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 Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2003


Part 3: Robes of Acumen
Chapter 16

Ed sat naked on the chair in his living room. His hands held tightly 
onto the arms of the chair. He sat with his head tilted back as he 
looked at the ceiling with half closed eyes. His legs were spread as 
wide as the arms of the chair allowed. His massive erection pointed 
to the ceiling. 

Leroy kneeled on the floor between his knees, holding Ed's cock in 
his hand. He stared at it for a moment and then leaned forward. He 
hesitated and then licked the head of the cock. It was not as bad as 
he had expected. He leaned forward and put his mouth over the 
head. The male scent and saltiness surprised him. 

He wrapped his hand around the base of the cock. He took more of 
the cock into his mouth. His tongue worked around the head. He 
tried to remember how he liked to have his cock sucked. He started 
moving the hand up and down the length of the cock while his 
tongue worked on the head. He knew he was doing it right when 
Ed moaned and rocked his hips forward.

Leroy picked up the pace and increased the pressure of his hand. 
He started sucking harder. Ed moaned as the sensations brought 
him closer to climax. Leroy worked even harder. Ed could have 
held off longer, but decided that Leroy didn't need to end his first 
attempt with lockjaw. He stated, "I'm going to come!"

Leroy locked his lips around the head of the cock and pumped it 
with his hand. Ed's orgasm caught him by surprised as load after 
load of cum shot into his mouth. Not know what else to do, he 
swallowed. The taste of his cum was salty and bitter. Leroy felt an 
urge to gag, but held it down by swallowing. Leroy continued to 
work on Ed's cock until Ed brought his hand down to stop him. His 
cock had become too sensitive. Leroy sat back and said, "Wow, 
that was different."

Leroy bolted upright in bed, sweat made the sheet stick to his 
body. It took him a minute to realize it had been a dream and not a 
reality. He decided that his earlier conversation with Ed and John 
must have influenced his dream. It had been so real. His cock, 
erect, wanted to tell him that he enjoyed the dream, but his 
emotions were conflicted.

He got out of the bed and went into the sitting room of the suite. 
He paced the room still naked, enjoying the feel of the air over his 
body as he moved. His erection bobbed as he moved, but slowly he 
lost it. He checked the other two rooms of the suite discovering 
that Ed and John were still gone. Ed was still out shopping while 
John was at the FBI taking care of the last few details of the arrests 
this morning. Tomorrow, they were going to arrest all of the others 
in the case.

He sat in a chair and stared across the room. It took him a moment 
to realize he was seated in the chair Ed had been using in his 
dream. He knew it was time for him to make a decision regarding 
making love to men. He sat back and relived his dream. The first 
time through, he thought about the sensations as he had 
experienced. Nothing about it seemed that horrible. The second 
time he relived his dream, he looked at himself as if he were a 
stranger. He wondered if he could like the man who had just done 
that. He realized that he could, he liked Ed and John knowing they 
both did that. The third time he relived the dream, he thought about 
he had felt about himself. He wondered if the self in the dream was 
any less a man than what he was today. He looked down at his 
erection, realizing that it was telling him that he was turned on by 
the idea.

John stopped to watch a man playing a saxophone on the street. 
There was a hat on the ground with a few coins in it. The man was 
actually quite good and John appreciated the break after all of the 
ugliness that he had seen that day. He fished in his wallet coming 
out with a five-dollar bill. He set it in the hat under a few coins to 
make sure that it didn't blow away. The man bowed with his whole 
body in thanks without missing a note.

John walked away as an urge to move toward a mall began to 
develop. There was an outdoor café with all of the tables filled. He 
walked over to it and looked around. A waitress faced an angry 
looking man. John frowned as the man pulled out a gun. The man 
shouted, "Bring her out here! Do it now or I'll start killing people."

The waitress backed into the restaurant. The patrons started to 
move as though to flee. The man shouted, "Don't move or I'll shoot 
you."

