DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 2: Equilibrant
Chapter 6
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Following Shadow, Ed walked into the IRS office and stopped at 
the receptionist. She looked at Ed and then glanced down at the 
cat. Smiling at Ed, she asked, "Who are you here to see?"

"The person in charge," replied Ed in a very casual manner.

Very calmly, she picked up the phone and called security. Looking 
at Ed with a smile, she said, "Let me let him know you are here."

The sour tone of her voice let Ed know that she was lying to him. 
He reached in his back pocket as the woman said, "This is Jean. 
There's a man here with a very large cat to see you."

There was a moment of silence as her features took on an 
increasingly puzzled look. She looked up at Ed and saw the IRS 
identification. Trying not to allow her expression to look too 
stupid, she leaned forward and examined the badge. After reading 
the name, she answered, "Ed Biggers."

After another moment of silence, she replied, "Black."

Amused, Ed watched as she repeated, "Shadow, okay. Well, I see 
that he's one of ours. Sorry to call."

She hung up the phone and looked up at Ed apologetically. She 
said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were one of our agents. I 
thought that you disgruntled taxpayer."

Smiling broadly, Ed replied, "No problem."

She said, "Did you know there's another man with a large cat 
around here?"

"Yes, I know. John Carter. He's upstairs waiting for me," answered 
Ed. 

"So you know him?" asked the secretary.

"He's my husband."

The woman sat there staring at Ed as if he had just told her that he 
was from Mars. A door to the offices opened and their tax 
consultant, Frankie Paulovich, stepped through the door. Seeing 
Ed, he came over with his hand extended. In a very friendly tone of 
voice, he said, "Ed, what are you doing here?"

Holding up his identification, Ed replied, "I'm here to find my new 
office."

Watching the exchange with wide eyes, the secretary got on the 
phone to call the boss and let him know that Ed was here. Frankie 
said, "I just finished preparing your quarterly return."

As she listened to the conversation between Frankie and Ed, she 
realized who John Carter and Ed Biggers were. Half of the agents 
in the office consulted on their tax returns. It was rare to find 
someone that gave away ninety-five percent of their income to 
charity. 

In response to a direct call from Deana Ahlberg that Ed Biggers 
was going to be working out his office, Gary Smales was very 
curious as to what to expect. He came out of the office area to meet 
Ed and didn't realize that the cowboy with the cat was Ed until a 
gesture from the secretary tipped him off. Seeing his boss in the 
lobby, Frankie turned to him and said, "Mr. Smales, this is Ed 
Biggers."

Extending a hand, Ed said, "Pleased to meet you Mr. Smales."

Examining the man standing in front of him, Gary asked, "What 
are your plans?"

Ed said, "Well, I'm working on a joint case with the FBI. I'll be 
needing access to a large number of tax returns over the next nine 
months."

Gary asked, "What is the case?"

"You don't have clearance for it," replied Ed. 

"What are you talking about? I'm your boss," said Gary more than 
a little irritated at the implication that an underling would not share 
details about the case he was working.

Shrugging, Ed replied, "Sorry, but that isn't exactly correct. I report 
directly to Deana Alhberg and she knows the details of the case. 
According to the agreement I have with her, I'm supposed to be 
given access to any information that I may require through this 
office."

Disturbed by Ed's statements, Gary decided that it was time to 
validate them. He said, "Please stay here while I make a couple of 
calls."

Frankie asked, "Can I show him around the office?"

As Gary left the lobby, he replied, "Sure. Show him the cubicle 
that we've set aside for him."

As was the case in Billings, Montana, walking through the office 
was painful for Ed. Stopping at one of the cubicles, he grabbed a 
pencil and a folder that was particularly offensive to him. The 
agent in the cubicle took great offense at his actions, but Ed flipped 
open the folder without responding. As he flipped through the 
pages, he marked each line with an X that screamed lie to him. He 
handed the folder back and said, "I marked every line with an X 
that contains false information. The other folders on your desk may 
have errors, but they aren't fraudulent."

Going to the next cubicle, Ed went through three folders on the 
desk. In a matter of five minutes, he had marked the fraudulent 
lines in all three. He handed back the folders and went to the next 
cubicle. It took him almost an hour to get through all of the 
cubicles in the room. After the first three cubicles, he was being 
followed by a crowd of agents watching him work. 

When he had finished, he stood rubbing his temples to get rid of 
the headache. Incredulous at what he had just seen, one of the 
agents asked, "You're an accountant?"

