@@
0730
El Paso E Company Rangers Headquarters
Captain Stephenson is not opposed to having his Rangers report in early. They are surprisingly active for a region largely comprised of desert, mesquite, and sage brush, the Rangers of E Company have plenty to keep them busy between coyotes bringing in illegal immigrants from every corner of the globe across the Texas-Mexican border, drug and human traffickers doing the same in either direction, and assorted local problems in the various towns dotting the arid region. Rangers that report in early tend to be Rangers to assign to a new task.
Jesse and Jamie report front and center of the Captain's office, Jesse addressing him first,"Sergeants Lafferty and O'Connelly reporting, Sir."
Stephenson quirks a brow,"So you found her out, did you? Told you she is smart. At ease."
He then gestures to the chairs to take a seat, Jesse hands the field report in its file to the Captain, then Jamie hands him her own report. Stephenson begins,"I'll get to your report later, I've no doubt it'll be intriguing. O'Connelly, I'd like your field assessment. That's the more pressing matter."
Jamie draws a breath, glancing to the stoney faced Pariah next to her before she begins,"She's one of the more competent officers I've worked with in my career. In terms of instinct and integrity, she's above reproach."
Jesse glances to her now, then back to Stephenson as he nods approvingly while asking,"And her personality? That's the complaints I've gotten."
Jamie replies candidly,"It's my recommendation that she seeks counselling and therapy for stress."
Jesse glares at her now, but Jamie continues,"It's my opinion that she's tried burying the trauma from her pregnancy with her work. This don't affect it none, but it clearly has become a problem with her workplace associations."
Stephenson now looks at Jesse,"I'm sorry it came to this, but I wanted you here to hear it yourself anyway. I suppose its best you figured it out before you got here so it wasn't quite the bombshell it would've been, but there you have it."
Jesse grits her teeth to bite back what she has to say about it, Jamie clears her throat then, pulling out a sheet to hand to the Captain now, which brings a confused look to his face. He asks,"What's this?"
Jamie replies,"A request for transfer. I'd like to remain where I am."
Stephenson raises his brows as Jesse looks to her with a baffled expression. Stephenson replies,"As far as I'm concerned its granted, I don't think Houston will have any issues." He then looks to Jesse,"I don't think she does either. You need a partner, and here's one who knows the ropes. She was acting on my request, meaning my orders. Keep that in mind, you want to be pissed off, be pissed off at me. And I'm taking her assessment under advisement, you WILL start talking to our counselor, and I'm going to give you this one opportunity to find your own group. I want to see your schedule by the end of next month. Like O'Connelly said, you're a good Ranger. We care about you."
Stephenson's words and the tone he takes with her have their effect, she's staring at his desk instead of him. Pariah can't fault him or his reasoning, or that of her unlikely new partner. Stephenson gives her a minute to collect her thoughts, he knew this was an ambush and he'd freely admitted it but he wasn't without mercy. After that time passed, he said,"Do you have any questions?"
Pariah chokes out her reply,"No sir."
Then Stephenson wraps his fingers on his desk as he says,"Then I'll see you two here Monday. Have a good weekend, I'll go over your report in the meantime."
The two head their separate ways for the weekend without further adieux, save for a slip of paper Tinker presses to her palm on the way out the door. It has a name and a number, Richard Hauser. By the area code, he lived in Midland.
***
Saturday, 1430
Jesse's Apartment
Pariah didn't like being backed into a corner about anything. At the same time, she knew she'd never face up to the reality she lived with. She'd never met anyone else with her issue, she didn't know that she wanted to either.
The first thing she had done the previous day when she got home was look up Richard Hauser, the name Jamie gave her. He was a retired senior fellow of the psychology department of the University of Texas who had taken an interest in Ufology, particularly the abduction phenomenon. This interest had the form of an abductee support group.
Pariah spent the evening working up her resolve to contact the gentleman by polishing off the remnants of the Goldschlager. From his pictures, he was a gentleman of modest height who had aged gracefully with a full and well groomed beard and mustache. He was soft in his seventies, and judging by a lecture she listened to extremely well spoken with a slight germanic accent that was unsurprising for his surname.