John approached the man slowly with his hands held out to his 
sides, the walking stick carried easily in his right hand. Several 
dogs trotted over and crouching, let loose with low growls. More 
dogs continued to arrive, some dragging leashes. The restaurant 
patrons started backing away terrified by the man with the gun and 
the feral dogs. The man stared in horror at the collection of animals 
promising great harm.

John stated, "Put the gun down."

The man stared at John, fear threatening to remove all ability to 
reason. John's calm voice cut through the building haze, "You and 
I need to talk. When you put down the gun, then we can sit down 
and drink a little iced tea while we talk."

The man, as if hypnotized, set down the gun. John moved the gun 
out of his reach and then motioned to the man to sit down. The 
dogs disappeared as quickly as they had come. A siren broke the 
silence that had settled over the area. Patrons stared at John as he 
calmly went to the waitress station and poured two glasses of iced 
tea. He returned to the table where the man was seated. John 
handed a glass to the man and sat down. He stated, "You are at a 
crossroad in your life."

The man stared at John as his words registered. He was at a 
crossroad in his life. If he didn't get help, he was going to end up 
dead. All he had wanted was to be loved by his girlfriend. He 
mentally corrected himself, she was his former girlfriend. His 
obsessive desire to control her had caused her to flee. 

"You have many different paths that you can walk and it is time for 
you to pick one."

The man mumbled, "Yes, sir."

John noticed the policeman coming out the door of the restaurant. 
He held up a hand to the policeman to have him stop. The FBI 
badge in his hand brought the policeman to a complete halt. John 
stated, "Choose."

The man stood up shakily. He held his hands behind his neck and 
slowly turned around. His voice shook as he stated, "I surrender, 
Officer."

The policeman quickly handcuffed the man. John stated, "His gun 
is here on the table, Officer."

Several more police officers arrived. They spread through the 
outdoor café taking down statements of what they had observed. 
All of the reports were identical. Finally, the lead detective, 
Inspector Kosta, arrived. He was an overweight bald man that 
looked as if he had seen too much ugliness in the world. He 
interviewed John personally. At the end of the interview, the 
detective stated, "Any requests Agent Carter?"

"Yes, take good care of him. He's confused, but his life is about to 
undergo a radical change. Don't put any obstacles in his way that 
might prevent him from becoming a good man."

The detective looked at John for a full minute. He asked, "What 
are you doing here?"

"Putting the finishing touches on a case," answered John. They had 
the names and addresses of all the participants in the child-
swapping ring. He added, "You'll hear more about it tomorrow."

"I know who you are, John Carter. It must be a big case for you to 
be involved."

John looked surprised, "How do you know me?"

"You cleared up a couple of missing person's reports that I had 
been assigned when you cracked that white slavery ring."

"Oh," replied John. He was always amazed when police 
recognized him for his work in the past. The white slavery ring had 
covered a large number of cities in the western United Stated. 
Many police had come to know him by his roll in that raid.

The detective shook hands with John and started to walk away. He 
stopped and turned back, "Can you tell me about the dogs?"

John shrugged, "They came to help me. That's all."

The detective shook his head and walked away. John sat at the 
table and finished his iced tea. The waitress that had been 
confronted by the gun wielding man came over to the table and sat 
down. She was joined by another waitress. The first waitress 
stated, "I'm Joye and this is Valerie."

John nodded, "Pleased to meet you. I'm John Carter."

Joye nervously stated, "I just wanted to thank you."

"You're quite welcome. I was glad to be of service."

Valerie sobbed, "That was my ex. He's been stalking me. I think he 
would have killed me today if it weren't for you."

John took her hand and said, "He's not going to bother you any 
more."

"I don't believe that."

John picked up a small piece of bread from the ground and held it 
in his hand. A small sparrow came and landed on his thumb. It 
took the bread in its beak and then flew off again. John looked at 
Valerie, "He's not going to bother you any more."

Valerie looked at him in wonder. She averred,  "I believe you."

John looked at her for a moment and then stated, "You are at a 
crossroads in your life and it is time for you to make a decision."

