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.



John Carter
By
Lazlo Zalezak
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezak, 2003


Part 2: Mantle Of Aries
Chapter 12

It was sunrise and John lay beside a large rock. He was hidden 
under his cloak and blended into the background perfectly. The 
desert this morning was glorious and cool. Winter in Nevada 
wasn't as bad as winter in the north. As he watched the sunrise, he 
performed his morning ritual of offering two drops of blood, one to 
the Gods and the other to the Goddesses. Somehow, he felt 
reassured by that one simple act. 

John was twenty yards from the house. This was where he 
expected everything to happen. He looked at his watch and 
wondered how long he would have to stay here. It wasn't hard to 
stay in one place for an extended period, but it was murder trying 
to do it without moving. 

From the spot where he was hiding, he could see the front door, the 
road, and the landing strip behind the house. The windows were 
covered so that he couldn't see into the house. As the first light of 
morning struck the house, John could see more details. There were 
spy holes of the kind that are normally in the door of house 
scattered on the walls of the whole house. There were a number of 
slots cut into the walls and covered by boards. He could tell they 
were there so that whoever was in the house could shoot out 
without exposing themselves. He whispered into the microphone 
that the FBI had given him to report what he had seen.  The soft 
answer in his earphone confirmed that his message was received. 

As he lay there, he suddenly realized that he had a problem. If 
these guys were as paranoid as they seemed, then they would 
probably station a man at exactly the location that he was hiding. 
There was a smaller pile of rocks ten feet behind him. Taking a 
chance, he inched his way to them. Rover got up and ran a good 
distance from John. John smiled as he realized that between a 
moving rock and a cougar, that if anyone were watching they 
would notice the cougar first.

He nestled down into the rocks, blending in as he did. Rover 
disappeared into the rocks further away from the house. John 
settled in for the duration.  He held his breath when two men came 
out and looked around the property with binoculars. He reported 
the actions back to the command center at Albert's place. The men 
went back in the house. 

Several times during the morning, the men came out and checked 
the surroundings. It was always the same two men. Albert said that 
there were usually five guys at the place. Shortly before noon, the 
same two guys came out and got into the pick up truck parked at 
the end of the driveway. They drove around the property stopping 
occasionally to look at the surrounding area. They returned after 
thirty minutes. 

It seemed to John like they were expecting their first delivery soon 
and were making a last check of their surroundings. The way the 
men acted suggested they had not spotted anything unusual. John 
reported his findings and suggested that everyone get ready to 
move in.

Fifteen minutes later, two different men walked out of the house. 
One went to the rocks where John had hidden earlier. The other 
went to a small shed on the other side of the house. John whispered 
the locations of the men to the command post. He stated that he 
would take out the man in the rocks. 

He continued to wait for a car to show up. He examined the man in 
the rocks in front of him. The guy had a fully automatic rifle. 
These guys were serious about their business. He tensed when the 
guy switched off the safety on the gun and got into position to 
cover the driveway. John looked towards the road and saw a car 
stop, move forward a hundred yards, and then stop again. It waited 
a few minutes and then pulled to the entrance of the driveway. It 
stopped there and waited. 

John was getting anxious at the delay. The car sat there for five 
minutes. Finally, the front door opened and a man stepped out. He 
waved his arms. The car started up again and drove down the 
driveway. It stopped right in front of the rocks occupied by the 
man with the gun. The guy kept the gun pointed at the driver. The 
driver got out and waited for the man at the door. 

John had to wait to see if there was an abduction victim in the car 
before calling in the cavalry. It seemed as if everything moved in 
slow motion. The guy from the porch slowly advanced towards the 
car. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He 
glanced at it and then stated, "Fourteen years old. Blond hair. 
Green eyes. Slender build. Is that what you got?"

"Yes, Mr. Jones. She's a prime, grade A, virgin. Hell, I wanted to 
do her myself, but I know I'll get more for a virgin."

"Good. Let's see her."

The driver of the car opened the back door and pulled out a young 
girl that fit the description. Her hands were tied behind her back. 
Her feet were bound so that she could stand, but she was too weak 
or scared to stand by herself. There was a gag in her mouth. John 
whispered, "Go!"

