by J. B. Tilton
"I'm sorry," said Mariah. "But when I'm not here I'll be at my sister's house helping take care of my nephew. Now, if you would consider babysitting and giving my sister and me a chance to get out for a while I'm sure we could work out something. She spends most of her time with him and has no social life to speak of. She could really use some alone time."
"Aw, I'm not the babysitting type," said Simon. "But I can help you unwind. I'm pretty good at massages, too. Help get all those kinks out of your muscles. You'd be amazed at what these hands can do."
Mariah was about to respond when suddenly Simon rose into the air. Startled, he looked around to see Janet holding him by his belt over her head with one hand.
"I believe the lady said no," said Janet. "You should learn to listen better."
"Okay, okay, just put me down," said Simon, dangling in the air.
Janet put him down and he straightened his clothes.
"Hey, I was just trying to be friendly," said Simon.
"I appreciate that," said Mariah, trying to be amiable, "but like I said, I just don't have the time."
"He's not so bad, really," Janet whispered to Mariah. "He's even kind of cute. He just needs to be a little more subtle."
"Thanks," Mariah whispered back. "He does seem a bit persistent."
"Mariah," said Kamalene, "if you were serious about needing a babysitter, I'd be glad to help. I have 5 younger brothers who I helped to raise. The youngest just turned 16. I've got a lot of experience with young boys. Oh, that didn't come out the way I meant."
"It's okay," said Mariah, laughing. "I know what you meant. And I might just take you up on that. Susan, my sister, spends nearly all her time with Bobby. She really needs to get out and relax. I try to help but she really doesn't have any friends. If we could go out once in a while, it would sure make a big difference to her. Especially knowing Bobby is in good hands."
"Well," said Janet, "I have absolutely no experience raising young children. But I'd be glad to help, too. Maybe Kamalene and I could babysit together while you and your sister go have a night on the town?"
"I'll talk to Susan and see what she says," said Mariah. "She's always so worried about Bobby. I'm afraid she's going to make herself sick."
"Well, it is a fact that if you don't relax once in a while you can have physical ailments," said Jeremy, walking over to the group. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop but it wasn't hard to hear what you were talking about."
"That's okay, Dr. Sloan," said Mariah. "It's not like it's a big secret or anything."
"Good," said Jeremy. "Anyway, if you sister stays tensed up all the time there can be some very real, very serious physical side effects. I would imagine having a son as ill as Bobby produces a lot of stress. And stress can produce a whole litany of illnesses. I think it would be good for her to get away and unwind once in a while."
"You should listen to him," said Janet. "He's a doctor."
"I'm away of that," said Mariah, smiling at the joke. "But she doesn't seem to unwind even on the few occasions she's able to get away. Bobby needs constant attention and she's always afraid whoever is watching him may not really understand the seriousness of his condition."
"Well, I spoke to my pediatric friend this morning," said Jeremy. "He said he'd be glad to look at Bobby and see what he can do. I have an idea. Why don't you let Kamalene and/or Janet take Bobby to see my friend? That will give you and your sister some time to get away and she would know that he'd be with the person best qualified to understand his condition."
"Well, I think she'll want to be there to discuss any treatment options or change in medications or anything like that," said Mariah.
"Which they discuss at another meeting," said Jeremy. "The first appointment will be a simple examination and reviewing Bobby's medical history. She doesn't need to be there for that. And she can discuss any concerns she has with him at the next appointment. Dr. Crandall seemed quite interested in the case. And he'll take very good care of Bobby, I can tell you that. He only works with small children and he's very good."
"Okay," said Mariah. "I'll talk to Susan about it. Maybe we can actually get out and enjoy ourselves for a change."
"Okay, everybody," said Scarborough, speaking loud enough to get everyone's attention, "we'll need to be going into the training room and getting started now. I'll warn you it's going to be intense. You're getting a crash course in training that every agent with Homeland Security gets. Don't be concerned how well you do. This training is just to acquaint you with procedures and law you may need while working for Homeland Security. Agent Alania and I will be around to help you later if you need it."
"Agent Alania?" questioned Jeremy.
"Yeah," said Kamalene, pulling out identification that identified her as an agent of Homeland Security. "Secretary Napolitano said I wasn't a maintenance worker anymore. I was an actual agent since I'd be going out into the field. I'll need some additional training but they're going to let me do a lot of it OJT. It's kind of weird. When I first came here I considered trying to become an agent but always figured I'd never qualify."
"Well, congratulations," said Jeremy. "Just goes to show you that you never know what type of qualifications the government may be looking for."
"I just hope I measure up," said Kamalene. "A lot of agents don't make it. Some even wash out during training."
"Which I'm sure happens in every branch of the government," said Janet. "Don't worry, honey. You'll do fine. Probably better than Simon over there."
