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 14

Rover lay on his back sleeping. His tail thrashed and his paws 
clawed the air. John was asleep on his sleeping bag. His sleep was 
not peaceful. They weren't bothered by heat. It was early spring 
and the weather was wonderful. The front and the back doors were 
open. A wonderful breeze blew through the house keeping it cool. 
The screen doors kept the bugs and wild animals out of the house. 

It was the time of the new moon, so it was very dark outside. The 
darkness tended to make the neighborhood dogs nervous. They 
barked at the least little disturbance. Since this included the 
snoring of a neighbor, the dogs barked almost the whole night. 
That might have accounted for their nervousness, but both had 
lived here for a while and no longer noticed the dogs. It was 
something that was a little more insidious. 

John and Rover snapped awake at the sound of two phffts. 
Although he had been asleep when the sounds were made, he was 
sure that it was the sound of a pistol with a silencer. He grabbed 
his staff and stood. Rover stood as well. Neither of them made a 
sound. John stood near the door listening for any sounds in the 
hallway. He heard a slight noise about five feet down the hall and 
moving towards him. He thrust his staff into the hall as he turned 
on the light. 

The silence was broken by a loud curse, "Shit."

The curse was followed by a dozen phffts. When the shooting 
stopped, John stepped into the hall swinging his walking stick 
upwards. It connected with the intruders groin. The intruder 
dropped to his knees as he uttered a harsh groan. 

Rover raced to the interloper. A blood-curdling scream cut through 
the air when Rover closed his jaws on the wrist of the hand that 
held the gun. John hit the man across the face with the walking 
stick. The scream died as the man lost consciousness. Rover let go 
of the man's wrist, which hit the floor with a dull thud.

Tires squealed in the street outside the house as a car sped off into 
the night. A siren sounded as more tires squealed. Above the 
barking dogs, John could hear the sounds of gunshots. Hundreds of 
shots rang out in the night. The different sounds of shots suggested 
that twenty different types of weapons were fired. 

The front door burst open and John spun around to meet the 
intruder. The light on his walking stick turned off as he touched the 
switch. The lights in the living room came on as Ed shouted out, 
"John! Where are you?"

Relieved John shouted, "I'm in the hall."

Ed came around the corner and turned on the hall lights. Both John 
and Rover shook their heads at the sudden brightness. Ed walked 
over to the man on the floor. "Who's this?"

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

Rover sniffed the man and then went to the back door. He sat there 
quietly looking out into the night. With a suddenness that shocked 
John and Ed, Rover let loose with a very loud yell. It was answered 
by two yells. 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. 
They rose at the same time and moved over to the door. Rover 
pushed the door open to let them in. 

Rover turned and left the house through the front door. John 
walked into the hallway to check on the person there. Ed joined 
him. The panther moved through the house to sit at the front door. 
John looked at Ed, "I guess Rover called for re-enforcement's."

"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. He tied up the man on the floor while John 
went to the front door. The panther was poised next to the door as 
though ready to lunge. John stated, "It's okay. I know Juan. He's a 
policeman."

The cat sat down and licked a paw. John opened the door and let 
Juan in. Juan stated, "My partner is in the back covering the rear 
door."

John frowned, "I'm afraid he better not come in until we get there."

John walked into the dining room and looked at the bobcat sitting 
beside the door. His ears were up and his rear wriggled as he 
prepared to lunge. John said, "hey, cat. It's okay. It's a policeman."

The cat relaxed, but continued to watch the backyard. Juan called 
out, "Robert, you can come in now."

The policeman came to the back door and opened it slowly. He 
looked at the bobcat by the door. Juan stated, "Robert White 
Feather, I want you to meet John Carter."

"Is that your cat?"

John answered, "I don't know. He came when Rover called him."

"Rover?"

"Yeah, my cougar."

Robert looked at John with significant interest. He stated, "My 
Grandfather talks to coyotes. He would probably like to meet you."

Juan looked up at the sky. He was tired of all the Indian spirit talk 
from his partner. He changed the subject, "So what happened?"

John waved at them to follow him into the hallway. "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. "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. He looked at the 
wall on the other end of the hallway. He looked in the bedroom 
where the first pair of shots had originated. He came back out and 
knelt down by the guy again. He looked up at John, "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, "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, "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 chief 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, "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, "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, 
"You did a good job on him. He has a broken jaw and a shattered 
wrist. He also appears to have a concussion."

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

Beth added, "Probably has a crushed testicle.  We need to get him 
to the hospital."

Juan stated, "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."

John stated, "If she hadn't taken that shift tonight, she'd be dead 
now. So would I."

Beth looked surprised, "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. The man on the floor started to 
regain consciousness. Rover let out a little chirp and the other two 
cats joined him. They formed a circle around his head and bared 
their teeth. The guy wet his pants on seeing the cats looking down 
at him.

Robert watched the cats and looked at John. "You must meet my 
Grandfather."

