JC: Ed Biggers
Part 4: Adjournment
Chapter 3
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2003

The house was quiet with everyone sleeping with the exception of 
Annette. In order to take the late watch, she had slept through the 
afternoon and evening. It made sense for her to take that watch as 
she could give them the most warning that something was about to 
happen. A very happy Annette swayed through the night watching 
the approaches to the town. She almost missed the three men on 
motorcycles, but saw them in time to give a reasonable warning.

Going into the living room, she shouted, "Three motorcyclists are 
on the way here with automatic weapons."

Leroy was the first one on his feet. He shouted, "Come on. Get up, 
guys."

It didn't take a minute before everyone was awake. After a very 
quick update about the evolving situation, everyone huddled 
together to work out a plan for dealing with the situation. Given 
the nature of the attack, there was only one response that was 
appropriate. The men headed out to their individual tasks. 

The three motorcycles drove past the stop sign without even 
slowing down. As they raised their guns to fire at the houses lining 
the street, a figure dressed in a black robe stepped out of the 
darkness to face them with his hand out like a traffic cop signaling 
them to stop. The headlights of a car parked in front of a house had 
come on to illuminate the man.

The lead motorcyclist swerved to hit him, but was suddenly thrown 
end over end as the motorcycle was thrown onto the street. A rope 
stretched across the street at an angle and one foot off the ground 
had sent the bike out of control. The second motorcyclist followed 
after the first. He found himself flying through the air head over 
heals. The third, having seen the two in front of him crash, realized 
that he couldn't stop in time and laid the motorcycle on the street. 

More men moved out of the dark to surround the fallen 
motorcyclists. The first was seriously injured. The second, with a 
broken leg, rolled around on the ground in agony. However, the 
third was uninjured and came up fighting. When he turned to aim 
at Henry, Jerry pushed the large black man out of the way while 
Ted threw himself in front of him. Ed charged at the gunman and 
tackled him before he was able to do much more than fire several 
shots in the air. 

Henry lay sprawled on the ground with Jerry covering his body 
and Ted crouched in front of him. Unable to believe what had 
happened, he stared at the men that were willing to take a bullet for 
him. These were two white men that put themselves between him 
and harm. Their actions weren't afterthoughts, but reflexive 
actions. 

The man with the broken leg finally got his hands on a gun and 
fired in the direction of Ed. Leroy, seeing the man start to act, dove 
between the gunman and Ed. The noise alerted Ed to the danger 
behind him and before the gunman was able to aim, Ed had kicked 
the broken leg. The gun went off once before the man passed out 
from the pain. 

It was only a couple of minutes from the beginning to the end 
when two of the three men were in handcuffs while the third was 
lying on the ground unable to move. It looked as if his back was 
broken. Ed was over by Leroy putting pressure on a bullet wound 
in his side. It didn't look bad, but it was bleeding. His position as 
he applied pressure was uncomfortable and caused his leg to 
cramp.

It was ten minutes before the police arrived with an ambulance 
close behind.  Victor had already arrested the men for weapons 
violations. The police were faced with federal law officers from 
four different departments. While Victor took charge of getting the 
prisoners transported, Ed made sure that Leroy was put into the 
first ambulance. 

Sitting in the back of the ambulance with Leroy and the EMS lady, 
Ed said, "I appreciate what you did for me, but you shouldn't have 
thrown yourself in the way. It was a long shot and probably would 
have missed me."

With a weak smile, Leroy groaned, "Now you tell me."

Laughing at the attempted joke, Ed said, "You know that I'm a 
dead man now."

"Why?"

"I have to call home and explain why you are hurt," answered Ed. 

There was a sharp shout from Leroy as the EMS person worked on 
him. Regaining control over the his pain and flashing a weak 
smile, Leroy said, "Ling! Oh, Ling! Where are you?"

The thought of Ling showing up here with Little John in tow was 
enough to cause a shudder up and down Ed's spine. Making a 
grimace, he said, "Don't even say that in jest."

