Terry Neale - Jo-el

“ You ready, Sally? Make sure we land where no one can see us.”

“I was born ready, Joey.”

“ Land me one foot off the ground, we’ll float down, stop him from stumbling. Right?”

“Yes, Joey, I know what to do.”

I put my right hand under his arm. “ This good enough?”

“Yes! Go for peats sake.”

Next second we were standing by the side of the FBI building in Dallas. The weather was a vast improvement, warm and sunny, not a cloud in sight. The Major appeared a bit shaken but he didn’t fall over. Good for him. He stared at the building and quickly gained his composure.

“This it?”

“Yes, let’s go meet Mr. Thain.” I began walking around to the front of the building, the Major followed. Inside the lobby were several people, smartly dressed, drifting in various directions.

“ Who is he, Sally?”

“To your left.”

She indicated by showing a white arrow over the top of Thain on my heads-up display. I walked over to him.

“Mr. Thain?”

He nodded, we shook hand and he studied me intently. I’m sure he recognized my face. I introduced the Major, then asked him to call Georgina Lambert, which he did. The call was short and sweet; within five minutes we had left the building and were looking for somewhere out of sight to bounce back to the hangar.

“ Jo-el, you’ve a problem at the hangar?”

“What is it, Sally?”

“The General has called the back-up team into the hangar.”

“Shit! What are they planning to do?”

“Shoot you with a Taser!”

I stood still for a moment to think, the warmth of the outside air a striking contrast to the air-conditioned lobby.

“ Shut down the feed, Sally.”

“Done.”

“Who’s in on it?”

“It’s just the General. He’s acting alone.”

“Show me the hangar.”

My heads-up came alive and the scene in the hangar appeared. Marines in combat uniforms were standing around the conference table, near to where the monitor had been showing the scenes from Dallas. The General was standing at attention, on the opposite side of the table to the monitor, the Colonel by his side. Everyone else was still sitting at the table, glancing back and forth, fiddling with their phones. I saw Pippa at the end of the table, she was agitated and obviously frightened.

Georgina was speaking. “He came here in good faith; you can’t do this?”

The General didn’t answer.

The head of the Homeland Security team, a tall man with thick, silver hair swept back neatly over his head said, “General, we don’t agree with your actions, this man, Jo-el, hasn’t done anything wrong.”

The General ignored him.

Alberton was on the phone.

We had stopped on the steps of the FBI building. The Major, standing next to me began to fidget.

“What’s the hold-up?” he said.

I looked at him unsure what to tell him. “Just getting things set.” I could see by the expression on his face he didn’t believe me.”

“ Sally, what would a Taser do to me?”

“Nothing much, you might feel it, but it won’t knock you out.”

“So I could go back and confront them? Or just leave, but that wouldn’t assist my cause. It the Taser doesn’t work they might try something else?”

“You could return out of sight and I’ll project a holographic image of you.” Sally advised.

“ What about the Major, here? He’d know where the real me was hiding.”

“Leave him.”

I needed to decide, quickly. Or did I?

“Is there a problem?” the Major again.

I decided to tell him what was happening. “Your bloody General decided, unilaterally, to bring in the Marines. Tasers.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know everything.” My voice exposed my annoyance.

He looked at me confused. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” I replied. Then I continued, “I’m sorry Major, but I’m going to have to leave you here for the minute, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Are you coming back?”

“Maybe.”

“Do what you have to do, I’ll be fine.”

Stand-up guy. I liked him.

“Thanks for your understanding.”

I left him on the steps and walked around the side of the building. “ Find me a spot out of sight and bounce me there, Sally.”

Seconds later I was in a dark room, surrounded by shelve and stacked with books and manuals. A store room of some sort.

“ Where’s the hangar?”

“Fifty feet, along a corridor.”

“Show me the scene.” It appeared on my display. Not much change from a few moments ago.

“ Okay, how do I control the hologram image?”

“Just use your mind.”

“Okay, project the image.”

I watched the display as my image suddenly appeared where I’d previously been standing, but this time surrounded by Marines. They formed a semi-circle, their backs to the table. Well trained, no personnel behind the target. As soon as I was visible two of them came forward and fired Tasers at my body. The dart like electrodes shot right through the holographic image and struck the wall. I stood still unharmed. The two Marines spun around searching the room for instructions.

“Shoot him!” screamed the General.

Pippa screamed and covered her face.

Two of the other Marines pointed M9 Berettas and fired two shots. The bullets disappeared through my body and embedded into the wood wall. As the sound of the gunfire dissipated the room fell into an eerie silence. The Marines close to me still had their weapons pointed in my direction, the remaining men were all staring at the General.

“Enough.” I said and all eyes turned to my image. I looked at the General. “I am truly disappointed with these actions. I came here to help you and this is how I’m greeted. Tell your men to leave, General.”

“Who are you?” he said and stormed out of the hangar.

The Colonel instructed the men to stand down. They formed a group at the entry door to the room where he told them that what had happened didn’t go any further. Then he stood still at the back as if waiting for me to give him instructions.

The remaining people around the table gaped at my image. Trepidation reflecting in their eyes.

“I’m going to bring back the Major and then continue.”

The image disappeared and I bounced back to the FBI building in Dallas. The Major was still standing outside the front of the building using his cell phone. He quickly put it away when I approached.

“Everything, okay?” he asked.

“For now,” I said. “I’ll let the Colonel fill you in. Are you ready to return?”

He nodded. We found a suitable place and bounced back to the hangar less than three minutes from when I’d left. The Major confirmed to the group that he’d been to Dallas. He said he’d checked his cell phone GPS and that too had confirmed his location. He explained that the bounce had no effect on him, it was so quick that he wasn’t sure what had happened. He had felt disorientated initially but only for a minute. I thanked him and told him to join the Colonel, still standing at the back of the room.

I held sway now, there wasn’t going to be any further skepticism about my abilities. Anything I said would be taken as gospel. They were in the palm of my hand for now. No one asked me why the Tasers and bullets had passed right through my body. They were aghast.