Chapter 4

John sat on the steps of the porch that was part of a beat up wooden house. It hadn’t been painted in years. What little paint remained was cracked or peeling off. The windows hadn’t been cleaned in just as many years and were covered on the inside with newspapers taped to the glass. A casual passerby would have sworn the house had been abandoned for at least a decade. The only external sign that someone lived there was the oil drippings on the dirt driveway and the fresh refuse beside the house.

He waited for the owner of the house to return. It was difficult to sit there, chills kept running up and down his spine. The wire he wore irritated his skin. Fortunately, his wait wasn’t long as a beat up black Cadillac pulled off the road onto the gravel driveway. John watched the car as it stopped by the house. He stood up and walked towards the car. The owner of the car exited shouting, “Get off my property!”

John held up his hands, one of them still grasping the walking stick. He shouted back, “Hey, man. I’m here to pay damages!”

At the mention of damages, the owner stopped and asked, “What damages?”

John slowly walked up to the guy as he explained, “Well, I stopped to take a leak over there. My cat jumped out and got one of your calves. Those are your cows in the pasture, aren’t they?”

“Yes. You say your cat got one of my calves?” He wondered what kind of cat this guy could have that would take out a calf.

John approached close to the car. He nodded and said, “Yes. My cat killed one of your calves and dragged it up on top of your house.”

The owner looked up and found he couldn’t see the top of the house. He walked part of the way down the driveway to see the top of the roof. When he was positioned in the right place, he could see there was a cougar eating a freshly killed calf.

The guy looked up at the cat and said, “Jesus that’s your cat?”

John followed the man down the driveway. As he passed the end of the car, he could hear noise coming from the trunk. He took the time to examine the man very carefully. The man was in his early thirties. His teeth were a little crooked, he was a little overweight, and didn’t look very bad. There was nothing threatening about him at all. He’d probably have a difficult time getting a date, but most women would probably talk to him in a casual environment. He could tell the man didn’t have a gun on him. John answered him, “Yes, it is.”

“He killed a calf and took it up on my roof?” The man didn’t believe what his eyes were telling him. He was obviously flustered and struggling with the situation.

John asked, “So how much are you going to charge me for the calf?”

Greed fueled the man’s answer. He had John over a barrel. He answered, “That’s a prime calf. He’s worth fifteen hundred.”

John knew that the calf could be replaced for three hundred. He didn’t argue. He pulled out a checkbook and started to walk towards the car. The guy said, “It’ll probably cost me another five hundred to get it off the roof.”

John nodded as he said, “Okay. I’ll make out the check for an even two thousand. I’ll just write it on the back of your car, if that’s all right with you.”

The owner’s nervousness seemed to boil over into irritation. He said, “No. Let’s go into the house and conclude our business there.”

John turned and faced the man. Looking at him, he said, “Well, its such a pretty pretty day today. I’d much rather stay out here.”

The owner acted even more nervously. He glanced at the trunk of the car. He suggested, “Well, lets go on the porch. The sun bothers my eyes a bit and I don’t have my sunglasses on.”

John smiled and said, “Sure thing.”

In a car by the side of the road, Ed waited for the other passenger to make a call to their backup. When the other man didn’t move, Ed leaned over to him and said, “He said it was a pretty pretty day. Call in the reinforcements.”

Agent Fredricks turned to Ed. Irritated, he said, “We’re here because his cat ate a cow!”

Ed snarled, “He gave the code phrase. Send in the others.”

Agent Fredricks grunted, “If you’re wrong, it’s all your fault.”

“Get them here, now! If you don’t, I’m going up there myself!”

Agent Fredricks sent out a call to the backups. They were parked two miles away where they wouldn’t be noticed. Even if they were noticed, they wouldn’t be connected with this location.

John started writing the check. He asked, “Who do I make it out to?”

The man answered, “Henry Buckman.”

John wrote in the name and then completed filling out the check. With a flourish, he ripped it out of the checkbook and handed it to Henry. He said, “This makes us even on the calf?”

The man answered, “Yes, it does. I guess you can go now.”

John shook his head and said, “I can’t go until the cat comes down from the roof.”

John’s answer seemed to upset the man. Henry glanced at the car in the driveway and sucked in his lips. He wondered if there was a good way to speed things along. He was considering killing John, but didn’t like the idea that others may have seen him here.

“What’s that?” asked John as a van pulled into the driveway. They watched as it pulled up right behind Henry’s car. Henry stared in horror when four FBI agents wearing vests emerged. Ed and agent Fredricks ran up behind the van. Ed was struggling to run as he also carried a small ice chest.

Henry started to run, but John grabbed him by the arm. He said, “Stay right here. I don’t want you going anywhere.”

One of the agents ran up to John and asked, “Where is she?”

John pointed at the car and said, “I heard her in the back of the car.”

Another agent turned to Henry and said, “We need the key to open up the back of the car.”

Henry shouted in rage, “You can’t do anything without a warrant. I know my rights.”

Ed knocked on the trunk of the car and shouted, “There are FBI agents here. Is there anyone in here?”

The thuds that emerged from the back of the car were loud enough that they could be heard on the porch. John said, “Probable cause. You can search the car.”

In minutes, the car trunk was opened. Inside were two young ladies bound and gagged. They were sixteen or seventeen years of age at most. They stared up at Ed in terror, only relaxing when they saw Agent Fredricks with his FBI vest. Ed pulled off the gags on both women. The women didn’t know what to say first. Their conversation was a confusing jumble of half uttered phrases, made even more confusing by the tears and sobs that burst loose uncontrollably. Ed was so touched, it was as if someone twisted a knife in his heart.