She looked at him in surprise. "What?"

John made eye contact with her. She couldn't shake his intense 
stare. "You have three choices. You can do nothing and continue to 
attract that kind of man for the rest of your life. You can decide to 
have nothing to do with men from now on and live alone for the 
rest of your life. You can seek help and learn why you are attracted 
to men like that. Once you have sought help, you will have 
additional choices."

She swallowed heavily and slumped into her chair. She whispered, 
"Do I have to choose now?"

"Yes, you must choose now and act on that choice before sunset."

"I have to work until nine tonight."

John turned to Joye, "Get the manager please."

The manager came out and thanked John for his help in diffusing 
the explosive situation earlier. John stated, "Valerie is taking the 
rest of the day off. I shall cover her shift for her."

The manager stared at John and then looked at Valerie. He was 
used to waitresses that didn't show up. In fact, Valerie had been the 
source of many problems in the past. He realized they were 
attributed to her ex-boyfriend. He stated, "Get out of here Valerie. 
I'll see you tomorrow."

Valerie thanked him profusely and then left. John looked at the 
manager, "Well, where are my tables?"

The manager laughed, "Yeah, right. I can call someone. Don't 
worry about it."

John nodded and said, "I do want to pick up the tabs of all the 
clients that were here. I appreciate the fact that none of them did 
anything stupid."

The manager stated, "you don't have to do that."

"I insist." John pulled out his platinum card and handed it to the 
manager. 

"It's going to be a couple hundred dollars."

"Well, add a twenty percent tip to it for the waitress. She kept her 
cool."

Joye stared at John. The manager took the card and went inside to 
ring it up. John smiled at Joye and asked, "How is your day 
going?"

She laughed as she answered, "A few rough spots here and there, 
but I had a big tipper today."

John smiled at her. "Go tell your customers. Have a nice day."

The manager came back outside looking sheepish. John could tell 
that he had called in the credit card and found out who he was. The 
manager apologized, "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, sir."

John took back his credit card and signed the credit slip. He 
nodded at the manager. "No problem. You have a nice place here."

"Thanks, sir."

John left the restaurant and headed in the direction of the hotel. He 
looked around and noticed that a police car was discreetly 
following him. Undoubtedly, the detective had mentioned to them 
that he was to be protected while he was in the city. He laughed at 
the situation.

Opening the door to the suite, John began to feel much more 
relaxed. He stepped inside the room and closed the door behind 
him. He looked in the living room. To his surprise, Ed was seated 
in a chair looking as if he had just had an orgasm. Leroy, kneeling 
on the floor in front of him, wiped cum off his lips. John smiled, 
"Darn, I'm too late to watch."

Ed laughed. "Too bad!"

Leroy looked around embarrassed. John walked over and put a 
hand on his shoulder. John stated, "I hope it wasn't too bad."

Leroy answered in a voice that was too loud, "No it wasn't bad at 
all."

Ed grinned. "Good, because I enjoyed it a lot."

John stated, "If you guys wouldn't mind. I'm rather hungry. Let's 
go out and eat somewhere."

Ed jumped up, "Sounds great to me."

Leroy stood up. His cock was at half-mast having wilted partially 
on John's arrival. He looked down at his cock and answered, 
"Okay."

As Leroy headed to his room to change, John called after him. 
"When we get back, we'll take care of your needs."

Leroy smiled. "Sure thing."

The men gathered in the living room. Everyone was dressed. They 
discussed what kind of food they wanted. They decided that they 
would go for seafood. As they left, John stated, "By the way, we 
are likely to have a police escort there."

"Why?"

"Well, had a little problem on my way home. I guess they want to 
make sure that I don't get hurt or something."

Ed suggested, "I've got an idea. Why don't we have them take us 
there and back. They can join us for dinner."

John broke out in a large smile and said, "Sounds like a plan to 
me."

Leroy asked, "You are just going to invite two strangers to 
dinner?"