John waited five seconds and then leapt up moving towards the 
man in front of him. He swung his walking stick catching the guy 
in the back. He jumped on the guy and wrestled with him trying to 
put the handcuffs on his wrists. Shots rang out and ricocheted off 
the rocks. John finally got his guy under control. He looked up in 
time to see two dozen jeeps rushing into the area. 

The guy in the small shed was shooting continuously at the 
advancing jeeps. The man by the car shot the driver, grabbed the 
girl, and ran into the house. John started reporting what he saw 
happening. Now shots were coming from the slots along the front 
and sides of the house. 

John watched a disaster unfold in front of him as the jeeps were 
racked with automatic weapons fire. He ran to the wall of the 
house. He felt a sting in his side and crashed into the house with 
more force than he had intended. There was one of those flimsy 
wood covers right next to him. He ripped it off. He removed a tear-
gas canister from a pocket inside his cloak, set it off and dropped it 
into the open slot. There was a lot of swearing inside the house. 

John peeked around the corner of the house. Two agents had 
rushed to the small building to capture the gunman inside. They 
kicked the door open. Rover appeared from nowhere and ran into 
the shed before the agents even had a chance to move. There were 
screams and shots were fired. John ducked out of the way. He 
looked around the corner and saw the agents at the door of the shed 
looking towards the house. Rover raced out of the shed towards 
John. John waved to them and slowly moved towards the porch. A 
gun barrel was sticking out in front of him. He searched around to 
see what he could find. He spotted a stick and picked it up staying 
out of sight as much as possible. He waited for the gun to stop 
firing. The barrel disappeared as the man inside reloaded and then 
reappeared. John quickly stuck the stick in the barrel and stumbled 
towards the corner of the building. He knew when the man pulled 
the trigger by the explosion. 

John felt weak and sat down. He reported what he had done and 
then just sat there. His side was bleeding. He removed his cloak 
and shirt. He wadded up the shirt and pushed it into the hole in his 
side. He took a deep breath at the pain produced by the pressure. 

It suddenly got very quiet. John didn't move, he was starting to get 
blurry eyed. He looked up to see three helicopters land near the 
house. He shut his eyes for a minute and the next thing he knew Ed 
was by his side, holding the shirt tight against the wound. Rover 
was sitting next to him. 

When John lost consciousness, Beth arrived and immediately 
began working on his wound. She was a good trauma surgeon, but 
operating on the bare ground with only the contents of her medical 
bag were beyond her skill. She patched him up and stopped the 
bleeding. Kelly helped her. Ed went into the house with the agents 
and took control of the kidnap victims that were stored in an 
underground room. 

There were twelve people in there and they were in horrible shape. 
Ed went outside and checked on John. He asked if Kelly could 
come with him to take care of the hostages. Beth nodded as she 
finished doing what she could for John. Two of the men from the 
helicopter showed up with a stretcher. They loaded John on the 
stretcher and carried him to the helicopter. 

Beth's loyalties were divided. On one hand, John was her fiancé. 
On the other hand, there were wounded people in the area needing 
her attention. She knew the decision that John would make. She 
watched them load John on a helicopter and went looking for 
someone else to help. To her surprise, Rover stayed with her. Kelly 
returned to help her with the other patients. 

It took two hours for all of the chaos to come to order. Beth had 
worked diligently to patch up the agents that had been wounded. 
The guy whose gun had blown up on him and the driver of the car 
were the only fatalities. Their deaths had convinced the others that 
they had no chance of coming out alive. John had been responsible 
for the capture of all but one of the criminals, although the credit 
for the last one should have gone to Rover.

Beth and Kelly sat on the porch resting and drinking bottled water. 
Rover was drinking some water out of a bowl they had found 
inside the house. They were exhausted physically and emotionally. 
Beth turned to Kelly, "I did the best I could for him."

Kelly nodded, "I know."

"I wanted to go to the hospital with him, but I couldn't help but 
think that he would have disapproved of that." Beth looked around 
with tears in her eyes.

Kelly stated, "I couldn't believe what Rover did to the guy that shot 
John."

Beth laughed, "I know. I tried to stitch him together. I ran out of 
sutures. That guy is never going to be able to look in a mirror 
again."