The rest of the drive was quiet as the EMS woman worked over 
Leroy and Ed sat out of the way. He watched as Leroy was 
prepared for his arrival at the hospital. A catheter was inserted into 
the back of his hand and a saline drip started. His shirt was cut 
away from the wound. Looking over at the wound, Ed could tell 
that it had hit only muscle and that Leroy would be released 
sometime in the morning; if he was even kept in the hospital. 

At the hospital, Ed waited to learn more about the status of Leroy. 
He watched as two of the motorcyclists were brought in for 
treatment. From the nurses he found that the one had a broken back 
and that the other would be in traction for several months to allow 
the leg to heal. 

In the waiting room, Ed removed his robe and listened to the 
discussions around the room. A couple of men came in to talk to 
one of the motorcyclists. They were required to wait until the men 
came out of surgery. Listening carefully, Ed learned these guys 
were upset that so many of their members had been injured while 
trying to scare off the blacks. One of them even commented that it 
wasn't worth the money they were getting paid. 

His attention was distracted when a kid sitting next to him tugged 
on his shirtsleeve and asked, "Did you know you are bleeding?"

Ed looked down at the leg that kept cramping on him and saw the 
slight trickle of blood from under his pant leg. There were two 
holes in his pant leg showing where a bullet had entered and 
exited. He swore and walked over to the nurses' station. When the 
duty nurse looked up, he said, "I just discovered I was shot."

The nurse looked at Ed like a man from the moon and asked, "You 
just discovered you were shot?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that I was so pumped up by the action that I didn't 
realize that I had been shot until a boy over there pointed it out to 
me."

"I'm going to have to report this to the police," replied the nurse.

"No problem," answered Ed as he showed his IRS ID. 

Suddenly, things started happening very quickly as the nurse 
shouted, "We've got a wounded Fed here."

Within seconds Ed was taken into the emergency room and a 
doctor cut off his pant leg. Looking at the wound, the doctor said, 
"Yep, you got shot."

Ed replied, "Just sew it shut and I'll go home."

Seeing an old bullet wound next to the new one, the doctor said, "I 
see you have a little experience with getting shot."

"Yes," replied Ed. Their handling of the events this evening had 
not gone very well. Two wounded out of seven was not very good. 

The doctor proceeded to sew up Ed with minimal conversation. 
Before the doctor had finished, two ATF agents and a FBI agent 
had joined them in the small room. When the FBI agent learned 
that he was in the room with Ed Biggers, attitudes changed very 
quickly. One of the ATF agents was dispatched to follow the two 
men in the waiting room. The doctor listened to the conversation as 
he worked.

When Ed had been sewn up, he went in search of Leroy followed 
by the ATF and FBI. They found Leroy in the waiting room 
reading a copy of National Geographic. His wound, like Ed's, had 
taken just a couple of stitches. He looked up at Ed and said, "Lots 
of fuss for nothing."

"Better a fuss over nothing than nothing over a fuss," remarked Ed 
with a smile. 

"I was getting worried that you left me here and then I learned that 
you had been shot too," remarked Leroy looking at the short leg of 
Ed's blue jeans. The wound was bandaged and there wasn't much 
too see. 

"Yeah, must have happened when I kicked that jerk after he shot 
you."

Leroy said, "I only have one question. How do we get home?"

Smiling, Ed turned to see the two agents behind him looking at 
each other as they wondered which one would play taxi. Ed said, 
"You might want to help your partner follow the bad guys, so that 
leaves the FBI agent to be chauffeur."

The agent introduced himself, "I'm Special Agent Hans Standford, 
Dr. Biggers."

Ed replied, "Nice to meet you Hans. This is my husband, Leroy. 
Please call me Ed."

"I thought you were married to John Carter."

"We are," answered Leroy.

The drive back to the house was uneventful. Both Leroy and Ed 
were lost in their thoughts, each making an occasional comment. 
Disturbed by the wounds, Ed said, "Two of us were wounded."

Leroy nodded as he looked out the window. The area had changed 
so much since he had left that it was difficult to know where he 
was. Housing developments and shopping malls had replaced open 
fields. He turned to face Ed and said, "The wounds were minor and 
won't stop us."

