Dark as Daylight Ch. 21B

Frank did as he was told, never seeing the Colonel flipping a switch by his chair. When Frank reached his mark, he turned and proceeded back towards the patio. He grabbed the handle, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. He stepped inside, closed the door, and that was the last thing he remembered. Eight beams of electrical energy hit him at his ankles, knees, hips, and chest, at 25,000 Volts each. He was lifted off the floor, for three seconds before his body lay down on the ground, with a thud.

Lucius said, "Carl check his heart."

Carl rushed over with a stethoscope already in his ears. Mel was charging the defibrillator, just in case it was needed.

Carl said, "Give me a glass of water please; he is fine."

After dropping a little water on McTier's face, Carl placed the glass at his lips and let him sip a little.

Frank exclaimed, "What the fuck hit me?"

Paul said, "We only gave you a love tap. We hit you with eight 25,000-volt tasers, and only 2 of them hit you in the chest. We have 22 more scattered around the patio for very surly guests. Those vary from 100,000 volts to 250,000 volts. The colonel's home is ultra secure."

"God, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to walk after the ones that hit my ankles."

"If you can't, you are going to miss a great meal, right Carl?"

"You betcha, sergeant."

"Are you going to start cooking soon?"

"I've already started. The venison is being smoked, the salmon is being poached, the wild vegetables are in the oven, and everything will be on the table in one hour and 12 minutes."

"Excellent Carl, it will take the Colonel that long to get there."

Lucius pulled his sidearm from under his blanket and put a hole in the decking two inches to the right of Paul's left foot."

Everyone on the patio jumped for cover except Paul.

He said, "What did I tell you about your temper, dad?"

"When my leg heals I am going to take my rifle and shove it up your ass, Paul."

"Will you be able to find the opening, sir?"

Lucius pointed his weapon again and Paul shouted, "If you squeeze the trigger, I'm going to put you to bed without dinner. Then I'm going to explain to these gentlemen what your plans are. I am going to tell them that you are out of your mind, and mentally incompetent to see them through. Do we understand each other, DAD!"

The way Paul said the word 'dad' shook every timber in the house.

Lucius still had the gun pointed at the ground, but as he looked at Paul he knew he was not joking with him. He released the firing mechanism and placed the weapon back underneath the blanket.

"Excellent choice, dad."

"I didn't have a choice, Paul. You didn't give me one. If you would, please have these two gentlemen follow me into the house and we will commence our business. I am mentally competent to do this, am I correct, my son?"

"I believe so. I will read the legal papers closely later, just to be sure you stay on, or close to the dotted line."

"You are getting to be one cocky son of the bitch."

"I have to be, I'm taking care of the biggest son of a bitch on this planet. Gentlemen, if you will follow us, you can begin your business. In 40 minutes you will stop and prepare for lunch. Mel, would you help Mr. McTier inside, please."

"Of course, Sergeant."

Paul transferred Lucius from his recliner to his wheelchair with the gentlest of care.

Lucius said, "Why can't you be like that all the time?"

"I am, you are just too damn orny to realize it."

"I think I don't like you, Paul. I put up with you, but I think I don't like you."

"If that's the case, Colonel, all you have to say is 3 little words, 'You are fired', and I'll be out of your hair forever. I will admit I will miss the abuse I put up with every day, but I'll get used to it in 20 or 30 years, while I am spending your money."

"SERGEANT, you will never get that lucky while you're alive."

"I thought not. Are you cold?"

"I am; could I have a sweater please?"

"Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard, today?"

"Army, asshole."

"One day, you are going to shock me into unwrapping one of those other sweaters. 3 four-star generals, 2 vice-president, 2 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 3 SecDefs, 2 SecStates, sent to you, and they lay there waiting for you to grow up."

"Why don't you wear one?"

"They are size extra small, Colonel. I don't think they were meant for a man my size."

"Where is my gun, damn it?"

"I took it away from you, dad."

"Now I am sure I don't like you."

"Me too."

"You too, what?"

"What you said."

"What did I say?"

"I don't remember."

"When I get well I want you to remember these two words, Paul: Push-ups."

"Dad, that is one word separated by a hyphen."

"Well, you will be doing them between dawn and dusk."

