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

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 1: Epiphany
Chapter 23
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

A terrified shriek broke through the night air waking Ed and Beth 
from a deep solid sleep. Heart racing, he grabbed his pants and 
pulled them on. Even as he raced to dress, he shouted, "Beth, get 
the gun and get in the bathroom. Don't come out until someone you 
knows calls out to you."

Rather than argue, Beth scrambled out of the bed, naked and raced 
to the table with the gun. Grabbing the gun, she went into the 
bathroom. After closing and locking the door behind her, she sat 
on the toilet with the gun pointed at the door. Her hands shook in 
fear.

Grabbing a shirt, he raced out the door in time to see a car spinning 
its tires as it slid half out of control on the dirt road. He watched 
the car reach the end of the street and spin out of control as it tried 
to make the turn at too high of a speed. Putting on his shirt, he ran 
across the street to John's house. 

Before he hit the doorway, a number of shots rang out from within 
town. It sounded like a battlefield out there. Ed paused as he 
wondered if the bad guys had gotten away. Then his thoughts 
turned to concern for John. Stepping into the house, he turned on 
the lights and shouted, "John! Where are you?"

Relieved at finding that it was Ed in the house, John shouted, "I'm 
in the hall."

Ed came around the corner. Without thinking about the 
consequences of his actions, he turned on the hall lights. The 
sudden brightness blinded John and Rover for a minute causing 
them to shake their heads. Laying on the floor was a man that Ed 
did not recognize. He walked over to the man on the floor and 
asked, "Who's this?"

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, John examined the man. He 
answered, "I have no idea."

Kneeling next to the man on the ground, Ed examined him closely. 
To his surprise, Rover pushed him to the side to sniff the man. The 
cat turned and went to the back door. After sitting at the door for a 
minute looking out into the night, he let loose with a very loud 
yell. The suddenness of the noise shocked John and Ed as they 
immediately thought there were still more men outside. The yell 
was answered by two yells. 

Curious, John walked to the back door and turned on the lights. 
There were two more cats sitting in the backyard. To the right was 
a bobcat and to the left was a much larger Black Panther. The two 
cats rose at the same time and moved over to the door. Rover 
pushed the door open to let them in. In surprise, John and Ed 
looked at each other trying to figure out what was going on. 

Rover turned and left the house through the front door while John 
walked into the hallway to check on the person there. With nothing 
better to do, Ed joined him after watching the bobcat take up a 
position beside the back door. The panther moved through the 
house to sit at the front door. John looked at Ed, "I guess Rover 
called for re-enforcement's."

Ed asked, "So where did he go?"

John thought about it for a moment and then answered, "I bet he 
went across the street to watch your house in case anyone went 
over there."

"Smart cat."

There was a knock on the front door. A voice called out, "John, 
this is Juan Ortega. Are you alright in there?"

"I'm fine. I'll be right there. Don't come in yet."

Juan called back, "Don't worry, I see the panther. I'm not going to 
make a move."

John whispered, "Ed, tie this guy up. I don't feel comfortable with 
him here. I have no idea how to deal with our new bodyguards."

Ed went into the bedroom and returned with the rope that was 
packed in the backpack. Kneeling down, he tied up the man on the 
floor while John went to the front door. He couldn't hear what was 
said in the other room. Until he had company, he stood where he 
could kick the guy if he started to come around.

John followed by Juan and Robert entered the hallway where Ed 
was standing over the man. Pointing to the man on the floor, John 
said, "This bastard tried to assassinate me. He came into the 
bedroom and fired two shots. Fortunately, I don't use that bedroom. 
I sleep on the floor in the other room."

John pointed to the night vision glasses that hung around the guys 
neck. He went on explaining what had happened. "I shoved my 
walking stick with the light on in his face. It must have blinded 
him because he shot wildly in every direction. I then caught him in 
the groin with the walking stick. Rover bit his wrist and I hit him 
across the face with my walking stick. He hasn't moved since 
then."

Robert bent down to look at the guy on the floor. Barely nodding 
his head, he looked at the wall on the other end of the hallway. 
Satisfied with what he had seen, he looked in the bedroom where 
the first pair of shots had originated. Returning to the hallway, he 
knelt down by the guy again and as looked up at John said, "This 
guy is a professional. You're very lucky to be alive."