"No, I'm a mineralogist," replied Ed. He added, "It is just that lies 
give me a splitting headache and I have to expose them, 
particularly criminal lies."

Staring at a folder that had come from his desk, Frankie said, "I 
can't believe it. This shows a clear pattern of fraud. I'm going to be 
able to nail this guy for a million at least."

Ed said, "Nail the ones that knew they were lying to the wall. Send 
them to prison, they are cheating this country. Don't destroy the 
folks that made honest mistakes. If you can, give them the 
opportunity to settle at the owed amount."

One of the agents said, "It doesn't matter, they still broke the law."

Shrugging, Ed said, "You can play that game. Of course, the other 
agents will probably collect more than you. They'll get through 
more cases in less time and with less cost. They can go after the 
bigger fish while you're screwing over grandmother."

Frankie smiled at Ed and shook his head. He had just performed 
the same calculation mentally and realized that Ed had made a 
good point. He said, "Let me show you your cubicle."

Ed followed Frankie to a simple cubicle near the back. It was the 
furthest cubicle from a window, the coffee pot, and the entrance. In 
short, it was the new guy cubicle. Standing there looking at it, Ed 
didn't like the cubicle at all. It would require him to walk past all of 
those other cubicles and the folders filled with lies. He would 
never be able to do that with any kind of regularity. Turning to 
Frankie, Ed said, "Take me to Gary's office. I need to get upstairs. 
We are expecting a number of investigators to show up shortly."

Somewhat reluctantly, Frankie took Ed to the office of Gary 
Smales. It wasn't a good idea to disturb Gary in his office unless it 
was to announce a major break in a big case. He knocked on the 
door and flinched when he heard the gruff, "Come in."

Opening the door, Ed walked in and looked around the room. It 
was a very simple office piled high with folders. Shadow entered 
behind Ed and sat down next to Ed. Looking down at the cat, Ed 
said, "Did you have a chance to talk with Deana?"

"Yes," replied Gary. Frowning, he said, "You were correct. You 
take the cases you want, work on them to your satisfaction, and 
then leave it to us to clean up after you. I'm not sure of the wisdom 
of that."

Frankie piped up, "Uh, Gary. He just went through the office and 
identified the fraudulent lines in over fifteen big cases. He did that 
in just thirty minutes. I'll be more than happy to follow behind and 
clean up his messes."

Staring at Franking with daggers in his eyes, Gary said, "We will 
see. I have my orders."

Shadow slipped out of the room as Ed turned. At the door he 
paused and said, "I will be working up in the FBI offices. I'll call 
down and let you know what files I need."

Ed left as Gary stared at his back. This was not the way that Gary 
liked to work. He demanded total involvement in all of the big 
cases within his jurisdiction and watched over his agents with a 
critical eye. He had particular standards that he expected from 
them, despite the fact that they were government employees. Gary 
didn't realize it, but his agents were going to close a record number 
of cases over the next month and collect more than the office had 
ever brought in.

Rover and Ed went up the elevator to the FBI office. When he 
entered, Ann was waiting at the door for him. He looked at her and 
flipped open his IRS identification. Direct to the point, he said, 
"I'm working on a joint case with John. We will need an office 
large enough for two desks."

Ann Moore, the head of the Phoenix FBI office, looked at Ed's 
identification with a critical eye. She had known Ed for a long 
time, but this was the first time that he had ever shown her official 
federal identification. She asked, "When did you get that?"

"Just recently," answered Ed. Looking around the lobby, he asked, 
"So have the others arrived yet?"

With the irritation in her voice giving a hint at her anger, she said, 
"Yes, they are in the conference room. What are you working on?"

"It's a joint case between the FBI and IRS."

That was exactly what John had told her, but she wanted more 
details. This was her office and she had a right to know what was 
going on in it. She asked, "So what is this case?"

"You're not cleared for it," replied Ed. Only two people at the 
present time knew exactly what was going to be the consequences 
of this case and those two were John and Ed. When they had 
enough of a plan, they would meet their bosses and explain what 
they were doing.

Ann glared at Ed as he walked off to the conference room. Shadow 
joined Rover outside the conference room, taking a position to 
guard the door. After a minute of staring at the door after it closed 
behind him, she stormed off to her office to call Mike Holden, the 
Director of the FBI. Those two men had crossed a very important 
line and she wasn't going to let them get away with it.

