Chapter 393

Ada and Charlotte insisted that Jeff fire off more of the steel balls. After he had done so a few times, they then asked him to rapid fire a string of them.

Jeff had played with a string of the balls circling above his head before, and had become fairly efficient with them, but had never fired a large number of them in rapid succession at a target. After thinking for a moment, he eased a string of balls out of the box, each seeming to play follow the leader. As each came to a momentary stop a couple of feet in front of his eyes, he fired it toward the mountain at a few thousand miles per hour. After a slow start, he quickly became accustomed to the mechanics of the operation and increased the speed of the balls coming out of the never-ending supply of Ship’s box while simultaneously increasing their downrange velocity.

Finally, he stitched the distant mountain range with tenth light speed steel balls, or what had started out as steel balls. The ground shook as more than a hundred impacts spread over a mile of the mountain top, all in the space of roughly five seconds. Instead of a flash of light as the balls/plasma ripped apart the air as they headed for the mountain, there was a continuous flare of brilliant light and a long, earsplitting “crack” of sound when the projectiles met the mountain at a tenth light speed, followed seconds later as the resulting roar of sound reached them. The whole top of the mountain seemed to jump before disappearing in a cloud of debris and dust.

Both women were holding their hands over their ears as they blinked their eyes after the brilliant flashes of light, neither realizing that Jeff had directed Ship to dampen the sound and the brilliance of the flashes.

When the exclamations were over, Charlotte glanced at the box of half-inch balls. “It’s still full. How...”

“Ship keeps it full for me.”

“Oh.”

“How long could you keep that up?” Ada wanted to know as she stared at the giant cloud of dust in the distance.

“Hmmm. Guess I never thought about it. But it isn’t a strain; just a bit tedious.”

“So, how long?”

“Uh, you’re serious?”

“Yep. Humor me, please.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Couple of hours. All day? Who knows?”

“‘Hours?’” Charlotte repeated. “Can you imagine what that could do to an enemy in just five minutes?”

“Baby,” he said as he stepped over to take her in his arms, “what I just did is minuscule compared to what Ship can do.” But even as he made the comment, he realized that had he been able to do what he had just done on some of his missions with his team, it would have gotten them out of a couple of very intense situations.

“So,” Ada said as she joined them in a hug, “when can we start learning about the pulse rifles?”

“You really want to?” he asked with a smile.

“Oh, yes,” both women responded together, yet again.

“I’ll talk to the Sergeant. He does an excellent job, and I’m sure he’ll be glad to teach you.”

The women looked at each other before Charlotte said, “But, we thought you would teach us.”

Jeff hesitated for a second before, “Handguns – yes, but Sarge has taught the other women to fire pulse rifles. If I suddenly took on the task, he might consider it an insult. I’ll be glad to work with you after he teaches you the basics.” Hugging them again, he went on, “Actually, I’m glad you brought up the subject. There are handguns and ammunition hidden throughout the Retreat as well as concealed weapon caches that also include pulse rifles and extra energy canisters. It’s time for both of you to be trained in basic combat techniques as well as pulse rifle basics. I strongly suggest that you diligently work on the treadmill, because Sarge will run you through the obstacle course while he’s training you. I’ll give you a couple of weeks before I talk to the Sergeant, and I’ll mention to Diana that you need to get in shape for his training ASAP. I know that she is easing you into exercising, but we need to escalate it. Expect to do a lot of pushups and sit-ups. Since you’ll have a limited amount of time before Sarge takes over, I’ll have Little One check you out each day to take care of any sore or torn muscles.” When the women looked at him, practically in shock, he hugged them again. “I just feel that you need to be trained ASAP. As you are certainly aware, we have a ruthless and very wealthy individual who has repeatedly attacked us. We need to be ready, and that includes you two.

“In the meantime, I can work with you on handgun training. Expect Diana to be part of that, too. She’s excellent with handguns of any type – as is our daughter, but it’s a tossup as to who is the better shot. I think my wife still is – much to my daughter’s disgruntlement, I might add – but by a very narrow margin.”

By the time Jeff had finished, mother and daughter passed a worried look. “Obstacle course?” Ada wondered aloud. “Jeff, you have to remember that just a few days ago, I could barely walk. My muscles have...”

“ ... been enhanced by Little One, and your body will respond much faster to training than you think,” he interrupted. “Remember, all the women at the Retreat have been through this – men too, for that matter – and you certainly need to be before you go to Ship’s academy. While her academy is actually mental, there are aspects of your physical training here that will carry over. You will only get the basics from Sarge, but I would like for you to continue with a day or so a week, just as everyone else does. If we are attacked, your training might be the difference between life and death.”

Grinning at them, he continued, “And don’t start kicking yourselves for reminding me about pulse rifle training. We’ve been attacked here before, and, although my women saved us, with the proper training, my daughter would probably not have been shot. They were all excellent, but should that happen again, I like to think that the attack would go differently. One of my young wives, who had always been afraid of guns, put the first attacker down with one of our hidden weapons, probably saving all our lives. And, despite everything, my wives acted as a team so I could get Arlene to Ship before she died. I was foolish and took a nap in the living room with a ‘cleaning crew’ in the house, and thus allowed myself to be taken. That’s why we do our own cleaning now and we’re a lot more suspicious of strangers, and ... we’re far better prepared – thus the training.”

