Chapter 269

... As Selina held the empty weapon in her small hands, bringing it into firing position, her temper now white hot, she lined up the crystal clear sight picture, adamant that she would fire this weapon. She just needed to be able to pull the stupid trigger, but her finger wasn't quite long enough. She strained, her mind trying to find a way, her temper boiling over, and ... the trigger smoothly cycled. The hammer rose and fell.

Diana, standing behind Selina again, gasped as she realized what had happened.

If it could have been physically possible, Selina's grin would have been from ear to ear. With her ear protection on, the six-year-old didn't realize that Diana was standing only a short distance behind her. She lined the sights up again, took a breath, let part of it out and cycled the trigger. She couldn't hear the brisk snap of the hammer falling, but she knew it had.

Opening the cylinder, she put the safe weapon on the fold-out shelf in her shooting station, then turned to go tell Diana, almost bumping into the Queen. Diana's grin was as big as Selina's. "Jeff is going to be jealous," the woman said with a giggle. "Not only can you teleport, but now you've stolen his glory by learning to use TK as well."

"Oh," the little genius said, a look of worry on her face.

"I'm just teasing," the Queen said, pulling Selina into her arms. "I'm so proud of you." Then with a smile as she pushed back a little so she could look Selina in the face, "Arlene will sh... , uh, be jealous, too."

Selina's face fell. "But that was not my intention. I only wished..."

Diana took her whistle out of her pocket, blowing a shrill blast on it. Alice, Terri and Bridget instantly safed their weapons, putting them on the shelf in their shooting stations before stepping back. Arlene turned and looked a question at her mother.

"Everyone come here," the Queen announced, taking her ear protection off. "I want to show you something."

When they were gathered around, the Queen looked at the little genius. "Show them what you can do."

Blushing, Selina stepped back to her station, picked up her weapon, checked to make doubly sure there were no live rounds in any of the chambers, closed the cylinder and assumed her shooting stance.

It was readily obvious that she could barely touch the side of the trigger; her fingers just weren't long enough. But ... the trigger smoothly moved toward the rear of the trigger guard, the hammer came back and fell with a click.

"Yes," Arlene said, pumping her fist.

Selina opened the cylinder, put the revolver on the shelf, turned around and took a couple of running steps to launch herself into Arlene's arms. Arlene spun them around and around, but stopped before they became too dizzy. Their laughter caught on and soon everyone was laughing and congratulating Selina.

After they had all hugged the six-year-old, she turned to Diana. "May I fire live rounds now, my Queen?"

Diana was shaking her head. "Let's start back with ball and dummy. The small autoloader and this revolver are drastically different. Just because you are using TK to pull the trigger doesn't mean that we no longer have to worry about the basics. Let's see if you still have control of your flinch and your sight picture is correct with the larger weapon."

Selina was too happy to argue, knowing she would eventually be firing all live rounds.

Alice and Terri walked back to their shooting positions, but before approaching the shooting stations, they both turned to watch Selina again. "How does she do that?" Alice asked.

Taking her sister literally, Terri responded, "Well, like Diana said, TK, I suppose. There's no other explanation that fits, at least none that I can think of. We've seen her teleport, so her pulling the trigger with TK probably isn't all that different. Jeff spun those paper clips around his head when Diana asked him to demonstrate his TK for us, remember?"

"Are you kidding? How could I forget? I wish I could do something like that," Alice said with a frown. "I mean, she's a genius and all. And ... we can't do anything special."

"Daddy says we're special, and so does Angie. At least special to them," Terri argued. Then glancing back at Selina, "Maybe we can get her to teach us."

Alice glanced at Selina, then turned back to her sister. "Let's ask her later when there's no one else around. Who knows, maybe she'll say yes."

They stood watching Selina ball and dummy for a couple of minutes. "Okay," Terri replied as Selina hit a live round and they saw a hole appear near the "X" in Selina's target, "But from the looks of what she's doing, we need to practice really hard or she is soon going to be able to outshoot us."

"Oh, shit," Alice said.

"You better not slip and let Daddy or Angie hear you saying that. Remember what he did last time?"

"Yeah," Alice agreed, trying not to shudder. "And I know he looked for the most evil tasting soap he could find. I was beginning to think that taste would never leave my mouth, and he wouldn't let me use mouthwash for a whole hour."

"Like I said," Terri expounded with a laugh, "Better be careful."

Although they had recently graduated to all live rounds, the girls loaded their revolvers for ball and dummy, going back to the basics. Worrying that Selina was going to outshoot them, they diligently concentrated on what Diana had told them, hoping that they could stay ahead of the little genius ... or at least keep up with her.

A while later, Jeff, Diana, Kayla, Kei and Edi were walking down the hall toward the inside garage. "We'll take one of the Escalades for now. While you two are here, we'll move your SUV over to the inside garage to make it more convenient for you. Crossing the parking lot in the summer isn't a problem, but it can certainly be when we're having a winter storm."

Jeff ushered them into an Escalade. When they reached the bottom of the drive, Security was waiting for them. One vehicle pulled out ahead of them with two others following. Edi had glanced behind a couple of times, but hadn't said anything, although he was obviously curious.

"I suppose you thought my Security consisted of a guard at the bottom of the drive." When Edi didn't say anything, Jeff went on, raising his voice slightly so Kei could hear him, too. "There is a lot more Security here than you're probably aware of. There is a ski lodge on up the road a little way. The main building was damaged by an avalanche and two of the ski slopes were torn up as well. I'm not familiar with the circumstances other than that, but apparently the business failed. I was able to purchase the buildings and property for a reasonable amount, and we repaired it and the slopes. Now, my Security force is using it as their headquarters."

