Chapter 55: The General’s Rules

Monday, May 31, and Tuesday, June 1, 1971

My urinary alarm clock went off, but I didn’t want to move.

I vaguely recalled that sometime during the night, Grace had climbed under the covers, spooning her naked butt up against me. Then taking my hand, she had pulled it to her breast, settling in to sleep with a contented sigh. Her happiness filled me and I think I sighed too, before falling back to sleep.

But my bladder said it was time to go, and Mother Nature doesn’t have much patience. So, rolling out of bed, I stopped by the bathroom before heading out on my run.

The lone soldier, sitting in a rocking chair on the porch was a surprise. After last night’s alarm, I had expected to see soldiers everywhere. I guess the security alert was over and they had all gone back to where they came from.

All except one.

The remaining soldier didn’t even bother to look at me as I exited the Lodge. He was busily writing away in an old, tattered notebook. His weapon was leaning against the wall behind him.

As I stood watching him for a moment, something about him struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Finally I gave up and spoke.

“Good morning,” I said.

I startled him. He fumbled with his notebook and dozens of pieces of paper fell to the floor, each looked to be crammed with writing. He scrambled to pick them up so I stooped to help him.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t expect anyone to be stirring this early,” he said.

“That’s okay. I’m just heading out for my morning run,” I said. “Trying to get this body back in shape.”

“Yes, sir. But I should have heard you coming. I don’t know how I missed it,” he exclaimed.

“Old Jedi mind-trick,” I said sardonically.

I’m sure he had no idea what I meant. The movie wouldn’t be out for another six years.

He stopped what he was doing, frozen in place. Only his eyes moved, darting back and forth rapidly. Then he dove for his notebook and scribbled furiously.

Finally, he looked up at me self-consciously and smiled.

“I’m getting discharged on Friday, and can hardly wait,” he tried to explain. “I been working on this...” holding up his notebook, “ ... the whole time I’ve been in the Army. Now I’m anxious to get back to California.”

“Like that makes any sense,” I thought to myself.

“Well, good luck then, Private ... ah ... Lucas,” I said looking at his name sewn over his shirt pocket.

“Thank you, sir,” he said absently as he went back to his furious scribbling.

“I wonder what that was all about?” I thought as I headed off on my run.

As I approached the reception building, I was aware of the General sitting on the porch of the main house next door. When he saw me he waved me over. He stayed seated, without bothering to offer a greeting or anything. I found out later that he felt manners were wasted on teenagers.

“We didn’t have the chance to talk again yesterday,” he stated.

Since he hadn’t asked me anything and he disliked wasted manners, I stood silent waiting for him to continue. I already knew what he wanted.

“So far, Anna and I are the only Government employees who are aware of your gift.”

He had left out Penny. But he was thinking CIA and she was FBI. I didn’t bother to point out his oversight.

“And I know first-hand what happens when the fucking bureaucrats get involved with anything!” He was remembering the botched Lam Son 719 offensive that had cost his only son his life earlier this year in Viet Nam.

“So, for now, I am not going to say anything about your, er, talent. But my silence has a price, Michael.”

He was waiting on a response or a reaction. I already knew what he wanted, so I remained quiet and continued to look at him with an amused expression on my face.

“Don’t you want to know what my price is?” he asked, baiting me.

“Maybe you should be asking what MY price is,” I told the General.

“Your price?” the General asked, surprised.

“Sure! Does Strategic Stabilization Plan 2304-7b mean anything to you? The project name was ‘Starlight’, and the mission was to remove Obote and insert Amin as the new El Presidente.”

It was pure reflex for him to look around quickly to see if anyone else had heard. If he had asked, I could have told him that there wasn’t anyone else awake within a thousand yards. But he didn’t ask.

“Okay, how about some Black Ops? Does codename ‘Billy-Goat’ ring a bell?” I asked him.

He didn’t get to be a General by popular vote. His face hardly registered the panic I sensed inside of him. I quickly followed with another question.

“Did you guys really give hookers to twelve-year-olds in exchange for information?”

His eyes narrowed. He was debating going for the gun he had hidden in a basket on the porch beside him. So I squeezed his motor cortex enough to remind him.

“And I can’t believe the guys at COINTELPRO actually developed a plan to discredit the Reverend Billy Graham.”

He just looked at me. His thoughts were now a mixture of anger and fear. Finally, I released the pressure.

“Or we could just discuss VENONA*,” I suggested.

“Why you goddamned little puke. I’ll...” he spewed.

“You’re angry. You don’t like the idea of a teenager knowing all your secrets,” I told him, moving slowly to give him a chance to work through the anger. I needed him to think clearly about this. Finally, I sensed he was calming down so I continued. “Think about it. I can know the secret thoughts of almost anybody you put me next to,” I said. Again I waited for the idea to sink in.

“For example, you could arrange a tour of the United Nations for me while I’m in New York next week,” I suggested.

I could sense the gears turning now.

“How close?” he asked suddenly.

“I beg your pardon?” I knew what he wanted. I was stalling while I debated how much to tell him about my range.

“How close do you have to be to read someone’s mind?”

“Well, it’s not exactly mind reading. I sense your emotions and any thoughts associated with them. If you can get me close enough, and the person has thoughts that have emotions attached, and if they are in English, I can usually sense them,” I knew I was telling him a lot about my capabilities, but nothing that Anna didn’t already know.