Juan swore, "Damn it, tell me how you decided that."

Robert pointed to the man and said, "He is dressed all in black with 
clothes that won't make a noise when he walks. He has night vision 
glasses that are Special Forces issue. The silencer on the pistol is 
professionally made. The two shots in the bed were where two 
people would normally sleep. He didn't fire more once he realized 
the bed was empty. The shots in the wall form a nice pattern at 
locations about where a man holding a flashlight would have been 
standing. The pattern in the center is where a man would stand if 
he held the flashlight in front of him. The pattern over to there is 
where a right-handed man would stand if he were police trained. 
The smaller pattern over there is where a left-handed man would 
stand if he were police trained." 

John smiled at the simple factual manner in which Robert stated 
the evidence supporting his conclusions. He said,  "Impressive."

Juan swore, "Damn. It makes sense to me."

Ed asked, "So what was going on with all of that shooting I heard 
when I ran over here?"

Juan answered, "The scream from here woke everyone in town. 
The Sheriff saw a car speeding away from here with its lights off. 
He went in pursuit and the idiot fired at him. Half the town fired 
back at the idiot. He crashed his car. We've got him in custody."

John smiled as he said, "I guess the town doesn't like its law 
enforcement types getting shot at. That would make me feel a lot 
better about being a cop in this area."

Robert looked at John as he considered that maybe the townsfolk 
didn't like to see one of their own get attacked. He said, "Some 
give one reason while others give another. It's hard to know what 
motivates people."

Rover came back in the room with Beth following him. She knelt 
by the man on the floor and examined his injuries. She looked up 
and said, "You did a good job on him. He has a broken jaw and a 
shattered wrist. He also appears to have a concussion."

John said, "I hit him in the nuts too."

In light of the new information, Beth added, "Probably has a 
crushed testicle.  We need to get him to the hospital."

Juan replied, "An ambulance is on the way."

Beth nodded, "I'll call Kelly and let her know that she is to keep 
her distance from this patient. That will limit the hospital liability."

With a great deal of anger in his voice, John said, "If she hadn't 
taken that shift tonight, she'd be dead now. So would I."

Beth looked surprised at John's reaction. She said, "All the more 
reason to keep her away from him. I'll call the administration at the 
hospital to make sure of that."

Beth left and went to the telephone to make her call. Letting loose 
with a moan, the man on the floor started to regain consciousness. 
In response, Rover let out a little chirp and the other two cats 
joined him. They formed a circle around his head and bared their 
teeth. When he opened his eyes, the guy wet his pants on seeing 
the cats looking down at him.

Robert watched the cats and looked at John. This was the kind of 
thing his Grandfather told stories about. He said, "You must meet 
my Grandfather."

Ed stood over the man until the ambulance arrived to take the 
assassin away. Juan rode in the back of the ambulance. In the 
meantime, the Sheriff stopped at the house to take an official 
statement. Ed had to let him in so that the cats wouldn't attack him. 

While the Sheriff was talking to John, the telephone rang. Since 
John was busy, Ed took the message that an agent from the FBI 
called requesting that John come in the morning and debrief them 
concerning the attack. The big question on everyone's mind was 
why John had been the target of what appeared to be a professional 
assassination. 

When everything quieted down, John, Ed, and Beth sat down to 
talk about the events. Ed angrily said, "They tried to kill you." 

John nodded his agreement and said, "Yes, they did."

Beth spat out, "We've got to do something about it."

John was silent for a minute as he considered what they were 
doing. He said, "We are doing something about it."

"What are we doing?" Beth was not happy at the thought of people 
trying to kill her husband to be. 

John answered, "Our new house will be ready in a month. It will 
have state of the art security equipment."

Beth folded her arms and sat back starting angrily at John. She 
said, "Just wait until Kelly gets here. She's going to read you the 
riot act."

Curious about the how Kelly had reacted, Ed asked, "How did she 
take the news?"

"She took it real good. She wants him to leave the hospital in the 
best condition possible." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Kelly 
actually told her that she'd cut his dick off and shove it down his 
throat. 

