Chapter 19: Prima cord?

West Seattle Shelter, Sunday after the battles:

John awoke on his back with Jenny’s arm over his chest. Her pillow was over his shoulder with her head on it. Jenny was enjoying the warmth John was generating. She was touching him with every skin surface possible. John asked himself what he was seeing while on his back. He was quite certain whatever he was seeing was only eight to nine inches above his nose. He slowly extracted himself from Jenny.

“You’re taking my heat away.” Jenny opens one eye.

“I need to check on something before we get too many people in the way,” John said.

“What’s your concern?” Jenny asked.

“I think somebody has the church set to blow up.” John said, “Possibly our baby doctor in Bellevue.”

“Bellevue?” Jenny asked.

“Yeah.” John said, “Going to make some coffee.”

“I’ll be there before it’s done.” Jenny said, “John, Wow! My body is still tingling.”

“I love you more than I thought was possible.” John kissed Jenny. He was concerned last night that the bed might break apart, “I’m glad I could please you.” John’s smile said it all as the two looked at each other rubbing noses.

John stepped into his shoes and made his way to the kitchen after a pit stop. Coffee was made. John poured himself a cup. Took his first sip before he even sat down, “Why you up General?” John noticed it was just 5:00 AM.

“I have this uneasy feeling something is not right.” General Franks said.

“I’ve been seeing a vision of laying on my back looking at something eight to nine inches away.” John stated, “Do you know what prima cord looks like?”

“No, it’s something the engineers use in blowing things up.” General Franks said.

“I do!” Came from John’s Lazy Boy chair.

Both men looked towards John’s chair. It did look like someone was in it and covered with a blanket. The motor in the chair was running bringing the chair to a sitting position, “I’ve used it.” Gary Wisner said. Noel was draped over her husband.

“Why did you sleep in the chair?” John asked.

“I just wanted to try out your chair. The next thing I heard was voices.” Gary said.

“I was so proud of him; I didn’t have the heart to wake him up.” Noel giggled, “So I cuddled.”

“We have some clues that the church has been wired to blow up,” John said.

“With Prima Cord?” Gary was looking for his shoes, “Look under the pews. That would make the most sense.”

“Part of my vision that I keep seeing is me laying on my back on the floor and I’m looking at this wire eight to ten inches away,” John said.

“Under the Pews.” Gary was heading for the door. John stood up with a coffee cup and followed behind. Everyone awake did also.

When Jenny came out of the Women’s room, her son Frank was heading into the Men’s room. They said good morning to each other. Jenny waited until Frank came out. “Frank come with me please, we may have a problem in the church.”

“Okay, mom!” Frank had fallen asleep at one of the tables last night. Johnny had awoken him, and he went to his room falling into bed. He was sound asleep before his head hit the pillow, “Let me get some coffee.”

“Okay, come over ASAP please.”

“I will mom!” While Frank fixed his coffee and took a big sip Bill and Curtis came out.

“What’s up, Major?” Bill said then giggled.

“Just because I saved the planet with a few friends, I’m still your brother.” All three boys laughed which in turn woke up a couple of others. This started a chain reaction that brought over sixty of the shelter members to the church.

Gary laid on his back and slide under the last row of pews. He slid forward-looking under another row. He went one more row. The light green Prima Line was unmistaken. Somebody wanted it heard at the Space Needle three and a half miles away. Possibly part of the church roof could hit it. He continued to slide under until he spotted a fuse box. He slid sideways until he could see clearly what he was doing. He carefully removed the lid, but before he turned it off Gary noticed a 14-gauge paired wrapped wire. He followed it to his right and saw nothing. He turned his head to the left and saw another black box, “John.”

“Yes, Gary?”

“Sit on this pew please.” When John had done that Gary slid so he could sit up and talk to him.

“What have you found?” John asked. Jenny was sitting beside him drinking her cup of coffee.

“This had to be done by an expert.” Gary wiped the sweat from his forehead, “If I were a betting man, I would bet everything I have on us blowing ourselves up. Who have we pissed off?”

“Quite possibly the secret Space Program was living off Trillions of Dollars. Maybe even ten trillion or more.” John looked at Gary, “Can we do it? What happens if it goes off?”

“Let yourself imagine a twelve-gauge shotgun pointing at the backdoor. You know you have to go through that door to save your loved ones. So, you open the door only to find a string that has been tied to the trigger of that shotgun. The way you find out is, you now have a big round hole in your belly. Big enough to see your backbone.” Gary thought for a minute, “If it goes off parts of this church is going to be scattered all over Seattle. Maybe as far as the Space Needle.”

“What if we call up the Seattle Police?” Jenny asked.

“Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in one of the “Lethal Weapon Movies” Mel cuts the wrong wire and blows the building up. They get out alive. We cut the wrong wire or cut it out of sequence we’re dead.” Gary said, “FYI there are several types of Prima Cord and Prima Line. What I’m seeing is the most explosive. Lay it on the ground and set it off, you have yourself a ditch four feet deep and eight feet across at the top and you will wonder where all the dirt went.”

“The scenario is not the shotgun behind the door. We can see both sides of the door.” General Franks was standing behind the pew that Gary and John were sitting on.

Gary looked down the end of the pew towards the wall, “Major Frank, is there a small black box on the end?”

“Yes, Captain!” Frank said. He had heard the Lethal Weapon story.