Edi still didn't respond immediately, but after a moment finally asked, "But Mr., uh, Jeff, why so large a Security force?"

Jeff thought for a second, then, "When we get back, Diana and I will sit down with the two of you..."

"Mr. Matthews," Edi responded, worrying he had overstepped his bounds, "that is not necessary," but Jeff motioned for him to wait.

"I think it is necessary, otherwise you might logically think that my family and I are paranoid, but ... my two young friends, we were attacked by a team of mercenaries. Had it not been for my wives' valor, we would have all died."

"Oh, my," Kei quietly said.

"So, I might be paranoid, but paranoid or not, we will be ready should another attack come, and that readiness, Edi and Kei, applies to protecting my friends as well as my family. Understand, I do not expect anything to happen that would endanger either of you. If so, you would not be here today, but if anything does happen, please, for your own safety, instantly obey Security's orders. They will protect you and they are aware of the high esteem in which Diana and I hold the two of you."

"Jeff, we need to tell them everything," Diana said from behind her husband.

The Prime glanced in the mirror at his wife, "Yeah, I suppose you're right. We'll do it when we get back."

Kei looked at Diana. "Nothing bad – far from it," the Queen responded.

When they arrived at the new Lodge, Kei and Edi stood beside the vehicle and looked around. "This is beautiful," Kei finally said.

Diana stopped near the couple. "Frank Wainwright, Jeff and a few others are in this together, although Jeff will be primary. You also know that Frank is a billionaire and is quite accustomed to associating with wealthy people. In addition, he and Margaret have impeccable tastes. Jeff and I would like you to consider their suggestions. They've stayed in expensive hotels and resorts the world over, and I would be amazed if they didn't have pictures and some very good ideas that would give you a basis for a starting point."

As they walked up the flagstone walkway toward the main building, Diana continued. "As Jeff has told you, we would like you to design enhancements to the new lodge. In particular, we want the main building to be designed to catch the eye of the wealthy."

Inside the main building's reception area, Kei stood looking around, just getting a feel for the big room. "Oh, there is so much that can be done here," she said, her eyes aglow with excitement.

"Waterfall there," her husband said, pointing.

"Giant corner fireplace there," Kei added, nodding toward an opposite corner, then continuing to slowly turn around and around. "We have a really tall ceiling to work with, but that single stairway has to go. We'll have a slowly curving one on either side of the room with a large, curving front desk made of some beautiful wood in the center of the wall between the stairways."

"Do you have the original architect's plans?" Kei asked Jeff.

"Already in your office back at the Retreat," he answered with a smile.

Kei took out her laser measure as Edi opened his pad that would receive the measurements directly from the laser. The laser also took pictures as she measured the room, all recorded on Edi's pad. When they were done, Edi took high resolution video to go with the pictures.

Jeff had watched Kei when she measured the classrooms, but Diana and Kayla had not. Obviously, they were as impressed with the couple's efficiency as Jeff was.

"We're done for now," Kei said a short time later.

"You don't want to walk through the rest of this building?"

"Not just now. I want to look at the original room plans first, if that's all right with you. The reception area will obviously be our beginning project. And Edi and I need to sit down an go over ideas while they're fresh on our minds. We'll want to be back here first thing in the morning, though.

The Retreat, A Couple of Hours Later

"ALESHA TURCOT HAS CLEARED SECURITY AND IS COMING UP THE DRIVE," the AI announced.

The women were in the kitchen preparing a late lunch. "Thank you," the Queen said as she glanced at the big screen mounted above the cabinets at the other end of the kitchen. "This doesn't bode well," she told Evie. "Alesha was going to turn in her notice today. She has only thirty minutes for lunch and it takes at least twenty minutes to drive up here from her job, so this isn't a lunch visit. I think I had better meet her at the back door."

"I'll go with you," Evie said.

Alesha parked close to the rear door and got out of her Escalade. Diana held the outer door open as the young woman hurried up the steps and into the mud room. The Queen took one look at Alesha's face and pulled her into a hug. "What did that bastard do?"

Alesha was obviously fighting to hold back tears. "When I turned in my notice, he just stood there and looked at me for a few seconds, then without saying a thing, went into his office," Alesha responded as Diana and Evie ushered her on into the building proper. As Alesha hung her coat up, she continued, tears starting to sparkle her eyes. "A few minutes later, he stomped back out of his office, walked up to me and snarled out, 'You're fired.' And he did it in front of a couple who were checking in. I've never been so embarrassed in my life. I did everything for him. I worked a couple of hours extra almost every day, not just doing my job, but most of the time, his too. And he didn't pay me any more than the other front desk people made on the other shifts, and they certainly didn't do any of his work."

As Alesha started on down the hall, Diana tugged on her shoulder, turning the young woman back to the Queen. "Whoa, Girl. Let's talk about this. His firing you only hurts him. Remember, Jeff started your salary when he hired you – that very minute. And you now make one heck of a lot more than you ever did working for that ass. This just gives you time to be more involved with the renovations and upgrade to the lodge. We told you we wanted your input; well, this will give you a better opportunity to help. We respect your opinion. So, while asshole is struggling to work the front desk as well as running his ski lodge, you'll be with us learning to manage this new, much prettier lodge of your own, and doing it from the ground up."