Angry that he hadn't been here to protect John, Ed considered what 
actions he could take. Ed made a decision that he was going to take 
whatever actions were necessary to protect his family. The 
question was, what action could he take? He thought about the 
medallions around John's neck. He made up his mind, he was 
going to give the Gods and Goddesses a call.

Kelly's arrival was much quieter than anyone had thought possible. 
She softly opened the door and entered the room without greeting. 
She sat on the floor next to John. Every one turned to look at her. 
Her voice was unnaturally loud as she asked, "What the fuck is 
going on?"

"We were waiting for you to talk about what we do next."

Kelly snarled, "Did you at least torture some information out of 
him?"

John's voice was calm as he answered, "No. He doesn't know 
anything other than who hired him and that person probably 
doesn't even know why the contract was arranged."

Kelly sank down, her anger exhausted. "So what now?"

John answered, "I'd like to get naked and make love with my future 
spouses."

Ed laughing aloud said, "That's the best idea I've heard all night."

After a night of wild coupling, John was the first to wake. He 
carefully untangled himself from the arms and legs of Beth, Kelly, 
and Ed. He was stiff and sore. The night's passion had drained him. 
He looked outside and couldn't believe how late it was. He looked 
out the front door and saw the crowd. He knew he needed to get 
out there and talk with people.

He went into the kitchen and started breakfast. Today was going to 
be busy for everyone. He had to go to Phoenix and brief them on 
what happened last night. Before heading off to school, Ed was 
going to the house to oversee some of the construction. Beth and 
Kelly had to work. Breakfast this morning was going to be big, 
consisting of eggs, sausage, toast, and fruit. 

He was almost done with preparing breakfast when Ed and Beth 
came into the kitchen. Both headed straight for the coffeepot. Ed 
was his normal slow moving self, moving but not really thinking. 
His movements were slightly uncoordinated. Beth moved like a 
robot, each motion precise but no driving emotion behind them. 
Kelly didn't come out for a while.

After John set the table, a naked Beth and Ed seated themselves 
and started eating. John went into the living room to wake Kelly, 
but paused on finding that she was awake and dressed. Her shirt 
hung open without having buttons with which to close it. She 
smiled up at him as he enjoyed the occasional peaks that he had of 
her breasts. In his mind, it was sexier than if she were going 
topless.

They joined the others at the table. Breakfast started silently as 
they were more concerned with filling their stomachs and waking. 
Finally, Beth sat back and said, "That was incredible."

John said, "Thanks, but it was a normal breakfast."

Beth laughed and replied, "I wasn't talking about breakfast."

As John blushed, Kelly looked at the two men. She said, "Oh, yes. 
I really needed that."

Beth asked, "So which of you two studs did me last night?"

John and Ed shrugged their shoulders as they looked at each other. 
Kelly laughed and asked, "Do you mean that four people had 
amazing sex on the floor last night and have no idea who they 
fucked?"

The whole group burst out in laughter. The situation was funny and 
no one's feelings were hurt by the fact that they had been faceless 
to the others. Kelly asked, "So what is going to happen to Shadow 
and Tiger?"

John asked, "Who?"

"Shadow and Tiger."

John thought about it for a minute before he said, "They will stay 
or they will go. It is their choice, not mine. I hope that Rover 
chooses to stay. He was magnificent last night."

 Ed nodded his agreement about Rover's actions. He said, "I like 
having them around, though. I feel much better."

John got up and started clearing the table. Beth and Kelly jumped 
up and said, "Don't do that. You made breakfast, we'll do the 
dishes. You have to get into the city and talk to the FBI."

After John and Tiger went out to his jeep to head for Phoenix, Ed 
left the house to get clothes for Kelly and Beth. Walking beside 
him like an escort, Shadow looked magnificent. When he opened 
the door, the cat raced inside and looked around before Ed had a 
chance to enter it.

In his house, Ed took the moment to change his clothes. Last night, 
he had put on a pair of pants and a shirt. He didn't mind wearing 
jeans without underwear, but preferred having something between 
his private parts and the zipper of his pants. The idea of getting 
caught in his zipper disturbed him more than he wanted to admit. 

