Chapter 23

The events in Pakistan had taken almost six hours, so I got at least a couple hours of sleep with my girls before getting up for school on Wednesday. Breakfast was quite normal, which almost surprised me. Margie did tell me that she thought I needed to stay home that night and mentally rest, even if I wasn’t physically tired. The suspense of wondering where I’d show up next would play with the minds of all the countries I’d mentioned.

High School classes went fine, with everyone at lunch ready to go against Derby on Friday. It seemed that two of the classes decided to get back to studies as normal, with Chemistry and Physics actually discussing the book. Organic Chemistry, we spent the first half of the class on the book. Then someone asked how the messenger could do the things that he’d obviously done. That led to the rest of the period discussing just how totally impossible it was for someone to have all those powers and abilities in the real world. Only some comic book characters had them. Except that there was video of everything.

Football practice went fine, with us working on a few more plays, to showcase all of the team. Coach still didn’t tell anyone else about the possibility of college coaches showing up.

After practice, I spent a relaxing evening with the girls. Margie had hired someone to take over her local office, so she could be full time with CEDEM. There was going to be a training period, but she did that to avoid a conflict of interest, even if the new person at her office was still going to be making the same recommendations. The other three had ended up turning in all of their homework for the rest of this semester, and would know by Friday whether they would skip ahead to the second semester. The plan now was that they finish things up, so they could start doing what I was doing, after Christmas, if they were able. Margie did mention that Adrienne had called her, and that Bill had moved the date of the announcement regarding our purchase into Microsoft until Friday, but that it wasn’t a big deal.

We did some swimming after dinner, then the girls gave me a good, full-body massage. Complete with multiple happy endings for everyone, even Eve, courtesy of lots of friendly fingers.

The next day, Marcia came home to us, with badges for everyone. Because of who she was, Mike actually had a member of his security team meet her at the airport. He’d been making the rounds in town, talking to various random people that he was thinking of moving here with a new small business. There had been a few cases of people warning him about that new kid and his sex cult, enough that he was doing some investigating to see where that talk originated. I mentioned to him about the upcoming game against Derby, and the other issues that had come from it when I got home from school.

He shook his head. “That doesn’t surprise me. I did a job in Texas a couple of years ago. They take their high school football seriously down there. We’ll keep an eye on things through the weekend, see if it goes away after you beat them.”

“You don’t think you’re putting the cart before the horse, do you?”

“No, the only question we’ve got going is what the point spread is going to be. And I’m not going to tell you, as that might influence the game.”

Marcia and Margie were at the table, going over paperwork that Marcia had brought with her. In addition, there were documents that had been sent to Margie from Sandy. “It looks like we’re getting things going, from the way the two of you are cursing over there.”

“Thanks, lover. It’s annoying, and I almost wish that all the lawyers that we had to involve with this were all lined up like in Pakistan. It’s almost amazing how they can take a simple contract and make it complicated,” Margie complained.

“Wouldn’t that also include putting Elroy in that mess?”

Margie shook her head. “No, this is corporate, not criminal, law. He’s actually not involved in this. We had to hire someone that specialized in this for the business, unfortunately. Even though I can handle the business end of things, I can’t handle the legal crap. Of course, we did hire the guy that Elroy recommended, so it’s not like he’s a total stranger. The big thing from our perspective is that we’re going to need to start getting an actual location before long.”

I frowned. “Don’t we have a temporary facility on order?”

“Yes, but I’ve already called Darrell and canceled the double-wide that we were thinking of getting. They’re doing the preliminary site work now, further down on Mayfield, just north of Stroud road. The good thing is, there hadn’t been any fall work done on the field yet, so we’re not messing up farming plans. Darrell is getting us a work trailer set-up instead; it’ll be a quadruple-wide. We’re getting office equipment lined up, so we’ll be able to move in when they get the site work done and the trailer installed. The only downside is that we’re going to be using a rental porta potty trailer. We can get a well drilled down there for running water, but to avoid health code issues for a business, we won’t use the bathrooms in the quadruple wide.”

“What is a porta potty trailer?”