As they neared the area where Deacon Jones lived, Ed noticed a 
number of fields with signs identifying that they were under 
development by Renzy Development. The signs boasted of homes 
starting at half a million dollars. Ed asked, "How do you think 
someone buying a home for half a million dollars will feel about 
living next to your parents' community?"

"Are you suggesting this is about property values?"

Nodding, Ed said, "Money is an amazing motive."

When they arrived at the house, the three men entered to find 
everyone sitting around the living room waiting for them. Ed said, 
"Thanks, Annette."

"My pleasure, Ed," replied Annette. She added, "When I saw the 
wound, I knew that you would be back before dawn. I made sure 
that Deacon Jones and Cleo stayed here."

Cleo came out of the kitchen and rushed over to Leroy, hugging 
him. The hug caused a Leroy to grimace in pain. Noticing, she 
took him to his room saying that he needed to lie down and rest. 
Ed watched with amusement until she noticed the bandage around 
his leg. Suddenly she was mothering him as well. He wanted to hit 
himself for having forgotten to put on his robe before returning to 
the neighborhood. Too late to hide his wound, he put on his robe 
and joined the others in the living room. He invited the FBI agent 
to join them.

Henry had watched Ed and Leroy return, but remained in his chair 
lost in thought. The events of this evening had shaken him far 
more than he would ever admit. He had seen each one of them 
throw himself into danger to protect others without regard for their 
own life.

Ed announced, "There is nothing that we can do until morning. I 
suggest that we all get some sleep. Hans, pull up a section of floor 
because tomorrow we are going to be very busy."

Waking alone on the floor of the living room, Ed discovered that 
he had slept far later than expected. It was almost noon before he 
woke and he was surprised to find that it was without his normal 
early morning fuzzy headedness. He went into the kitchen and 
discovered Henry sitting alone at the table. After he poured himself 
a cup of coffee, he sat down across from Henry and asked, "What's 
up?"

Not answering immediately, Henry looked at Ed for a long time. 
After a while, he said, "I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"You guys are risking your lives for a bunch of poor blacks in a 
rundown neighborhood. Jerry and Ted both threw themselves into 
harms way to make sure that I didn't get hurt. Why?"

"You have thrown yourself into harms way. Why?"

"This is my home. Of all the folks around here, I'm the biggest, 
fastest, and strongest. I'm the best able to protect them from what 
is going on."

Smiling at Henry, Ed asked, "So you believe that the strong should 
protect the weak?"

"I haven't thought about it that way, but sure."

"I am a Druid. We follow two rules. If it harm none, then do it. 
Protect the weak from the strong. The troubles here violate both of 
those rules and we aim to protect the weak."

Henry was quiet for a long time as he thought about what Ed had 
said. He lived his life according to those rules, at least to the best 
that he could. As he thought about it, he wondered if he could 
throw himself in front of a bullet for a total stranger. Finally, he 
said, "You and your friends are very brave."

"Not really, we serve the Gods and Goddesses," answered Ed as 
though it explained everything. 

"Can I become a Druid?"

"If you are called," replied Ed. Examining Henry very closely, he 
said, "Touch my medallion."

Henry reached out and touched the medallion. After a second, he 
asked, "So?"

Ed shook his head and said, "You have not been called."

"You can tell that just from me touching your medallion?"

Sighing, Ed answered, "Yes. May I suggest that you touch the 
cross of Deacon Jones?"

"Okay, do you mind telling me why?" asked Henry with 
skepticism. He wondered if the reason was that he was not good 
enough or if it was because he was black. 

"Perhaps your calling is from another source," replied Ed. As his 
eyes flashed an unnatural light, he said, "Deacon Jones is a holy 
man, touched by his God. Perhaps your calling is the same as his."

Shocked by the raw power that emanated from Ed, Henry heard the 
truth in his words and felt ashamed that he had questioned the 
motives behind the answer to his question. The reference to 
Deacon Jones as a holy man surprised him. It was well known in 
the neighborhood that Deacon Jones had experienced some sort of 
call from God, but that this white man knew all about it was 
completely unexpected. 

