Grantham Academy was proving a good fit for Juris Kristaps. It was located in upstate New York and was a four year high school. Plus, a portion of it was set aside as a preparatory school for college. Juris was teaching in the preparatory portion of the academy.

Grantham was set in the countryside on one hundred acres of land that had been donated by the wealthy Grantham family. They had long contributed to the school, which easily explained the name of the academy.

Juris had a small bungalow as his housing. Part of his pay was that the academy provided him with a place to stay. Juris sat looking out the front window at the manicured landscape and shook his head.

Here was an abundance of wealth. The academy was not cheap. For students who lived close by and did not stay in the dorms, the cost was thirty thousand a year for tuition! For students who lived at the school, it cost a whopping forty seven thousand dollars a year!

Juris had had a busy time settling into his new position. Still, he thought back to the terrorists he had not finished with and frowned. He had wanted them to die in agony, but the police had arrived and had interrupted his plans.

Juris zipped up his sweatshirt, and went outside for his morning jog. He started off at a leisurely pace. He enjoyed running, and always had. It was how armies had moved in the past when they marched. It was a combination of marching and jogging. He had enjoyed it so much that he had become a messenger in several early armies.

He enjoyed the freedom running gave him, as well as the ability to think things through. It also provided him with an obvious reason to be all over the property since he wanted to get a good feel of the place where he would be spending a great deal of time.

One of the first things that Juris noted, was that security was very good at the academy. The dorms had walking and vehicular patrols at staggered times. Security was taken seriously, as only the rich and influential could afford to send and entrust the care and education of their children to the academy.

Juris had already spotted a number of discrete video cameras located in strategic locations throughout the property. Another thing that oozed money was that the entire grounds were surrounded by a stone wall, or at least the portions that housed the students and buildings, were. Still, that was a lot of wall!

The wall had sensors and cameras running its entire distance. Juris actually had been impressed with the coverage the school did of the nine foot tall wall. No one would get over that wall without setting off motion detectors and cameras, and alerting campus security.

To get into the walled area, you had to go through a gate, which was fairly well protected. Again there were guards who were armed, and they had a guardhouse that was bullet proof. Further protections were the retractable nine inch steel spikes that popped up from the ground if the guards needed them, along with a rolling barrier that weighed in at two tons, which rolled across the entire gate entrance.

Juris admired the style of the buildings as he ran along. While most buildings had been built over fifty years ago, they were all well maintained and improvements had been added over the years.

The newer buildings had stayed in the same style of architecture and had used the same building materials, so everything matched well. He looked up and smiled as he rounded a corner and saw the high school ahead of him.

It had been built on the style of a castle back in the thirties, and was three stories tall. It was easily the biggest building on campus, as it was where the most students were taught. The high school had grades 9 through 12. Juris had filled in one time only, so far. It had been an enjoyable day, actually.

He had filled in for the French teacher. He had been thrilled to note these children actually were here to learn. Actually, most of the kids at this academy were serious students. They had very few problem students at the academy.

After his morning jog, he showered and dressed. Since today was Sunday, he had no duties, with the exception of showing up for lunch at the dorm cafeteria, for the boarding students at the preparatory portion of the academy. He could eat free at the cafeterias also. All teachers could.

Still, his bungalow had a small kitchen, and he had learned to cook very well over the years. He cooked at least three meals a week at his home. American food still tasted peculiar to him, or at least the way they prepared it. Thus he cooked dishes he was more used to, and enjoyed them immensely.

While he had lunch duties today, supper was on his own if he wanted, and he was going to make roladen, with scalloped potatoes, and a nice imported German beer with it. He prepared the roladen's prior to going to lunch. He had set them in the refrigerator, so that all they would need was cooking, along with the potatoes, late this afternoon.

Eating with the students was not a hardship. He was just there in case something happened that required adult supervision, or a member of staff to act upon. He sat at the staff table with the female staff member who was on duty with him. There was always a male and female member of staff on duty, as the Academy was co-ed.

Juris was sitting with Doris Atkins for lunch. She was a good conversationalist. She was the chemistry teacher, and looked more like a beauty contestant. She was a walking advertisement of why you did not judge a person on looks alone. She was very smart in more than one subject, too. She had graduated with two majors, chemistry, and history. She had been teaching at the academy for two years.

"Juris. I find your knowledge of Europe fascinating. The way you make history come alive is a very rare talent," Doris told him.

"Thank you, Doris. These young adults make my job so much easier by being interested to begin with," Juris responded.

"It's more than that. I have audited a couple of your classes, and the way you draw everyone into what you're discussing is almost magical. How do you do it?" Doris asked with a slightly puzzled look on her face.