“You know those portable toilets that they set up for the football games? Like what the construction crew had set up? This is an actual trailer that has its own heating, cooling, and bathrooms with running water set up in it. It’s a new thing; they just started selling them earlier this year, and we’re getting one of the first ones here in Kansas for us. The company that actually owns it will rent it to us, and they’ll provide all the servicing.”

Marcia nodded. “I saw one of those at a display in Seattle. They’re nicer than the usual shit sauna that we’ve had to use in the past.”

“Um, now that you’re here, I have to ask...”

“Did I see what you did in Pakistan? Yes. What about it?”

“Mostly, I just ... dammit.”

“Cal, you may not realize it, but the strong, take-charge man that I saw, in both Israel and in Pakistan, is incredibly sexy. You saw how Benazir Bhutto was flirting with you, didn’t you? She wasn’t just impressed with how your cock was outlined by your clothes, she was incredibly turned on by the display of power. If you had asked her, I’d bet that she’d have fallen on her back, with her legs up in the air, right then and there. There are some men and women that are born leaders. People instinctively follow them.”

Marcia leaned back. “To give you some idea, I grew up in and with the Hollywood culture. I know you’ve seen some movies. I watched them being made. A lot of people that are actors in Hollywood are just that; actors. They can portray that they’re leaders, and they can do a good job of it on the screen. But in real life? They may be great people and successful in business, but you wouldn’t follow them personally; you’d follow their on-screen persona.”

From the living room, where they were working on homework, Beth asked, “Anyone we would know?”

Marcia said, “I’m going to say three names. Tell me who’s the leader. Lee Marvin, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart.”

Four voices simultaneously said, “John Wayne.”

Marcia smiled. “Wrong. John Wayne was a nice guy, an ultra-patriotic man that can play a general in the movies. He’s good at business, too. Lee Marvin actually was in the Marines in World War Two, but his highest rank was what SJ has, Corporal. He was a hell-raiser even when he was out of the service, and making movies, but he’s a damned good actor. Nope, it’s Brigadier General James Stewart, US Air Force. He’s got that quiet demeanor about him that you know he’s always going to look out for his men, but he could lead them into combat, knowing they could die, just the same. And he did just that, during the war.”

“To me, that’s how Cal is. He’s going to look out for us, all of us. He’s our leader. At the same time, we also have to be ready to protect ourselves and each other. Margie has my permit as well, and I’ll be starting my lessons with Harry next week.”

I shook my head. “Beth, how many rounds do we have available here and now?”

“Couple of thousand.”

“I’ll call the gate, so they don’t freak out, and then go talk to Harry. Girls, go show Marcia how to shoot, tonight. While you’re getting her ready out there, I’ll get with Harry, see what he suggests for Marcia.”

Marcia looked surprised. “I’ve never fired a real gun in my life. I’ve done some things with prop guns, but never a real one.”

Beth said, “Good. That means you won’t have any bad habits to unlearn.” The three of them stood up and went to get their cleaning kits. “We’ll check her hands with our pistols. We’ll want to keep the same caliber and basic style, so our magazines are all interchangeable.”

I made a phone call to the gate, so the guard wouldn’t be surprised, then went over and knocked on Harry’s door. Emily opened it. “What’s up, Cal?”

“Is that lazy husband of yours around?”

“Love you, too. What’s up, Cal?”

“Target practice time. Beth is going to teach Marcia how to shoot. I don’t know why, but I want her to have a weapon, first thing tomorrow. Can you go give them some tips and pointers as well?”

“Sure, we were just going to watch a movie. Is there a reason you’re not doing the teaching? Just curious, is all.”

I sighed. “The weapons that I learned on don’t have recoil. They’re beam weapons, so it was simply point, aim, shoot, and if the target was in line of sight, you hit it. No drop, no recoil. I’m quite sure I could do fine now if I shot ... well, anything ... but it’s not like I could TEACH someone, since I can hold a pistol or rifle such that there is no recoil. Hell, I threw a bullet through that one soldier’s head faster than his rifle fired it.”

