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 17

The yard was a mess. Paper plates, cans, bottles, and assorted trash 
littered the yard. The caterers were packing up their equipment, the 
rental agencies were picking up the tables and chairs, and the 
security guards were watching the activities. John's plans had been 
very complete with no complaints from the guests. The only thing 
that he had overlooked was the cleanup the next day. He should 
have realized that a thousand guests would leave a lot of trash 
behind. He wondered what he would do about it, five acres of land 
to pick up was quite a lot.

The animals were relaxing after a hard day of work. Shadow, 
recovered from his encounter with the intruder, was full of energy. 
The animals had knocked over one of the trashcans and were 
batting it around the yard in play. The bear would bat it a long 
distance and the cats would chase after it. The wolf would run 
around it. In a way, it was odd to watch the animals play without 
making noise. There were no barks, growls, or roars. 

The camp where the other medallion wearers were staying was 
coming to life in the early morning. John watched with amusement 
as half of the medallion wearers exited their tents naked. He smiled 
at the realization that there had been a lot of tent hopping last night 
as people exited from tents that were not theirs. Some of the people 
exiting the tents weren't Druids. Clearly, John was not exceptional 
in being a randy pagan and being a pagan wasn't all that was 
required to be randy. 

John watched as Jerry Smith spotted him. Jerry called out 
something that John could not hear, but a half dozen of the others 
joined him. Together, they walked over to where John was 
standing. Since most of them were naked, their passage caused 
more than a little excitement among the caterers. John walked 
towards them so that they met halfway. A woman caterer blushed 
and ran away from the area. The group watched her leave in 
amusement.

Jerry Smith broke the silence, "I understand that somebody tried to 
kill you yesterday."

"True. We had a rather complete security program in place. They 
never got close."

One of the others asked, "This wasn't the first attempt, was it?"

"No. There was another attempt no too long ago."

Jerry stated, "We that serve the God intend to help you end the 
threat."

John nodded as he stated, "We have a sting operation that is getting 
put into place. The idea is to entice the person behind this out of 
Mexico and into the States where we can arrest him."

Jerry looked out across the field. Doing it John's way could take a 
year and he wanted it over quicker than that. He turned to John, 
"Who is it?"

"Alberto Rodriguez," replied John. "He's in Mexico City."

At the urging of others, John filled them in on all of the details 
about Alberto Rodriguez that he had unearthed. He covered some 
of the known relationships of abducted individuals with powerful 
people. Several were well connected to South American people of 
significant influence, many of them were criminals. 

Jerry turned to look at the others that had walked over with him. 
One by one, each nodded. He turned back to face John. "You won't 
need to worry about him."

John asked, "Are you going to assassinate him?"

Jerry shot John a nasty look, "Of course not. We advise certain 
people that he represents a threat and then suddenly he is no longer 
a threat. If necessary, we shall tell them how to deal with him. 
Druids only fight in self-defense. Other than that, we are advisors."

One of the other men suggested, "You should learn that lesson a 
little better John. Maybe you will stop getting killed."

John nodded. He had not thought about that. As a rescuer, he had 
to be intimately involved. Perhaps using his strength meant 
directing others rather than requiring him to muscle his way 
through. He answered, "You are right."

Jerry asked, "Who do the assassin's work for?"

John stated, "They are Russian. Looks like they belong to the 
Russian Mafia."

Jerry turned back to the others. Most of them shook their heads. 
Two nodded. Jerry asked one of the ones that nodded, "Why?"

"We have to teach them that you don't fuck with a Druid," replied 
the man. He added, "They are stronger than us. We have to find a 
way to use that strength against them."

Jerry nodded, "I agree with you Sean."

John interrupted, "Allow me to handle them. I have the FBI that I 
can call upon."

Jerry nodded, "We'll hit them from all sides. You use the Feds 
while we to use other criminal elements."

Sean asked, "Can I give them the word that we are coming after 
them?"

Jerry smiled. He suspected there was a little bad blood there. 
"Sure. Make sure that you tell them why."

John nodded, "Good, then we act. The sooner the better."

