Story - Plan B

[Icarry2]

In the parking lot Thomas asked Terrance if he had a minute. Terrance replied sure, hop in and he unlocked the Hellcat and the two men got in. Terrance didn’t start the beast as he was not wanting to be rude as the engine did have a rumble and wasn’t real quiet even at an idle since he had upgraded the exhaust. Thomas asked him to start her up, stating he loved to feel it rumble. As the engine fired up both men grinned and looked at each other like they were skipping class in high school.

Terrance let it idle back down and then blipped the throttle to wind her up, Thomas was impressed at how fast the engine revved and came down. He commented that all the mods that Terrance had done to her seemed to make her purr.. He smiled and nodded in agreement. What did you want to talk about buddy he asked Thomas.

With the new expansion coming Thomas explained that he would be able to hire anyone he wanted. Hew anted to hire Terrance to oversee all of the facilities associated with any oft he airports the division would be responsible for. Thomas had already spoken to the VP about Terrance and said he wanted to make an offer.

As with any large life change Terrance said he would have to think about it. He was flattered, Thomas interrupted to expand on his offer to include the fact that he had complete trust in Terrance and that he would basically let him do as he pleased so long as all of the goals and budgetary considerations were met. Something Terrance was unsure about having dealt with the government on many occasions.

Buddy I appreciate the offer but I have my own firm to worry about plus Alia is still in school and might need something and that he wouldn’t want to be out of the country if something happened. Thomas jokingly fired back with a, not this crap again, meaning the fact that Terrance was a prepared person and was always worried that things would fall apart and the country would drop into some apocalyptic situation where the lights would go out, people would starve and the world as we all knew it would end.

The stare Terrance gave Thomas was the same as always, the I’m sorry you don’t get it look was one Thomas had gotten plenty of times over the years. Email me the legit offer and let me consider it. I will have to see if my firm can stand on it’s own without me at the controls he stated. Fair enough Thomas replied, they shook hands and Thomas got out of thecar and headed to his customized Raptor pickup that he had sunken an enormous amount into basically like the Hellcat he got out of. Both of them appreciated powerful vehicles..

With a blip of the throttle Terrance pushed in the clutch, held the brake, released the Ebrake and jabbed the shifter into first and with a blink of an eye was facing the opposite direction facing the big black truck. The two exchanged waves and headed their separate ways. Thomas to his high rise and Terrance back to the country.

 

[flatlander]

Hooked.

Bob

 

[Icarry2]

The visit with Alia went as expected. A few coeds asked Alia if Terrance was her older brother which always flattered him and embarrassed her, no this is my Dad she replied blushing because the looks the coeds gave her dad was creepy she said. Terrance had held his young looks well always being mistake for being younger than his age, sometimes the guesses were 8-10 years off which was flattering to him.

Once when Alia was in high school at some function a teacher, older than him, had became infatuated and made him consider a no contact order, the woman would show up where he was, the gym, the market, drive by the house, at the different events Alia might be attending and always sat right next to him. It made him uncomfortable.

After the visit the rest of the week seemed to drag on. Work, home, one evening of squirrel hunting and then on Friday his assistant had inadvertently scheduled a meeting which kept him in the office well after the time he wanted to leave. A meeting with a customer who had filed multiple complaints and the legal department had suggested he talk to directly. She forgot he had emailed her about wanting his afternoon free for out of the office meetings. His code for personal time.

Waiting in his office with about two hours to kill was not something the owner of a rather large hanger manufacture did very often. He felt like he was being manipulated. He had reviewed the incident reports, the claims from the customer and all of the returned parts reports. None of it made sense. Why did this customer have so many issues when all of his other customer complaints combined for the last 3 months didn’tequal half. Finally he realized what might be happening. He consulted some ofthe documents on his computer. Zooming in on the pictures he finally noticed it. Some marks that he had always been ridiculed for that he knew when he took over would someday help. Dates. Each part was stamped witha manufacture date. Some parts were just the year, or a year and a revision if there were multiple revision to a particular part in a given calendar year.

He punched a button on his desk phone, his assistance replied, he asked her to have the head of the QC department and Installations in the conference room at 1:30 PM for a meeting before the customer meeting. And noted that he wanted the last 4 failed parts or assemblies brought in as well. Yes Mr. Johns she replied and the phonebeeped off.

He had them.. The design of the hangers the customer had was the same for the past 6 or 7years. The same size hangers were built the same way, no drastic changes had been made and they were nearly identical, except for the dates.. He was now excited to meet with this customer and get to the bottom of it.

He punched his phone again and asked his assistance who was on the list for the meeting. It was limited to two individuals, the owner and their corporate lawyer, he thanked her and then asked her to ask for the most senior person from their legal department to be present at the 2PM meeting in the conference room. She replied the same as always and the phone beeped and she was gone.