Ada’s face was a bit pale as she stood looking up at Jeff. “Are you certain we can do this? As I’ve already mentioned, Charlotte and I love to shoot, but ammunition costs so much that we never got to shoot as much as we wanted...”

Jeff let out a soft chuckle. “Well, you’ve seen the indoor range and the ammo bunker. It would take us a long, long time to shoot up what’s in there, and I restock it regularly, anyway. I encourage everyone that lives here to shoot all they want, and then some. We put in the best range money could buy, so there’s no use in it just sitting there. As soon as you finish your exercise in the morning, Diana and I will start you out with basic handgun training.” Before they could say anything, he quickly went on. “Oh, I know you can shoot, but I want us all to be on the same page, so we’ll start out with the basics. You might be amazed at the improvement in your shooting even after the first day.”

“‘First day’?” Charlotte repeated.

“Of five days in a row – at least,” Jeff responded. “And you won’t be just blowing ammunition away; you will be learning to fire a weapon properly – and safely, of course.”

As they were talking, Jeff had guided them off the range and toward the outer hatch. After thanking Ship, they donned their coats and made their way back to the Escalade, then on to the Retreat, mother and daughter remaining quiet, obviously deep in thought.

Worried that he might have hit the two with a little too much too soon, he escorted them to their suite with an arm around each. Inside, he took Ada, then Charlotte into his arms to gently kiss them. After telling them good night, he started to turn to go when both grabbed him. “Not just yet,” Charlotte said as she and Ada pulled him down to sit on the couch between them.

Ada nervously cleared her throat, grabbed Jeff’s hand again and said, “Diana had another talk with us this afternoon.” After leaning forward a little in order to pass a glance with her daughter, she continued as a blush flared across her face, “Despite what Diana said, we’re not ready to make love just yet.” Then going on in a rush, “but we’d like to snuggle with you a bit before you go to your wives.”

Jeff smiled as he sat back and put his arms around them, pulling them tightly against his body. “Well, Ladies, that’s not a bad chore you have set for me,” he said with humor in his voice. Then, a lot more seriously, “I’m flattered. While I’m at it, I want to say this. Both of you came here, seemingly highly reticent about ... sharing your bodies. And, Ada, I can understand that you were embarrassed because you had problems walking, but that problem has been fixed. Now, you are both young and vibrant, and ... highly desirable, not to mention very intelligent. A great catch for any man. Intelligent women attract me, and I’m a man, so good looking women do too,” he finished with a grin.

After a slight hesitation, he went on, “Little One has helped all of us, and she even saved my life after the bear attack.” At their questioning looks, he said, “A story for another day. But what I’m trying to say is that you – both of you – really turn me on. I want to make love to you, but I’m willing to go at your pace – should you ever want to accept my love. With my wives, I’m frequently quite aggressive, because they want me to be. I’m certainly not a wimp, but I am not going to assume anything between us just yet. If you two want to snuggle and maybe kiss a little, then that’s all we will do until I feel that you have given me the go-ahead to do more.” Then, since he was afraid he had sounded like that wimp he had mentioned, he warned them, “But when I think you’re ready, I’m going to screw your brains out.”

While they were still digesting that, he turned, took Ada in his arms and kissed her. Starting gently, he continued the kiss, gradually escalating it as he slipped a hand under her top. Still slowly, giving her plenty of time to object, he slid the hand up her body until he was cupping a bare breast, then a little later when he detected a change in her breathing and heartbeat, he ever so gently pulled on a nipple as his tongue danced with hers. Long moments later, he leaned back, not making any effort to conceal the exceedingly prominent bulge in his pants, knowing that she was wet and ready.

Ada shivered, almost desperately wanting to grasp his erection, but not wanting to do anything with him before her daughter did. Jeff leaned in for a second to kiss the tip of her nose. “Thank you,” he whispered.

She mumbled something, but she was never sure afterward just what it was.

Turning to Charlotte, he took her in his arms and repeated what he had done with her mother. When the kiss and fondle were over, he stood, smiled down at them, and with a soft, “Good night,” turned and walked out the door.

Embarrassed, Ada looked over at her daughter. “Would you have done him if I hadn’t been here?”

Charlotte couldn’t help it, she giggled. “Mom, if my brain would have worked, I would have ‘done him’ with you here or not. But to be truthful, I don’t remember thinking of you at all. I doubt if I had any rational thoughts, period. Oh, Mom, he’s kissed us before, but I never realized a kiss could do that. I had a small orgasm and my panties are soaked.”

Ada giggled like a teenager. “Uh ... me, too.” They sat silently for a while before she continued, “He must think we’re bitches. We left him with a roaring erection while both of us got off.”

They looked at each other while they thought about what Ada had said, then both chuckled at the same time. “Yeah, right,” Ada got out past her amusement. “He has fourteen horny women waiting for him in his bedroom. No doubt that erection is going to be put to good use in very short order.”