Mental Games - 35. Epilogue

After they graduated, Mike and Adam spent a few days with their parents before they had to start their jobs. Adam was beginning his internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, while Mike was kicking off his career working for the State's Attorney for Baltimore County. Since they were now employed in the same general area, they found a fairly nice apartment located about halfway between their two workplaces.

Adam was mentally prepared for the first of the twenty-six, six-week rotations he had to complete in a variety of specialties, which would take him three years to finish. He knew it was going to be an extremely demanding process, with long shifts and little sleep, so he warned Mike about what he should expect.

"I'm not sure when I'll be able to get away, so we probably won't be able to spend very much time together. I've talked to others who've done their internship and they've told me what to expect. They said I'll probably end up just taking naps in the doctor's lounge whenever I can get away, so don't be surprised if you're here alone most of the time."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out, and I might be working just as hard, but I probably won't be doing everything at the office. I expect I'll be bringing some of my work home too."

Mike had landed the job as the Honors Law Clerk, which meant he'd be working with several different lawyers in the office and helping them research their cases. Both of them, however, were willing to put up with a few rough years, because they knew it would eventually get better.

The job requirements turned out to be basically what they'd expected, with each one working very long hours. That, however, actually helped to make it a little easier on them, since they were both going through the same thing. If either one had had it easier than the other, then that person might have resented the fact that they weren't able to spend much time together. However, since they were both tired after working long and difficult days, they didn't have time to think about it. While Adam was working 12 to 15 hour shifts, Mike was bringing research home so he could finish it up before the next morning, which meant they hardly had time to miss one another.

During his internship, Adam was able to use his unique gift to assist many different people. He helped children who were suffering from physical or sexual abuse to get away from their abusers, and women who were victims of domestic violence to break the cycle of abuse. He was also able to convince reluctant patients to get the help they needed, while also convincing uncooperative insurance companies to pay for various procedures. In addition to each of those things, he also found a few minutes to help Mike with a couple of difficult cases he was involved with.

Even though Mike was only playing a minor role in these cases, he arranged for Adam to have phone contact with the suspects so he could use his ability to get them to do the right thing. The first had to do with a kidnapper who'd been caught by the police, but his victim, a young heiress he was holding for ransom, was still missing. Mike was in with the lead attorney when they were trying to negotiate a plea agreement that would encourage the man to disclose where he was keeping his victim, but the attorney was having little success.

"Would you mind if I spoke with the guy alone?" Mike asked the lawyer he was working with.

"That would be highly unusual, since you're only assisting me on this case."

"I know, but I've got an idea I think might work."

"Ok, I guess it wouldn't do any harm, and I'm willing to give it a try it if it will get him to tell us the whereabouts of the young lady."

After Mike was left alone wit the man in the small room, he quickly gave Adam a call and explained what he wanted him to do. "Adam, I'm tied up right now, so I won't be able to meet with you. I'm working on a kidnapping case and we're trying to get the guy to tell us where he's holding his victim. Sure, I'll see if he's willing."

Mike then turned to the kidnapper and spoke. "My friend wants talk to you. He says he has an offer you won't be able to refuse."

The kidnapper was intrigued and took the phone from Mike. After he finished answering several questions that Adam asked, he handed the phone back to Mike. After say goodbye to Adam, he and the kidnapper talked briefly before Mike went out to discuss the situation with his mentor.

"After chatting with the guy, I think if you offer him a plea agreement that stipulates you won't charge his brother and girlfriend with any crimes, then he'll tell you what you want to know. He's worried that his girlfriend will be charged because he used her car, and he used his brother's gun to convince his victim to cooperate."

"I'm willing to do that, as long as she's still alive," the lawyer agreed.

After he offered the man a written plea agreement stipulating that his brother and girlfriend wouldn't be charged, providing the victim was found unharmed, the man gave up the location where she was being held. As soon as S.W.A.T. rescued the young woman, shaken but uninjured, Mike became an instant hero.

"I'm not sure how you did it," he mentor stated, "but great job. I'm truly impressed." And so were the others who worked at the State's Attorney's office.

The second time Adam helped Mike, it had to do with a major drug bust. The police had arrested two men who had been caught with a very large quantity of cocaine, and during the interrogation process the men admitted that they were working for a local drug dealer. The police had suspected this man for quite some time, but they'd never had enough evidence to arrest him. This time, however, the State's Attorney went out on a limb and convinced the Grand Jury to indict the guy, seeing they had the testimony of the two men they'd arrested. However, the word of two co-conspirators wouldn't be enough to convict him, so they would need corroborating evidence if they hoped to send him to prison. Otherwise, he'd be out on the streets again, still dealing his poison.