 

[Icarry2]

Terrance looked at his watch, 13:05.. He contemplated the time he needed to walk the 20 yards to the conference room and then pulled out his cell phone and pulled up his text. Nothing from Alia, he had informed her that he was going long range shooting tomorrow and she hadn’t said whether or not she wanted to go. She was just as good or better than he was with any of his rifles. Better eyes she always said to which she heard only younger, not better.

He text her a reminder. Said not to pressure her but that he would be loaded up and leaving at10 AM if she wanted to go. With it being a private range she couldn’t meet him there, she would have to ride with him. She replied a few minutes later with her normal, in class, text after, he hadn’t gotten used to her new schedule, replied, ok, sorry forgot you had class and then put his phone back in his pocket.

His normal casual Friday attire might stick out in this meeting since he knew the two visiting men, at least he thought both were men, would be wearing their best suits. Terrance hated suits. He used to always say I built my own company so I didn’t have to wear a suit to work. He compared them to a military uniform, jokingly called them office uniforms. He chuckled to himself as he walked to his private bathroom and checked his appearance in the mirror. He was also commonly mistaken for some kind of dirty biker guy because he wore his facial hair in along goatee and most days didn’t razor shave.

Screw it he said to himself, it’s my company, I’ll do as Idamn please. And with the thought that he had the customer by the short hairs on their claim he was feeling prettycocky. He thought to himself confident to the point of cockiness he always said.

Walking back to his desk he sat down and then worked on his computer for a second to send the files to the conference room folder on the server and grabbed a few files and headed to the conference room. As he walked out of his office his assistant stated that the visitors were already here and had checked in at reception. Terrance looked at his watch,13:26, he shook his head and instructed his assistant to call down to receptionand tell the receptionist to kindly remind the gentlemen that the meeting was scheduled for 2 PM and that someone would be down to get them shortly before.

As Terrance walked into the conference room both of the people he had requested were sitting at the long table, they both stood and showed their respect for Terrance. He always felt like he should be the one standing for them as they had made the business what it was.

Mark the QC manager and Nathan the Installation manager both seemed a little nervous, probably because of the late notice meeting. Both had been told that the meeting was about the Nexus complains and were familiar with the situation. Both seemed to be prepared to present to Terrance the facts they had at hand if he asked particular questions. The men sat down as one of the general shop technicians wheeled a flat cart with parts on it into the room.

 

[Icarry2]

Here Mr. Johns he asked. That’s fine Bill he replied. The technician beamed that he was called by name not realizing that his company uniform shirt had his name prominently displayed above his right shirt pocket. If you would Bill can you please come and get these and put them back in the QC cage before you leave for the day Terrance asked. Surly Mr. Johns he replied, will that be all, yes thank you Bill, have a good weekend if I don’t see you later. Thank you Mr. Johns, you as well and he left the room.

Gentlemen I think we have this situation well under control Terrance opened with a smile. The men looked baffled as to his confidence. Nexus was on the verge of filing a law suit and he was almost laughing as he explained to them what it was he had noticed. All three men got up and inspected the failed parts on the cart. Terrance pulled his trusty EDC flashlight out of his pocket and shined it on the stamped date on one of the parts. He asked the men, what does that say? They both replied with what Terrance had noticed in the pictures.

The men stated oh one. To which Terrance asked the head of Installation and our defect warranty is how long while he shushed the QC manager who obviously knew. Well sir I believe it is only 10 years, double any of our competitors. Terrance handed the light to the man and said check these other components. He wasn’t familiar with where the marks were,it wasn’t something he ever bothered to notice and was not part of his job. The QC manager helped and they identified that all four of the failed parts were more than 10 years old. In fact the oldest was 1999 and the newest was 2004.

Terrance took his seat at the head of the table once more and motioned to the men to take their seats. He then pulled the phone over and punched a button. He asked his assistant who she had scheduled to attend form the legal department. A Ms. Porter sir, what’s her extension, 1971 she replied. Thank you and he punched the button to disconnect. He then punched in the extension and with one ring a female voice said Mary Porter can I help you.

Ms. Porter this is Terrance Johns, yes Mr. Johns how may Ihelp you, I was told that you will be sitting in our meeting at 2 PM, yes sir,is there a problem, no mam, I just want a representative from the legal department in here when we ream this customer who is threatening a law suit over failed parts. OK sir, I can head upright now if you like. No mam, I would however like you to stop at reception on your way up and pick up our guests.