Deacon Jones came into the room and sat down at the table. 
Looking over at Ed, he said, "Leroy is doing all right. He's a little 
sore on his side, but it's not too bad."

"I'm sorry that he was injured trying to protect me," replied Ed. 

"Don't be. I knew that he had a good character and this just proves 
it. Everyone is talking about you and your Druids."

Glancing over at Henry, Ed changed the subject. "Let Henry touch 
your cross."

With the same kind of hesitancy that Druids exhibited when asked 
to show their medallions, Deacon Jones fished his cross out from 
under his shirt. It was a simple wooden cross, very plain in 
appearance. He held it out and said, "Touch it Henry."

Henry reached out and touched the cross with the same directness 
with which he had touched the medallion earlier. This time, it was 
as though a jolt of electricity had passed through him. Wide eyed, 
he looked up and stared at Deacon Jones. He said, "I'm to be your 
bodyguard."

Extending his hand, Ed said, "Congratulations. I knew that you had 
a calling, it was just a matter of finding it."

Henry accepted the handshake understanding much more about the 
Druids and Deacon Jones. Having touched the cross, he knew that 
he could step between Deacon Jones and danger. That knowledge 
freed him. He replied, "Thank you. Now I understand why you 
answered the way you did."

Deacon Jones changed the subject when he said, "Hans has gone to 
pick up Bill Turner to bring him here with his report on the 
background investigation you requested he perform."

"That's good news. I didn't really want to spend four hours away 
from here." Ed was afraid that much time away from here would 
provide an opportunity for a major attack. He asked, "Where is 
everyone else?"

Henry answered, "Ted is watching my post. Jerry is at the other 
end of the street watching that entry into the area. Annette is asleep 
upstairs. Victor is in Atlanta arranging for the case against the 
three men last night. Leroy is upstairs resting."

"I feel bad that I'm not out there doing something," Ed joked. His 
stomach growled announcing his hunger. 

Hearing the growl, Deacon Jones called, "Cleo, Ed is awake. Come 
in here and make him some breakfast."

Ed apologized for the rudeness of his stomach. "Some cereal 
would be fine."

"Baloney, you were wounded last night and need to get some solid 
food in you to help you heal quicker," replied Deacon Jones.

Shortly after Ed finished eating, Victor, Bill, and Hans arrived at 
the house. The men gathered around the table and laid out the 
information that they had found. The picture that emerged was that 
a neighborhood would start experiencing significant racial, 
criminal, and social upheaval. The property values would drop and 
then Devin Renzy would move into the area buying up the 
property at a very low price. He would then plow everything down 
and redevelop the entire area forcing minorities to move out. The 
problems in the neighborhoods were often the result of racist 
organizations or criminal groups that would attack the residents. 

After hearing everything, Ed said, "We need a wiretap on the 
group that attacked us."

Victor answered, "The ATF has already done that. There are 
already calls that tie Devin to the attacks. We are now getting a 
warrant to get his phones tapped."

"Glad to hear that. Is there anything else I should know?"

Victor said, "You have to know that this guy is really tied into 
local government. You are not going to be able to include Atlanta 
police in this operation until it is over. We will have to rely on 
Federal types from outside this locality."

The news depressed Ed as he had hoped to have a little more 
support for their effort. He asked, "Just how tied in to things is 
he?"

"Let me just say this. He's everywhere. He has friends in the 
mayor's office, the police chief is a personal friend of his, and he 
has helped elect half of the commissioners in local government. 
He's even on the local Fusion Foundation Volunteer Board." Victor 
sat back with a frown as he considered what that level of 
connectivity meant.

Ed leaned forward and said, "As of this moment, this area is a 
gated community. We will have Deacon Jones explain the situation 
to the people around here. I'll contribute fifty thousand dollars to 
pay for fencing this whole community and to support Henry in 
establishing a guard at the gate. That should require the bad guys 
to go through other channels in order to get control over the 
property. For now, that will minimize the chances that people will 
get hurt."

