Invisible Touch Read online

  That momentous step happened just a few of weeks ago, after the semi-annual SWACon police meeting at the Great Kiva, a sacred meeting place just outside of Wir-Kiva. A few weeks prior to the meeting, Sheriff Helki and Liaison Lowell informed me that they would be spinning off the civilian support cases. Liaison Lowell, who had been handling all Psycept related work, both civilian and police, would only handle civilian Psycept consultations. This meant that he would exclusively head the Psycept Civilian Support Services, or PCSS, as well as be more directly involved with the Psycepts that worked the civilian consultations. In addition, he would no longer report to Sheriff Helki, but instead report directly to Chief Yanaba as PCSS is still nominally under the SWACon police. For the Psycept police unit, Sheriff Helki promoted detectives Randolph and Tamez to detective sergeants where they are now making big changes.

  “When I first became sub-chief, I took over from Sheriff Lowell who wished to semi-retire and focus on becoming the Psycept Liaison. I come from Mesa Verde and Hohokam and we have little to do with Psycepts and I didn’t want to overstep his domain. This isn’t to knock Lowell, he had a tremendous task essentially running two large units. I don’t know how he handled it as Sheriff. Having been so the past eight years I would not have been able to run the Bosque police if he was not here as Liaison, not to mention PCSS too.

  “So, I kept apprised of his work and helped with what I could, when he let me. This went on for years until I was afraid he would burn out. However, with the large workload of managing the two Psycept departments, he could not take on the additional task of overhauling the police unit. We spoke a couple of months ago and he finally agreed to give up one of the Psycept departments for his health. He chose to keep the civilians, he has 35 years in peace enforcement and he felt like that was enough policing. With the promotions of Tamez and Randolph and additional leader positions being approved for next year, plus me taking a more active role, I think we can do this and do it well. So, Gray, we’re going to need you to handle everything, all three phrases, preferably yesterday.” Sheriff Helki’s usual deadpan demeanor was in effect though I swear I saw a humorous gleam in his dark grey eyes. In contrast to Tamez’ bun, Sheriff Helki’s mid back-length black hair was parted down the middle, with two small braids on either side of his face to hinder the remainder of his free-falling hair. With his over six feet height, lean build, prominent cheekbones, capable demeanor, and a keen intelligence, Sheriff Helki was an extremely attractive man in his mid-to-late thirties. He even had the luck to appear to be in his mid-twenties.

  “Full of jokes today, I see, Sheriff. Four of you, one of me, and I’m the one you want to stick with all the work. Okay, looking at the project worklist, you want to rearrange the detectives and officers by origin of the petition, rather than which Psycept accepts the case as most cases are broadly linked. Assault, missing persons, homicides, shared crimes against persons if you will. These are usually handled by my category, so the Psycept training should focus on TouchVoyants plus the necessary information of the other categories needed for police escort duties.” Psycepts require escort for our protection if we leave the GT for fear we may be retaliated against by our country of origin or be kidnapped to be repatriated. The escort fell to the Psycept police unit and from my experience, some were better trained than others.

  “So,” I continue, “we need a three-prong push to implement this smoothly. First prong, no new officers to the Psycept unit. Sheriff Helki, can you work with Chief Yanaba to enact a hiring freeze? No one new including no inter-department transfers. This is until we can get our current unit changes in place. Also, can you prepare her for new training that we will soon enact?

  “Next, regrouping current police officers and detectives. Mark, can you get a breakdown of all the officers and detectives and the origin of the cases they have worked, as well languages spoken and literate in? Also, get an idea of hours spent on cases, separating investigative work from communication from travel, and drill down to detective and officer. We can use this to create new groups of appropriate size to handle the volume of petitions from various origins.

  “Finally, we need to revamp the training. Sgt. Tamez and Sully, can you take this on? We need to develop training materials specific to Psycept police officers. We can continue to have the common how-to training materials like navigating the Psycept database, interacting with petitioners, and preparing for court appearance, plus traveling and escort, etc. You may want to review the current materials to see if anything needs to be updated. But the focus of your task is creating point of origin training, detailing basic laws, jurisdiction, jurisprudence, court system, and whatever else you come up with. Adapt as much current training materials as you can, no need to reinvent the wheel.

  “The in-depth Psycept training at Wir-Kiva will still be good for PCSS, so we’re not scrapping any resources that trainers use. Sheriff Helki, that would be a good point to bring up to Chief Yanaba. Also, once the sergeants finish the materials, it will need to go to the police trainers at Wir-Kiva since they are the ones that will be doing the training. We can send current officers and detectives from the unit through first. Can you arrange this? Then after the retrain, we can resume new hires and transfers.

  “And before y’all say that the current officers and detectives already know this stuff and it would be a waste to train them from bottom up, think about it. We’re not sure what knowledge they’ve learned on the job. We can’t assume that everyone knows everything or deals with all scenarios. Neither do we know if the person they’ve learned from taught them well or if they picked up bad habits. Also, we are rearranging the unit so having them go through this in their new groups can be a bonding experience. Those who complain together build ties, or something. In addition, this allows the trainers to practice on current personnel first and we are assured that everyone in the department will have the same base knowledge.” I take a sip of water, that was quite a bit of talking at one time.