She kind of baulked and said ok sir, and all three men could tell that it was something she wasn’t used to doing. Might have made her feel like an underling when she was probably the 3 highest person in the legal department and to Terrance’s recollection a rather skilled paralegal, oh and Ms. Porter, Yes sir, she replied feeling the attitude check sink in, please introduce yourself to these men as the representative from the legal department and show them to the conference room and then when you arrive show them to the seats at the far end of the table then please come take a seat directly to my right. Yes sir, I will do that sir. Oh and Ms. Porter, yes Mr. Johns. Don’t leave your office until 2:05. Yes sir. I understand sir. Thanks you Ms. Porter, my pleasure sir.

Terrance looked at his watch, it was 13:47, he and the two men sat and conversed about the weather for the weekend and their plans. Terrance just responded that he thought he would visit with his daughter over the weekend. The two other men went through some facts about the first and last installs and all parts sold to Nexus and were just finished when Ms. Porter walked in with the two visitors.

She pulled the end chair away from the conference table and introduced the two men reading their names off of the business cards she held in her hand, having trouble with the Nexus lawyers last name. He corrected her and followed the owner to Terrance’s end of the table ignoring Ms. Porters motion for them to sit down.

The two men sitting to Terrance’s left got up to shake the hands of the two men and Terrance waited until the last possible moment to stand and shake hands with the two men. Both thought they had Terrance and Avion Hanger Corp by the balls.

Terrance motioned to the seats that Ms. Porter had pulled out, at the other end of the 14 person conference room table and invited themen to sit down. Both men noticed the cart in the corner with the parts on it.
Terrance motioned to Ms. Porter to sit and once she had heand the two men to his left sat down. He glared at the two visitors who had already sat down, before the only lady in the room had. To Terrance it was rude to sit before a lady in a professional or social environment.

 

[Icarry2]

Terrance thanked the men for taking the time to come to the office to discuss the situation and bluntly asked what do you want us to do about the situation. The owner of Nexus, a half balding man by the name of Reginald Nexium, was carrying about 40 pounds more than his frame was designed for stood up and asked if he could be frank. Terrance extended his right armand put his hand up motioning that the man should stop, he paused Terrance interrupted by saying that he would surly be more comfortable sitting and kind of motioned his hand downward to indicate that he wasn’t going to put up with any peacocking as he called it. The man sat softly and continued.

As he saw it Avion Hangar should be warranting all the parts that they had failing or discount their new hanger project. Terrance though to himself yeah a project that they had been dragging out for over 12 months. A project that they had a signed commitment on which triggered the production of the components for the new project which had long since been completed and were sitting in the warehouse ready to be shipped to the site to be assembled and complete the project.

Basically Avion had invested about $220k in the materials for the $500k project and had been put on hold with a never ending list of excuses from Nexus. First it was building permits, which Avion confirmed were unfiled or filed incomplete and delayed. Then it was the excavating of the site, some water fowl issue with DNR, then the concrete contractor and on and on. Little did the owner of Nexus know that Terrance had taken a weekend flight to the airport where the site was and found the site which was supposedly excavated and prepped for concrete site still knee high grass.

Terrance stood and walked down to the cart and asked the men from Nexus if they recognized the parts on the cart. The men said no, but assumed they were some of the failed parts that they were wanting to have basically given to them. Again Terrance reached into his pocket and pulled out his flashlight. He shined it on the same marks as he had for the two men sitting to the left of his chair. He asked, Mr. Nexium would you be so kind as to read me that mark. The man grunted and leaned over to see that it was a zero and a one. Terrance thanked the man as he settled back in his chair and then walked back to his chair at the head of the table.

Mr. Nexium do you have a copy of our warrantee? Well I am sure I do, well have you personally read it? Well no I don’tthink I have Mr. Johns and quite frankly I am not sure what bearing that has on this situation.
Terrance smiled big enough to almost giggle as he looked at his team first smiling at the men to his left and then to the lady to his right. Well Mr. Nexium if you had taken the time to read it you would know that it states in bold letters that we at Avion Hangar are so confident in our products that we offer a 10 year warranty which is double what any of our competitors offer and by your own account the part you just looked at was installed in 2001. Some 14 years ago to be exact.

Terrance looked at his Installation manager who then interrupted just as Mr. Nexium was opening his mouth, sir by my records Nexus had only one project in 2001 and it was completed and released for use on October 22[SUP]nd[/SUP], 2001, and reported failed on July 8[SUP]th[/SUP], 2015 that would be a total time in service of 13 years, 8 months and 16 days.

Terrance raised an eyebrow and stared at the other end of the table..

 

[Icarry2]

A look of stupidity came over Mr. Nexium. His lawyer put his hand on his forearm and spoke softly to the man who now had just been cut in half with cold hard facts. Mr. Nexium cleared his through signaling to the lawyer that he had heard enough. He then stated that given the one part had been outside the warranty he didn’t think the other parts were.