"It's amazing, but Rover didn't open any veins or arteries. He must 
have scratched that guy fifty times."

"His worst injury was from shooting himself in the foot."

Ed came out of the house and joined the women. "They are all fine 
in there now. The agents are going to take them back to Vegas in a 
few minutes. They'll stop by the hospital to check them out and 
then take them to a hotel to wait for their loved ones."

Kelly's eyes misted, "There are young boys and girls, some as 
young as nine. There are even two women in their twenties."

Ed shook his head, "The stupid fucks had everything written down. 
Who they got, who ordered them, where they shipped them, and 
how much money they got. They had a list of orders in their filing 
cabinets. They had taken over seven hundred people of all ages. 
John had looked at California. These guys had people from all over 
the west. They had orders for fifty more."

Beth sighed, "I can understand why John went after them so 
tenaciously. These guys are just evil."

Ed nodded, "Yeah, they expect to arrest another twenty or thirty 
people in the next twenty-four hours."

Kelly asked, "So what do we do now?"

Ed smiled, "We are riding into Vegas with the kids. They want us 
to separate and keep the younger ones company."

Beth smiled, "So we'll be able to see John?"

"Yep."

Kelly looked towards the house, "Let's get them out of there. They 
must be feeling very uncomfortable in there."

Ed went into the house and led the victims out in a disorderly mob. 
The older ones joined Beth and Kelly on the porch. The kids 
played in the yard. Rover joined them in an informal game of tag. 
It seemed that Rover was the favorite subject of getting touched. 
The adults on the porch laughed at the game. 

Ed turned to Beth. He asked, "Could you take a look at my leg? It's 
bothering me a bit."

Beth turned and looked at his jeans. There was blood there, but she 
assumed that it was from John. He told him to drop his pants so 
that she could get a closer look. Ed obeyed her. Beth swore at the 
hole she saw in his calf. She muttered, "Congratulations, you got 
shot."

Ed shrugged, "Patch it up."

Beth snarled, "No, I'm going to leave a gapping hole in your leg 
just to remind you to stay in the back with us. I was going to kill 
you myself when you went charging off with the FBI agents in that 
jeep. You didn't think that you might be making widows of us, did 
you?"

Ed retorted, "John needed me. He doesn't think of himself at all. 
Someone needs to take care of him."

Beth checked the wound more carefully. It was a flesh wound. She 
poured some antiseptic on it and then wrapped it in a bandage. She 
looked up, "I know. I'm just mad at myself that I didn't have the 
nerve to charge in there like you did."

Another helicopter landed on the runway. Several agents got out of 
the car and came over to the house. The female agent walked over 
to the adults on the porch. Ed recognized her, "Hello, Ann."

"Hi Ed. You two must be Beth and Kelly."

The women nodded. Beth answered, "I'm Beth and that lovely 
creature next to me is Kelly. Ed, you can put your pants on. No 
need to excite all the women here."

Ann laughed, "Don't worry about me. I just wanted to give you 
some news about John. It appears that he's healing at a phenomenal 
rate, even for John. He's going to make it to Colorado for 
Midwinter's day."

Beth looked confused, "That's in two days. It will take him almost 
all day to drive there."

Ann nodded, "The report that I got was that he died during the 
operation, but his heart spontaneously restarted. To say that the 
surgeons were amazed would be an understatement. As soon as 
they finished applying the anesthetic he woke up, talked to the 
doctors for a minute and then went into some sort of trance. They 
could almost watch him heal. He's come out of the trance once to 
request very specific foods, which he ate very quickly and returned 
to his trance."

Beth looked puzzled, "What kind of foods?"

"He asked for fresh liver served raw, boiled spinach, fresh peaches, 
and ice cream. I would have thrown up if I was forced to eat that."

Beth shook her head, "No, that's actually a very good combination 
of foods from a nutritional perspective. He gets a good dose of 
amino acids, protein, iron, simple sugars, and calcium. Almost a 
perfect diet for someone healing."

Ed said, "I won't marry you guys if you make me eat that mess!"

Kelly laughed, "Don't worry, we won't. We are going to feed you 
calves brains raw. Maybe next time you won't charge into danger 
like that."