John answered, "Well, they are going to be following us. That 
means, they will have to go where we go. While we are eating, 
they'll probably be out in their car waiting for us to come out. That 
has to be boring. Then they'll have to follow us back to the hotel. 
Why not make their lives a little easier for a change."

Leroy shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't think of it like that."

John went out to the curb and looked for the police car. It was 
parked fifty feet down the street. With a jerk of his head, he 
indicated that the others were to come with him. He walked up to 
the police car and tapped on the window. The two cops inside 
looked at each other. Finally the driver rolled down the window, 
"What can I do for you?"

John smiled, "Well, we were thinking about eating seafood tonight. 
Since you are following me, it just might be easier for everyone if 
you joined us."

The two cops looked at each other, knowing they had been made. 
The sergeant had told them to watch over John and to keep trouble 
away from him. The driver finally said, "Okay, get in the back."

The three men squeezed into the back of the squad car. As John 
settled himself in the center, he stated, "Take us to the best seafood 
restaurant in town. Price is no object, but quality of food is."

The partners discussed it quickly and then the driver pulled away 
from the curb. At a traffic light, a woman stared at the men in the 
back with single-minded intensity. Every one in the car noticed the 
attention. Leroy got a smile on his face and winked at John as he 
held up his hands as though he were cuffed. The woman's eyes got 
very big. When the light changed, the cars were quickly separated. 
Leroy laughed, "I just made her day. She's going to go home and 
tell everyone that she saw three criminals getting hauled away."

There was a general laughter in the car. John asked the officer, 
"Hey, I know it is a crime to impersonate an officer of the law, but 
is it a crime to impersonate a criminal?"

The officers in the front of the car chuckled. Ed asked, "If it is a 
crime to impersonate a criminal, then by impersonating a criminal 
you become a criminal at which time it ceases to be a crime and 
you cease being a criminal."

"I've always said you should be a lawyer," answered John. 

The driver asked, "Who are you? I've never seen so many of the 
brass step all over themselves for someone before."

John stated, "I'm John Carter. The gentleman on the right is Leroy 
and the other is Ed."

The passenger stated, "I'm Harry Albertson and my partner is Jay 
Brown."

Jay explained, "I've known Inspector Kosta ever since I joined the 
force. He never says anything nice about anyone. Today, he stated 
that you were a better detective than he could ever hope to be. So 
who are you?"

Ed answered, "John's just a regular guy that shows up in the right 
place at the right time and does the right thing."

Leroy swore, "Damn, some guy back there is stealing a Rolls 
Royce."

Harry jumped and stated, "Must be the car theft ring. I'll call it in."

The officers started to react, when John commanded, "Hold on, 
don't call it in. There's a car lot up there. Pull in there. Harry, I 
want you to use Ed's cell-phone to call the duty sergeant and fill 
him in the details about the car theft. Include the fact that they 
aren't to put anything on the air. If this is a car theft ring, they'll be 
monitoring the police radios."

"Sounds good."

"Here's what we'll do. We get two cars at the car lot. We'll take 
turns following the rolls until he gets to his final destination. We'll 
set up a three-way conference call and use it to get backup. We'll 
have to hurry."

The driver pulled into the car lot. The cops got out and opened the 
back door so that the passengers could get out. The five men ran 
into the building, grabbed the manager, and explained the situation 
to him. In three minutes, they were back on the street in two cars 
racing to catch up to the rolls. The driver of the stolen car was cool 
and didn't speed or break any traffic laws.

They took turns following the rolls, keeping in contact via the 
three-way conference call. The sergeant listened as they relayed 
details about the location of the car. The car finally pulled into a 
darkened warehouse. John noticed that there were watchers 
stationed around the warehouse, so he had them turn a corner 
before reaching it. John, Harry, and Leroy got out and looked 
down the street. The rolls had been in the warehouse for less than 
two minutes before a sedan pulled out of the warehouse. The driver 
got out and locked the door of the warehouse behind him. 