Mike told Adam the guy's name and Adam called the jail and used his ability to get the corrections officer to let him speak with the prisoner. Adam then used his ability again to get the guy to tell him various details about his operation, but Mike would need the guy to admit this in open court as well, or the information would merely be rejected as hearsay. Knowing this, Adam planted a seed in the prisoner's psyche that would get him to admit the information when he was on the witness stand.

"When the attorney asks you about your trip to Columbia, I want you to deny everything, while at the same time spilling the details of what you did."

On the day the man was scheduled to testify in his own defense, Mike offered his current mentor a suggestion. "Ask him about the trip he made to Columbia when he arranged for the shipment of cocaine that the other two guys were caught with."

"How can I ask that, when we're not sure if he's getting the drugs from Columbia, Mexico, or somewhere else? We have no idea of how he's involved in this, other than that he's suspected to be the mastermind of the operation?"

"The question is based on information I got from Adam, who's doing his internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He told me that a few of the friends of the people who'd been brought in with overdoses said the cocaine was coming from Columbia and must have been tainted. They said their friends wouldn't be in that condition otherwise, if there wasn't something wrong with the drugs."

"That isn't much to go on, but I'll give it a try and see how the guy reacts. We'll need him to slip up and say something incriminating, though, if we're going to make this stick."

When they got into court, they waited for the defense attorney to finish questioning his client first, and the defendant was doing his best to paint himself as a very low-level player in the local drug scene. When he finally got his chance to question the accused, Mike's current mentor followed his own line of questioning first, before finally doing what Mike had suggested.

"What would you say if I told you that we had evidence that you made a trip to Columbia to purchase a large shipment of cocaine." This triggered the suggested Adam had planted in the man's brain and he went off on a rant.

"No way! I made that trip on a private jet, not a commercial flight, so there's nothing to show I actually went there. Garcia's men even picked me up when I landed, and then I stayed at his compound, so there's no hotel records or restaurant receipts to show I was there either. I didn't bring the drugs back with me, and sent the two miscreants you arrested to meet the men when the shipment was delivered later."

Even though the defense attorney was doing his best to interrupt his client and stop his mindless admission, it was too late. Everyone in the courtroom, including the jury, had heard what he'd just blurted out, so any reasonable doubt had just been eliminated. Once again, Mike was hailed as a hero and was questioned by his colleagues as to how he knew that line of questioning would be the guy's Achilles heel. It also earned him a raise and promotion, because those in charge recognized that he was rapidly becoming a valued member of their office.

As far as Adam's situation was concerned, once he finished his internship he was invited to join a local pediatric group and began his professional career with them. Now that he had a stable position, he planned a special surprise for Mike. One night after they returned to the apartment after enjoying a romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant, Adam got down on one knee and proposed.

"I've been wanting to do this for a very long time because I love you so deeply, but now that we both have jobs and our hectic lives are beginning to settle down, I want to make it official. Will you marry me?"

"Of course I will."

Once Mike agreed, they hugged and kissed for a while first, and then they began making plans for the wedding. It would include both sets of parents, along with a few close friends from work, because they wanted to keep the guest list fairly small. When the day they'd selected finally arrived, the were married at a simple, but lovely ceremony at the Bunting Interfaith Chapel located in the Johns Hopkins hospital. That was followed by an intimate reception held in the private dining room of the same restaurant they'd eaten at prior to Adam proposing. It was a wonderful day, but they'd agreed to put off their honeymoon until they actually had time to get away from their jobs for a couple of weeks.

Once their professional lives started to settle down and they fell into a more predictable routine, Mike and Adam took some time off from work and flew to the U.K. for their delayed honeymoon. They spent two weeks enjoying all of the sights they wanted to see, and when they returned home, they began to discuss an idea Adam had been considering since before he'd earned his doctorate.

During the many times he'd used his incredible gift to help others, Adam had been totally astounded by the number of children in need of his assistance. In most cases he discovered these kids were also having difficulty in school, either due to situations at home or because they were being harassed by bullies. After talking about this in great detail, Mike and Adam agreed that they wanted to do something to help the kids who found themselves in these types of situations. Since they were in agreement, they now had to figure out what they could do and how they were going to pull it off.

After thinking about this for several months, they finally determined a plan of action. Even though they knew they wouldn't be able to help all of the kids needing assistance, they'd do what they could for now, and then continue to expand their outreach over time. Initially, Adam contacted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and used his ability to get financial backing for this venture.

"I'm trying to solicit enough money so I can open a boarding school for children coming from terrible family situations, such as abusive homes, or who are the targets of bullies at school. I want to provide them a safe environment in which they can grow and flourish, both personally and academically. I don't want this experience to cost them anything, so it must include everything they'll require, such as any supplies, school uniforms, housing, and meals. I feel it would be best that they wear uniforms so no one will be picked on for the way they're dressed. I want to be a safe and encouraging environment where each student will have the support he needs to experience success."

