Chapter 20

The incessant ringing bell was an irritation that could not be ignored. John woke wondering why he had set the alarm clock. He felt Beth stir beside him. He looked at the clock and saw that it was only three in the morning. It then dawned on him that the alarm clock was not making the ringing. He sat up and said, “Shit.”

He shook Beth gently and then a little rougher. He hissed, “Wake up! Wake up!”

He climbed out of bed and then turned on the light. Beth complained in her sleep. John shook her again and said, “You’ve got to get to the clinic, now!”

The call to duty woke her faster than the alarm. She realized what was happening and climbed out of bed. John took a moment to appreciate her wonderful body. He admired the way her breasts struggled against gravity. Her nipples were erect from the dream she had been having. In the half-light of the room, the shadows highlighted her luscious curves. He couldn’t believe his luck at having this woman in his life.

They dressed in silence. Each wondering what had triggered the alarm. This was the fifth time since moving in that the alarms had sounded. Each time, the attacks against them had increased in severity. Two days from now, they hoped that all such attacks would end. The criminal organizations had not taken the total destruction of the Russian Mafia in New York as a warning not to screw with Druids. They had decided that the Druids represented a threat to their organizations and had to be eliminated. Their first act had been to kill Sean, the Druid who had given them the warning about harming Druids. John and Ed had put into place a program to show what a threat the Druids could be. Unfortunately, that program wouldn’t start for two more days.

John went to the security center. Ed was already there along with Bill, Bob, and Ling. Ling was seated in the command seat activating cameras and detectors. A computerized map of the property pinpointed the locations of each individual around the entire area. He glanced at the monitors and swore, “They brought an army this time. What set off the alarm?”

Ed answered, “They fired a couple of shots out there. Several of them hit the house.”

Ling replied, “I’ve activated the external security forces. They will be moving into position within five minutes. The cats have returned to the house. I’m not sure why.”

John said, “Send out a dummy.”

Ling tapped a few commands on the keyboard of a computer. The front door opened and a male shape stepped out. It was immediately shot multiple times as the men carrying automatic weapons opened fire. Ling closed the door behind the dummy. She turned to John and said, “They’re shooting first and asking questions later.”

The intercom came on. “John, this is Kelly. Rover just came into the clinic with a gunshot wound. It’s minor, but I would appreciate it if you brought the other cats into the house.”

John stepped over to the intercom. He pressed the talk button and said, “Kelly, all of the cats came in with Rover. They’ve taken up positions within the house.”

Ling interrupted, “Those bastards are all carrying heavy weapons.”

Ed said, “Screw them. They’ve hurt one of ours. Activate the Industrial Lasers and cut up their vehicles.”

Ling said, “I’ve just zoomed in on a couple of the vehicles. It looks like they actually have missiles in them.”

John turned to Ed. The men shared a look for a minute. John had installed ten of the most powerful industrial lasers on the market. The power requirements were horrendous, but John had power to spare in this house. His fusion battery was many times the size of the first one.

John nodded and said, “Activate the lasers.”

Forty seconds later, each vehicle and all of its contents were hunks of rubble. Several of the interlopers were killed as they ran into the high-energy beam of a laser. The rest opened fire in the direction of the house. The external guards opened fire on everyone that was moving. A minute and a half later, the shooting was over and the interlopers were either dead or wounded.

Ling turned on all of the floodlights. The police moved in to subdue the wounded and bag the dead. John and Ed went outside to meet the police chief. Tiger came directly to them and walked along side of them.

John walked up to the chief and said, “Hello, Chief.”

“Shit, John! You tore some of these bastards up real good. Cut them in half along with the cars.”

“Sorry, we sent out a dummy and they shot the hell out of it. They also shot Rover. We didn’t want to risk anyone else.”

The police chief led him to one of the bodies and turned it over, “They came prepared. This one has a bulletproof vest, automatic rifle, a couple of hand grenades, and night vision goggles. The trucks had anti-tank missiles in the back. It looks like they wanted to make their own entrance into the house.”

Ed went off to question some of the men that were still alive. John nodded and said, “We’re taping everything. I’ll have Bill bring the tape over in the morning.”

“So who were the guards that you brought in?”