“Yeah, we heard a little of that on the Evening News. Peace in the Middle East and now Pakistan, with the CIA scared shitless that you’re going to destroy their headquarters. Well, the messenger, not you, but you know what I mean.” He saw the lights go on in the barn, including the ones that had been set up in the shipping container for the shooting range. “I’ll mosey over there and see what hand size she has, so I can get the right size grips. I presume you want standard magazine size for interchangeability.”

“Yeah. I’m probably overreacting and nothing will happen. But I’d rather be prepared.”

I went back to our house and spent the time talking with Mike while I was working on a couple of computer programs, waiting for the girls to come home. An hour and a half later, they came back in.

Marcia was excited, as her hands fit the same pistol as the other girls were using. Harry had worked with her, showing her the basics and how to stand properly, as well as how to use the pistol properly. Then Beth had worked with her on sighting, making sure that she knew not to flinch, and got her used to it. After a hundred rounds, she could get her entire magazine into a 2 inch group at 30 feet. The other girls were also practicing as well, with Eve and Dora able to match Beth and Margie and get 1 inch groups at 30 feet. Beth told me that Harry was going to get Marcia her own pistol tomorrow, as well as another two thousand rounds, so they could practice more this weekend.

Then she showed Marcia how to disassemble and clean the HK P9S that they were all using, as well as lubricate it so it’d be ready for use. I said, “I’m surprised that you’re using pistols from Germany.”

“Dad and I spent some time checking things out before he got my first one. While I have long fingers for a girl, even with using wrist weights and doing wrist exercises lifting weights, American pistols are just too large. We even thought about the James Bond gun, the Walther PPK, but went with Heckler and Koch instead, because 9mm instead of 7.65 mm. The store in Wichita that he buys them at said that Sig-Sauer is planning on coming out with a smaller version of their newest handgun, and we’ll try those.”

“Good. Once you get done cleaning those, I think getting some sleep is in order.”

Marcia asked, “Just curious, what are you working on?”

“Some more things for Bill to play with, and some things for larger equipment for Sandy and Len. I’m also doing the preliminary design work on something for wind equipment. Um, I’ve an itemized list here of some things I need to purchase. It shouldn’t total more than a couple of hundred thousand, I wouldn’t think. That’s raw materials. I’ll also need some tools to work that stuff as well.” I handed her both the list, as well as three pages of different schematics that I’d created.

Margie looked at my list. “I’ll get with Harry in the morning. I recognize fiberglass and wire, but I have no idea what a three phase generator or an induction generator are.”

Marcia looked intrigued. “I do. What are you working on?”

“Different types of wind turbines. I’ve found that there are patents for some types of magnetic bearings, but I don’t see any for variable strength, commercial grade ones. By using those, with induction generators, I believe I can create a wind turbine capable of generating 4MW at a total production cost of under half a million. That’s why I need what’s on that list, so I can make a couple of scale models.”

Margie picked up the phone and dialed a number. “I know it’s late. Who do you know that’s a patent attorney, and a good one? Good, get him out here tomorrow. We need a patent search and probably some applications made. Revolutionized power generation is all. Probably not, but I’ll tell you anyway. Commercially feasible wind power. Tell me about it. That’s why we need the patent attorney. Good night, Uncle Elroy.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but why did you phrase things the way you did?”

“Cal, it’s simple. We have several ways of generating electricity now. Coal and natural gas plants, nuclear power plants, and hydroelectric. The first two burn fossil fuels. Nuclear plants heat water to spin turbines. And hydroelectric uses lakes, built up behind dams, to generate power with moving water. Solar power, using solar cells to generate power, isn’t economical yet, and there’s the minor detail called night. We’ve used wind power, windmills, to power pumps for centuries, but being able to generate enough power from windmills or wind generators economically is still in its infancy.”

“You saw the cells I put on the barn, then moved over here, didn’t you? I basically know how they’re made, but I don’t know how to make them, if that makes sense. That’s what powers Mike, and is enough to power everything on this farm, actually. As for the wind turbine I’m going to build ... it’s just a scaled up model of one the Scouts taught us to make.”

Beth was listening as well. “You’ve mentioned the Scouts were more military oriented. Why would they teach you how to make a generator?”