Deacon Jones smiled at the news. He had known the moment that 
Ed has shown up that things were going to change. Druid solutions 
always left the world a better place. Deacon Jones added, "It will 
increase the sense of community and increase our property values 
significantly. We will stop being a slum neighborhood."
 
For his part, Henry just stared at Ed. He shocked that Ed would put 
up that much money for their protection. He said, "You don't need 
to support me."

Ed replied, "You have to eat, pay your bills, and take care of your 
family. There's no reason to go hungry when the money is 
available."

Henry was silent as he thought about how Ed thought more of his 
welfare than the money. Rather than arguing, Henry asked, "What 
needs to be done first?"

Smiling, Ed answered, "At the meeting, try to get volunteers to 
help put up a fence. In the mean time, you need to find out how 
much fencing material is needed to protect the community and 
purchase it. You and I will go to the bank and take care of getting 
you access to the money that is required."

"Me? Shouldn't it be Deacon Jones?"

"You. You have become a leader in the community," replied Ed. 

Puzzled, Henry asked, "When did that happen?"

"When you took it upon yourself to stand between the community 
and the bad guys. You accepted a responsibility on their behalf. 
That makes you a leader," answered Deacon Jones with a smile. 

"How could you possibly trust me with that much money?"

"You have been called to serve a God. Who am I to say that a 
servant of a God is not worth trusting?"

Deacon Jones and the Druids around the table chuckled at the 
expression that crossed the face of Henry. He knew the truth of 
what Ed had said. It was a very humble Henry that followed Ed out 
of the house and to the rental car. After a trip to a local bank where 
an account was established for Henry with fifty thousand dollars, 
the two men went to a large hardware store to establish the cost of 
fencing materials. As they priced the materials, Ed was shocked to 
learn that the fence would cost closer to a hundred thousand than 
fifty thousand. On the way back to the house, they stopped at the 
bank and Ed transferred another hundred thousand into the 
account.

The two returned to the house in time for an early dinner. Many of 
the other residents were around their houses. The treatment of the 
men in robes had changed significantly over the course of a single 
day. Many people had viewed the activities in the middle of the 
night. They had seen how the men in robes had protected Henry 
and put themselves in personal danger. 

In a town meeting, Deacon Jones explained how they were going 
to turn their community into a gated community to keep out those 
who meant ill to the people. Many of the people found it ironic that 
a poor neighborhood would put up a fence to keep out the rich. 
They were surprised to learn that a hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars had been deposited into an account to pay for the fence. All 
that would be required was for the able bodied men to turn out 
Saturday morning to help install the fence. The deacon had turned 
on the charm and women were agreeing to cook a great lunch and 
dinner for the men as they worked. 

For the next three days, the town was busy. Men were taking turns 
watching the ends of the street. The Druids were everywhere doing 
anything and everything that needed to be done. On the days 
before the town erected the fence, Druids used augers to drill 
postholes, mixed cement, and erected posts. After school and 
work, young men in the neighborhood helped them work. 

On Saturday, the remaining posts were put up and chain link wire 
run along the posts that had been set over the preceding days. The 
security gates were installed at the ends of the street into the 
neighborhood. A simple shelter was erected for the children to use 
when waiting for the school bus. 

On Sunday, the remainder of the fence was built and a small 
security house was established. Controls for opening the electronic 
gates were handed out to the residents of the community. On the 
urging of Deacon Jones, people that weren't helping with the fence 
went up and down the street cleaning the neighborhood. 

In the mean time, the Druids had been working hard on bringing 
Devin to justice. As the scope of the investigation broadened, more 
and more groups were identified that were helping him to make his 
money. He had a hand in every racist organization in the state and 
had sought to bring in people from outside the state. The phone 
taps had allowed them to prevent Devin from having any success 
in harming any of the residents.

After violence had failed him, Devin moved to get the community 
condemned. To his dismay, lawyers met the building inspectors at 
the gates. The resulting inspection had resulted in the need for a 
few houses to require repairs, but the monies left over from the 
fence took care of them. Henry had argued that it was a result of 
the fence that had forced the repairs to be made. 