After he finished dressing, the cat sat by the bedroom door and 
watched as Ed went through the clothes in the closet. There were 
so many outfits hanging in his closet. His shirts had been pushed to 
one side of the rather large closet. It was frustrating because he had 
no idea which clothes belonged to which woman. He grabbed a 
handful of each and headed back across the street. Padding beside 
him, the cat moved silently.

In the house, he set the clothes down on the table. Beth and Kelly 
stood there starting at the pile. Kelly asked, "Did you bring 
enough?"

Ed answered, "I have no idea who these clothes belong to. They 
just showed up in my closet."

Laughing at the confused look on his face, Kelly replied, "I guess 
they did at that. Are you complaining?"

"Not at all. I just meant to say that I don't know who owns what." 
Ed didn't want to sound like he was complaining, but there were 
times when the intrusion of all the female products in his house 
drove him crazy. He'd never say that the bathroom bothered him 
the most.

Giggling, Beth and Kelly looked at each other with a wink. There 
were times when Ed was so transparent that it was easy having fun 
at his expense. Of course, he would be bothered by having his stuff 
moved around when he wasn't there. Winking at Kelly, Beth said, 
"Wait until we get married and move in with you. We have plans 
to stock every bathroom in the house with fancy soaps, shampoos, 
and douches."

The look that crossed Ed's face was priceless. Both women 
laughed and Kelly said, "We're teasing you. Now get busy, you've 
got a long day today."

Ed went out to his truck to visit the house and check the progress 
of the builder. Shadow leapt into the back of the truck without him 
noticing. It was a short drive to the new house, basically to the end 
of the street. Downtown was within walking distance of it, a fact 
that had made him very happy.

Approaching the house, Ed was impressed by the imposing 
presence. There were no windows at ground level, a security 
feature recommended by their security specialist and seconded by 
everyone except John. Almost fifty pickup trucks were parked 
around the house as various workmen were busy with their 
individual tasks. He parked next to the one BMW and got out. 
Shadow leaping out of the truck surprised him, not knowing that 
the cat was with him.

As he approached the front door, a slight oriental woman stepped 
out to greet him. He waved and said, "Hello, Ling."

Glancing down at the cat moving beside Ed, a raised eyebrow was 
her entire visual reaction to the cat. She had been in the Sheriff's 
office in the morning checking out the equipment and heard about 
the activities of the previous night. She said, "I heard about last 
night. Why won't John let me put in a security system there?"

Smiling at the question, Ed said, "You'll have to take that up with 
John."

Rather than pursue the matter further, the small oriental woman 
said, "The security installation here is almost complete. The 
security cameras are up and connected. The land line to the 
Sheriff's station is waiting for the telephone company. The wireless 
connection is already in place. They are upgrading all of the 
equipment at the Sheriff's office."

"It sounds to me like you have everything under control here," 
replied Ed. He looked around the area, taking in the security 
cameras mounted at the corners of the building. She had explained 
before putting in the cameras that the upper part that looked like a 
camera was actually a dummy. The base contained the actual 
camera and could be turned to view any area around the building.

She noticed his appraisal of the cameras and said, "Those are fake. 
The real ones are in the bases."

"You told me that before," replied Ed. Looking at the cameras 
hidden around the porch, he added, "I thought that was rather 
clever of you."

A blush rose over Ling in embarrassment at being reminded that 
she had already told them The fact of the matter was that these 
people confused her. Most of her clients either ignored what she 
recommended or let her run their lives. These people listened very 
carefully and asked probing questions that kept her on her toes. 
Even John, who resisted her request to wire his house, listened and 
weighed the options very carefully. His arguments were very 
balanced. He was correct in his argument that the two bedroom 
house would be almost impossible to secure. Locking it up tight at 
night would have been extremely uncomfortable since there wasn't 
any air-conditioning in the house.

She had often recommended the use of trained dogs as the cheapest 
form of security and his use of a cougar represented a threat that 
even a dog didn't present. Dogs would bite, but a cougar could 
literally shred a person apart. It would be preferable to face a pack 
of dogs than one of these large cats. They were fast, agile, and 
armed with teeth and claws. She glanced down at the panther, her 
surprise at seeing the cat had changed to curiosity about where it 
came from. She asked, "What's with the panther?"