Jerry laughed, "When we are done, no one will ever accept a hit on 
a Druid again."

Sean stated, "Okay. I'll head over to the jail and talk to the 
prisoners. Find out the particular Russian group for whom they 
work.  Then I'll head up to little Russia in New York."

Jerry nodded, "I'll head down to Mexico City. Give me about three 
days to get things set up there."

A couple of others nodded their heads in agreement. Then, as a 
group, all of them left but Jerry. Jerry looked at John, "John, 
you've done some good work. You need to let us know when you 
need help. I know that you serve the God and the Goddess, but that 
doesn't mean you have to do everything alone."

John answered, "I guess. Saving people for the Goddess was a 
solitary activity."

Jerry countered, "No it wasn't. Didn't you assemble a team to help 
with the earthquake?"

"Yes, I did. I didn't think about that."

Jerry stated, "There is one thing that you have to remember. We 
serve the Gods and Goddesses. In their service, we serve humanity. 
When someone kills one of us, then humanity is harmed. We must 
protect ourselves for the sake of the people we would save."

John thought about that. If he had been killed then who would have 
saved the people that were victims of the white slavery ring. They 
were still tracking down some of the people who had been sold 
from previous abductions. While fifty victims saved from a life of 
sexual slavery may not sound like much, it was important to them. 
They had found four people that had purchased slaves and killed 
them in the course of using them. Many sick people had been 
locked away because of his efforts.

John stated, "I'm not that important, but I will call upon you when 
I'm in trouble."

Jerry laughed at the statement. "Not that important? Don't you 
know that you are the nominal head of the Druids."

John stepped back in horror. "What do you mean?"

"You serve a God and a Goddess. No one else has achieved that 
distinction. You are the head of both groups. Only two Druids are 
not required to treat you as a brother. The first is Harry and the 
other is Ed. They serve the Two-side One."

"Oh."

Jerry studied John for a moment. He stated, "You really didn't 
know that?"

"No."

Jerry laughed and then stated, "You have displayed excellent 
leadership skills already."

"What did I do?"

"Nothing," replied Jerry. He laughed as he added, "In my book, 
that makes an excellent leader."

John smiled at the joke. "Wait until I start thinking up things for 
you to do."

Jerry turned and walked away. He shouted over his shoulder, 
"That's my cue to get out of here. Mom Smith didn't raise a fool!"

John returned to the house. He figured that everyone would be 
awake by now and it would be time for breakfast. He would use 
that time to get an opinion as to how to get the yard cleaned up. 
The three cats joined him as he walked. He glanced at Shadow, 
pleased to see the cat up and about so well this morning. 

At the house, he entered the back door. He stopped and looked at 
the atrium with its plants, stream, and water fountain. In a few days 
time, they would add fish and frogs to the stream. Several small 
paths threaded though the plants, all ending at a bench in the 
center. He wondered if he should add lizards and other animals to 
the area.

He mentally counted heads and came up with eighteen people to 
feed. He reached the large kitchen and looked around. The chef 
hired to stock the kitchen had done a very good job. He decided 
that a simple breakfast would have to do. He would create a buffet 
breakfast using the food warmers that he found on the shelf. 

He started by making pancakes once he found a griddle large 
enough to make eighteen small pancakes at a time. He quickly 
filled a food warmer with enough pancakes to feed most people 
there. He then made scrambled eggs. He had never tried to 
scramble three dozen eggs before. It took a lot more time than he 
thought it would. 

Mrs. Hayes entered the kitchen wearing an exercise outfit. She 
looked at what John was doing and volunteered to make set out the 
plates and silverware. John told her that she would have to find it 
herself, because he had no idea where they were kept in this 
kitchen. They were joined by Mrs. South and Mr. Jensen, who 
volunteered to make toast and get out the juice. 

Beth entered the kitchen and started brewing the coffee in the 
monster coffee maker she found in one of the cabinets. Her mother 
finished putting out the plates and silverware. She carried out the 
food warmer with the pancakes out of the kitchen after giving a 
brief good morning to her daughter. Ed stumbled into the room in 
his normal morning haze. He looked around and grumbled, "Oh 
my, I'm surrounded by morning people."