"Remember unit policy, sir. 'The officer issuing the punishment will do one repetition for every three repetitions done by the enlisted person.' When was the last time you did 500 push-ups, leg lifts, pull-ups, squats..."?

"Stop, I get the message, Paul. Let's try this one on for size: I will fire three rounds at 1000 yards, and you get to catch them with your teeth. You get to fire 10 rounds at the same distance, and I will catch them with my teeth. Of course, I go first."

Frank said, "Can I be the alternate in both of your Wills. You two are the weirdest set of friends I have ever met, and I have met a lot of them in the Judge Advocate General's Corp. I thought they were out of their minds, but now I know I was a pussy."

Everyone laughed.

As they took their seats around the table, Lucius said, "I want every word of this meeting recorded. This way when you write it down I can make sure it was the way I wanted it."

Drake Hamel said, "It will not only be recorded, Colonel, you will be able to watch yourself say it. These new iPads are very handy."

"Very good, then let's begin. Paul, we are not to be disturbed, until it's time to get ready for lunch."

"Yes sir."

With that, Paul closed the massive wooden doors that sealed off the room and turned off the listening devices. When the boss wanted privacy that is what he got.

He went into the attic and began transmitting over secure satellite frequencies that this site would be unmanned until a suitable replacement could be found. Central station would send out the appropriate code to let everyone know if it was operational on a permanent, or temporary basis and when.

As soon as he received the acknowledgments from Alaska, Pacific, and Hawaii Command, he began shutting down all the microwave transceiver devices located at his position. He did not turn off the ULF long line receiver. He transferred control of them to Alaska command.

He began boxing up everything in heavy steel crates. This was all preplanned. He didn't have to move one delicate control panel. There were no wires running along the floor. They ran between the floorboards, encased in steel tubes to protect them from fires. Each delicate unit sat on its fireproof desk. The desk and control unit were set in steel boxes, which was numbered for identification purposes. Paul found each matching numbered box, which had all the necessary hardware attached to them. He opened them to enclose the for sides of the equipment, used a 20-volt nut-driver to attach it to the base. He inserted the top and put it into place. Each box was pre-addressed to a live person somewhere in the United States. This could be checked by anyone using Google, instead of trying to tear each box apart, because you didn't have the right equipment.

He had himself moving in a fine rhythm, when lunch interrupted him. It was worth it, because Carl put out a wonderful spread. He wondered how Carl would outdo himself for dinner tonight, but that was not his problem.

Lucius had not been speaking for two minutes before Drake and Frank's voices in unison said, "You're going to do WHAT?"

"Gentlemen, if you are going to stop me when I'm explaining the easy stuff, when we get to the complicated stuff, Jemma is going to die before I give her my heart."

Frank McTier said, "You're not joking, Colonel, you really mean to give her your heart. You know you can't live on the bypass machine for more than four days, don't you?"

"Yes, Mr. McTier, I am well-aware of that restriction, but I will not be on the bypass machine. I will be using Jemma's weakened heart to keep me alive, while Jemma gets stronger using my heart."

Drake said, "We are going to have to remove your heart, while we are over Canadian airspace. We will need a Canadian judge, attorney, and what passes for a Notary Public to certify all the paperwork is legal. I know this is a foolish question, but do you have a fax machine that works?"

"I think you will find everything you need here in this house, in all three of our vehicles, and both of our aircraft. We have an arrangement with Federal Express at the local airport to print out anything that comes for us. They are to print it out, put it in an envelope, and seal it, without looking at what it involves. They call us, and we rush down and get it. If it is picked up in less than one hour from transmission time, the person who noticed it was for us and made the call gets $1000."

"With your redundancy Colonel, they must not get too many chances to make money."

"You are incorrect again Mr. Hamel. We will send test messages at any time of day. I love the ones we send at 2 o'clock in the morning to see if they are on the ball, and not sleeping the night away. They get very upset with themselves when they realize a message has been sitting on the fax machine for 30 minutes and it is for us. They know it's going to take us at least 35 to 40 minutes to get dressed, preflight the helicopter, and fly to the airport.

I make sure that Paul is already at the airport having his coffee and early morning snack, while the Federal Express agent is listening at his door hoping to hear a helicopter throttling down so he can make a little money."

