CHAPTER 243: TEAM BUILDING

Even concentrated for a few moments, then said, "Outstanding. Smith, Parker, and Harper, are safe to bond now."

Jack sent a request to Smith.

[Soul Bond Accepted: Robert Smith]

Like the captain, Robert only paused for a moment before accepting.

Jack had the captain point out who were Parker and Harper, sent requests to them as well.

Jack made the same modifications to their soul bond, then activated Robert’s parallel self as well.

[Soul Bond Accepted: Brandon Parker]

[Soul Bond Accepted: Josh Harper]

For Brandon and Josh, he didn’t activate their parallel selves, just pushed them out of his soul space as soon as the soul bonds were complete.

"Looks like the pause is about two to five seconds. Next up are Maxwell, Foster, and Abbott," said the captain as he pointed out each man.

[Soul Bond Accepted: Jayce Maxwell]

[Soul Bond Accepted: Ewan Foster]

[Soul Bond Accepted: Nathanael Abbott]

Most accepted about as quickly as the captain, with only Ewan taking a moment longer before accepting.

"Okay. I think it will be a few subjective minutes before any of the other men are in a position to accept. Is there anything we can do in the meantime?"

"Yes," said Jack as he sent a request to Orin.

[Soul Bond Accepted: Orin Blake]

Orin actually took a few moments before accepting. Jack wasn’t sure if there was an internal conflict or if the man was just more deliberative.

After Orin was soul bonded, Jack said, "Go sit in a chair or lie down, then you can re-enter. I don’t want to spend energy on unnecessary parallel selves."

Orin nodded and disappeared from Jack’s soul space.

While he waited, Jack created a separate space, like the business space, with a hallway and linked security doors, and added a temporary large room to host the containers he would need to link.

Then, he created a temporary hallway between his interview room and the new merc space common room.

As soon as the hallway was created he pointed at it and said, "Gentlemen, please proceed down that hallway."

"You head the man, let’s go," said the captain.

He and the rest of his team turned and headed down the hallway at a brisk walk.

Orin reappeared just in time to hear the captain.

Jack turned to Katie, who had been silent the whole time, and asked, "Did you want to stay and talk with your dad while I go deal with this?"

She nodded.

He gave her a quick hug and a kiss, then turned and rushed after the team. He could sense over their connection that Katie was embarrassed to be seen kissing him in front of her dad, and he was sure she was blushing.

When he reached the common room, he asked the captain, "Anyone else ready yet?"

The captain focused for a moment, then said, "No, not yet. Looks like it’ll be a few more minutes."

Jack nodded, then headed into the large room. He templatized and linked three containers from the warehouse at the other end of the tunnel, and two containers from the warehouse where the team was cornered.

He also templatized and linked each pallet or box in each container, and the truck, then synced all the container and pallet templates together along with the truck.

This only took about a minute, so he then summoned Jeeves and asked him to help locate a working forklift and a pallet mover.

These he templatized and summoned one copy of the forklift and two of the pallet mover.

He’d arranged the containers so that the containers from each warehouse were lined up next to each other and facing the containers from the other warehouse.

As soon as he was done, he turned to the captain and said, "We need to clear enough space from one container on each side of this room to fit that truck."

The men rushed over to the shipping containers from the warehouse on the other side of their escape tunnel. Men entered each container, then exited, and they all conferred.

One of the men started pointing at the forklift and pallet movers, then at each of the containers.

After that, the men burst into motion, and soon pallets were being removed from the shipping containers.

While that was happening, Smith walked over to him and said, "The existing tunnel collapse is recent, but not new enough to fool the Nov’s into thinking it was done by us. They’ll want to know how we got past it."

"Do you have enough explosives to blow up the tunnel on either side?"

"That’s the problem. We already blew our wad on the mission. We have a bit left, but not nearly enough to blow the tunnel."

"Tell me where you have more stashed somewhere and I’ll zap it over to you as soon as I finish with the soul bonds."

Smith turned to the captain and said, "Sure beats the hell out of an airdrop, don’t it?"

The captain nodded. "Sure does."

Then he turned to Jack and said, "You could rule the world if you wanted."

"You’re not the first person to tell me that. And I’ve thought about it, but I think it would be too much hassle. Would you want to rule the world?" retorted Jack.

"Maybe. But you might be right about it being too much hassle. I’ve sat in on enough high-level mission planning meetings to know I have no taste for politics. Let the generals play their games and let the rest of us do our damn jobs."

"Mr. Blake isn’t so bad," said Smith.

The captain nodded, then turned to Jack and said, "We’re ready for the rest of the team."

Jack started sending soul bond requests.

[Soul Bond Accepted: Brian Anderson]

[Soul Bond Accepted: Damien Myers]

[Soul Bond Accepted: Kale Maldonado]

[Soul Bond Accepted: Reuben Norman]

Each man accepted quickly, and soon Jack had all the men back in his soul space in parallel self form.

When the last man appeared, the captain turned to Smith and said, "Why don’t you show Jack where we keep the goodies. I’m gonna to talk to West about what kind of surprises we can leave behind for the Nov’s."