Again Terrance looked at his team, this time stopping at the QC manager who reported that the parts which had failed were as old as 1999 and as new as 2004. At this point Terrance looked eye to eye with the man who was now speechless and feeling like he had someone talk him into buying a pink elephant and made an exact statement. Mr. Nexium it is the position of Avion Hangar Corporation that your claim of warranty for all of the parts we have replaced in the past, Terrance paused and looked the Installation manager who interjected 19 months, Terrance continued, are not under warranty and will need to be paid in full before any other parts will be sold and installed.

Mr. Nexium conferred with his counsel and as he nodded turning back to the other end of the table said I will call my accounts payable manager at the conclusion of this meeting and issue the payment. Terrance nodded and then kept right on going. Now to the issue of your current project that is, again pausing for effect and looking at the Installation manager, who spokeup, almost 12 months behind schedule. When do we expect to push this through and get the site ready for installation he asked?

Now Mr. Nexium was completely on the defensive conferred with his council. Uh, he started with, we have had numerous delays for reasons he wasn’t sure about and are hoping we can get things squared away by the first of the year. As he shook his head no Terrance looked at Ms. Porter and once he looked back at Mr. Nexium he stated rather loudly, well that is just unacceptable. We have a contract, we have a rather large investment in components and hardware sitting in our warehouse that is now a year into it’s warranty because you have had delays.

Mr. Nexium I am not sure which issue troubles me the greatest, the fact that you have challenged my company’s integrity by questioning our warranty process which is far superior to any of our competitors or that you think we are idiots by expecting us to tolerate the delay of a half amillion dollar project which has already been signed off on.

Effective immediately Nexus Corp and you sir are no longer welcome to request our services. We are terminating all warranties and the new project we have started. We will be filing for reimbursement of every dime of the current project which I believe is in the neighborhood of $320,000 plus all court costs and associated fees. Good day sir Terrance fired off and looking to his right, Ms.Porter would you please show these gentlemen to reception and stop by my office afterwards.

Terrance looked at the two men to his right and voiced gentlemen thank you for your time. sorry to have interrupted your busy Friday afternoon with such nonsense and with that he gotup, shook the hands of all of his employees and walked out the door on his end of the room. Well, I blah blah blah is all he heard from the other end of the table as he passed through the door. He didn’t like anyone trying to put one over on him. He was out a pretty good chunk of time and money and wasn’t about to let some punk wanna be big time property guy push him around.

 

[Icarry2]

Well I am 11,902 words in. What do you think?

This story has enough steam to make 270,000 words, that would be 3 continuing books. Would you buy them?

Don't panic, I am not going to stop posting. I have another 24,000 words ready to go and notes for the rest of the entire story.

I just want to know if you like it and if it is worth my effort.

Thanks!

 

[FamilyProtectR]

I check every day to look for the latest installment of your story... Love it. Keep it up!

 

[resdep]

You have me hooked. Really enjoy your writing.
resdep

 

[easy]

I check every day to look for the latest installment of your story... Love it. Keep it up!

You have me hooked. Really enjoy your writing.
resdep

"Me too!"

 

[Icarry2]

Terrance was getting his stuff ready to leave for the weekend when his phone beeped and his assistant announced that Ms. Porter was there as requested, he walked over and opened his door and instructed her to come on in and as he had always had the habit of leaving the door open when in his office with a female alone propped it open and told her to have a seat. If he ever had to have a private conversation with a female employee he would always ask his assistant to sit in and take notes which was code for her to be a witness to whatever and relieve any doubt of anything that could be construed as inappropriate.

Ms. Porter he opened with, please accept my apologies for putting you on the spot today. I hadn’t realized the meeting with Nexus was today and was not sure what would happen. Oh no problem Mr. Johns, I didn’t do anything and I was completely impressed with how you handled it. Well, Terrance said, I was just wanting someone there to show those idiots that we meant business.

Well sir, she paused. I am not sure if your statement about voiding their warranty will holdup. Oh I know he replied, I just said that so they thought they would have something to argue. She cocked her head just like Knotty did when she was confused. Alia did the samething. Come to think of it, most females do it.

Terrance giggled, then explained, if they are concentrating on that they are dumber than I think. They better be thinking how are they going to write a check for over $320K.. Please email the rest of legal and accounts billable and make notes as to the entire situation and give them 45 days to pay in full both the “warranty” work and the complete up front cost of the project. If they pay it all within 10 business days tell them they have 45 days to start installation or we will no longer do business with them.. That sound like an allowable arraignment? Mr. Porter states she would check but to the best of her knowledge she thought so.

OK, Terrance said, concluding things and standing he thanked her for the time and apologized if it interrupted her afternoon. She excused herself and left. Terrance grabbed his day bag and headed for the exit only stopping long enough to tell his assistant to finish anything important and take the rest of the dayoff. She thanked him and he was on his way home.