Ed turned to Ann, "I'm looking for a wife that will treat me well 
when I'm injured. Are you interested?"

Ann laughed, "Not on your life. You're too much like John."

Beth whispered in Ed's ear, "Beside, we know that such injuries are 
often accompanied by swelling of the middle leg. We are trained in 
how to relieve that swelling in the most pleasurable way possible." 

Ed laughed, "Sorry Ann. She just reminded me that they were 
specifically trained in how to relieve swelling of other appendages 
in a most pleasurable fashion. I guess I'll have to keep them and 
feed myself for the next couple of weeks. I hope that you don't 
mind."

Ann replied, "Don't worry, like I said you are too much like John. 
That man drives me crazy."

Beth laughed, "Oh, you've only known him in work mode. He is so 
focused on his work that you would think he was a surgeon. All 
manners go out the window."

Kelly nodded, "We are all like that. Ed wasn't like that until he 
started working at the school. Work mode is very efficient. We 
will have to take you out to dinner sometime so that you can get to 
know the other side of John."

Ann wasn't sure that she wanted to know John socially. She had 
already seen him without his clothes and just the memory of it was 
enough to turn her on. She had no idea how she would react if she 
discovered that he was charming and polite. She stated politely, 
"Maybe that wouldn't be a good idea."

One of the women that had been abducted had watched the 
exchange. She asked, "Who is John?"

Ann stated, "John is the one that discovered the white slavery ring. 
He set up the raid to rescue you. He led the charge and took out the 
majority of the gang."

The two women looked at each other. They, more so than the kids, 
understood the fate that John had saved them from experiencing. 
They would be left with their imaginations, but their imaginations 
would not hurt them in the same way as reality would. The other 
woman stated, "We owe him our lives. Is there anything we can do 
to thank him?"

Ed smiled, Beth and Kelly shot him a dirty look as they imagined 
what his answer would be. His actual answer surprised them. He 
stated, "You can send him a thank you note. He likes that a lot."

Ann interrupted, "The press is going to be here in about ten 
minutes. I think that you three might consider what you are going 
to tell them."

Ed looked around at the other two and stated, "We would rather 
not be interviewed, if that is all right with you."

One of the rescued women stated, "You guys are heroes. You 
deserve to get credit for what you've done. Ed, you were the first 
one in the room. You untied me. Kelly took care of all of us. Beth 
treated all of the wounds."

Ed nodded, "We know what we did and that is enough for us. We 
don't need others to know." 

Ann stated, "It would be best if you do it now. Otherwise, they will 
track you down and try to interview you where ever they find you."

Ed stated, "If you say so."

The kids were rounded up and led into the house. The jeeps were 
pulled around to the back so that when it was time for them to 
leave, they could do so discretely. Their identities were to remain 
secret. Rover went into the house with them. He lay down on his 
stomach and the kids took turn petting him. He was large enough 
that two kids at a time were able to pet him at the same time. Rover 
had single-handedly turned a frightened bunch of victims back into 
normal kids.

The press arrived in a major swarm. Helicopters circled over the 
ranch. The reporters on the ground were allowed to set up in an 
area a short distance from the front of the house. It would give the 
televisions a good background for their reporters. It was soon time 
for the three of them to make their statements. They all told of the 
professionalism demonstrated by the FBI in taking down this 
dangerous gang. Ed had introduced himself as a bodyguard for the 
two medical consultants. Each downplayed their role in the 
afternoon's activities. 

They returned to the house and prepared to leave. Rover insisted 
on going in the first van with the youngest kids by head butting 
Beth out of the way. Beth gestured, "Be my guest."

There were two kids and an adult in each van except the first. The 
caravan pulled out. It was a long drive back to Las Vegas, but 
taking care of the kids helped pass the time. Ed taught the kids how 
to hunt bug-eyed monsters. He was the pilot while they were the 
gunners. They shot just about every unusual thing that they saw, 
including quite a few billboards. The agent driving the car laughed 
so hard at times that he had difficulty controlling the car. The 
youngest kids opened the back of the vehicle they were in and fell 
asleep on each side of Rover. Rover purred as the kids slept 
snuggled up to him. Beth, the least comfortable of them with kids, 
taught the boy and girl in the car how to take each other's pulse, 
test reflexes and other similar activities. Kelly was in the car with 
two teenaged boys. They were both very interested in girls and 
took the opportunity to ask Kelly hundreds of questions about what 
girls wanted from guys.