  “This is why I recommended we come to you, Gray. You are the implementation queen and frankly, I don’t want to take on this headache. I’m glad you’re around. I’ll work on getting the current unit information breakdown for you. Then, I can help you rank and group the teams. Everyone, Gray has uploaded a preliminary implementation timeline in the phase one folder with dates to be filled in. And she’s added items to the project task list.” See, Mark and I were one with the administrative force.

  “I should’ve known that Gray would jump right on this. Tamez and I will begin to work on the training materials. I think maybe three weeks will do, what about you Tamez?” Sully asked.

  “Let’s say four weeks, just in case. We can always finish early and bring the project forward, but it’s harder to push things back. We’ll split up the material and work with Mark on typing it up.”

  “I have a meeting with Chief Yanaba next week. I’ll speak with her about this then. We can wait to discuss phases two and three until we near completion of this phase,” Sheriff Helki said.

  “Ooh sounds ominous. As per usual, I’ll highlight content to designate it as new and leave comments where appropriate. Please check daily as documents are in flux. Also, reminder, I’ll not attend next week’s meeting, but Mark will take notes for me. My brother and sister are coming to visit and I’m taking a few days off. I think this concludes today’s vidcon, see you in two weeks.” With that, I sign off the call.

  I was excited to take on a new project management task. However, as a Psycept consultant, I was not as thrilled with no longer having a dedicated detective to work with. Oh well, change can be good, and I don’t have time to dwell. On to my next task.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The meeting with the police ran slightly over and I only have a couple of minutes until my next appointment. I send a quick text.

  Hey, I might be 5 mins late. I need to take Echo out to stretch his legs.

  Sure, no problem. Gives me time to get a fresh cup. See you in a few.

  I smile at the
quick reply from Liaison Lowell. Echo arises from his bed when I stand up to grab his leash. After hooking it on him, we walk down the hall and out the back door located off the main room. The office was converted from an elevated trailer and sits on a one-acre commercial lot. The front entrance has stairs, but the back door has a short switchback ramp that Echo loves to race down. In the area behind the trailer stands a picnic table with a large umbrella plus a moderate sized dog run perpendicular to the back of the trailer, next to the ramp. When Echo gets older and I add a second dog companion, I’ll leave them in the dog run for longer periods of time. For now, I let him loose for five minutes of running around time, he has some energy to vent.

  “Come on, Echo, time to go back inside. I know you still want to play but give me an hour to finish up. Then I’ll bring you outside again while I eat lunch. Sound good?” He yelps in excitement, sounds like agreement to me.

  Back in my office, he goes to his area and begins to chew his bacon flavored teething ring. I log into the call, hoping Echo will stay occupied for the duration.

  “How’s Echo doing? How many miles are you up to on your morning jogs?” Liaison Lowell grinned from the vidcon monitor.

  “Miles! What am I, a puppy meanie? We jog to the postbox and back, then around the house a few times. I think it may be a whole half of a mile. But since he likes to run circles around me, it’s a little longer for him. Sorry I’m late, my nine o’clock ran over. So, the only thing you sent me as an agenda topic was the word party with three exclamation points. Explain.”

  “I want to host a party and I need you to plan it.”

  “That’s it, that’s all you’re giving me. Why’d I retain you as a client, again?” I’ve known Liaison Lowell since I moved to SWACon fifteen years ago. I was in the first wave of Psycepts that descended upon Albuquerque. Alone, no friends or family, the then-Sheriff Lowell decided to take me under his wing. He helped me when I first moved into my apartment Albuquerque area set aside for Psycepts. An area that quickly became referred to as PsyTown. He was my first contact with the police and even acted as my police handler for the first couple of months. Lowell said that I was trouble and he felt he had to protect his detectives from me. Hah. Liaison Lowell also aided me in registering in online college courses and trusted me to babysit his daughter, Dani. He championed hiring me in my first job as an archivist at the police department, became my first client at my virtual assistance business, and so much more. Lowell changed my life, which is why I stayed with him. And why I put up with his Dad jokes, occasionally even laughing at them.

  “I’m a gift, and no you can’t return me. The party is a Psycept and civilian community mixer. I want the Psycepts and the PCSS workers to interact more. And not just the Psycepts that mostly work civilian cases, all Psycepts. Did you know that the civilian workforce fields the customer service phone lines, maintains the Psycept database and website, and sorts the incoming Psycept packages for both civilian and police cases? At the first of the year, PCSS will be taking over delivery and pick up of packages for all Psycepts as well.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know the scope of what PCSS does. It’s a great idea to have a party, but it needs to be a big venue. There are over 25,000 Psycept community members living in Bosque, plus you have 2,000 PCSS workers. The convention center was built to hold 30,000, so it will just accommodate us. It also sits on a large acreage, so we can probably set up a fairground or something outside. How much is your budget and when do you want this set up by?”