 

[flatlander]

I'd buy it.

Bob

 

[Icarry2]

It wasn’t dark when Terrance got home, the days had grown shorter and it was getting dark earlier but the time hadn’t changed yet to throw things out of wack. Daylight savings time, an idea to help farmers out was a pain in the ass. After getting home and putting the Hellcat back in her spot in the barn and covered up Terrance decided that Knotty probably needed a bath if she was going to take a ride tomorrow to the range.

Just as he entered into the garage Terrance’s phone beeped, a message from Alia, it read, love my new roomie, like a twin sister, going out for a late dinner, let you know when I am back. Terrance replied with awesome, take precautions, WY6, which stood for watch your six or watch your ass. Was a typical thing he would reply. Alia replied with a wink emoji. Terrance laughed, she used them all the time and sometimes he had to ask what they meant.

The alarm beeped as he walked in through the inside door into the house. He flipped the key pad cover down, entered the reset code and the system reinitialized and armed itself with a confirming beep. The display indicating secure.

Knotty was waiting, tail wagging and ready for an ear rub and petting. Terrance looked at her and asked if she wanted to take a bath, she cocked her head in a confused manner. He then walked down the hall to his bedroom, emptied his pockets, took off his boots and took off his clothes. Walking naked down the hall he stopped at the closet by the second bathroom and pulled out a few towels.. He looked at Knotty who had followed his every move and said let’s go outside.

Walking to the back porch door Knotty was ahead of him, he stopped to key in a code in the alarm panel, waited for the beeps and then went out onto the porch. He walked over to the right to where the laundry was and opened a cabinet to retrieve some dog shampoo and a comb and brush. He then walked over slipped on a pair of slides, shower shoes he called them and they went outside and to the edge of the house where his outside shower was. It was a wooden plank floor, wooden fence surrounded enclosure with a slide through opening for use when others might be there.

Terrance wasn’t a bashful man, he would walk around naked all the time, well except when Alia was home. He didn’t care, who was going to see him? He wasn’t worried about the security cameras, he and very few people knew the access code to review the DVR recordings and if something had happened to him someone seeing him in his birthday suit was the least of his problems. Knotty went to do her business.

He hung the towels on the rail road spikes he had hammered into the large wooden post that made up a corner post of the structure, reached in and turned on the shower to let it warm up. Knotty came running back and sat on the steps to the porch. Terrance asked her if she wanted to take a bath. She went to turn and walk back up onto the porch. Hey now he called, if you want to go for a ride you better get in here he rumbled. Knotty knew she had to be clean to get in any of the vehicles, she lazily moved towards Terrance with her head kind of low.

Terrance was under the large shower head getting clean when Knotty made her way to the shower. The outdoor shower was something many people marveled at. The real purpose he built it was because Alia’s mother had always wanted one and he had grow to enjoy it. It cam in handy when he would come in from hunting, kept the smell of his hunting clothes out of the house. Kept a lot of mess from being tracked into the house. Along the side was a boot washer. He had seen a picture of one on Pinterest and copied the idea to make it very easy to wash your boots off with no chance of getting them wet on the inside or having to take them off.

After rinsing off and making sure her was clean he looked in the polished stainless steel mirror to see if he needed to shave, deciding he didn’t need to he turned his attention to Knotty who was patiently waiting for her bath. Terrance reached over and flipped a valve and the hand held hose charged and the shower head turned off. Standing there buck naked and dripping wet he hosed down his companion and gave her a good shampooing and rinsed her off, combing and brushing any matted spots or what have you out of her coat. She had a short coat but still had things get tanged up from time to time.

Knotty shook herself like all dogs do to aid them in drying off and walked back over to the spot by the entrance where she had been sitting and sat back down, Terrance told her to wait a minute and he turned back and positioned the valve the other way and the shower head came back on, he then rinsed off and shut the water off. They walked to the corner and he grabbed a towel to dry Knotty off.

After they were both semi dry Terrance wrapped a towel around himself and draped one over Knotty and the couple walked to the back porch where he finished drying off and hung up the towels on the line on the porch by the summer kitchen. Terrance walked in and kicked off the wet shower shoes and the walked into the house.

 

[Icarry2]

After getting some hack around clothes on Terrance decided to grab a beer and go to the gun room to get things ready for the shoot tomorrow. Knotty was sitting on her favorite rug in front of the fireplace pointing at the TV. This dog he thought as he walked around the recliner and over to the coffee table which a friend had made for him out of an old hickory log.

It had a thick glass top but was made such that it looked like a giant log sitting on two smaller logs. Everyone always commented that they didn’t understand how he could move it without 3 or four guys, little did they know that it was completely hollowand only weighed about 50 pounds without the glass that just sat on top ofsmall “branches” that were protruding out of the massive log.

