Chapter 264

Security

When Lieutenant Mayfield told Sergeant Higgins he was to teach a pulse rifle class and his students would be the Alphas, he was at first annoyed, then amused when the Lieutenant further informed him that it would be a "normal" class – per the Colonel. Normal meant the Alphas would be treated just like any of the troopers.

Higgins was loyal to the General, the Colonel and to Security. The whole Security force was sworn to protect the Colonel and his family – at all costs. The Colonel had made it abundantly clear that his family included, not only his wives and Selina, but all his Alphas and their families.

Higgins wasn't certain he knew precisely what an Alpha was. Oh, he knew the General and the Colonel, and he had been impressed with agent Art Hanes as well. The Colonel led an off-world exploration and fighting team that was legend, and Higgins deeply admired him, but still, what the fuck was an Alpha, really? He knew every Alpha and their families in detail, but he still wondered. Whatever the definition of an Alpha, he now had a class comprised entirely of them.

Sergeant Higgins stood watching as the class worked through a quiz that he had handed out. It wasn't easy, and it contained detailed questions on the material he had covered in the last two hours. Hanes, Arlene Matthews and Lieutenant Kayla Fisher had aced every test he had put in front of them when they went through the course, yet Hanes was here with the other Alphas as if he had never had the class.

Other than Hanes, the Alphas that were present hadn't received their all-weather fatigues yet and were wearing regular fatigue pants, tee shirts and combat boots. Higgins was accustomed to physically fit troopers, and although these men were certainly in shape, at first glance, they didn't seem any more fit than everyone else in the Security force, even though they were Alphas. Hanes had the same problems with the overland run and obstacle course that anyone else did, although he seemed to condition faster than most. Come to think of it, neither Arlene, Kayla nor Art had ever complained – at least where the Sergeant could hear. But then again, that wasn't unusual with the quality of personnel he was accustomed to training. They wouldn't be part of Security if they were slackers – wouldn't be part of the General's personnel, for that matter.

After the test, he went back to the next stage of the lecture, purposely not giving them a break. Sure enough, one of them yawned, which was what he was waiting for.

"Push-ups. Fifty. Done in precisely this manner." He dropped and knocked out fifty. Standing, he ushered all of them into the ready position, deriding Tate when his back wasn't entirely straight, and started them off. After the fifty that were as perfect as any he had ever seen, there wasn't one drop of sweat among them as far as he could determine. He had figured that the farmers wouldn't know a push-up from a cow. He was wrong.

He went back to his lecture. Thirty minutes later, he stopped for fifty sit-ups. Same thing. During the sit-ups, Higgins looked up when the door cracked open. Lieutenant Mayfield stood watching for a while, grinned at the Sergeant and closed the door.

A little later, he gave them a coffee/bathroom break while he quickly graded the test. Nothing. Not one fucking question missed, he said to himself – just like Haynes, Fisher and Arlene Matthews. His tests were difficult and this one on theory and development was a bitch. Farmers, a Sheriff, a Deputy, a building contractor, a couple of FBI agents, a pilot, a retired Police Detective, the owner of a multi-billion-dollar corporation ... they've all fucking aced my test. I thought it was a fluke with the other three. What the fuck is an Alpha?

Oh, well, he thought. Time to fuck with them a bit. Putting the classroom pulse rifle on the demo table, he stepped back. "Hanes, do you remember how to field strip the pulse rifle and reassemble it?"

"Yes, Sergeant."

"Then demonstrate it for us."

Art Hanes got up, walked over to the table and checked to see if the weapon was safe. Facing the class and with his eyes closed, he quickly field stripped the rifle, lining the parts up in order across the table. Higgins reached over and stirred the parts thoroughly. "Reassemble the weapon."

Without inflection in his voice, "Yes, Sergeant."

Art, his eyes still closed, felt about the table gathering pieces of the rifle, then began the assembly, seemingly unhurried and without apparent concern. Shortly, and with obvious precision, he finished assembling the rifle, inserted the fake power canister, double-checked the safety, and handed a safe weapon to the Sergeant.

"Shit, " Sheriff Tate muttered under his breath.

The Sergeant accepted the rifle and without thinking, said, "Thank you, Alpha Haynes."

"Certainly, Sergeant."

Art returned to his seat as the Sergeant stood staring at his class. "Now we get down to business. Before you fire the first pulse, you will be able to field strip, care for and reassemble your pulse rifle. Three days from now, you will do it in total darkness. It will require a liiiitttle practice," he said, stretching out the word, "so you will have homework for the next couple of nights." There was absolute silence as the Sergeant began to teach them how to field strip and care for the rifle.

Jeff and Lieutenant Mayfield sat in Mayfield's office watching the classroom via video.

"Should have had Arlene do the demo for them," Mayfield said with a chuckle. "When she does it, the rifle just seems to disintegrate in her hands, then miraculously reassembles itself, whether she's doing a field strip or a complete disassembly. If she keeps on, she's going to hold the record for the fastest time ever. Might want to start practicing, Colonel," he teased. "She might just catch up with you. And her scores on the range are improving as well. She's already approaching the accuracy of your team."

"I'm lucky to have her for a wife," Jeff agreed, " ... and a daughter."

A little later, Jeff and Lieutenant Mayfield stood at the front entrance of the old ski lodge looking out at the heavy snowfall coming down. They could barely see across the parking lot as Mayfield motioned toward the snowplow already positioned to lead the way for Jeff's Expedition. He hadn't driven the Expedition for a while, and had chosen to do so today.

"He'll make sure the drive is open for you," the Lieutenant said, nodding toward the snowplow.