John watched as the driver then took off. He turned to Harry and 
stated, "He's stashed the car in the warehouse with people watching 
over the warehouse. We aren't going to be able to check it out 
without raising suspicions."

Harry talked to the sergeant over the cell-phone. He decided that 
someone needed to stay behind to watch what happened. Harry 
stated, "We need to keep a person here to watch over the 
warehouse."

John stated, "I'll stay here. I have an MRE in my pocket. Leave a 
cell-phone with me and I'll call you if anything happens. In the 
mean time, why don't you guys get something to eat."

Leroy smiled, "And you expect me to face Ling if I leave you here 
alone?"

Harry stated, "If anyone stays, it should be me."

John shook his head, "No. You are in uniform. I'm perfect for the 
job. It's time for crazy John to come out."

Confused, Leroy asked, "Who's crazy John?"

John got a wild look in his eye and looked at Leroy. He stuck the 
end of his beard in his mouth and started chewing on it. "Are you 
an earthling? Sometimes, you can't tell. I know, I've been to 
space."

Leroy looked at John as if he had lost his mind. "You've been to 
space?"

"Yes, the Cronians came in their ship and took me to their planet. 
They're just like you and I, but they have a fixation on nipples. 
They don't have nipples. Do you have nipples? Nipples are good, 
you know. That's how we tell the difference between earthlings 
and Cronians. Let me see your nipples."

Laughing, Leroy replied, "Okay crazy John. You can stay. I'll 
explain to Ling that you were replaced by aliens for a while."

John pulled his cloak around himself and disappeared into the 
dark. The other two men got in the car and left quietly. John 
emerged from the darkness with dirt rubbed into his face. He rolled 
around on the ground getting his robe and cloak dirty. He picked 
up a stick and some leaves sticking them in his beard and hair. He 
sat down with his back to the wall and pulled out his MRE. He 
slowly ate it while watching the warehouse and the men across the 
street from it. 

He dozed off and on through the night. Each time he woke, he 
watched the warehouse. The men down the street were still 
watching the street for trouble. He knew he had not been spotted 
yet, but that situation could change before someone showed up at 
the warehouse to pick up the car. He planned his course of action 
for the next day.

As dawn arrived, John performed his daily morning ritual of giving 
two drops of blood for the Gods and Goddesses. The men in front 
of the warehouse split. One walked down the street in his direction 
while the other walked away from him. He waited patiently for the 
man to approach where he sat. 

The man stepped in front of the alley where John sat against the 
wall. John noticed that a large number of rats were hiding just out 
of sight. John screeched, "Stay away from me. I won't go back with 
you!"

The man stared at John, "Who are you?"

"You're not taking me back to Cro 4."

The guy looked around for a moment trying to decide if John was a 
problem. He asked, "What's Cro 4?"

"You know very well that Cro 4 is the fourth planet around the star 
Cro." John cackled insanely, "You won't trick me this time, 
Cronian!"

The man spat in the direction of John and continued to walk down 
the street. Ten minutes later he returned. John shouted at him, 
"Trying to sneak up on me! It won't work."

"You're crazy, old man!" The man walked on past John. John 
watched him walk down to the location in front of the warehouse. 
The other man arrived from the other direction. They talked for a 
several minutes with the one man pointing in John's direction. A 
car arrived and the two men talked to the people in the car. 

After a short time, the car drove up the street toward John. He 
watched the car approach with trepidation. If he failed to fool 
them, he was likely to die. More rats appeared around John's 
position, all of them just out of sight. He stood up and assumed an 
old fashioned boxing stance. When the car stopped at the end of 
the alley, he shouted, "You're not going to take me alive, Cronian!"

The men in the car looked at him, taking in the dirty robe, the 
twigs and leaves in his unruly hair and beard, and his dirty face and 
hands. One of the men came out of the car asking, "Hey, are you a 
cop?"

John laughed maniacally, "I'm FBI."

The man in the car got out and walked over to John. John shouted, 
"Get away from me, Cronian."