It was the centerpiece of his living room furniture, second only to the massive stone fireplace in the center of the west wall. Standing at the edge of the coffee table he reached down and grabbed a remote, with a few presses of buttons the home entertainment center came to life and the TV brightened up. It was some discovery channel program about climbing in high altitude.

Terrance asked Knotty what she thought, he got no reaction. He turned the satellite to animal planet, it was a tree house show, still no reaction. Then he scanned the guide to find that Spike had Cops on. For some reason Knotty liked to watch Cops. After clicking the button and the show came on the screen Knotty lifted her head, looked at Terrance and then looked back at the TV and laid her head down. Terrance sat the remote down and walked to the gun room door.

As he walked in to the gun room Terrance propped the door open. It was always a little stuffy in the room since it had no ventilation. With a flip of the light switch the room lit up and the small fan he had mounted in the corner started to spin. The smell of cordite, Hoppe’s No 9 and Kroil always whiffed sweetly into his nose.

Terrance’s crazy brain always took him back to memories of situations or places with certain smells and sounds, music especially brought the memories back. He reached over and kicked on the radio, finding nothing pleasing to listen to he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sat it in the doc on the shelf next to the radio, flipped a switch on the radio and then scanned through his phone to get a certain playlist, G-Room was selected and the music started to play where it left off the last time he played the list.

Siting on the stool in front of the bench Terrance pondered what he wanted to shoot the next day. Having access to a 1,000 yard range was nice. The facility also had yardages all the way down to a 25 yard pistol range so he had a multitude of possibilities.

He opened the safe and stared at the collection until something popped out at him and screamed take me, take me..

 

[Icarry2]

While sitting there on the stool he realized there was one definite choice.. His go to bolt gun, an affordable Savage 10 BA Stealth. It wasn’t as pricey as his custom Remington 700 but was just as accurate. Being a single shot bolt action chambered in 308 with only a 20 inch threaded barrel it was easy to handle and with the addition of a quick detach suppressor it made shooting fun..He had put a Schmidt & Bender optic on it and was able to reach 500 yards plus and kept the groupings under an inch. A true hole puncher of a rifle. Unlike the 50 cal that Thomas had spoken of this jewel was much more precise than the semi auto Barrett even if it couldn’t punch holes in bricks, engine blocks or vehicles it was definitely a man stopper.

Terrance pulled the black rifle out of the safe and sat it on the bench. He checked the action, and optic. Nothing was out of place or loose. He then reached around the bench and pulled out a long cleaning rod and after putting a Parker Hale jag on it leaned it against the front corner of his bench.

Usually Terrance left most of his weapons with well oiled barrels. Just to keep the moisture out. But just as a habit he would wipe the barrel and action clean to check for any rusting and then re-oil them lightly. His habits kept the barrels and chambers of his weapons free of moisture. This was mainly because he didn’t fire a lot of them that much.

With a little finesse he removed the bolt and sat it in the plastic tray to his right. With a simple short cleaning rod and an appropriately sized swab he wiped the chamber clean and checked the color of the oil that was removed. All clean, just the way he left it. Terrance couldn’t remember when he shot the rifle last. His shooters log would tell him.

He opened up the cabinet under the bench and pulled out the appropriate log book, unzipped it and opened it to find out. Geesh Terrance thought, it had been almost a year since he shot the thing. Didn’t seem that long ago. He suddenly became aware of his busy life and that it had slowed his shooting. He knew he was out of practice.

You could tell by the records of when he shot more and when he didn’t the more he shot the tighter the groups. The he never did outshoot the rifle. It was always he who was inaccurate. The log kept round counts, load data, batch number of manufactured ammo, weather conditions, round placement and all the pertinent information as to where and when the shots were fired. Something he picked up from a well known long range shooter who taught a training class that he had attended years back.

Terrance reached up and selected a small flexible headed LEDlight to inspect the chamber. He then walked over to a cabinet to the right and selected a box that said 10 BA on the front. He pulled from the box a specially made Chamber and action protecting bore guide and slid it into the action and locked it in place.

Then with the long cleaning rod in his hand he pulled open the drawer and pulled out some large clean patches. He rolled one on the brass jag and lined it up in the bore guide. With a soft and slow push the patch was ran down the barrel and out of the muzzle.

Terrance walked around to the muzzle and unwrapped the patch, inspected it and threw it in the step open red can on the floor. And with a clank the lid shut. Shortly there after Knotty came to the door. Terrance caught the movement out the corner of his eye and spoke to her as he sang the song playing through the speakers that were on both sides of the bench. Hi girl, you want to help he asked, Knotty half sneezed and walked away from the doorway. She didn’t like the smell of the chemicals in the room.