Robert stood and left the house. John watched him leave and 
thought about what he had said. There were several reasons to talk 
to his grandfather, only one of which had to do with his cats.

The ambulance arrived and the assassin was taken away. The 
police chief came and took an official statement. 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 stated, "They tried to kill you." 

John nodded, "Yes, they did."

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

John was silent for a minute, "We are doing something about it."

"What are we doing?"

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

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

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. 

They expected Kelly to arrive within an hour and decided to wait 
for her before talking anymore about the attempt. No one said 
much after that. John was trying to figure out why someone would 
want to assassinate him. Ed made a decision that he was going to 
take whatever actions were necessary to protect his family. Beth 
was reliving the death of Betsy.

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, "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, "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 laughed, "That's the best idea I've heard all night."

Kelly stood up and ripped her shirt off, throwing the buttons across 
the room. John started stripping with just a little more regard for 
his clothes. Beth and Ed soon followed. In less than a minute the 
clothes were spread over the floor as four naked adults moved 
together to make the kind of love that follows a violent threat to 
life. It wasn't the soft loving normally made between loving 
couples. It wasn't as violent as rape. It was the intense coupling of 
individuals propagating the species in light of danger. 

There weren't love kisses, there were love bites. The men's backs 
were scratched by nails that dug in and held the men close to the 
women. Stiff cocks driven by bodies energized by danger, thrust 
savagely into the women. Hips rose willingly to meet the savage 
thrusts. The air was filled with grunts, groans, screams, and the 
sounds of bodies slamming into each other. Orgasms? The concept 
didn't even apply in this situation. Ejaculation was an afterthought 
to the emotions that accompanied the release of pent up hormones, 
desires, anger, and fear.

The aftermath was total exhaustion. They collapsed where they had 
been and slept peacefully. Three cats patrolled the house keeping 
everyone away. Neighbors gathered in the morning to learn more, 
but none dared enter the property. The arrival of the bobcat and the 
black panther was the most frequent topic of conversation. 
However, the arrests of the night before led to more excitement in 
the discussion.

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 dressed with the clothes that had been scattered around the 
floor. He went out the back door and performed his normal 
morning ritual. Taking a deep breath, he walked around to the front 
of the building. The crowd grew quiet as the cats joined him. He 
stepped up to the fence. He stated, "Good morning everyone. I'm 
sorry about the excitement last night. I assure you that I did not 
plan it."

His comment was greeted with laughter. He continued, "Last night 
a man broke into my house with the intention of killing me. Rover 
and I subdued the man and he is now in custody in the secure ward 
at the hospital. Another individual was captured as he raced out of 
here by many of you and the Chief of Police. I thank you for your 
contribution to his capture."

When he paused, Maria from next door asked, "Where did the cats 
come from?"

John laughed, "I don't know, Maria. Rover called out last night and 
they came. I don't know if they are going to stay here or if they 
will leave."

The man who had sold him the goats asked, "Are you gonna need 
more goats?"

John laughed, "I think with that many cats, we are going to have to 
come up with a different solution. Talk to me in a couple of days.'

Another man stated, "We are thinking of closing the road."

John shook his head, "Please, don't do that for me. I would like it if 
everyone lives their lives like normal."

Another person asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

John smiled, "You can come to our wedding in a couple of weeks! 
The whole town is invited."

The announcement was met with mixed reactions. Most people 
reacted by clapping their hands and shouts of congratulations. A 
few shrugged their shoulders. A handful reacted negatively as 
though what they were doing was an offense to nature. John noted 
the ones with excessively negative reactions and made a mental 
note to himself.

The crowd slowly dispersed and John returned to the house. He 
was followed by the three cats. Holding the door open, he looked 
out at the street for stragglers. There were still a few people 
standing together chatting. He went into the house and looked at 
his lovers sleeping on the floor. He shook his head at the awesome 
luck that had brought him such three loving people. 

He went into the kitchen and started breakfast. Today was going to 
be busy. He had to go to Phoenix and brief them on what happened 
last night. 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.

He set the table. A naked Beth and Ed seated themselves and 
started eating. John went into the living room to wake Kelly. 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, "I wasn't talking about breakfast."

John blushed. Kelly looked at the two men. She stated, "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, "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, "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, "I like having them around, though. I feel much 
better."

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

John acknowledged the logic of their request. He went into his 
bedroom and showered before dressing in fresh clothes. He looked 
down at Tiger, at least he assumed the bobcat's name was Tiger. 
The cat watched him carefully. John asked, "Is your name Tiger?"

The cat rubbed his head on John's knee. John accepted that the cat 
would answer to Tiger. He finished buttoning his shirt. Slipping on 
his shoes, he looked in the mirror staring at the person looking 
back at him. He realized that he was physically ready to go, but all 
that he really wanted to do was stay home. There wasn't any way 
around going into the city. 