“Survival skills. Here’s a simple example. The mixer in the kitchen that you use has an electric motor in it. You plug it in, power comes into the plugs and through the two wires to the motor, putting a magnetic charge on the coils of wires inside, and then making the shaft turn. Our vehicles all have a battery in them to run the lights and such, but they also have what’s called an alternator, to help charge that battery back up. An alternator is basically a small generator. Guess what? If you hooked up a bicycle crank to the shaft of the mixer and started turning it by hand, you’d have a generator and be making electricity, going the other way.”

Marcia was nodding. “Yep. Small, fixed magnet, motors do that quite nicely. A bigger motor uses a small amount of power to generate the magnetic field needed. How much parasitic power do you think your four megawatt turbine should use?”

“Mike checked my calculations, it shows right at 1 kilowatt, total. That’s to generate the fields for the magnetic bearings and for the generator itself, the entire top of the tower, so it can swing to pick up the wind, and for the blades themselves, so they can be turned to properly catch the wind.”

“I want your baby,” Marcia said. She started taking her clothes off.

“Not until after I have mine. And clean your pistol first, too.”

Marcia shook her head in disbelief. “My god, I almost got carried away just then, didn’t I? I’m sorry, that was...” The other girls laughed.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t get much better,” Beth said. “I’ve known Cal the longest of any of us, and you have no idea what a temptation it is ... or maybe you do ... to stop taking my birth control pills.”

Eve laughed. “Been there, done that. Doing that, I should say. If I was going to quit, right now would be the time, but I won’t do that to any of you, or to myself. Don’t get me wrong, I so love the sex that we all have, not just with Cal, but with each other. But I love our relationship even more. When we’re ready ... whether it’s next summer, or not for three or four years ... I’ll be just as ready then. Until that time, I’m good.”

I shook my head. “No, you’re not good. You’re fantastic. All five of you. The quicker you get those guns cleaned, properly, the quicker we can get ourselves dirty.”

I was pleased that they still took their time to do the job right. So, I did the same, taking proper time making love to each of them.

Friday morning dawned normally, and surprised me by staying that way through school and college. I had an hour break at home before having to be back, to board the bus. There were two new vehicles in the driveway when I got home. Marcia had a new car, and there was a bus sitting there. “What’s up with this?”

“Our new family vehicle,” Harry said. “Or, more precisely, YOUR new family vehicle. To me, this made more sense than getting a Suburban or two. You’re going to want to take everyone out to eat. Well, that’s 6 for you, 2 for us, soon to be 7 and 3. Elroy wants to come along, that’s 11. Add basically anyone else, you’re talking 13 or 14. I talked to the guys at Collins about getting one of their commercial buses. Once I told them what I wanted, they hooked me up with another company. We’re going to be buying a couple of the Collins commercial buses for local use, especially as things continue to expand. But this was a special. A music star had ordered them ... paid for them ... then died earlier this year. I bought this one, and have an option on the other one if you want it.”

“It’s a bus!”

“Technically, yes. But like tonight, all of the families are going to your game. That’s at least 16 people. This can seat 24, has four bunks in it for people that need to sleep, room for luggage underneath, and has a bathroom. Everyone in one vehicle, driving from here to Wichita, instead of at least 5 different cars going. It’s even saving fuel. 5 vehicles that get 15 miles per gallon, so at least 40 gallons of gas. This gets 5 miles to the gallon of diesel, so only 24 gallons of that.”

“I smell a rat. I’m guessing that we’ll be having a driver from the security company that just happens to be armed as well, to provide additional security. And the other one that’s on option is having some additional armor added to it, and once that’s done, we’ll use that one, until this one gets done, then we’ll have both, anyway.”

“Thank you, you just won me ten bucks from Mike Douglas. In case you’re wondering, this is an MCI MC-9, brand new other than driving it from Hollywood to here, with a Detroit Allison engine, power steering, air conditioning, and all the amenities. So’s the other one. I’m going to tear down the old equipment shed, we’ll be putting in a bus garage over there. I’m also making arrangements for an above ground fuel tank installation. We’ll have two fuel tanks, one for diesel, one for gasoline.”

