Chapter 25

Waking up Saturday morning in my bed at the ranch felt good, adding to my good feelings, I was going to hang out with Burt and Sam. With my gear loaded in my truck, I went into the house to let my mother know that I was heading out until Sunday evening and to have breakfast. She of course protested not knowing, as I did not tell her at dinner the night before. In the end, she relented, saying my sisters were going over to their friends for the day and she was going into town to supervise the remodeling of the house.

The drive over to Sam's went from boring to interesting as I noticed a car following me. Stopping at Sam's they continued to drive past but with my sight, I got a good look at them as well as their car and I will say that I was not impressed. The man was small and had a beard that had not seen a razor in probably twenty year. The woman wore a white dress that reminded me of a flower dress some hippies wore back in the sixties. Then of course, their car looked like it was out of the seventies with the square-boxed look. Seeing me looking at them the man scowled and turned around leaving the area.

While all of this was going on, Burt arrived from the other direction, by the time my stalkers were out of sight, he was standing next to me asking what was going on. Saying that I thought someone was following me, I gave him the rundown as we walked up to get Sam when I finished he smiled saying that if they showed up this weekend they would have a real problem.

That problem turned out to be eight teenagers out target shooting with a variety of weapons that ranged from hunting rifles to pistols to even include a couple of bows and arrows as well as crossbows and bolts. The problem with my eyes having trouble tracking differently last year at the range did not carryover to rifles or pistols. When Sam called everyone to dinner, I was feeling better about my shooting than I had earlier.

Where the shooting range was located and where we were camping was complete with a pond on the opposite side of a hill. When we got there, we discovered we had guests for dinner in the form of the property owner who happened to be the grandparents of Jason, one of the guys who invited us out to shoot. As we sat around eating and having a good time, we were told that, not only did they have a shooting range but also the pond had been stocked during the summer but that no one had done any fishing due to medical reasons. When they said good night and headed off, the eight of us made plans to fish the pond in the coming week, before the weather got to cold to fish.

Sunday was spent cleaning the area making sure we left the area in better condition than we found it in. That part was easy as the firing line was cement so picking up all the brass shell casings was done with brooms. Others did the same picking up our campsite as well as the targets. Once we were done with the cleanup, we headed home with Burt riding with me to Sam's home to get his truck. It was only after I was heading to the ranch that I remembered to turn my phone back on, when the first message popped up I laughed, as the first message was from a frantic Valerie asking what I had done to her. There were several others that were dated yesterday and as I scrolled through them, I could chart her recovery from the boost I had given her on Friday. I did not try to either text or call her back as I thought Dr. Atwater and his use of surveillance to keep track of Steve and me. I would mention to Valerie that we should limit what we included in our phone and text messages when I saw her on Monday during practice.

I got the opportunity to explain my reasoning to Valerie earlier than I thought, because she was sitting in her car waiting for me to arrive at school. Her first question after saying hello and waiting for my sisters to walk away was the same as Heather's, after I had raised her arousal and sent her home to simmer. The difference was that Heather knew that there was something different about me, especially after I fixed her knee. As far as the other stuff, I was just learning what I could do with my ability.

Valerie on the other hand had no idea what I could do, and with a year's worth of practice on my side, working on different subjects, she was putty in my hands, I could mold her, anyway I wanted.

We talked for a while in the parking lot before I started for the gym, as I got to the doors; I opened them, giving her my offer; her body for my use in exchange for what I could do for her and a trip to the dark side. I don't know if she was brave or foolish but she stepped through the door asking if I was holding the door to the dark side. All I did was smile, as I followed her in.

For the next month, life returned to something approaching normalcy without bomb threats being found on my car. After a week of following my sisters and me around school, the officers assigned to our family were pulled off for more important work. The school did get two additional SRO's, giving the school a total of two officers along with six school security officers, to cover the thirty-eight hundred students.

The one thing the officers did not do was hover over my sisters and me. I was appreciative as I had room to make friends. Since Valerie was with me every spare moment it was widely assumed that we were a couple which she did nothing to discount as it limited the rumors of our other off campus activities.

On campus, Valerie made a very good volleyball program even better with her jumps gaining on average eight inches to her vertical. So now, with her additional height in her jumps, her spikes, according to one sports writer, 'were coming down out of the rafters rendering the opponents' front line ineffective. One additional benefit for Valerie was her blocking had also improved which by the end of the season had several recruiters out of state visiting. With signing day approaching, her thinking was that she was heading to one of the coasts, saying that she wanted to enjoy summer all year long.

The rest of my life was also moving along well except that after three weeks we were back at the house in town after major repairs had been completed. The police and the ATF were no closer to catching or even identifying the bomber even with the description of the two people I had seen following me to Sam's house. Relaying to the officers the amount of detail that I had, plus the distance I reported them being, I guess that they did not believe I actually witnessed what I did. It did not matter to me; I just added their faces to my list of two certain doctors that would suffer a heart attack if our paths crossed again.