"I appreciate it, but tell him to assume his regular duties. I want to try something. If I have problems, I'll call him on the radio."

"Are you sure, Sir? That driveway has some very steep places and the snow has really been coming down while you've been here..."

"I'll be fine, Lieutenant. I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but I don't think I'll have any problems."

Jeff walked out to his SUV and waved to the snowplow driver who let his window down as he got off his radio. "Colonel, are you sure?"

"Yes, Trooper. I want to try something. Go ahead and plow the drive on your regular schedule, but first, I want to see if this works."

Jeff eased out of the parking lot. A few moments later, he turned into his driveway, stopped as Security checked his vehicle, then headed on up the drive. The Expedition with its snow tires and four-wheel drive made it up the first section with no problems, but when Jeff got to the really steep part, the vehicle spun to a halt. Before he had pulled out of the garage earlier, he had studied the rear undercarriage of the vehicle. Now, he imagined the framework under the rear of the SUV as he summoned his TK. Gently, he pushed against the metal structure, gradually increasing the force while he eased the accelerator down a little. In moments, he had acquired a balance of push from his TK and power from the four-wheel drive. The Expedition went smoothly on up the drive.

Lieutenant Mayfield stood behind the seated operator watching the Expedition on one of the big screens. The tech turned toward Mayfield, a question on his face, as the vehicle pulled away from a stall-out and went on up the drive. "He's a Prime," Mayfield answered the unspoken question. "I know he probably used TK, otherwise I have no fucking idea."

Jeff was tempted to see how fast he could go up the driveway, but he had already battered one vehicle with TK; no need to screw up another one.

{{{ If you had done this with the helicopter, no one would have been hurt, }}} Little One admonished him.

That effectively dashed Jeff's enthusiasm about the trip up the snow-covered drive. "I didn't think of it," he tried, but felt a flood of emotions, and although she didn't think it directly, he knew what the implication of those emotions was. All right. All right. I'll practice more.

{{{ Until it becomes reflex, }}} she insisted.

I love you, he thought to her.

{{{ Humans are fragile. They break easily, }}} she thought to herself, but it bled over to Jeff.

Ah, but we're lovable creatures, he teased.

{{{ And I do love you, and you need to practice, }}} she affirmed, serious.

And I love you too, my Little Alien.

Jeff walked into the kitchen at noon. Instead of the usual bustle of his wives preparing lunch, there was a note on the smaller of the tables.

We are busy. Some leftovers and sandwich fixings are in the first refrigerator.

Love you.

Di.

There wasn't even any fresh coffee.

Jeff was standing with the note in his hand when the kitchen door opened and Dave and Evie walked in.

"Looks like it's sandwiches for lunch," Jeff commented.

"Oh, don't be silly," Evie said. "Well, unless you had rather have sandwiches, that is." Then to Jeff, "Your wives cooked several steaks and left them in the refrigerator. After working out this morning, I'm surely going to have one of them. They are all eating sandwiches in the basement, but since we have to be at the ski lodge, anyway, I thought I would come and help you guys before we have to leave."

Dave smiled at his wife. "Yeah, well, you're not the only one who worked out this morning. Higgins' idea of keeping us from being bored is a few hundred push-ups and sit-ups spaced throughout the morning. You damn sure better not yawn in his class."

"Uhmmm," Evie said as she glanced back at her husband. "Good to know. I'll pass on the information to the rest of the women. So are you going back this afternoon?"

"Yeah, as soon as we have the ski lodge signing behind us."

Jeff and Dave tried to help get lunch ready, but after a few moments, Evie impatiently waved them away. "Start some coffee. You two are just in the way." She tempered her comment with a kiss on Jeff's cheek and a little longer one on her husband's lips.

"You gonna be able to make up the missed classwork?" Jeff asked Dave as the two automatically teamed up to get the coffee started.

"Yeah, Art is going to help me tonight with what I miss. Shouldn't be a problem. Everything has been fairly easy so far."

"Good. The signing shouldn't take too long. But I do want you and Evie there."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Dave said with a smile.

A few minutes later, they sat down to a nice, although warmed-up meal, the men with both coffee and iced tea. Dave took a drink of his iced tea, then a sip of his coffee, looked over at Jeff and grinned. "The first time I saw you with both coffee and iced tea at the same time, I thought you were nuts. Now, you have me doing it."

"I still think it's strange," Evie said as she sipped her soft drink.

"Never said it wasn't," Jeff replied with a chuckle.

"Everything ready with Security?" Dave asked a moment later. "I talked with the lawyer just before coming in here. He, his assistant and the accountant are eating lunch together in Winter Park. They'll be on time."

"Yeah, Lieutenant Mayfield is ready."

Dave speared a bite of steak with his fork, but continued before eating it. "I'm still a little uncomfortable with this." As Jeff started to speak, Dave waved the piece of meat around a little signaling Jeff to wait. "Oh, I'm not afraid of these guys, but they ... Well, it was obviously a write-off of some kind, and in all likelihood was going to be part of a money laundering operation, and like you said before, the thing we saw on the news a while back probably has something to do with it. Big boss and some of his lieutenants got busted by the feds and went to jail. Now, what's left of the family is trying to unload the almost-completed ski lodge."

"Matt says the ski lodge isn't involved in any criminal proceedings as far as the FBI is concerned. By all accounts it was to be a legitimate business, although, like you say, it would probably have eventually been involved in money laundering. From what I've read, the crime syndicates now own many legitimate businesses. Good investments for their money, I suppose, but for some reason they want out of this one. It fits my purpose, so we're going to buy it."