“On this pew, there is another box on the other end. There is also another box under us. There is a set of two wires connecting the three boxes. The only time I’ve ever seen that was in a set up where once the switch on the timer was turned on it was live and anything to turn it off set it off.” Gary wiped his forehead again. Noel had found him a work towel. In the Air Force, Gary’s Military job was explosives. Gary had saved a life, got a promotion, and a metal that he wasn’t able to talk about plus a career path choice. He picked jets. He passed barely got his training then the first time in a war zone got taken out with a handheld rocket as he took off.

John was talking aloud, “I wonder if I could send them to the moon, no, I’ll send them to the sun.” After three attempts Jenny giggled, John smiled, and the others in the church all started breathing again. The first set of pews was clear without any loud bangs.

Sunday Morning Church Service:

The ships started arriving a little after 8:00 AM. The door to the shelter was hardly closed when someone else was opening it. Captain Lloyd from Houston arrived with 114 ships at 8:17 AM. Another group of seven from Chicago also came in a few minutes after Lloyd’s group. The group from Hawaii was next. Then Captain Tillerson from Oregon also arrived with 19 ships just before 8:30 AM.

John realized there was not going to be enough seating in the church. All the extra chains from the shelter were taken up. Another two hundred were obtained through the Star Gate.

As the Taylor family was having Steak and Eggs for breakfast Frank asked an interesting question, “Dad could one of our AI’s have a glitch in its programming?”

“What kind of glitch Frank?” John asked.

“Rick Wisemen shot over three hundred times at the Little Grays yesterday. Bell the AI reported he had zero hits. The other gunner on Bell also shot over three hundred times and had a 99% hit ratio.”

“Could the sights be off?” General Franks asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I used that laser just before Rick and for 100 shots had a 100% hit ratio.” Frank said.

“Why did you grab a laser and shoot when you were in charge?” General Franks asked.

“I needed to give my men a few seconds to get into position, Sir.” Frank defended.

The General looked around at all the smiling faces. He finally put his head in his right hand.

“One hundred hits in two and a half minutes,” Johnny said in wonder having heard it before and thought it might be a mistake.

John thought it might be fun to find out what the General was thinking, “General are you all right?”

“I was just thinking if I dared to make him a Lt. Colonel?” General Franks smiled and shook his head.

“Sir, does it pay more?” Frank Taylor asked with a smile as he winked at his dad.

Jenny was thinking, “Well the almost three million in the bank didn’t seem to affect Frank negatively.”

“I didn’t think you were in it for the money?” General Franks asked his namesake.

“I’m not Sir. To fly around this Milky Way Galaxy at light speed is worth all the gold on Earth.”

“I’ll make sure that happens.” General Franks said as he got up, “Oh by the way the ladies got God to supply ball caps for all the guys. This is what your Battalion Insignia looks like.” There was a black ball cap with a round 3” decal on the front of the cap showing a little man throwing a spear of light through a ship. Letters all around SPACE FORCE 1ST BATTALION. Under the round decal was SPACE CADET. Under that was the gold pin signifying Major. Frank picked it up and turned it around, on the back was also US SPACE FORCE. He picked it up and it fit perfectly. The smile grew until it covered his face.

General Franks knew about Frank’s beginning. Seeing tears in his eyes and a great big smile on his face made up for a whole lot of bad.

Where’re the hats, Sir?

“Over by the Exit door to the shelter in a big box.”

There was an evacuation from the tables as the other cadets moved towards the box.

“Going for Coffee General?”

“Yes, need some?”

“Sit down General. Fresh coffee will be here in seconds.” Cindy said.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure Sir.” Cindy had watched the General work on that cap for ten minutes. He made sure the adjustments for size was right. He repositioned the gold pin twice. He had even asked Cindy if it looks good.

Sunday Service:

“On the news, this morning is another accolade for the shelter and the Space Command. A Lady in her 80s had one of the Little Gray ships fall near her house. She had a heart attack and her neighbor saw her fall on her porch. The young woman has watched everything on TV regarding you Father John. She knew just what to do and ran across the street to the older lady, said The Lord’s Prayer, asked Jesus to guide her, and did a hands-on healing. The old woman said, “Thank You” and sat up. Tina and Scott caught up with the Older Lady at her home and had a delightful interview with her. They also had an interview with the young healer. Tina is going to bring Trixie Underwood to the Shelter this afternoon to meet everybody.

John was looking at Jenny and laughing as he listened to the story. He looked to the heavens and thanked God for the 100th time that day.

Reverend Jacobs led the congregation in The Lord’s Prayer, “Stand everyone, turn to your neighbor, ask them if they would like you to do a healing for them. If yes, put your hands on their shoulders and do a simple massage. Ask Jesus to run energy through your hands into your neighbor.” The Reverend was doing as he suggested to Nancy his wife.

“Feel the energy. Feel the love. Send out a thank you to your Neighbor, to Jesus, to God.” Nancy expressed a heartwarming “Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That’s worth the price of admission.” Everybody laughed.

“Now turn around and do the same for the person that made you feel great!” Bill Jacobs had asked how he could include healings into his service. He had been trying several different things. Everyone seemed to like this procedure. “Feel the energy. Feel the love. Send out a thank you to your Neighbor, to Jesus, to God.” Bill had to remember to keep standing, “Remember to keep standing. Let the feelings flow through you. Be one with the world. Be confident in God that He/She/It will provide all that you need in this life and all lives past, present, and future. Love all-knowing that love will return tenfold.”

John had the knots in his neck relieved. One of them came with a snap as a vertebra snapped back into place. He saw many of the cadets standing along the back wall working on each other. What a nice bunch. His eyes closed and he felt someone looking at him. He gently opened his eyes and glanced in the direction of the connection.