I sighed. “Right now, I feel like this is overkill. I suspect that by the time winter rolls around, I’ll feel differently. Shit! But based on what I saw in Seattle, this makes perfect sense. We’ll be running people between the airports and here, making large trips down to Oklahoma and around. With babies in the mix in a few months ... remind me again, how long have I been living here?”

“Been a busy seven weeks, hasn’t it?” He clapped me on the back. “Look at the bright side, it’s not going to slow down for you for a while. Now, get your butt back to school, so you can ride the school bus to Wichita, while we get to travel in style.”

“Damn. And you said there are bunks on that bus, too. Oh, did you get Marcia...” I stopped when he nodded.

“I also picked up half a dozen Colt Sporters as well, complete with scopes. We’re upgrading the container so that it can stop larger caliber weapons. I don’t know whether to be scared or not that you’re going to have your own personal defense team with your girls or not, since ... you’re you, if you know what I mean. But, with five women able to shoot pistols accurately up to 30 feet, and I’ll train them on rifles at 200, that means they’re going to be damned deadly to anyone that messes with them.”

“Harry. Thank you. For everything.” He nodded, clapped my back again, then watched me head back to school.

This trip on the bus was a bit different. The rumors about the college coaches being at the game had leaked out. In addition, for the last two days, the sports papers had been touting this as the preliminary championship game for 6A football in the west. Due to the size of the state, and the way the population was divided, there were two high school football groups, east and west. East is basically everything within 100 miles of Kansas City; west is the rest of the state. That made sense, as you’re talking almost 400 miles from Garden City to Kansas City, more than 200 miles from our house to there. A three hour bus ride was bad enough for a high school football game, 8 hours would be ridiculous. College ball was different; that’s why they played on Saturday, and the rich colleges had jets, so they could play truly away games.

Jerry, Terry and I sat with Coach for most of the trip, figuring out our plays in the scenarios that might come up. He was still planning on letting us call them from the field. It was interesting watching the road ahead, as we had a police escort the entire trip. That got us to their school fairly quickly, all things considered.

Once there, we unloaded and went into the locker room to change. After that, we took the field. Derby had taken a page from our book, getting temporary bleachers for the other side of the field. I almost wasn’t surprised to see three different television vans set up in the lot. KSNW, the NBC affiliate, had their van closest to the locker room. KAKE was ready, like normal. KCTV, the CBS station, also had a van present.

One of the other guys asked, “Coach, what’s up with all the television stations? I mean, it’s just a high school game, right?”

“For you, this could be your Super Bowl. It’s pretty simple. This game is going to be the toughest game you’ve ever played. We’re the little, podunk town that’s somehow or other managed to get a team together that’s challenging Derby for the right to play in the state championship game. So, as far as they’re concerned, until we actually get to that point, this is THE high school game of the year. I doubt that they’ll be broadcasting it ... although that wouldn’t surprise me. They will want all the highlights they can get. Show them we can play good ball!”

The announcer was already going. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Panther Field, where tonight, your Derby Panthers, currently undefeated this season, will be playing! There are only two other teams in the state undefeated so far, Dodge City, and our opponent tonight, the Hutchinson Salthawks! This promises to be a big game for everyone involved.”

“We have a special treat tonight. The United States Marine Corps Honor Guard will present the colors before the start of tonight’s games. In addition, one of Wichita’s own is home visiting her parents, and has graciously accepted our invitation to sing our National Anthem. If you would all please rise...”

There was a drum tapping out a cadence. With that the Marines marched to the middle of the field, turning so they were facing one of the end zones. That let all of the flags fly freely. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee for her Broadway performance in Showboat, Karla Burns!”

There was a short, black haired and dark skinned woman standing by a microphone. Without any musical accompaniment, she began singing. “Oh, say can you see...” She had a wonderful singing voice. When she hit the line, “and the rocket’s red glare,” there were fireworks set off from beyond both end zones, shooting into the sky. They blew up in time to her next line, “The bombs bursting in air.” As she finished the song, both sides of the field erupted in cheers, with the drums tapping out cadence again, while the Marines exited the field.