"He may just surprise you," said Jeremy.
They all laughed as they entered the training room to start their training.
Jeremy stood up and tapped a spoon against his glass which produced a "clanking" sound that immediately caught everyone's attention. They all became quiet as they waited for him to speak.
They were gathered in a restaurant in Georgetown. The owner of the restaurant was a friend of Jeremy's and had rented the private room to them for the evening. Their training was finally over and they had all gathered for celebratory dinner. And to find out how they had done on the training.
"Attention, everyone," said Jeremy. He waited until they had all become quiet. "Well, training is finally over. It's been a grueling three weeks. I know you've all worked hard and you are to be commended. Richard and I will be meeting with Secretary Napolitano in a few days to discuss our first assignment. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up I can't really tell you when our first assignment will be. But you'll be informed as soon as we know. Richard."
Scarborough stood up and briefly looked over some papers he had sitting in front of him before he spoke.
"Well," he said, "the instructors told me that some of you," he glanced briefly at Simon, "could have been a little more serious about the training. But, all in all, they said you all did pretty well. Not as good as regular agents but that was to be expected. Regular agents get a lot more time to absorb the information put out to them. The instructors did say that all things considered, they felt you were as well trained as you could be."
"Yeah, but did we pass?" asked Simon. Everyone chuckled.
"It wasn't that type of training," said Scarborough. "There was no pass or fail. The training was just to acquaint you with laws and procedures you'll be exposed to while you're working for Homeland Security. All of the instructors felt you all did reasonably well and that you absorbed as much of the training as could be expected in such a short amount of time."
"So we passed," said Simon, smiling coyly at Scarborough.
"Yeah, you passed," said Scarborough, a look of annoyance on his face. "Now, as Jeremy said, we'll be meeting with Secretary Napolitano in a few days to discuss how the training went and your first possible assignment. For the rest of you, however, you've all earned a rest. So, for the foreseeable future, you can all take some well-deserved time off. I suggest you enjoy it. It's going to be over before you know it."
Everyone gave themselves a round of applause. Jeremy looked at the group reali
zing that most of them had bonded quite well during the training. There had been some moments of tension but that was expected when working with groups of people. But they had been minor and had quickly worked themselves out.
"I also have some good news," said Jeremy, looking over at Mariah. She just nodded to him. "I heard from Dr. Crandall yesterday. He's very pleased with the prognosis for Bobby's treatment. He thinks Bobby will respond well and they're planning to begin treatment within the next couple of weeks. I can also tell you that Susan has been very grateful for all the help you all have provided for her. I can tell you she's much more relaxed than when I first met her and she's doing quite well."
Again, they all clapped. They had all been over to visit Susan and Bobby during the last weeks and all of them had instantly been taken with the young boy. He was very personable and seemed to relish the attention paid to him.
Even Simon seemed to get along well with him, despite his insistence that he wasn't good with small children. In fact, Simon and Bobby seemed to get along even better than Bobby did with the rest of the group.
"That's probably because mentally they're the same age," Janet had joked to Mariah as they had watched Simon and Bobby trying to piece together some toy Simon had gotten him.
"Hey, Conrad," said Simon, "how are the headaches? Still peeking into people's brains without asking?"
Simon was joking and they all knew it. He and Conrad had become good friends even considering the age difference. And Conrad had progressed remarkably well during their training. He was at the point where he rarely got unwanted information from the people around him, although on occasion things would still "seep" in, as he put it.
"Are you sure you really want to go there?" Conrad asked back, smiling at his friend. "You know, we all have things we'd rather keep secret. It'd be a real shame if something . . . embarrassing should 'accidentally' get out."
"Oh," said Simon, a look of mock surprise on his face. "Let's just forget I asked."
Everyone laughed. It was becoming a running gag with the group. Simon would pretend to mock Conrad for his lack of control over his ability and Conrad would counter by implying he would tell all of Simon's deepest, darkest secrets. In truth, the two actually respected each other a great deal. And everyone knew that neither was actually serious about the veiled "threats" they made.
"Agent Scarborough," began Frank.
"You know," interrupted Scarborough, "we'll all been together for a while now. I think we can dispense with some of the formalities at least when we aren't in public. We're going to be working pretty closely together in the future. I hope we can all become friends. Why don't you make it Richard?"
"Okay, Richard," replied Frank. "I was just wondering. You keep saying we're going to be investigating terrorists. Does that mean we'll all be going as a group? It strikes me that if we all show up at the same time it might actually spook people. A small army to investigate one or two people?"