  “Plan for 40,000 attendees. Albuquerque and regional citizens will be invited to come, and some may even attend. The budget is 2.5 million but let me know if you think it will cost more. It is a joint effort between PCSS of SWACon and the Albuquerque Community Council with Bosque Regional Society also participating. As for timeframe, think you can have this in place for Winter Solstice?”

  “Of next year, no problem. If you’re speaking of the Winter Solstice that is less than three weeks away, not a chance. I can probably get this in place for Vernal Equinox, but no guarantee.”

  “I was hoping to have something in place before we started delivering packages to everyone in a month. Suggestions?”

  “I definitely can’t have this large of an endeavor set up on such short notice. How many Psycepts handle casework, civilian or police?” I asked.

  “14,500 handle cases, though some only occasionally. Of the nearly seven thousand that don’t handle cases, there are a variety of reasons why. The largest group of Psycepts are PsyMovers, and they usually work for the military, wardens, or in PCSS. Some Psycepts are too young and others have recently completed the terms of their contract and no longer work cases.”

  “Of those fourteen thousand plus Psycepts that handle cases, how many police only cases? Or, I should say, how many currently have their packages brought to them by the detectives they work with?”

  “Police cases, there are about a thousand of you. I don’t know how it breaks down between both or only police. TouchVoyants are not the most numerous type of Psycept and they handle most police cases. The other Psycepts either only handle civilian cases, or rarely handle police cases.”

  “So,” I began, “only about a thousand will be seeing new faces drop off and pick up our petition packages. I would suggest that the PCSS workers make short little video introductions and send them out to the police case Psycepts just prior to the start of new year. Then, in a few months, we can have the community get together to learn more about each other.”

  “Good idea. So, you’ll put that together for me? I can have Annabeth work on getting the intro vids produced and sent out. We already have our package delivery assignments worked out,” Liaison Lowell proudly proclaimed. I knew that he felt he had neglected the PCSS workers when he oversaw both civilian and police Psycept cases. He chose to focus his attention to the support staff, who clearly handle the majority of Psycept interactions.

  “Yes, I’ll start working on this. I’ve created a project box and a project list, and I just sent you and Annabeth the link. Now, don’t run her ragged. She’s a new hire with only a few months temporary experience and she recently graduated from college, so go easy. I selected Annabeth so the two of you can grow together in your positions and I’m here to help develop her skills. I’ll set up a meeting with Annabeth this week to walk with her through some things. Remember, I’ll be visiting with my siblings next weekend, so it’ll be two weeks until our next video conference. Anything else?”

  “Nope, sounds good. I’ll be patient for a few days, so you and Annabeth can get up to speed. Talk to you in two weeks.” As Lowell logged off the call, I reflect on the improvement in his appearance since he lightened his work load. Gone were the dark circles and bags under his blue eyes, and he expressed more energy and alertness these past weeks than he had in several years. He also looks like he’s jogging again as he seems to be firming up and loosing weight around his face and jowls. Dani also indicated that her dad was eating fresh fruits and vegetables and cutting back on his salted meat. It was good to see him looking better than the past few years, even his hair seemed to arrest at the salt-and-pepper stage rather than progress further into the fully grey it had been creeping into. Maybe with his time freed up, Lowell can begin dating. He is an attractive man of average height and only in his mid-fifties. With his kindness and position in the community, he’s a good catch.

  Two massive projects started, both on the same day, great. Good thing I’ve been making room for increased client capacity. Grabbing my mouse gun, holster, and a magazine from the safe, I add my gloves and Echo’s leash to the items, then lock up my personal office. I make a brief stop in the kitchen to refill my water bottle and get my lunch. Outside, Echo ecstatically runs around in the dog run while I fill his water and food bowls. Sitting down at the picnic table with my lunch, I contemplate the changes that occurred the past few weeks.

  I lightened my virtual assistant clients to become more active in the Psycept community as Sheriff Hel
ki suggested. Originally, we planned to hire only one new assistant, but I decided that two were needed to adequately redistribute our clients as well as have room to recruit new accounts. Dio was an excellent new employee and has been with us almost four weeks. He first completed two weeks of training rotating amongst the four of us. Beginning Dio’s third week, we slowly began to shift existing clients to him, plus he will be getting new clients over the next few weeks. The fourth assistant will start in one week and Soon Yee and Rhea will shift enough clients to him so that all four will essentially have the same workload. As Dani brings new clients in, we can equally distribute them.

  Soon Yee will take a vacation in a couple of months and having three assistants plus me to cover her work is fantastic. For myself, though I’ve taken a few days off here and there, I’ve not had a full vacation in years to spare Soon Yee and Rhea burning out by covering for me. I am looking forward to next year and already plan to visit my sister the first part of the year.

  Lessening Soon Yee and Rhea’s client loads allowed me to move the last few of my virtual clients to them, which was completed this past week. However, I retained both Psycept accounts as through Lowell, the police and PCSS departments have been with me since before I established the agency. In addition, my new client, the Auraria Psycept Police division in the Great Basin Conservatorship, officially starts Monday. Thus, today’s morning meetings are dense, everyone patiently waited until I was free to dump new projects on me. Too kind.