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 intruder’s 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. Looking down at him, he asked, “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 reinforcements.”

“So where did he go?”

John thought about it for a moment and then answered, “I’ll 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 said, “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 said, “My partner is in the back covering the rear door.”

John frowned as he said, “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 said, “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 said, “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 and asked, “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 guy’s 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 and 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 and 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 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 and 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 and 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.”

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

Juan said, “An ambulance is on the way.”

Beth said, “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 said, “If she hadn’t taken that shift tonight, she’d be dead now. So would I.”

Beth looked at John surprised. 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. 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 said, “They tried to kill you.”

John calmly nodded and said, “Yes, they did.”

Beth spate out, “We’ve got to do something about it.”

John was silent for a moment before he said, “We are doing something about it.”

“What are we doing?”

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 state back starting angrily at John. She said, “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 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 laughed and said, “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, were 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.