Smiling, Ed responded, "Rover requested a little help last night. 
Shadow and a bobcat named Tiger showed up out of the desert. 
Tiger is watching over John, Rover is watching over the women, 
and I guess, Shadow is watching over me."

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Are you saying that it is a wild 
animal?"

"Exactly."

"And you aren't worried?" asked Ling.

Laughing, Ed said, "John would say that they are in the service of 
the Gods and Goddesses. You can't get a better recommendation 
than that."

Not know what to make of that statement, Ling ignored it. The cat 
was definitely well behaved for a wild animal. Ling asked, "Do 
you want me to show you around?"

"No, I just wanted to check on the progress. Where's Donald?" 
asked Ed.

Ling answered, "He's in the house."

Ed went into the house followed by the cat. As he walked through 
the house, he looked at the work that had been completed since the 
last time that he had been there. The house was basically 
completed except for the final fixtures and interior décor. He heard 
Donald, the general contractor, talking near the garden in the 
atrium and headed that way.

Approaching the garden, Ed was amazed to see that they had 
finished the waterfall and stream. Now they were planting the 
vegetation through the area. The appearance of the garden was 
incredibly calming. The cat immediately slipped into the 
vegetation, disappearing from view. A scream from inside the 
garden suggested that Shadow had surprised someone working. A 
man came running out of the garden shouting, "Panther!"

Ed shouted, "The cat is with me. Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

The man stood well away from the garden refusing to enter until 
the cat was gone. Irritated, Donald strode over to Ed, shouting, 
"What's going on here?"

Turning to face an angry Donald, Ed was surprised by the sudden 
and ferocious appearance of Shadow between him and Donald. 
Emitting a low growl, ears flattened back, teeth bared, and 
crouched as though to launch himself at the man, the cat presented 
a terrifying vision of raw killing force. As Donald blanched, Ed 
stepped forward and said, "Easy Shadow. He's not going to hurt 
me. He's a friend."

Slowly, the cat relaxed and returned to the vegetation. Still 
terrified, Donald slowly tried to control his trembling hands. He 
said, "Is it safe?"

"Yes, it is safe. Shadow thought you were going to attack me." Ed 
glanced back at the vegetation, barely able to discern the area of 
darkness where the cat was crouched watching them. Ed said, "The 
garden is looking great."

Donald replied, "Yes. I'm very pleased with the contractor. He's 
doing good work. The rest of it is coming along well. The lighting 
fixtures, the switches, and electrical socket plates are all getting 
installed. The pool people are working on the pool heating system 
and the Jacuzzi is ready. The carpet layers are busy in the 
bedrooms."

Impressed, Ed nodded and said, "Sounds like you are almost 
finished."

The contractor shook his head and said, "There's still a lot to do 
yet. This is a huge house and will take a lot of work to finish."

"What do you mean?" asked Ed. His take in looking around was 
that it was almost done. 

Donald laughed as he answered, "There are almost three hundred 
wall plugs. It is going to take a guy almost a whole day just to put 
the covers on them. The light fixtures alone will take a week. Then 
the decorator will come to take care of the library, dining, and 
living rooms. The Chef has been busy getting the kitchen 
outfitted."

Ed didn't realize just how much work there was in putting together 
a house this big. To him, it looked almost ready to move into it. 
Looking around, it was hard to believe that it would take another 
month to complete. He asked, "When can we start moving stuff 
into it?"

Donald answered, "In three weeks you can move some stuff in 
here, but it won't be ready to live in until a week after that. We still 
have the final building inspection to pass."

Giving into the advice of the more experienced man, Ed said, 
"Okay, I'll take your word on that. Tell the gardener that he can 
return to the garden as soon as I leave. I'll be taking Shadow with 
me."

After a few words of farewell, Ed turned and left the house 
followed closely by Shadow. As they walked, Ed looked down at 
the cat and said, "You scared the hell out of Donald."

The cat merely glanced up at Ed as though to say, "What did you 
expect me to do when a guy starts threatening you?"