Leroy took a leadership role in motivating people to work. When it 
became clear that a public relations attack was underway, he had 
spent twenty thousand on flowers to spruce up the look of the 
community. When the news cameras arrived, they found a model 
community with people outside talking to each other as kids ran 
and played in the streets. Deacon Jones had led the reporters 
through the neighborhood explaining how the recent agitators had 
united the community and given the people a sense of pride. When 
questioned about that, the deacon replied that if this little 
neighborhood was so valuable that someone would want to take it, 
that it was valuable enough to want to make it nicer.

The news broadcast that night undermined the efforts to reduce 
property values and turned into a challenge for Devin. Devin was 
furious and the ATF agents listening to the wiretaps could see the 
desperation with which he planned his next move. In those 
recordings, he had ordered criminal acts to be performed in very 
plain language. This would enable them to arrest the man and 
convict him with ease. 

Ten days after Ed and Leroy had arrived in Atlanta, simultaneous 
raids on several racist organizations were undertaken by the ATF. 
They had acquired sufficient information to convict the leadership 
of those groups for arms violations and murder for hire. The news 
went through the Atlanta area like wildfire.

Leaning on the Lexis that belonged to Devin, Leroy waited for him 
to leave his office. Ed had never seen Devin Renzy, but recognized 
him the moment he stepped out of his office. This man was a 
sociopath and his entire being screamed lie to Ed. He gave a signal 
to the others that Devin was on his way.

Devin stormed over to his car glaring at Leroy. As soon as he was 
within range, he shouted, "Get away from my car!"

"Are you Devin Renzy?" asked Leroy in a pleasant voice.

"Get away from my car before I have you arrested!" shouted the 
man angry that Leroy had not immediately jumped up and done his 
bidding. He started moving forward to attack the young man.

"Speaking of arrests, I do believe that you are in a little legal 
trouble at the moment," replied Leroy still leaning against the car. 
A smile spread across his face as he gestured around him. 

The statement brought Devin to a sudden stop. He looked around 
and spotted four men in robes blocking his exits from the area. 
There was a robed woman in the background who was swaying 
from side to side. Her movements reminded him of Stevie Wonder 
playing the piano. He turned to face Leroy and asked, "Who are 
you?"

Leroy answered, "I'm one of the men your people shot."

Devin snarled as he said, "You'll never prove it."

At a nod from Ed, Victor stepped forward and said, "Devin Renzy, 
you are under arrest."

As Devin was cuffed, Ted read him his rights. In the mean time, a 
police car was called in to transport the man to jail. Annette joined 
the other Druids at the car with a smile on her face. As they waited 
for the car to arrive, the Druids started talking. Victor said, "This is 
going to be a big bust for the ATF. We have arson, weapons, and 
conspiracy to commit murder."

Ted replied, "Don't forget his connections to drugs."

Smiling, Ed said, "I can tell you that Bill Turner has turned up a 
number of cases of tax fraud as a result of bribes paid out by 
Devin. Hans Stanford from the FBI is happy about the organized 
crime component."

Frowning, Leroy said, "It looks to me like Ted, Jerry, and Annette 
don't get anything out of this."

Ted smiled and said, "This is my service to the Gods and 
Goddesses. I need nothing more from it."

Smiling at Ted, Ed said, "I imagine that there are many more 
things that will come out over the next few days now that we can 
investigate his books. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't get a lot 
of this. He was tied into too many people in this area and I suspect 
that a few judges are involved."

Jerry answered, "I'm retired and only consult on occasion. They 
feel that a seventy-year-old man is a too old to work. The God 
doesn't think that way and for that I am grateful."

Leroy asked, "What about you, Annette?"

"The Two-Sided One feels that even a blind girl can help save 
lives. To participate in something like this makes me one of the 
strong rather than the weak. I am not a burden on the people 
around me, but a savior for them," replied Annette.

Leroy and Ed returned to the house. At the gate, Henry opened it 
for them with a great big smile. He shouted, "The arrests have 
made the television."