Ed started to undo the ropes that tied one of them while Agent Fredricks helped the other woman. The ropes were incredibly tight and had cut off the circulation in the hands. As a result, the hands were swollen and blue. Any attempt to cut the ropes would cut the women as well. The two men struggled with the knots and slowly were able to get the women unbound.

The women screamed in pain as feeling returned to their hands. The looks on the faces of all of the men there showed their disgust at Henry. He was quickly handcuffed, read his rights, and taken away to the van. On the way there, he shouted, “All I wanted to do was make them perfect. Get rid of those ugly arms and legs, like the statues.”

Rover, hearing the screams, jumped down from the roof. John walked over to the women to see if he could help them in some fashion. Rover quickly joined him, apparently as upset at the women’s pain as John. John knelt down and petted Rover on the head. Rover rubbed his head against the women’s legs and purred. The presence of the cat took their minds off the pain and calmed them significantly. John looked up at the girls. He said, “Ladies, I would like to introduce you to Rover.”

Almost as one, they replied, “Hello, Rover.”

John added, “Would you like to introduce yourselves to Rover?”

The taller girl ran a hand over the silky fur. “I’m Stacy Hutchinson.”

The smaller girl squeaked out, “I’m Sarah Smith.”

“I think Rover is happy to meet you.” John turned to Agent Fredricks, “Give the girls your cell phone and let them call their families.”

Agent Fredricks and another agent, each gave their cell phone to the women. John said, “After you’ve told them that you are all right, you might want to hand the phone back to an agent so that he can tell your parents where you are. I’m sure they’re very worried about you.”

While the girls were talking to their parents, Ed and John were at the cooler taking out soft drinks and snacks. They opened the drinks and handed them to the women. They both smiled and took a big sip at the first opportunity. The look of joy on their faces was reward enough. Ed waited patiently with the snacks for the girls. He let them take their pick once they had finished their call.

In the mean time, another car with two agents pulled up in the driveway. They were followed by a police car and an ambulance. The agents got out and said, “We have the search warrant for the house.”

The ambulance personnel checked the women over thoroughly and found that both were fine. They wanted to take them to the hospital, but John told them to wait until the parents arrived. Normally, it was a two-hour drive, but they were being escorted by the local police. Consequently, they would arrive in an hour and a half.

The activity at the house picked up into high gear. More people showed up to go through the house. There were cars parked all over the field as more experts arrived. The prisoner was taken by police car to the county jail. In a way, the removal of the prisoner released a tension that no one had really noticed.

John, Ed, Rover, and the women were left alone. John retrieved a couple of chairs from the porch and placed them in a shady spot for the women. Rover lay over their feet and purred. John and Ed sat back and let the girls talk. They told each other how afraid they had been during the ordeal. They talked of the thoughts that had gone through their minds at the time.

John was deep in thought as he watched the girls talk. They didn’t know what would have happened to them if they hadn’t been rescued. Their fears were of being raped and made into slaves. The reality would have been so much worse. He realized that he didn’t want them to know what fate had almost dealt them. He excused himself and went to the house.

John called out to the men in and around the house, “Everyone, please come here. I have something to say.”

Despite some grumbling about the unorthodox request, everyone gathered around John. He looked around with a very serious face. “I do not want those young ladies to know what would have happened to them if we hadn’t rescued them. They are still children. If anyone says anything to them about amputation, I will see that you no longer work in law enforcement. Do I make myself clear?”

Everyone nodded. As his eyes seemed to flash with a fire in them, John repeated, “Do I make myself clear?”

Everyone immediately answered, “Yes, sir.”

“Everyone knows their assignments. Let’s get to it.”

As John turned to walk away, he overheard one of the local policemen ask, “Who’s the hippie reject with the staff and cape?”

Agent Fredricks answered, “He’s the agent in charge.”

A number of people turned at that announcement and stared at John as he walked away. One of them burst out, “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“That’s Special Agent Dr. John Carter. He answers directly to the director of the FBI. We’ve been working this case for three years. He cracked it in three days. For you guys that live here, he can carry out his threat. He saved the Governor’s daughter in the California Quake last year.”

John walked away with a smile. He knew it was better to be underestimated than overestimated. He wondered which of the people they pulled out of the earthquake, the governor’s daughter was. He hadn’t even known he had done that.

John took another sip from the bottled iced tea. He grimaced and turned to Ed. In a disgusted tone of voice, he said, “I just can’t stand this bottled junk. Iced tea is supposed to be served in a glass with real ice, enough sugar to taste it, and a lemon wedge if you want lemon. This stuff tastes old and stale.”

Stacy grinned as she asked, “Can’t you cast a spell on it? You are a wizard aren’t you?”

Ed burst out laughing. He asked, “Why would you think that?”

Sarah answered, “Look at him. He’s wearing a wizards cloak, he carries a staff, has a pure white beard, long hair with two white stripes, and has a cat as a familiar.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard that saying that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck. Well, he looks like a wizard, walks like a wizard, and talks like a wizard.” Stacy pointed at John and added, “Ergo, Wizard!”

John laughed and said, “No, I’m not a wizard. I’m just a regular guy.”

Agent Fredricks interrupted, “He’s the main character out of a science fiction book. One man armed with intelligence, intuition, and nerves of steel goes forth to conquer evil. He’s the John Carter from the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories.”

Ed shook his head. “He’s a regular guy that finds himself in irregular circumstances.”

John turned his head to face Agent Fredricks and asked, “What can we do for you?”

“I just wanted to let you know that the girl’s parents will be arriving soon. I thought you might want a few minutes to prepare for their arrival. The house is sealed off to everyone but police. We’ve had a porta-potty delivered so you can use it if you want to use the rest room. There’s a portable water stand over there where you can get a drink or wash your hands.”

“Thank you, Agent Fredricks. I’ll walk back to the house with you.” John stood up and walked over the where the agent stood. They returned to the house together.