John laughed, "Go wake up Kelly."

Ed stumbled out of the room. His departure was the subject of 
laughter. Those that knew Ed well expected nothing less. Beth's 
mother raised an eyebrow in Beth's direction. Beth shrugged, "You 
should see him at night!"

The eggs were finally scrambled and John put them in another 
food warmer. Beth's mother quickly carried it out. John went to the 
refrigerator. He took out the butter, an open jar of salsa, and maple 
syrup. He went to the pantry where he found various jams, honey, 
and powdered sugar. He pulled them out and carried them into the 
dining room. The coffee was soon ready and the pot was carried 
out to the dining room. 

He stepped back and looked at the breakfast. There was something 
missing. He realized he had forgotten to cook bacon and sausage. 
He went back into the kitchen only to find Kelly's father cooking 
the bacon and sausage at a different stove. The breakfast was soon 
ready.

Everyone went into the dining room and formed a line in front of 
the food. John was the last in line. He loaded his plate with 
pancakes, eggs, and sausage. After putting salsa on the eggs and 
fixing the pancakes with butter and powdered sugar, he joined 
every one else at the table. He had hardly sat down before he 
realized he had forgotten to get coffee. It took him half a minute to 
get a cup and return to the table. By the time he had settled 
himself, the conversation was flowing easily around the room.

John watched with interest as more people came down to the 
dining room and piled plates full of food. He kept an eye on the 
quantities of food in case he had to cook more. His attention was 
immediately grabbed with the arrival of Davie. Of course, the older 
Davie wanted to be called David. "Hello David. Did you have a 
good time yesterday?"

David smiled, "I sure did. I met a real nice girl yesterday. Mom 
and Dad are going to take me to the hotel so we can swim in the 
pool there."

"Who's the lucky lady?"

"Her name is Karla. She's an artist."

John knew Karla very well. She was about a year older than David. 
John thought to warn him, "You know that Karla was burned as a 
kid, don't you?"

David smiled, "I know. She showed me her legs. I told her the 
more leg she showed, the more interesting the sight."

Jenny looked at her son in shock, "You didn't!"

"I did, she thought it was funny. We laugh a lot."

John laughed at the slightly embarrassed look on David's face. 
"That sounds like the Karla I know. She normally hides her burns. 
You must have really made a real impression on her."

David blushed as he stated, "She's really pretty. She did a picture 
of you."

John remembered the first pictures she had done for him. It was of 
her and all the kids in the burn unit. She had worked so hard to 
make it look good. Nurse Betty had told him how many attempts 
she had made before she had one that pleased her enough to give it 
to him. He still had the picture hanging on the wall in his bedroom. 
He asked, "So what else did you do yesterday?"

"She and I taught some of the kids how to play Hunt The Bug 
Eyed Monsters. I was so surprised when I found out that she knew 
how to play that game. She told me you taught her how to play it."

John laughed, "Yes, it was a big hit in the children's burn unit. 
They could all play that game no matter how much they were 
hurt."

David frowned, "That's what she said. It hurts me to think that 
there are kids out there that can't run and play. Maybe I ought to 
start visiting hospitals and teaching other kids the game."

Dr. Hayes had arrived towards the tail end of the conversation. He 
looked at David for a minute and stated, "A lot of those kids are 
very horrible looking."

David frowned at the implications that he would be disgusted. He 
asked, "They're still kids aren't they?"

Mr. Hayes glanced at John for a second, "You're right and I 
apologize to you for my comment. They're still kids. They like to 
play games. Of course, most of them play video games today."

David stated with a laugh, "Yes, but some things never change. 
Kids still like to play together and you can't do that with a video 
game."

John looked at David with pride, "You're a good kid, David. You 
do your mother and father proud."

David blushed, "Thank you, Uncle John."

Dr. Hayes turned to see Ed enter the room with Kelly. They poured 
themselves some coffee and joined John and Beth at the table. 
Kelly, Beth, and John watched Ed concentrate on drinking his 
coffee. Beth turned to her parents with an impish smile, "Ed is a 
dynamo first thing in the morning."