McTier clapped his hands together. "Col., you are downright evil. I would have loved to serve with you."

Paul walked into the room with a ring of keys and stopped short.

"Frank, if you ever say that again, I will kill you. No one wants to serve with him except if you're going into battle. If it's peace time he kills you, and you wish you were dead every day of your life. If it's wartime, you will follow him anywhere because you will get home whole. I fucking hate the man's guts, but I don't have a bullet mark on me, and it's because of his training. You never go through training using dummy bullets. You always go through training using live fire. I believe we shot three captains, five lieutenants, one major, and one bird colonel, because they couldn't read and walked into a live fire exercise area before we could shut them down."

Lucius laughed. "They all received letters of discommendation, didn't they Paul?"

"Gen. Stevenson really got his ass bit by the board of inquiry, Colonel. We had our signs up everywhere that we were having a live fire drill, and to keep out. The scorekeepers were there, with their white hats on. We had eight ambulances sitting on the south side. You don't have ambulances at a training session if you using dummy rounds."

"It was fun, but he was on the board that decided my fate as a full Col."

"Everyone knew he was getting even with you, and his friends on the board went along with him. At this moment, you could buy and sell him, his wife, and three daughters into slavery, without batting an eyelash."

"Don't give me ideas, Paul. How do you know he has three daughters?"

"I googled him. He mows his own lawn with a tractor, and from the farthest point of his land to a perfect shot in the head, with a rubber bullet, would take less then two seconds flight time."

"How long have you been planning this, Paul?"

"Ever since he retired, sir. I did not want the Federal Government involved in an investigation. I waited until he became a civilian. I installed the security system in his home and made sure all five of them knew how to use it properly. They were very happy with me. I take care of the people I am responsible for sir, and as far as I was concerned, he was a dead man. All I needed was your okay, and you hadn't said the word yet."

"The word is given, but it is on hold until I am well again, Paul. I don't care if it's five days from now or five years from now. I want to enjoy it, when you tell me, he fell off his tractor,and hit his head on a rock."

"Thank you, sir, I understand. Shall I cut your heart out now, you don't seem to need it."

"Paul, get out of here so we can finish our business."

"Your leg must be bothering you, big time. You are so grumpy lately."

"Out Sergeant."

"Should I bring you a lollypop to bring up your sugar level, dad?"

"No, just bring your jaw down about 3 feet so I can hit it."

"Remember, dad, I have broken casts with my bare hands before, and they were on me. Just think of what I could do with the tiny one that is on your leg?"

"Stand at attention, soldier. About turn. Forward march. Open the door on your way out and take the stairs on your way down."

As the door closed behind him, Paul picked up a heavy piece of furniture, and dropped it over the railing. It made quite a racket when it hit, and so did Paul screaming and yelling, as he ran down the stairs to join the conflagration.

Mel and Carl ran out of the kitchen area to see if they could help Paul in his time of need. As they hovered over him he said, "Argue with the Col., tell him I'm dead and one of you wants my job because it pays more money."

"But you're not dead, and he'll fire me," said Carl.

Paul replied, "I write your fitness reports. Do you know how close to being fired you are?"

"Yes Sgt., I do."

"Learn how to follow orders and do as I tell you to do Mel."

Frank, and Drake ran out of the meeting room to see what had happened. Seconds later, Lucius wheeled himself out of the room to see Paul lying on top of the broken furniture downstairs.

Mel took Paul's arm and looked up to the second floor. "I'm sorry Colonel, he must have hit his head on the way down, he is gone. Can I have his job. I'm better than Carl is, and Paul's job pays more money than my current position. Give me his job now, or I am going to quit."

Lucius was about to say something when Carl jumped in.

"I am closer to getting my helicopter pilots license then he is. I can do almost as much as Paul did, but not as well, yet! I will learn, and I will study harder than ever before. Give me Paul's job, and you will never be sorry. I want his job. If you give it to Mel, you will have to replace me, because I will not work under that idiot. He is just too weird to work with."

"You 2 assholes couldn't do Paul's job if I gave you the book to cheat from. As of wheels up tomorrow you will both report to central station for reassignment. If you wish to quit that is your prerogative. Why Paul kept you two on is beyond me."