He left the house and opened the jeep door. Expecting to see 
Rover, he was surprised when Tiger jumped in the jeep. He looked 
back and saw Rover sitting by the front door. He waved to Rover 
to come over to the jeep, but Rover went into the house. John stood 
there a little disappointed at being abandoned by Rover. He 
watched as Ed left the house to go across the street to get clothes 
for Kelly and Beth. He was followed by Shadow. He realized that 
Rover was going to accompany the women and understood that it 
was probably for the best.

He got into the jeep and headed into Phoenix. He watched his 
surroundings carefully, curious if he was being followed. He didn't 
see anything suspicious, but then he hadn't seen anything odd for 
the past few weeks. He pulled into a parking space at the Federal 
Building and got out of the car. He held the door longer than 
necessary, Tiger did not have a long tail to get caught in the door.

He entered the building. Security, used to seeing Rover, looked in 
surprise at the much smaller cat gliding behind John. He smiled, 
showed his badge, and went through the metal detector. Tiger 
followed him through. They went up the elevator, with Tiger 
making a funny little noise when it started moving and another 
when it stopped. It reminded John of the first time that Rover had 
ridden the elevator. 

Stepping into the hallway in front of the receptionist, the woman 
looked up and pointed down the hall. "Fitzpatrick is waiting for 
you."

John walked down the hallway to Fitzpatrick's office. John stepped 
into the office and stated, "Hello, Sidney and Missy."

"Hello, John and Rover."

There was a quick movement as the cat jumped onto the desk. John 
stated, "Rover didn't come today. I'd like you to meet Tiger, he's a 
bobcat."

Sidney's hands reached out and found the cat. He moved his hands 
gently over the cat's body and smiled, "Amazing. He's about the 
size of Missy."

Tiger leapt of the desk and moved over to inspect Missy. John sat 
down in the chair opposite Sidney. He stated, "I guess you've been 
assigned to debrief me?"

"Yes, I'm particularly good at getting details most people miss. I 
try to construct a mental image of what happened and just keep 
asking questions until I get a full picture. I'm also good at spotting 
inconsistencies."

John related the events of the evening before. As he told the story, 
Sidney kept interrupting and asking questions to clarify details. 
The picture that emerged was very detailed. Sidney listened 
carefully to John's rendition of Robert White Feather's 
investigation. When John finished telling his story, Sidney stated, 
"I'd like to meet the Indian one day."

John stated, "Well, he's invited to the wedding ceremony. The 
whole office here is invited as well."

Sidney replied, "When is it?"

John stated, "I'm not sure. We are waiting for the house to be 
completed. It should be done in a couple of weeks. We expect to 
move in a month of now. A week after we'll have the ceremony."

Sidney answered, "I'll try to make it. I'll have to arrange a ride."

John answered, "Okay. Let's get back to business for a moment. 
What do you make of the attempt on me last night?"

Sidney asked, "What cases are you working on?"

"Nothing right now. The last case was the drug smuggling case a 
month ago."

Sidney sat back, "You might want to look at that one a little more 
carefully. It seems to me that you may have touched a nerve 
somewhere. They just want to make sure that you don't follow up 
on it."

John nodded. He hadn't thought of that. He wasn't getting the urge 
to work on that case and it bothered him to consider that it might 
be connected to that case. They had arrested several high level 
people in the organization. He asked, "Could it be possible that 
they want to make sure that I can't testify against them?"

"That's possible."

They chatted a little more before John left Sidney's office. He 
walked down the hall and noticed that Ann's door was open. He 
was about to walk in, but decided to knock this time. He knocked. 
Ann looked up and the surprise registered when she saw that it was 
John. She smiled, "Come in, John, and shut the door behind you."

John came in the room and closed the door. Tiger sat at his feet. 
Ann looked at the cat and shook her head. "We want to put you in 
protective custody."

"Not possible."

Ann frowned, "Look, you've been involved in three big cases. The 
serial killer, the white slavery ring, and the drug ring. One of them 
is after you big time. They spent a hundred thousand to kill you. 
All we know is that the hit-man was hired by a Hispanic."

John sat back and smiled, "I know which one it is. I need to look 
through some of the records, but I'm sure that I can give you their 
name by the end of the day."

Ann sat back in disbelief, "How will you manage that?"

John smiled, "There are three Hispanic men that were receiving 
abducted people in the white slavery ring. Two of them were 
consistent, for their most part, in their orders. The third seemed to 
be all over the map. I will bet that he is a middleman that just 
found himself out of a supplier. I'll bet money he is trying to restart 
a ring in this country."

Ann looked thoughtful. She stated, "You may be right. So what do 
you propose to do about it?"

"How about using the East Coast Ring to catch him?"

Ann looked puzzled, "There's not a ring like that on the East Coast. 
We were very thorough in looking for the indicators that you 
identified."

John smiled, "He doesn't know that. Suppose he got a call from the 
head of the ring. Do you think that might drive him out of 
Mexico?"

Ann laughed, "Yes it would. The question is how do we set it up?"

John smiled, "I don't know. That's your department. For now, I'm 
going to go home and prepare a special dinner for my fiancées."






