Chapter 160

Everyone was dead tired. This week had been a rush from Monday morning till now. I was looking forward to spending the night in Jenny's arms just having quiet talk. I knew something had been bothering her even though she had said nothing. It seemed that that invisible link between us was still active.

After our showers, we were in bed with my arms around her, talking quietly. She said, "My period started today but it has been very little - I just spotted a couple of times. I guess it is going to be light this month."

"That just means that we get to try again. You know with mother nature nothing is ever easy or goes as planned," I said.

"Yes, I know but still it is a little disappointing," she said. We held each other and drifted off to sleep. It was a good night, peaceful and restful, but then snuggled tight to Jenny it was always that way. I never had any bad dreams when I was sleeping next to her.

We were up early and everyone was fed and over to the gym at 7. I took all the folders to review all the notes from yesterday's test and interview session, since I had been here for none of it. Courtney joined me a few minutes later. The good doc promised to deliver the test results from the blood and urine tests today at 9. Based on Marcy and Jenny that test was the only thing left that would eliminate any of them for the job.

When I finish up reading a little after 8 they were all sitting at the meeting table with boxes of pastries from the donut shop and hot coffee. None of the boxes were opened.

Courtney and I pulled up a chair with them. Charles explained, "We brought the donuts and the coffee for after the treadmill run. We will need nourishment after that." I just laughed. We were going to use all four Marathoners. The last two runners were going to be joined by Courtney and me. Courtney and I had run quite a few times against each other for the best times ever since she had worked herself into a good fitness form. We always finished the mile run within seconds of each other. Today I was going to try to beat her time, for sure.

After the run I had beat Courtney by 15 seconds and the best of the applicants by 1 minute. I quietly patted myself on the back for staying in shape. I was huffing and puffing but I could have run for a while longer.

Carmine, who was working the customer window, paged me. The Doc was there with the reports from the test. He just nodded and handed me the bill to pass on to accounts payable. Yep, we had one of those now, soon to be two.

Jamie, Courtney and I along with the 10 applicants drove to the shooting range. First was target shooting with the Glock. I had decided the Glock was going to be the standard issue side arm for JBG Security along with the 870 pump shot gun and the Colt AR15. The shotgun and the 15 would be locked in the gun safe in Courtney's office along with one set of complete swat gear, for extreme emergencies only. That safe was to be locked at all times.

Each Glock was going to be issued with a security lock along with an electronic lock box that it was to be kept in, whenever it was not in the holster on your side. Jenny had already typed up a release that each person would have to sign stating that they had read and understood company policy about storage of the weapon before they would be issued one. There was a separate release and certification that they had received the mandatory fire arms training.

I was going to require that a refresher and recertification was done each year along a first aid and CPR certification by an outside contractor. The first aid and CPR was going to be required by all personal, even those working the gym and the office.

It was noon before the dozen of us has finished with the pistol practice. Courtney, the ex-military personal, the deputies and I were shooting 98%.

The other three were new to precision shooting with a semiautomatic and were at 60%. I explained that they would have to be at 98% by September 1. Courtney would have extra ammunition for them to practice as soon as she found a practice range in the Frost Borough area. I had to wait until they had passed the state's background check to issue the hand gun and the carry permit before they could wear it.

The deputy's permits were assigned to them and not the department. That meant they could be carried over to JBG. All five of the ex-military had, since their discharge, acquired carry permits on their own - another plus to hiring them.

After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon on the shotgun, rifle, tazer and pepper spray. Jamie finished the day with the shoot don't shoot course. Courtney and I were the best of the group in that. That was most likely because we had been through it several times. I was extremely disappointed that two deputies did so poorly. They were lower than the two ex-marines; apparently the sheriff's department did not do that kind of advanced training.