When they arrived at the hospital, a number of crisis counselors 
were waiting for the abducted people to provide counseling. A 
good portion of the trauma had been negated by the care of Rover. 
As soon as the kids were out of sight, Rover took off like a shot 
through the hospital. Ed looked at Beth and Kelly, "We better 
follow along before he gets in trouble."

They raced along looking for Rover. It wasn't difficult to follow 
him as screams and shouts of surprise followed him. In a few 
minutes they walked into John's room and found Rover on his back 
paws with his front paws resting on the bed looking intently at 
John. Beth approached the bed and examined John carefully. She 
placed a hand on the back of Rover's head and told him, "Don't 
worry Rover, he's okay. He's healing himself."

She stepped back and turned to Kelly. "Take his vital signs. I'll get 
his chart from the nurses station. Ed, keep him from being 
disturbed."

She left the room and headed towards the nurses station. Ed went 
to the door and guarded it. Kelly took his pulse and blood pressure. 
Rover curled up under the bed. John lay on the bed breathing 
regularly. 

A nurse came down the hall and tried to enter the room. Ed 
stopped her stating, "You are not allowed in there at the moment."

The nurse looked indignant, "Who are you?"

"I'm his personal body guard. He's under our care from now on."

Beth returned to the room carrying John's chart. She muttered, 
"The fools declared him dead."

Ed stepped out of the way and let her in. He kept the nurse from 
following her into the room. The nurse stormed off. A few minutes 
later several armed guards arrived with the intention of removing 
the visitors. Several FBI agents were coming from the other 
direction. Ed stepped forward and shut the door behind him. The 
two groups met in front of Ed. The guards immediately went to 
grab Ed. The FBI agents flashed their badges and told them to stop. 

One of the agents stepped forward. Ed recognized him as one of 
the agents in the jeep when he joined them in the race to the house 
in the raid. The agent stated, "You four are the bravest people I've 
ever seen. I saw you get shot and you never slowed down."

One of the guards looked at the FBI agent, "He's one of yours?"

"No, but he would be a good addition to the team. He participated 
in the raid this afternoon. He raced to one of the wounded people 
and took care of him until the doc arrived."

Ed shook his head, "Hey, I didn't do that much, but thanks for the 
praise."

The agent asked, "Is the doc in there?"

Ed nodded. The agent smiled, "Would you tell her she did a great 
job patching us up. The doctors here said there was nothing more 
they could do for us. She did good work. Oh, and tell John that we 
really appreciate the hotel rooms that he arranged for us. He's got 
us put up at the MGM Grand for two nights."

Ed nodded, "I'll tell them that. Thanks for watching out for us."

The crowd dispersed almost as quickly as it had gathered. The 
guards had shrugged their shoulders and walked away. A doctor 
arrived within a few minutes. Ed stopped him at the door, "You 
can't go in there."

The doctor stared at Ed, "I'm his doctor."

Ed opened the door and stated, "A doctor is here. Says John is his 
patient."

Beth stated, "let him in and come in yourself. John is awake now."

Ed led the doctor in. As soon as Ed saw John, he rushed over to 
him, "Thank the Gods and Goddesses you are alright."

John answered in a very strong voice, "Yes, we have them to 
thank. They denied death to me another time."

Ed looked at him for a minute, "You have more work to do my 
husband to be. Don't worry, I'll be there to guard your back. I'll do 
a better job next time. I won't let you get so close to the action."

John laughed, "Yeah. Let's see you try it, big guy. I heard you got 
shot charging through the gunfight to get to me."

Beth and the other doctor came over to John. They examined him 
carefully. Removing the bandage showed that John's wound was 
healing at a phenomenal rate. It looked like he had been injured 
three weeks ago rather than just in the morning. The doctors 
conferred some more and decided to release him in the morning. 
John felt driven to get to Colorado in time for Midwinter's day. He 
would have time to make it and still take frequent breaks.












