore, you can be in contact with some people while being out of contact with others. The boys dropped their shield. She selectively tried cutting off Jerome. He smiled. Jason nodded. She individually then had cut off each boy, then all three boys. They had responded when she did each change. Oh, time to listen more intently.
Brenda started the training. A minute later, Brenda had shielded herself just as the boys had, but she continued talking. Then she had unshielded herself. Each time, Claire had lost concentration. Brenda stopped and smiled at her. “Claire, in shooting, you need to learn to concentrate on what you are doing no matter what is going on around you. Now I will use a number of different distractions on you. Your job is to concentrate on the training. You aren’t to give all your attention because you become vulnerable, but you aren’t to lose your concentration on the shooting. OK.”
Claire nodded her head. This will be much better than any class that I can remember. Two lessons in one.
Mary and Robert had stopped to listen to Brenda. As Brenda resumed the lesson, they each smiled as they in turn shielded and unshielded themselves. Claire had glanced over to them but had kept her concentration on Brenda. She in turn shielded and unshielded herself for each of them. Getting different lessons from different people at the same time will keep me on my toes. Still, the shooting is on what I have to concentrate on.
The training for the pistol went on for twenty minutes. Claire and Robert had each shot three sets. She was surprised as her shooting rapidly improved. She found that she was using more than her normal senses. The shielding and unshielding and the thoughts passing among herself, Brenda, Mary, and Robert were bringing her perception of the gun, bullets, target, air, and many other things together.
After the third set, Mary called a halt. They looked over to Will, Bruce, and Rich. Will had been describing Claire’s rescue to Rich and Bruce. He had been going into more details than he had with Bruce the other day. This had kept Rich’s and Bruce’s concentration on the talk and not on the training. In fact, a number of other officers had come over to listen. Will stopped and looked at the four young people. “Well, I see that they are ready to show you what they have learned.”
Bruce and Rich realized that they had totally forgotten the training.
Mary said, “Robert will shoot first and then Claire. Let us know what you think.”
Will, Rich, Bruce, and the others that had been listening to the conversation turned to watch Robert shoot. He quickly placed all but one in the center. Claire had followed his shooting with more than her normal senses. Again, she got a better understanding of what she must do. There was quite a bit of talking among the onlookers. This drew the attention of more people. Mary looked at Rich and Bruce. Both men looked at each other. Rich shrugged and pointed to Claire, indicating that she should shoot.
Claire faced the target. She started to think that she would be nervous with everyone watching her, but then she realized that the shielding, unshielding, and the other things that the others had done had taught her to concentrate on shooting. She calmly shot the full magazine, but her shots weren’t as fast or as accurate as Robert’s shots. She had three that had only touched the center. As she put the gun down, she realized that the talk behind her was much louder than after Robert had shot. She turned and saw Rich, Bruce, and the onlookers staring at her in amazement.
Bruce looked at his watch. “Less than thirty minutes of training.”
The excitement of the crowd had grown. The talk had brought more over to see what was going on. Claire realized that those that had come with her hadn’t joined the crowd. She looked over at them in the adjacent lanes. They were smiling at her, but there was no look of amazement on their faces. She had a feeling of belonging. They were happy at how well she had done, but it wasn’t unexpected.
Rich looked at Brenda and Mary. “Could we see the two of you shoot?”
The twins nodded. They each took a firing lane. Both women stood ready. Robert called out, “Go!”
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