Back to the rifle he thought. Terrance put a light coat of oil on a patch and ran it down the bore. With the cleaning rod removed and propped back up against the corner of the bench Terrance removed the bore guide then with a chamber swab on a the short rod and put a light coat of oil on the walls of the chamber. After putting the tools back in their rightful place and cleaning up he reinstalled the bolt, cycled it a couple times and decided the rifle was ready to shoot.

Next to the doorway was a bunch of hard cases lined up against the wall and leaning into the corner. He reached towards the one case marked 10 BA and pulled it out. It was a simple black pelican case with a custom cut foam insert that would get the rifle to and from the range safely. He tuned to the right and sat the case on the fold up vinyl table by the door, popped it’s latches and opened the case and put the rifle to rest.

Terrance turned back to the cabinet where he stored some ammo and opened it looking for an ammo can labeled 10 BA. He pulled open the can and pulled out a box of factory ammo as well as a 20 round sleeve of hand loads marked 10 BA “HOT”which were ballistic tip rounds with the maximum allowable powder charge, magnum primers and identical weight bullets down to a 1/64[SUP]th[/SUP] of a grain. After putting the ammo in the case with the rifle and he closed it and snapped the multiple latches shut. Now what other weapon should he take along he asked himself.

Would it be an AR-10, another bolt gun or better yet an M1A or a SCAR? Terrance contemplated the choices starring at the safe full of weapons. He pulled out another rifle and a hand gun then ammo for each. Put them in a case and staged everything on the table ready to load tomorrow morning.

As he was settling in for the night Alia text saying that she wasn’t going to go shooting, she was supposed to go to a party with some friends. He text her back ok, be safe, for her to WY6 (watch her six), ttyl and reminded her how proud he was ofher and that he loved her very much.

 

[flatlander]

Keep it coming

Bob

 

[Icarry2]

Morning came as it always did, with Terrance waking up before he needed to be awake. Knotty laying at the foot of his bed patiently waiting to go outside. She was such a well trained dog, took to it easy Terrance always said. She heard him rustling awake and walked around to the side of the bed. Hiya girl, you need to go out? She jumped towards the doorway. Ok girl, go ahead, and she darted from the room and went to the doggie door on the back porch door.

Terrance reached over to the panel next to the bed and punched a few buttons, with a beep the doggie door was unlatched and the alarm sensor on it was bypassed. As soon as Knotty heard the click she knew the door was free and burst out the door to run and do her business in side lot behind the barn. Terrance had taught her to use a particular part of the yard for her business so no one would walk into a pile of recycled kibble.

Terrance tried to go back to sleep but his crazy brain was running a million miles an hour. So he flipped the covers back in a tantrum like flip and got out of bed. He in turn made the bed and changed out of his shorts and t-shirt and put on some grey man range clothes.

A bland t-shirt, nothing with a weapons manufacturer or NRA logo and some custom worn jeans that his seamstress friend made for him that look benign but had the extra pockets, hidden reinforced knees and great flexibility to run drills in. The only item of his dress that was “tactical” was his boots. His typical training boots, a pair of well worn 8 inch Magnum composite toe boots. Soft, light and flexible with good support and a gripping sole.

As he put his black cobra buckle EDC belt on he realized it looked a little tacticool as some of the gear he had when worn in public. Something that the “modern operators” joked about. New “specialists” as he called them were a more arrogant group than the quiet warriors he served with. They poked at civilians who tried to looklike men who had served in the military. They ridiculed them for not knowing how the “suck” really was. How countless hours on patrol, on edge, training to be in the best shape possible, to be mentally ready to endure each and every mission was beyond their ability.

It kind of sickened Terrance because the boasters were usually the guys that did make it through the qualifications process and did serve in the elite units of the special operations community had never been downrange, under fire, put it all on the line, lost teammates and or taken a hit and survived.

Those few, were somber quiet warriors who didn’t run their mouths or shun civilians who put in as much or more time training to build themselves into formidable advisories as a standard issue grunt. Terrance realized he had gone on a mental tirade as he found him standing in the kitchen starting at the window. Many times his mind became so engrossed in a train of thought he didn’t realize he was truly multitasking. He came around to reality to notice he had already gotten some ham and eggs out of the fridge and had a skillet in his hand. It bothered him. Sometimes he would miss an exit off the interstate, miss a turn when following directions. With a shake of his head he focused on breakfast.

Knotty came back in and sat at her bowl wagging her tail. Terrance sat the skillet down on the stove and walked back to the pantry to get her breakfast. He hoped she hadn’t gone out and rolled in some stinky crap of some animal to help herself hide in the breeze as he called it.

He reached down and pet her and ran his hand down her back to make sure she was still clean and ride worthy. Smelling his hand he realized she was ok he was happy he didn’t have to give her another bath because then she wouldn’t be dry enough to get in the vehicle without blow drying her fur which she hated.