Amused by the incident, Ed led the way to his truck. Since he had 
a long drive to the university, he didn't want the cat riding in the 
back. Holding open the door of the truck, the cat jumped in and 
moved to the passenger side. Before Ed settled behind the wheel, 
the cat explored every inch of the truck. Once the cat sat down, Ed 
headed to school. 

The drive went by without incident, despite any worries that Ed 
had about the cat getting carsick. After parking the car in the lot, 
he picked up his bag with his school books from the floor of the 
truck. The cat was ready to get out of the truck and almost bowled 
Ed over in its mad dash out the door. The cat walked with Ed, 
occasionally walking away from Ed to check out something in the 
environment. Shadow had a much greater curiosity about its 
surroundings than Rover. 

While Shadow may have been curious about its surroundings, the 
other people on campus were much more curious about the cat. 
Those who were well separated from the cat stared. Individuals 
that were not quite so distant snuck glances hoping not to attract 
attention from the cat. People that were closer to the cat tended to 
back away carefully. The cat basically looked at those that over 
reacted to its presence with disdain. 

Entering the classroom, the cat created a minor commotion, as it 
went from student to student smelling them. Once satisfied that no 
one meant Ed any harm, it went to a corner in the front of the 
classroom and curled into a position where it could watch the door. 
Everything was okay until one of the students started sneezing. It 
turned out that the student was very allergic to cats. Feeling sorry 
for the student, Ed stood up and called Shadow over to him. He left 
the class, wondering what he would do for the rest of his classes if 
the cat continued to accompany him everywhere that he went.

He headed over to the lab where he worked as part of his 
assistantship. Sitting in the high chair, he reached into the box on 
the table and pulled out a sample. There were different crystals on 
this sample, but none of them were very good. The most common 
were the quartz crystals, but there were two others that he wasn't 
sure about. The cat placed both paws on table and examined what 
Ed was doing. With a look of disgust, the cat curled up under the 
table.

Ed concentrated on the rocks, classifying them one at a time. When 
he was unsure of a rock, he set it aside to ask for advice. There 
weren't many that gave him problems. As he worked, other 
students came and went unaware of the cat watching them from 
under the table. He was only required to work three hours, but he 
lost track of the time and worked five before Professor Simms 
called out to him, "Hey, Ed. Time to get out of here."

Without looking up, Ed answered, "I'm supposed to be here until 
two."

Laughing, Professor Simms said, "It's four."

Surprised at the news, Ed looked up at the clock in the lab and 
said, "I didn't realize that."

Muscles tight from sitting in the same position for too long, Ed 
stood up and stretched. The cat came out from under the table 
surprising Professor Simms. Backpedaling, he asked, "Is that your 
cat?"

Looking down at Shadow, Ed realized he didn't know exactly how 
to answer that question. After thinking about it, he said, "The cat is 
acting like a bodyguard for me. John was attacked last night by a 
professional assassin. Rover, his cougar, called and two other cats 
showed up. Now Rover is protecting Kelly and Beth. Tiger, a 
bobcat, is protecting John. Shadow is watching over me today."

Professor Simms didn't understand the marriage plans of Ed, but he 
did know that John, Kelly, and Beth were members of his pending 
group marriage. He even knew that John was the John Carter that 
invented the Fusion Cell and the Fusion Battery.  There was a lot 
that he didn't understand about Ed's life. Why would one of them 
get attacked by a professional assassin? One big question was how 
did they get wild animals to serve as body guards. Knowing that he 
wouldn't get his questions answered today, he said, "Why don't we 
head out to parking lot?"

Ed and Professor Simms headed out to the parking lot. Along the 
way, Professor Simms asked, "Are you going to come on the next 
field trip?"

"The one in July?"

"Yes, I plan to cover a lot of territory, but the terrain is too rough 
for trucks," replied the professor. 

"Sure, I'm up for it," replied Ed. He walked along seeing a bright 
future classifying rocks, pursuing a dream that had once been 
beaten out of him. He was entering a marriage with two beautiful 
women and one of the most incredible men he had ever met. The 
house that he was moving into was beyond anything he had ever 
dreamt. 