The man laughed and asked, "How can I prove that I'm not a 
Croman?"

"Show me your nipples. Cronians do not have nipples. I have 
nipples, very good nipples. Let me see your nipples!"

The man's laughter grew even greater. "Nipples? You want to see 
my nipples."

John got a very serious face, "Show me your nipples now or else!"

The man went back in the car. John could hear him say, "That guys 
crazy as a loon. Nobody will believe a word that he says."

As the car returned to the warehouse, John walked down the alley 
away from view. The rats all disappeared. He fished the cell-phone 
out of his pocket and hit the speed dial. The sergeant on duty 
answered, "hello?"

"Hello, this is John Carter. A car has just arrived at the 
warehouse."

"Okay, we'll send some cars over now."

"Not yet, keep them at least four blocks away. I'm betting a couple 
of more cars will be here shortly."

"Okay, we'll get them in position. We're using a code to tell our 
cars how to move into place."

John stated, "I'll keep the line open. Let me check on what is going 
on."

John looked around the corner and saw a large truck move to the 
warehouse. There was another car pulling up. John stepped back 
and spoke into the cell-phone, "The party has started. Time to 
bring in the cavalry."

John waited for the police to arrive. It took about five minutes for a 
coordinated arrival to be established. Police cars arrived from 
every direction all at once. The warehouse was quickly 
surrounded. John stepped out and watched the officers run into the 
warehouse. Shots were fired. The men that had been watching the 
warehouse from across the street started to run in John's direction. 
John went over to where he had his walking stick hidden and 
retrieved it. 

The men ran down the street looking over their shoulder at the raid 
going on behind them. John stepped in front of them with his 
walking stick held horizontal. The men didn't even see it until they 
had run into it. Their feet flew out from under them and they 
landed flat on their back. 

A limousine pulled up beside John's position. Ed and Leroy got 
out. Ed looked at John, "Well, it looks like you had a rough night."

 John looked at Ed and Leroy, "It looks to me like you got less 
sleep than I did. Anything I should know about?"

"Nah. Nothing outside the usual debauchery, you'd have been 
bored."

One of the men on the ground attempted to get up. A quick rap 
with the walking stick put him back on the ground. A police car 
arrived. Harry and Jay got out and looked at the men on the 
ground. Harry asked, "Any problems?"

"Nope. I just captured two Cronians."

All of the men laughed. Leroy asked, "Did you check out their 
nipples?"

Inspector Kosta, the detective from the day before, walked up. He 
looked down at the two men on the ground shaking his head, 
"Well, congratulations. They caught the whole gang. There was 
another stolen car in the truck."

John shrugged, "I'm glad to hear that. We had better get over to 
FBI headquarters. Inspector Kosta, you're welcome to join us if 
you'd like."

 At FBI headquarters, Inspector Kosta listened in shock as the 
reports from the field arrived. He had figured that any case the 
John Carter was involved in would be big, but he had no idea how 
expansive this case was. As report after report of an arrest arrived, 
the true scope of the operation became clear. 

John sat back with a smile on his face as he thought about the 
number of monsters that were going to jail. They arrested almost 
three hundred adults and liberated just as many children from 
sexual slavery. Ed and Leroy worked with several of the other 
agents in organizing the reports. 

When the last report came in, Inspector Kosta stated, "Very 
impressive. I don't know how you do it. You captured a car theft 
ring and child swapping ring all in the same day."

Agent Mauz added, "This operation today was entirely due to you, 
John."

John yawned as he shook his head. "No, I had lots of help."

Ed looked up at the clock and realized how little sleep John had 
over the past two days. He turned to John and Leroy to say, "I'd 
say it's about time we head home, wouldn't you?"

"Sure. Let's go. I turn this operation over to you Agent Mauz." 
John turned to face at Inspector Kosta. "I'll give you one hint, 
never do your own paperwork."

The laughter that came from Inspector Kosta was genuine. "Yes, 
that'll give you about 38 hours a week more to work on cases."