Once he made his pitch, he was provided with enough money to do those things, while having enough left over to purchase a suitable facility for the school. They'd located a former convent that had been converted into a nursing home, but the nursing home had been closed by the State due to multiple health and safety violations. Mike and Adam would now use it to open a school for boys in need, since greater numbers of males needed this type of assistance. They eventually hoped to be able to do the same for girls, but for now it would be too difficult to separate the sexes in such a small facility.

Adam also secured enough additional funds to hire several teachers and a couple to serve as house parents. The house parents would live at the school as well, so they'd be available 24/7.

Since the teachers they hired would probably find it difficult to handle all of the subject matter for their discipline, since the school was open to students from grades five through twelve, it presented a problem. Adam was able to use his ability to solve this situation as well, and contacted several organizations he felt might help. Starting with the History, Learning, Discovery, and National Geographic channels, he convinced them to allow the school to use all of their educational programs and materials.

"You have many programs that deal with various subject matter that is appropriate for the students we'll be assisting, so I'm hoping you'll allow us to use it to supplement our classroom instruction. These programs will only be used by our students, and we'll guarantee they will not leave the campus or be distributed to any other groups. This material would be a very valuable asset we could use to enhance the normal instructional process, or that the students could utilize when doing independent study."

Once those organizations agreed to allow them use of their materials, Adam had to get the hardware needed to make this information readily accessible. After making a few phone calls, he convinced some of the biggest names in Tech industry to provide the school with servers and computer equipment. Now, they had everything they would need on the premises and under their control, they were nearly ready to get started.

Before that happened however, Adam focused on another possibility he thought would benefit both the teachers and the students. He spent the next couple of weeks contacting some of the most highly regarded high school teachers and college professors to convince them to put various lessons on video. These lectures would be used as needed to supplement the normal instruction in the classroom, because it would allow the teachers to use these resources when they didn't feel competent about covering certain topics. Since there were so few teachers, and each one had to cover subject matter they weren't totally comfortable with, this would provide an alternative without watering down the curriculum. At least that's what Adam said to convince those he'd contacted to provide this assistance.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd be willing to record the lessons you were currently teaching your students, or possibly even prepare separate lessons primarily for our students. I feel your expertise with the subject matter would greatly benefit the types of students we'd be working with, seeing we don't have the funds necessary to hire instructors of your caliber."

His pitch worked and quite a few of the people he'd contacted were more than eager to help out. The lectures would cover lessons in the various sciences, history and government, mathematics, and English, both grammar and literature, so Mike and Adam now felt they had what they needed to get started.

While still keeping their current jobs, Adam agreed to tutor students in the sciences after dinner, while Mike would tutor those needing help with history, government, or the social sciences. Adam would also take care of the students' health needs, while Mike would handle any legal problems.

Once the school was running smoothly and had been in operation for a few years, Mike and Adam were able to open a second facility. First, Adam used his powers to hit up more wealthy donors and secured the funds needed to buy a small college that had closed in western Pennsylvania so he could open a much larger school. They then sent out information packets to governmental offices and private groups dealing with minors and asked them to submit applications for the children they felt would benefit from this type of structure.

They were amazed by the number of applications they received, and after selecting the maximum number of students they'd be able to accommodate, they then contacted each of the families. Once they had answered all of their questions and the parents had agreed to let their child attend, Adam arranged for the funding to have the students transported to the school. Before long, that location was operating up to capacity as well.

Shortly after the second boarding school opened, Mike and Adam hired someone to oversee the operation at the original location to free them up. Then, they quit their jobs and moved to Pennsylvania, taking up residence at the new school. They arranged for temporary living accommodations while the second floor of the administration building was renovated into a residence for themselves. Once they were settled in, they focused on their next task. They then had the first floor of the same building renovated into professional offices, so they could start their new practices. Adam opened a 'Juvenile and Teen' medical center, while also serving as the school physician, while Mike organized his own legal firm, along with acting as the school's attorney of record.

Mike and Adam ran the school for four decades before they finally decided to retire. Prior to doing that, however, they made certain the school would continue after they were no longer around. They had led very satisfying and fulfilling lives and left an impressive legacy of helping others in need, especially the youngest members of society, both at the school and throughout their professional careers. Upon their deaths, each one was eulogized at a memorial service by those they'd helped and worked with. Their names now adorn two of the buildings on the campus they'd created together, as well as adorning a well-funded college scholarship fund for those students seeking to continue their education. Their accomplishments will continue on, even though they're no longer around to carry the load, and their dedication will never be forgotten.

The End.