"Actually, Jeremy and I will probably be doing most of the initial contacts," said Scarborough. "Depending on the situation we might take one of you with us. It's only after we've identified a possible threat with special talents that the rest of you will become involved and then that will be on case by case basis. Those best qualified to deal with the threat will be assembled. There's no way to really tell how often you will all be working together. Some of you will probably be needed more than others. It all depends on the given situation."
"So some of us may not even be needed," said Wil.
"I doubt that," said Scarborough. "You may not be needed as much as some others but I'm sure you'll all be needed at one time or other. We wouldn't have picked you if we didn't think your skills were going to be needed on occasion."
"You know," said Jeremy, "we've all been working very hard these past few weeks. And this is supposed to be a celebratory dinner. We'll all supposed to relax and enjoy ourselves. We're not supposed to be talking 'shop', as it were. I know you all still have questions. But in my professional opinion the best thing we can all do now is to just forget about the training and the upcoming missions and all of that. Just enjoy yourselves and have a good time."
"I'm for that," said Simon. "Maybe one of these lovely ladies will finally break down and realize I'm not such a bad guy after all. I can show you a real good time if you just give me the chance."
Janet picked up her glass of water and spoke just before she took a drink.
"Speaking of breaks," she said, "I don't think it would be much of a good time having a date from a hospital bed."
"Whoa, tough room," said Simon.
As she sipped her water everyone just laughed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jeremy and Scarborough sat in Secretary Napolitano's office. As usual, General Porter was there. He was currently going over some files that were the personnel files of the team. From the look on his face, he wasn't happy with what he was reading.
"Assistant Director Scarborough, Dr. Sloan," began Napolitano, "I understand the training for your team is finished. And the reports I've gotten are somewhat promising. Your team seems to mesh well. And they did reasonably well during the training, according to the instructors."
"Thank you, Madam Secretary," said Scarborough. "They've worked very hard. I think you'll find they'll be quite effective once they've learned to work together."
"Which is problematical at best," interjected Porter.
"General," said Jeremy, "you seem to have been against this idea from the very beginning. Mind if I ask what you have against these people?"
Porter just looked at Napolitano. Privately, he had expressed his reservations about collecting private citizens to do what he viewed as a military objective. He did understand that they needed specialized people for the job. He just wasn't convince that a "mish mash", as he put it, of civilians was the way to go. Napolitano nodded to him.
"First of all, doctor," said Porter, "none of these people are professionals. Oh, I know some of them are professionals in their field. But they aren't professional law enforcement. Or soldiers. They haven't had the necessary training to instill in them the level of discipline needed for an operation of this type."
"Most of them have plenty of discipline," said Jeremy. "You might be surprised just how much discipline it takes to keep something hidden that you're afraid people might ridicule you for. Or worse."
"I meant the type of discipline it takes to follow orders," said Porter. "I'm a military man. I have been for 27 years. My perspective is from a military viewpoint. Soldiers obey orders because they're trained to do so. They have to obey orders without question or lives are put at risk. To be perfectly frank, doctor, I'm not sure any of these people have that kind of discipline."
"In all fairness, general, this isn't exactly a military operation," said Jeremy. "If it were, civilians wouldn't have been brought into it."
"That's true," said Porter. "But look at the group you've put together." He opened one of the files and read from it. "Williard Barnes."
"He prefers Wil," said Jeremy.
"Fine, Wil Barnes. He robs banks for a living. And this one. Simon Rowe. A professional burglar. He's never worked a day in his life. And Conrad Miles. When you found him he was wandering around food courts eating leftover food people had left behind. Our psychologists tell me he exhibits signs of personality disorders that could potentially make him unstable. You're telling me this is the best we have to offer for fighting terrorism?"
"As for Conrad," said Jeremy, "your psychologists are making a diagnosis based on a file. They've never actually spoken with him. And under the circumstances, I might also make the same diagnosis. But I've worked with Conrad on a daily basis for several weeks. I can tell you the file you have on him is not complete. He's a very stable, grounded person. His problems stemmed from his inability to control his special talent, which, I might add, he wasn't even aware he had until I met him."
"What about this one? Mariah Shepherd. She's more concerned for her
sister and nephew than she is helping us. Can you guarantee she won't flake out on you in a critical moment because there's a problem that arises with her nephew?"
"Of course not," said Jeremy. "Anymore than anyone can guarantee the actions of another person. I realize that you're used to giving orders and having them obeyed without question. But no one can really guarantee the actions of another person. And no one is responsible for the actions of another person. All I can do is give you my professional opinion that these people will be there for us when we need them."
"I must admit, doctor," said Napolitano, "I do share some of the concerns of General Porter. Although I'm not as suspicious as he is. But it's his job to be suspicious. According to the reports they seem to get alone well. I'm just concerned how they may react in the field, so to speak. And even you must admit there are a couple of them who don't seem to exactly be team players."