Her mother answered, "How long does it take him to wake up?"

Ed grunted, "Two cups, ma'am."

Kelly laughed and stated, "This is when I love him the most. He's 
just a big grumpy teddy bear. He grumbles, grunts, and groans, but 
he never does anything mean."

Dr. Hayes stated, "I don't understand what you see in him. He 
doesn't even say much."

Ed looked up at Dr. Hayes. He could hear the truth in the man's 
words, Beth's father didn't like him. Ed answered, "It is better if I 
say little and if most people don't talk to me."

"Why? Are you slow or something?"

"Something," replied Ed.

John stood up for his husband by explaining, "Ed knows when 
people lie. He can't tell a lie without experiencing significant pain."

Dr. Hayes replied, "Bull."

Kelly, more than a little pissed, stated, "Try telling him a mix of 
facts and fiction. He'll tell you which is which."

"My middle name is Harold."

"False."

"My pager number is 111-555-1234"

"True."

"The name of my first dog was Spot."

"False, you never had a dog."

"How did you know that?" asked a shocked Dr. Hayes. 

"The lie started at dog," replied Ed. Ed looked up, "Of course, you 
could believe that Beth told me all that stuff and I have a perfect 
memory. Try coming up with something that only you would 
know."

"I got my first kiss in a park."

"True."

"I had my first sexual experience in the back seat of a car."

"True."

"The girls name was Sue."

"False," Ed answered. He looked at Dr. Hayes and stated, "I think 
you might want to stop at this point."

Dr. Hayes looked at Ed. He decided that he didn't want to follow 
up on that. He stated, "that's a remarkable ability."

"Both a blessing and a curse," replied Ed.

Dr. Hayes stated, "So what do you think Beth sees in you?"

Ed thought about it for a moment. No answer could actually be 
complete, but he decided to answer it the best he could. He stated, 
"I think she knows that I will do anything to assure her happiness. 
She sees me as I am, but she likes me despite my faults."

Beth interjected, "You are too modest. I will always remember you 
and John running into that collapsing building and coming out a 
few seconds later carrying that woman out. I knew at that moment 
that you and him worked as hard to save people from injury as I 
work as saving them after their injuries. You are both heroes."

"When was this?"

Beth answered her father, "we were in California during the 
earthquake. John and Ed pulled people out of collapsed buildings 
while Kelly and I patched them up the best that we could. The 
press said that they had saved more than three hundred people that 
day."

"You were the people on the news?"

"Yes, we were the people on the news daddy."

"Wow, you guys accumulated a lot of good karma that day!" 
Kelly's mother was excited by the whole idea. 

John shook his head, "No, there were so many that we didn't get to 
in time."

"Yes, too many," agreed Ed with a sign. He shuddered at the 
memory. "I almost stopped after seeing too many dead people, but 
John reminded me that we were there to save the living. His words 
allowed me to continue on."

Dr. Hayes stated, "it always hurts when you lose one. I don't think 
I would like a person that it didn't pain to see death up close and 
personal like that."

Ed smiled at the full ring of truth in the words that Dr. Hayes had 
uttered. He stated, "You speak with great conviction. I am glad that 
we can agree on that."

Beth stated, "Daddy, would you mind giving John and Ed a full 
checkup?"

"Well, I don't really have the facilities here for that."

Beth smiled, "I do. We have a full private hospital here. Their 
charts are in the room. I'm sure John and Ed will be glad to take 
you to it."

John looked around and noticed that all of them had finished their 
breakfast. He nodded, "Of course, please follow me."

Dr. Hayes followed John and Ed to the back of the house and to 
the clinic that Beth had set up. He looked around the room and 
whistled as he took in all of the equipment she had installed. He 
realized that it was set up to enable full surgical procedures to be 
performed. He asked, "Why the extensive set up here?"

John replied, "It isn't necessary, but Beth felt that she wanted to be 
able to take care of any problems that might arise."

"What kind of problems?"

Ed answered, "If the assassins had been successful yesterday, she 
would have been able to perform the surgery to save John or me."