The details of the support group reminded her of Al Anon (Alcoholics Anonymous), the meetings are private with no outsiders allowed or recording devices. The details of the experiences are never the subject of discussion, according to Dr Hauser this is to prevent corruption of memories when hypnotherapy is conducted. Corraborating details are aquired independently with no sharing between interviewees. Rather, the subjects tend to be getting to know each other, how many times it has occurred, how it has affected their lives, and things of that nature. Like in Al Anon and other recovery groups, there are partnered support pairs as well.
That morning, Pariah resolved she would give him a call. She got her apartment in order first however, then went out to enjoy a lunch on giftcard dime. Pariah's personal vehicle is an old Amigo that she's kept in pristine working order. The only thing different about it from when she bought it other than replaced shocks is a disc changer and MP3 jack that she had installed. She had her personal pistol belt and rifle scabbard with their respective implements in the back seat as she drives to the range, she calls the good doctor on her way there.
"Hello? This is the Hauser residence," comes the answer to her call on the third ring.
"Yes, my name is Jesse Lafferty and I was given your number to call," begins Pariah.
"Ja, my name is Doctor Richard Hauser, might I inquire as to the nature of your call?" inquires the doctor.
"I am calling about the UFO support group you run." states Pariah in a matter of fact tone.
"Aah, the West Texas Abduction Counselling Group. Do you have a referral?" replies Dr Hauser.
"I was given your number by a supervisor, Sergeant Jamie O'Connelly of the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit." comes Pariah's answer.
"I see. So you are with the Texas Rangers and this call is on your own behalf. Is this number good to reach you by, and do you have an email or fax number? Preferrably both as I prefer handwritten form responses." comes Dr Hauser's reply in kind.
About this time she reaches the local firing range. She puts him on blue tooth to continue the conversation while she straps on her cowboy style pistol belt and tosses the scabbard with her Winchester over her shoulder,"Yes and yes..." she then gives him her numbers.
"When is an appropriate time to reach you? I'd also like to schedule a sit down, so that I can get to know you better before we go forward with the group." inquires the earnest Dr Hauser.
The conversation goes forward along these lines, sterile and casual as details are exchanged. The Captain would be pleased to hear her first meeting with the retired clinical psychologist would be next Friday afternoon. She would have a group schedule likely as an outcome of it, and she would meet her group partner there.
She got more than one sideways glance as she strolled up to the pistol line with her massive pistol. The reproduction pistol had a barrel an inch and half longer than the traditional Walker Colt, whose length was usually impressive already. She puts on a pair of bose noise cancelling headphones, piping in the Creatures album Hai! through her ipod before colllapsing the pistol to drop the five intimidatingly large long colt cartridges in. Snapping it back as Siouxsie Sioux's voice resounds with the song Seven Tears, she takes up a firing stance at the thirty yard target.
The large pistol dwarfs anyone else's at the range, even the 1911 the man next to her is wielding. She can't hear him thanks to the headphones, but drawing up on the target for a second before sending a round through the face of the sillouhette she hears the report as the barrel kicks up slightly in her grasp. Unlike the other night, she's holding it with both hands so suffers no consequences as she lets her hand cannon roar four more times in satisfying succession with plumes of white smoke leaping forth each time. The face of her target is obliterated.
***
1830
Jesse's Apartment
Pariah's day on the range was sublime. She is reliable out to five hundred yards with the iron sights of her Winchester. She had put off buying a scope for it, mostly because of how little she actually uses it.
She goes to her room, changing for the evening before picking out a book from her rack. She has an extensive library, being a fan of Orson Scott Card and Terry Brooks mainly. She also has a healthy regard for Sir Isaac Aasimov and Robert Heinlein. Plugging her MP3 player into the sound system, she cues up the Skream remix of In For The Kill, pressing play as she goes to fix dinner.
Pariah popped a frozen burrito into her microwave, then fetched a yuengling from the fridge. A glimmer catches her eye from the kitchen window. A curious thing not unlike a flashlight passing her window is what she reckons. Stepping over to see if its someone across the way, she's suddenly aware of a black taste in her mouth and the fact that her music isn't playing anymore. No sooner does she realize this than an overwhelming sensation of vertigo passes over her, as if she'd suddenly jumped to her feet after laying around all day. Pariah loses her lunch in the sink before glancing to the clock. It's eight oh five in the evening, and she sobs over sink thinking friday can't come soon enough.
@cbishop@heroup2112@waezi2@impurestcheese@AssertingValor@poeticwarrior@thevoidofdeath@prinzessinsilke
Log in to comment