 

[Icarry2]

After filling Knotty’s bowl with kibble and making a ham and cheese omelet, eating and cleaning up the mess Terrance backed the truck into the garage and shut the door. He then lowered the topper onto the truck and secured it with the clamps made for the job. His pulley lift system made it really simple to remove and replace the topper on the little pickup.

He always liked to keep the things covered so prying eyes couldn’t see what he was hauling. After connecting the third brake light and the alarm wire he started loading things up. It didn’t take very long since Terrance had staged everything the night before to make sure he didn’t forget anything.

He ran down the list in his head, rifles, ammo, range box, IFAK, trauma bag, ears, eyes, etc. Terrance then grabbed a few bottles of water from the garage fridge and put them in the cooler that always rode along in the back of the truck. He had an ah ha moment and returned to the fridge to pull 4 frozen bottles from the freezer and also placed them in the cooler to keep the others cold.

Terrance walked over to a cabinet in the garage where some of Knotty’s supplies were kept and he pulled out a small camo back pack that he kept her stuff in for when they went hiking or hunting. He always liked to have some canine supplies in the bag, plus food and water and her collapsible bowls, a couple of toys and a ball. The retractable leash and muzzle were hardly used anymore, she had matured into a fine companion and did as she was told 99% of the time.

Once more through the gun room, checking for any forgotten items Terrance stopped to check his EDC Ruger and then walked into the kitchen to pour his tumbler full of ice and Pepsi.H is one vice and weakness anymore, well other than the occasional alcoholic drink. With the beep of the alarm he walked out the garage door and got into the loaded truck.

As he pulled the gate shut he thought of Alia and had hoped she would have been able to come but with school being so important to her he knew she was where she needed to be. Pulling out onto the county road his thoughts of Alia picking up her favorite rifle, having not touched it in months and popping the first magazine worth of rounds within a one inch group at 100 yards reassured him that her skills didn’t diminish so quickly.

After stopping for fuel and topping off the tank Terrance and Knotty rode alone in silence listening to the radio as they made their way to the private range. Terrance switched totalk radio when a song came on that he didn’t particularly like, the program was a favorite right wing conservative talk show host who was repeating the highlights of the weekday shows.

 

[Icarry2]

Just as they were pulling onto the dead end road that the range was located on the program was interrupted by the show’s host who was supposedly live with a message for all of his followers. Stock up now, blah blah blah, some pitch for 25 year shelf life long term food. He ended the message rather strangely saying that you might want to order express shipping so you get it while you can. This struck Terrance as odd. But then he realized they were paid by advertisers, figuring that it was a sales tactic to gimmick people into buying now, like things were going to be falling apart in a week..

As Terrance pulled up to the rather sturdy looking metal gate with the sharp pointed tops that you see on a fancy rich persons house the gate started to open, Terrance stuck his head out the window and waved at the camera situated near the key pad on the left of the drive.

As he passed the key pad he heard two clicks from the intercom, the “all clear” signal letting him know everything was as it should be at the range. With the range being privately owned you never knew who would be there shooting. It was a very hush hush place, people didn’t talk about being there openly. They didn’t talk about who they saw, what they saw them doing. It was just part of the “code” of the range and the groups who utilized it’s awesome facilities.

As he backed into one of the spots near the shooters pavilion Terrance noticed strange vehicles he hadn’t seen before. One in particular stood out, Terrance had read about and seen video of the vehicle on line but never had seen one in person. It was a crazy high priced armored SUV. He recalled there were less than two dozen of them in existence. Probably because there near three quarters of a million dollar price tag.

Terrance dreaded the fact that Thomas might have brought some rich ass yuppie, want to be operator, with him. Terrance decided to keep it low key and only get out his precision AR that he had like to train with along with his war belt.

As he sat his rifle case and belt down on the table under the pavilion a group of men and a woman came out of the club house. Thomas was in front of them running his mouth as usual. “There he is, right on time asusual” he spouted. Telling the group you can set your watch by what time Terrance says he will show up. A little before 10 it is..

Thomas walked over to Terrance who was shutting the cap on the truck. Knotty who was laying under the table beneath the pavilion watching everyone got up and walked over to the men as they shook hands and exchanged hellos.

Thomas instinctively reached down letting Knotty confirm she knew him by sniffing the back of his hand, she stopped, smelled him and then ducked her head under his hand to signify, he should rub her head behind her ears. Thomas did so, he and Knotty were not strangers.

Come meet some new friends Thomas spoke to Terrance. As they walked away from his measly Toyota beater truck Terrance flipped his head to point at the high dollar ride sitting a few spots away. Thomas let out a laughingly yeah just wait asthey walked up to the two men and one woman standing under the other end of the pavilion.