On the positive side of things, the government returned my computers still assembled but slower than my new ones. Having the two computers did cause one problem, as my sisters wanted their own. That of course was not possible as Francis and our mother were still reeling from not only buying the house but also the deductible they had to pay for the repairs. In the end, I saved the files I wanted regarding my abilities then reformatted both as I had no idea what the government did to my computers. If they did something to them and after my meeting with Dr. Atwater, I was sure they had; then it was only right that I let them follow my sisters' social calendar. Myself I set about trying to find a better program to keep my notes safe.

Money of course was not a problem, LeBois had been in contact with him and the story was that his client needed shoulder surgery. The problem was that he was terrified of the idea of someone cutting into his body. In view of what his future earnings were worth, if he could play, the million dollars he agreed to wasn't very expensive.

Therefore, two weeks after the first phone call, out at the ranch, I met my first major league baseball pitcher along with his wife. Of course, there were the mandatory attorneys for both of us who handled the contract and payment. When all of that had been done, we went out to the backyard where we sat down facing each other, taking his hand I found my focus and went to work.

The damage I discovered was bad, not as bad as Gerty's hips were with Arthritis, but there were numerous small tears and imperfections throughout the socket, while the ball was starting to show some arthritis. I had a plan, after blocking the nerves and paralyzed the muscles in his arm and shoulder; I went to work repairing a lifetime of damage throwing baseballs.

When I finished repairing the tears, along with the other damage in his shoulder, I did another look through and I found that in addition to his shoulder, which I knew about, he was also sterile from what I would later from talking to them was a childhood disease. Thinking of it as my good deed I also fixed that damage putting everything back the way it was designed by God. Then after one last look around, I released my blocks and looking at him and the wonder that appeared on his face as he tentatively rotated his shoulder without pain for the first time since his injury in May.

Picking up a couple of gloves I offered to let him try a few throws to show I had fulfilled my part of the agreement. Of the three of us in the backyard, his wife was the most moved as she had tears in her eyes as her husband threw a baseball without pain. I stopped him after a few throws saying his shoulder still needed rest after what I had done. I offered that he should return in the morning and we would see how everything looked then.

Sunday morning after breakfast out at the ranch with Valerie (she spent the night with me) the two of them returned, this time his wife had a catcher's mitt along with all the pads for a catcher. I found out later, she had been a catcher in college for her softball team. So after checking his shoulder, the four of us headed to the driveway, where the two of them stepped off the distance then threw the ball around warming up. When he pronounced himself ready, she took her position waiting. She did not have long to wait as he dug in saying that his first pitch would be a fastball. The first pitch was of course tentative which quickly changed as he realized there was no pain. When his wife proclaimed he had thrown enough of those he went through the rest of his pitches. They were a very happy couple leaving the ranch that day.

The following weekend was the Columbus Day holiday and as my friends had agreed on we were back out at Jason's grandfather's ranch doing our best to depopulate the pond before the weather got too cold for most of the fish. In addition to the five guys who could make the trip, four of us had been told by our individual girlfriends that we would be taking them with us. I did not know about the rest of them but for Valerie it was simple as she was eighteen and she could make her own decisions. I had met her parents before and they were anything but strict with her or her sisters stating that all of their children were old enough to start making their own decisions. I did not understand that at all, as the youngest was only thirteen and a seventh grader.

For the nine of us out at the pond our problem was what we were going to do with all the fish we were catching. I knew we were doing well, as we could hear the excited shouts from the others having fun. When lunchtime rolled around, we were heading back to the campsite when Valerie and I both spotted four vehicles heading up the road towards our camp. I remembered the truck that Jason's grandparents had shown up in at the range when we were there so neither of us thought anything about more people showing up at the camp.

When we arrived at the campsite we were not greeted by friends and family there for a fish feed but men with guns all wearing blazers with big lettering stating that they were with the EPA. With our fishing poles, tackle boxes and fish in hand we were met by a pair of agents who were armed with both pistols on their hips as well as automatic weapons on shoulder straps. Asking what was going on one of the agents stated that this was a raid and we were under arrest. Asking what the charges were the first agent stated charges would be pending after further investigation.

The agents were polite enough though Jason was beyond pissed and a couple other agents were telling him to settle down or they would be forced to handcuff him. With everyone in a group hearing the agents talking about handcuffing people, at his statement several girls and I hate to say it, but two guys joined them and started crying as well.

As this was not my first arrest, I ignored the gnashing of teeth of my friends and simply waited patiently waiting for whatever was next. What was next, was the agents asking for keys to our vehicles. I was the first they asked and I immediately stated that I would not give up my keys, as I had not been arrested. Of course, my refusal to turn over my keys brought out the threats of obstructing justice, I did not care and I refused. Seeing and hearing me refuse their demands gave my friends some backbone and they too refused to allow the agents to search their cars.

Of course, the agents after my speech to my friends to just say no, the agents decided they would make an example of me. They handcuffed me stating that I was under arrest for obstruction, which I did not refuse in fact I said nothing remembering what my attorney told me. Since he had his hand on me to search me, I decided that I would return the favor and I scanned him. What I discovered was that he had a pacemaker, when he put his hand in my pocket to retrieve my keys. I decided that I had had enough, instead of shorting out the battery, I made the battery discharge fully causing him to let go of me and grab his chest just before collapsing to the ground.