Once we took our places on the bench, I looked in the stands behind me for my family. I realized that since we were the away team, they might be on the other side. I used my vision to scan the other bleachers, and found them. I pointed towards them, and waved. Harry had binoculars, and told the girls I’d seen them, so they all waved back.

Our Junior Varsity team won the coin toss and received the kickoff. It turned into a very evenly matched game. Derby was good, there was no doubt about it. The difference came in the fourth quarter, when their quarterback had a ball tipped that we managed to intercept. That let us get a two score lead that we didn’t relinquish. Even when their last minute onside kick did work, they couldn’t convert, so we won, 52 to 45.

The Varsities warmed up during the between game break. I realized what had been bothering me about looking at my family when Elroy came out of the Derby side of the stands. I hadn’t seen him across the field. “Cal, come over here a minute.” Coach heard him, and nodded.

“Son, there’s been some horse trading going on, during the first game. I know this is short notice, but when you get to halftime, I’m going to need you to stay on the field. You’ll also need all your girls out there, so if you could run over and tell them, that’d be a good thing.”

“Elroy, do I even want to know?”

“Oh, it’s nothing bad. Take a look up there, at midfield, where I’ve been sitting. Who do you see that you recognize?”

“Well, John Carlin, of course. I’ve seen the pictures, so I recognize our Senators and Congressmen. I don’t know who ... why are Bill and Sandy in Wichita for a simple football game?”

“Welcome to horse trading at this level, son. John is going to make an announcement during halftime about CEDEM, and then tomorrow, we’re all going to have one big meeting in Hutchinson. Now, get out there and kick Derby’s ass!”

I quickly ran across the field, to let my women know that Elroy was being an incredibly devious bastard, and to make sure they were ready for something at halftime. Margie said, “I wondered what happened to him. We got here, he got off the bus, and left us, said he had something to do.”

Coach blew his whistle, so I had to head back to our bench. We lost the coin toss, so they received the kickoff. Their offensive line showed why they were undefeated, moving from their twenty-five down to our fifteen without any trouble. That’s when our defense actually held them to a field goal, which irritated their fans.

I wasn’t on the field during their kickoff to us. Andy took it at the fifteen and made it back to the forty. I stayed on the sidelines while Terry lined up behind Greg. Their defense was looking for me to pull some kind of trick play out, and was confused when I wasn’t on the field at all. Before they could call a timeout and regroup, Greg snapped to Terry, and they did an end around run that gained 20 yards. He didn’t huddle, just went back to under center, then quickly took another snap as soon as the chains were moved. Their defense kept waiting for me to do something, so he completed a 30 yard pass to Aaron, and suddenly we were on their ten, with first and goal. The chains moved, the ref started to wind his arm, and their Coach called a time out, as we were already in position.

“Beautiful work, Terry,” I told him as we grouped around.

“You’re a sneaky and devious bastard, Cal. I like it. We doing the motion play next?”

“Yep. Jeff, you doing good?”

“Let’s see them stop me!”

This time when we went out, I was on our left side. Before the ball was snapped, I dropped back and started in motion, behind the line towards the right side. The ball was snapped to Terry, he spun and faked the handoff to me as the man in motion. Their entire defense bit, chasing me to the right, allowing Terry to make a soft pitch to Jeff, who ran to the now empty left side and scored.

Their return possession, they scored a touchdown as well. This time I was out there for the kickoff return, lined up directly behind Aaron. He caught the ball at our fifteen and started running. I took a spot just ahead of him, so I could do some regular blocking. We weren’t going for the quick score, so rather than flatten everyone like I could have, we made sure he went down at the forty again.

This time, I lined up as quarterback. Our play was a variation on one we’d done before. Greg snapped to me, I handed off to Mike. As he got to the end, he handed off to Bill, who’d been blocking, and came back in the other direction. Bill got almost up to the line on the left side, then turned and did a backwards pass to me. I’d dropped back 10 yards, to the thirty. I caught the reverse, then lofted an easy 70 yard pass to Aaron that landed in his hands as he crossed the goal line.