Inside the conference room, John was standing at the front of the 
room facing twenty curious Druids. Just the number of Druids in 
the room was amazing. The fact that they were working together 
signified the massiveness of the operation. Once he had the 
attention of everyone in the room, John said, "Sean was killed by a 
member of an organized crime family after giving them the 
warning that they were to leave us alone. I find it inexcusable to 
ignore our warning like this. Today, Ed and I are announcing 
Operation Druids Revenge."

Looking around the room, John was relieved to see that everyone 
was nodding. Ed went up to the front of the room and said, "We 
are going to shut down organized crime in twenty cities. We can't 
trust local law enforcement, the corruption is just too extensive. 
We need eyes and ears that we can trust." 

Again, everyone in the room was nodding their heads. Satisfied, 
John said, "We want you to each head to a major city and observe 
the criminal operations there. We aren't looking for specific 
crimes, but major patterns of behavior. We want to know what 
days they collect money. We want to know when they meet to 
distribute the money. These guys are creatures of habit and we 
want to know their habits."

This time, some of the men shook their heads. John pointed to one 
of them and asked, "What is the problem?"

"That's going to take some time to accomplish. We won't be able to 
move against them for quite a while."

"Correct. Our goal is not to put a couple of guys in jail. That won't 
send a message to them. Our goal is to totally shut them down for 
good." John's voice had taken on the resonance of a man on a 
mission. 

The Druid asked, "You are really serious about this?"

Answering for John, Ed said, "You bet. We want to take out every 
aspect of the business from drugs to prostitution. We want to catch 
the money men that are financing their activities. When we are 
done, the only organized crime that we'll hear about are two losers 
who get caught stealing candy from kids."

A number of the Druids laughed. John asked, "What do you 
think?"

The Druids looked at each other for a moment. Jerry, the head of 
the servants of the God, said, "How do you expect to pull this off?"

Glancing over at Ed, John said, "I don't know. I won't know until 
we get the intelligence data from you guys."

All of the Druids in the room nodded their heads. Jerry looked 
around the room and said, "We are all from different major cities 
in here. I suggest we go to our home turf.  Since we are all in law 
enforcement, we can also look into local records for other things 
that might suggest trends."

Nodding, John said, "Look at previous places where crimes have 
taken place and the sites where the arrests were made. These 
creeps will basically stay in the same area."

There was a long moment of silence as people looked around the 
room. John looked from one Druid to the next, seeing that each one 
nodded in his direction. At that point, John said, "If there are no 
more questions, lets get to work."

The Druids left the room in their standard disorderly fashion, each 
moving as an individual but without any collisions. Ann standing 
outside tried to question them, but they all held up identification 
that placed them in law enforcement including federal marshals, 
secret service, state troopers, and local police. It shocked her more 
than she could express. 

When the room cleared out, the cats entered to join John and Ed. 
Ann followed them into the conference room. Shortly after that, 
she was joined by Gary from the IRS office. They turned to face 
Ed and John. Ann was the first to speak, "I talked to Mike Holden 
and he said that you had carte blanche. Still, I think you should tell 
us what is going on."

John looked at Ed and then said, "All I can tell you is that a Druid 
was killed."

This was not the answer that she had expected. She asked, "Do you 
mean that all of the people that just left are Druids?"

Nodding at the correctness of her statement, John said, "Yes and 
they are all working on the case."

She paled at the implications. She had seen what John could do 
and guessed that the others were just as effective. Gary had no idea 
what this talk about Druids meant, but he was smart enough to 
recognize the reaction of Ann. He looked to her and then back at 
Ed. He asked, "So what is the big deal?"

Ed answered, "You don't fuck with a Druid."

Still angry at not being told what was going on, Ann wasn't sure 
that she wanted to know. These guys could be absolutely scary 
when they put their minds to a task. Ann stood up and said, "Gary, 
come with me and I'll explain some things to you." 

Overwhelmed by the house, Terry and Dale had shown up on time. 
Their impression of Ed was of a cowboy. Pulling up to the house, 
they immediately started wondering just how rich he was. Of 
course, the house belonged to the family and wouldn't have been 
anywhere near that large if John hadn't kicked in so much money. 
The young couple didn't know that.

Knocking hesitantly on the door, no one heard the light tapping 
that passed as a knock. Fortunately, Ling was monitoring the 
outside of the house at the time and came down to let them in. 
When she opened the door, the young couple looked at her in 
surprise expecting to see Ed. Dale asked, "We are here to see Ed 
Biggers."

Stepping back, Ling said, "Please come in. The family is expecting 
you. Ed will be here in just a second."

Coming from the back of the house, Ed called out, "Hello. So glad 
you could make it."