Paul opened his eyes and smiled. "I kept them on, because they make me look great. You have to work hard to look good around me you 'Officer', you."

Lucius screamed, "You are supposed to be dead. Why aren't you dead?"

"I wanted to find out if you would miss me or not. Now I know you will miss me when I'm gone, and my life's work is complete."

"Sgt. you better be alive when I come out of stasis. When I am well, I'm going to take you apart piece by piece."

"Sir, the last time you tried that you had to go to the orthopedist for three months to have your back and leg put back into alignment. I am still 18 years younger than you are. Are you sure you want to spend the last days of your natural life hooked up to a machine that is stretching you back into alignment?"

"You were stupid enough to fall over the railing, Sergeant. Anyone stupid enough to do that can be taken apart."

"Do you really believe I fell over the railing, Sir? Or is there a piece of furniture missing from along the wall on the second floor? I might have picked it up and thrown it down to the first floor making a great deal of noise. A doctor did not perform an autopsy on me. A young Sergeant gave me the inexperience of a postmortem. Is lunch ready Mel? I am really hungry."

"As soon as the table is finished being set, food will be served."

"Okay, Frank, Drake, if you will push the Colonel to the elevator, and send him down here I will help him out of it. You two will not fit in it with the wheelchair. Use the stairs please."

"What happens if he gets stuck in the elevator, while he is in the chair?"

"Okay, you have just voiced my favorite dream, but the Colonel wouldn't care. To him it would be just like being a spotter for an advanced group, and he wouldn't move, sneeze, or make any adjustment to his position. It's all part of his training."

"Thank you, Paul, you had a chance to gut me with a knife, but instead you praised the training techniques I taught everyone in our division. It saved many a life and gave us great advantages on the field of battle."

"I did not lie, sir. I told him exactly what you would do, because it was the same thing you taught all of us. Even though we hated you for teaching it to us, we learned, we trained ourselves to it, and it worked. None of us who made it through that dreadful time will ever forget you for it."

"Are you trying to make me cry, Sergeant?"

"There is not a chance in the world of that happening, sir."

"Colonel, Lawyers, Senior Chief Master Sgt., and sergeants, lunch is served."

Drake asked Frank, "Are all military men made weird, or are they born that way?"

"After listening to Lucius and Paul talk to one another, you have to ask me a question like that? Paul was probably a snot-nosed kid when Lucius dug his claws into him, and to date, he hasn't taken them out. It's the same thing you do to the junior lawyers, day in, and day out, only they get paid more."

"I am not that bad."

"Ask them."

"It's for their own good."

"I am sure the colonel would agree with you 100%."

"I am beginning not to like you Frank."

"Nothing new there, Drake."

"I am almost sure I don't like you."

"Didn't we hear a conversation like this a little while ago?"

"I knew it sounded familiar."

"Dinner is getting cold."

"I thought it was lunch?"

"Who cares, I'm hungry."

2. Gemma Gets Ice Cream.

Dr. Braverman said, "Fuck, I didn't expect this to happen. She's become anemic. We are giving her everything possible to boost her blood count levels, and her red count is going down. I need four units of blood, Kaynie. Please call the blood bank for 4 units of O Negative right now."

William said, "Manolo, there is no need to send out for blood. Gwen, Patty, Stefano, Patrick, dad, and I are here. Jim and all our agents are within a stone's throw of this house. I will vouch for each one of them as being drug-free. Each of them knows their blood type and they carry all their identification cards in case of emergency. If you want blood, you can get it right here."

"I can go along with that, William. Kaynie, please set up four chairs in the lounge. We are going to draw four units of blood at one time, and then we will give them to Mrs. Zabo as quickly as she can take it, through the Heart-Lung system."

"Doctor, I think you should check with Matti. All that new blood might put too much pressure on the back of Mrs. Zabo's heart, and it could spring a leak."

"Good thinking, Kaynie, let's pull the blood anyhow. We may have to remove some of our patient's blood, while infusing her with the new blood."

"Honestly Doctor, I like that idea better."

"I'm still going to get her input on this."

"I won't disagree with that at all."

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