Dr. Hayes looked incredulous at Ed. His voice cracked as he asked, 
"Assassins?"

John replied, "Yes. Tiger killed one of them in the house and the 
other two were caught outside. They are currently in jail."

 "You're kidding, aren't you?"

"No. They were hired by a man associated with the white slavery 
ring that we brought down."

"White slavery ring?"

Ed stated, "Yes. They killed John and wounded me. Fortunately, 
John survived his death."

John added, "It's all in our medical histories over there on the 
wall."

Dr. Hayes raised an eyebrow. He decided to get on with the 
checkup. He would check out their story later. "Why don't you get 
undressed?"

John and Ed both removed their clothes while Dr. Hayes read Ed's 
chart. He turned and looked at the two men. His jaw dropped to the 
ground when he looked at the mass of scars on John. He regained 
his composure and started examining Ed. He examined the scars 
and compared them to the documentation in the medical history. 
He was surprised that Ed's story was collaborated in terms of the 
injuries sustained in the medical history. After taking temperature, 
pulse, and blood pressure, he went on to the more detailed tests for 
reflexes, lung capacity, prostate health, and a stress test. He was 
shocked at the state of health for a man his age.

He noted his findings and put Ed's folder back onto the wall. He 
opened Johns folder. It was fat with hundreds of pages worth of 
notes. The first entry in which it stated that he had died during 
surgery surprised him. The release date was also quite surprising. 
He then went through each injury suffered by John. He was 
shocked by the size of the burn scare and the short time spent in 
the burn ward. When he reached the last occasion in which John 
had died during surgery, he shook his head in disbelief. John had 
been clinically declared dead. He went through the same procedure 
with John that he had followed with Ed. Again, this guy was in 
great shape for someone his age.

John asked, "So Dr. Hayes, are we in good health?"

"You have the muscle tone, fat reserves, and heart of an eighteen 
year old male. Your body is in outstanding shape, especially 
considering all of the things that you've been through."

Ed stated, "Beth will be pleased to hear that."

Dr. Hayes asked, "Aren't you afraid that the dangerous lifestyle 
that you lead endangers the life of my daughter?"

John nodded, "Of course, that's why I've taken the steps that I 
have. I've done everything possible to remove as much of that 
danger as I can."

Dr. Hayes asked, "And what steps have you taken?"

"By this evening, the middle man who provided the assassins will 
have been visited by the FBI, IRS, INS, ATF, and, quite possibly, 
the CIA. After that, they will get a visit by a Russian Law 
Enforcement Agency as part of an international criminal 
investigation. The entire organization will be taken apart by 
tomorrow evening. The word is being spread to similar individuals 
that this is the consequence of attacking a Druid."

Dr. Hayes looked at John as if he was crazy. "Nothing happens that 
quickly."

John stated, "You may not be aware of several facts. He attacked 
here when the head of the FBI, the Governor of Utah, a state 
senator from Colorado, and several members of the Secret Service 
were all in attendance. The head of the FBI and the Governor are 
both staying here in rooms next to yours."

"In three days time, the person that put out the contract will no 
longer be in a position to try again. One of the women abducted 
into slavery was a good friend of the daughter of a well-known 
Colombian drug lord. An agent is going to interview the drug lord 
and ask questions concerning the villain behind the assassination 
attempts. I, personally, expect him to turn himself in to American 
authorities rather quickly. Others expect a different outcome."

"Jesus, you know how to play rough."

John shook his head, "It wasn't my idea. The other Druids decided 
this morning that they want to send a message to organized crime 
that Druids are off limits."

Ed asked, "Are you convinced that your daughter made the biggest 
mistake of her life by marrying us?"

"I don't know."

"Truth. Will you at least reassure your daughter that you'll accept 
her decision?"

"Yes."

Ed sighed at the empty ring of the yes. "Please do it when I'm not 
around."

John wasn't listening as he had a sudden idea. He would call the 
high school and promise to donate a hundred dollars to the band, 
football team, and the school clubs for every bag of trash they 
picked up. That would get rid of the trash in the yard and help out 
the school. He sighed, at least one good thing would come out of 
this day.



 