The young couple, nervous in such rich surroundings, answered, 
"Hello, Ed."

Ed noticed their discomfort and said, "Don't worry, we're just 
normal people. My husband made a rather important discovery and 
got rich all of a sudden. Believe me, the Ed you knew on the field 
trip is the real Ed."

Ling backed out and returned to the security center upstairs. Ed led 
them to the living room. The young couple looked at the couches 
and chairs spread around the room allowing many individual 
conversational areas to co-exist within the room. The pictures on 
the wall were all signed prints of well known western-style artists. 

As the couple sat uncomfortably on the couch, they reached out to 
each other and held hands. Relaxing in a leather chair, Ed noticed 
the mutual signs of bonding and said, "I received your wedding 
invitation while I was in Montana. Congratulations, you two. I'm 
so glad that you hit it off together."

Blushing at the memory of the night when she had offered herself 
to Ed, Terry said, "Thank you for introducing us."

Shrugging, Ed said, "You both were interested in the same things."

Dale said, "I really appreciate the help you gave me on the field 
trip."

At that Ed broke out in a great grin and said, "That was such a 
splendid trip. I haven't had so much fun in ages. For one week, no 
classes, no work, and no emergencies. Reminded me of my days 
driving cattle without all of the work of watching over cows."

"You really are a cowboy, aren't you?" asked Terry.

"Yes, ma'am. I've been riding a horse as long as I can remember. 
Worked in the business since I was sixteen. I finally quit because I 
realized that not only did I enjoy rocks more, but with the right 
training, I could make a living at it."

Looking around the room, Dale said, "It doesn't look like you need 
to make a living."

Surprised at the comment, Ed said, "Well, I have an assistantship 
at the university and that is my entire income. Everything that I 
buy comes out of that money."

The discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Beth and Kelly. Ed 
performed the introductions. Beth said, "So where do you know Ed 
from?"

Dale said, "We are studying geology at the university and are in 
class with him. We didn't really get to know him until the field 
trip."

Smiling in Ed's direction, Beth asked, "Was that the real one or the 
one he lied about?"

Shaking his head, Ed said, "You guys are never going to let me 
live that down."

Teasing him, Kelly said, "Oh, you run away from home for a week 
telling us that you are collecting rocks and do something 
completely different."

"Guilty as charged."

Terry said, "I don't understand."

Kelly turned to Terry and said, "He told us he was going on a field 
trip about two weeks before we got married. It turns out that he 
went to challenge the Gods and Goddesses. Now he can't lie."

Winking at Terry, Ed said, "And my lovely wives now know that 
when I say they are lovely, they know I'm telling the truth."

Dale asked, "What do you say when they aren't?"

"Hasn't happened yet," replied Ed. His wives smiled at him at the 
compliment and knew that he meant it.

Changing the subject, Beth asked, "Did anything interesting 
happen today?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Ed replied, "Not really. It was more or 
less typical. Worked most of the day."

The news around the campus was that Ed had performed a heroic 
rescue of a woman that was being raped. Puzzled at the statement, 
Kim said, "I heard that you captured a rapist today."

"Who did you hear that from?" asked Ed surprised that anyone had 
heard about that.

"Professor Simms. He was very impressed how you went in there 
and took charge of the situation." Actually, that was all the 
professor could talk about all afternoon. 

In a teasing voice, Beth asked, "Was the victim a pretty young 
lady?"

Laughing at the question, Kelly replied, "Of course. Ed only 
rescues damsels in distress and they are always young and pretty."

Laughing, Ed said, "You'll have to ask John if that is true."

Not understanding the light-hearted manner in which they 
discussed the events of the day, Dale asked, "This isn't the first 
time that you've rescued someone?"

John came in the room just in time to hear the question. He replied, 
"No, it wasn't. He's always rescuing the fair damsels."

Dismissing everything with a wave of his hand, Ed said, "Actually 
it was Shadow that did the rescue. All I did was comfort the 
victim."

Kelly asked, "So what happened to the rapist?"

To the puzzlement of everyone, John and Ed started laughing. 
Finally, John said, "Last I saw was the police arguing over who 
had to take him to the station. He had a rather smelly accident 
when Shadow decided to act as guard and no one wanted the stink 
in their car."

Kelly shook her head and said, "You guys are so mean 
sometimes."

With a serious tone in his voice that surprised no one except Dale 
and Terry, Ed said, "I don't have much use for someone like that. If 
I had really wanted to be mean, I would have let Shadow take care 
of the situation."

Leading Jim and Sherry into the room, Bill said, "Everyone has 
arrived."

A very amused Ed watched Terry as she looked over at Sherry and 
Jim. Terry glanced over at Ed realizing that the story he had told 
her while they were camping was true. She stood and went over to 
Sherry. Without introducing herself, she said, "It is such a pleasure 
to meet you."

Sherry didn't know what to say and looked around. Ed stood and 
performed the introductions. After the introductions were over, 
Sherry leaned over to Terry and asked, "What did I do?"

Terry whispered to Sherry, "Ed told me about you. He said that a 
real woman can get any man she wants and shouldn't settle for less 
than a real man."

Bursting out laughing, Sherry said, "That's the nicest compliment 
that Ed has ever given me."

After winking at her, he gave her a quick salute. Dale had heard 
the story about how Sherry had gotten Jim. Looking over at Jim, 
there was a time when he wouldn't have understood how Sherry 
could have ever gotten a good-looking man like Jim to marry her. 
Now he understood and that enabled him to respect Jim even more 
than if he had showed up with a model.

Sherry came over and gave Ed a great big kiss. She said, "I can't 
believe you are using me as a role model."

"Who would be better?" asked Ed.

Jim answered, "No one."

That evening there was quite a crowd around the dinner table. The 
Carter Clan was all home at the same time for a change. Jim and 
Sherry were a little late, but made it in time for dinner. Marguerite 
had gone all out with the meal. She had prepared Cornish Hens 
with Mincemeat Stuffing on a bed of long grain and wild rice with 
asparagus as a side.

As they ate, an easy conversation flowed around the table. Sherry 
and Terry sat together and chatted quietly when they weren't 
participating in the dominant conversation around the table. At one 
point, Terry said, "This is a wonderful dish."

Seeing this as an opportunity to get permission to give his wedding 
present, Ed said, "I would like to allow our cook, Marguerite, to 
cater your reception dinner as a wedding present."

Dale sat back in surprise at the offer. He said, "We are having 
almost a hundred guests."

Ed called out, "Marguerite, can you come out here?"

Marguerite came out from the kitchen and said, "You bellowed."

Amidst laughter around the table, Ed asked, "Could you handle 
cooking for a hundred and fifty guests at a wedding?"

Marguerite replied, "Sure, no problem if there are good cooking 
facilities to use nearby."

Ed said, "Perhaps you could work out a menu with Terry and 
Dale?"

"No problem. I just need enough of a lead to purchase the 
groceries," replied Marguerite. She wasn't about to tell Ed that she 
had spent the whole day selecting a dozen dishes for the wedding, 
including the one that she served tonight.

Ed replied, "Great."

Marguerite said, "Now, if you'll excuse me I am in the middle of 
preparing desert."

"Okay," replied Ed although he didn't have to answer as 
Marguerite was already in the kitchen. He turned to face Terry and 
Dale. He asked, "Where were you planning on having the service?"

Terry answered, "In Casa Grande. That is where my family lives."

Thinking about it for a moment, John said, "Okay, we'll have Bill 
locate a kitchen for Marguerite. Shouldn't be difficult to rent a 
place for three days. One to clean it, one for the preparation work, 
and the day of the wedding."

Kelly suggested, "In the worst case, we can perhaps use a church 
kitchen and contribute some cooking equipment to them."

John laughed and said, "I can definitely use the tax deduction. That 
might be a better plan than renting a place."

Beth said, "I'll chip in for a third of the food."

Thinking about it, Kelly said, "Same here."

Slapping the table, John said, "So it's settled. John, Kelly, and Beth 
will cover the cost of the food. I'll upgrade the kitchen in a church 
for Marguerite to use in preparing the food."

Dale asked, "Why are you doing all of this for us? You hardly 
know us. Ed is the only one that knows us."

Ed was feeling very proud of his family for kicking in so much and 
so readily to this effort. He was overwhelmed when Kelly said, 
"Because Ed likes you and wants this to be a special occasion."

Using a fact that Ed had mentioned during the conversation over 
lunch earlier that day, John added, "Besides, Marguerite has been 
looking for a good cooking challenge. It's nice to provide her with 
one on occasion."

Terry asked, "Would you mind if we invited Sherry and Jim?"

Laughing, Ed said, "You might notice that I asked Marguerite if 
she could cook for a hundred and fifty guests. It is your wedding, 
you should be able to invite whoever you want. I would hope that 
your guest list can swell a little so that we won't be left with too 
many leftovers."