“Mostly retired cops. Each house had an FBI agent in it to make sure that it was legal. I got tired of risking the lives of you and your men.”

The chief snorted and then asked, “Is this going to end anytime soon?”

“Yes. Soon. Very soon.”

“I’ll tell you the truth, I’m getting tired of dragging dead bodies out of your place. You do realize that we now have the highest crime rate in the country. I’ve been asked to give the keynote address at the next state police convention on how it is to work in a high crime area.”

John laughed, “I hope you accepted.”

The chief shook his head. He replied, “Sure. They’ll pay my way there this time.”

John asked, “Is there anything I can do to help out the town? I hate like hell that they are put in danger.”

“I know you do. You’ve been very good about making sure that everything is kept away from everyone else. You moved everyone away from the area for the time being. You’ve made sure that we have the best equipment in all of the state. Hell, you pay so much property taxes that everyone else’s bill is next to nothing.”

John stated, “Well, one more attack like tonight, and we’re going to build another house further away from town and donate this one as a library.”

The chief looked at John, “You know the press will be here in the morning to learn more about what happened tonight.”

John looked disgusted at the news. “I’ll brief Jim’s new public relations girl. She’ll handle it all. She’ll be in your office first thing in the morning. No reason for you to be bothered with them any more than me.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

Ed returned to John’s side. “They were hired from overseas. We have South Americans, Italians, and Russians. The picture I get is that different crime families hired them and they were all sent here to work together.”

John nodded. He wasn’t surprised by the news. He turned to the Sheriff, “We’re going to head back to the house and let people adopt a more relaxed stance.”

The men headed back to the house. They stopped by the dummy and looked at it for a minute. It was all torn up. They picked it up and carried it to the garage. Bob would fix it tomorrow. They entered the house and went to the command center. John called in, “It’s almost four in the morning. Who would like to stay on duty for the rest of the night?”

Ling looked at John and said, “It’s my primary job.”

John said, “Okay. Everyone else get to bed. Ling will wake up someone to replace her.”

The others nodded in agreement. They turned to talk to each other to work out the shifts. John and Ed went to the back of the house to see how Rover was doing. When they arrived, Beth was standing next to the operating table. She was relieved when John arrived. “John, he’s been shot. I’ve taken x-rays and found the bullet. It’s not bad, but we’ll need to figure out how to anesthetize him.”

John pulled up a chair by the head of the cat. He looked the cat in the eyes for a minute. He said, “Give me a knife.”

Ed handed him a scalpel. John made a small cut in the fleshy part of his hand. The blood welled up and flowed into his palm. He reached over to the wound and bloodied the finger of his other hand. He said, “In five minutes, start operating. He won’t feel anything. I promise you that.”

He held his bloody hand up to the cat’s mouth. It licked his palm as he sucked the bloody finger. He grasped the medallion and stared into the cat’s eyes. He could feel their minds meshing as one. When their breathing was in tune with each other, they went to a far away place. It was a large a meadow filled with flowers, butterflies, and birdsong. The sky was a clear blue and a gentle sun warmed their bodies.

They started to run through the meadow. Sometimes John was the cat while Rover was the man. At other times, the roles returned to normal. They ran until they were tired and then lay down to sleep. The warm sun, the noise of bees visiting flowers and the calls of birds lulled them into a deep peaceful sleep.

John was shaken awake by Beth. She said, “Come on lover boy. It’s time for you to get to a real bed.”

“How’s Rover?”

Beth smiled and said, “He slept through the whole operation. I don’t know what you did, but it really worked great. I got the bullet out, fixed some bone damage, and sewed the wound shut. He’ll be good as new soon.”

John breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

“I thought you’d be pleased.”

“I’ve got to get Jim’s new public relations girl briefed on the events tonight.”

Ling was at the door. She interrupted, “Don’t worry, John. I’ve already taken care of that.”

“How did you know?”

“I listened to you talking with the Sheriff,” replied Ling without any embarrassment at having to admit eavesdropping. In her opinion, she had a right to monitor the situation the entire time he was exposed outdoors.

Kelly grabbed his arm and said, “Come on, we’ve got to get you to bed.”

John woke late in the afternoon. Kelly was gently sucking his cock. He moaned at the sensation of her warm mouth working around the head of his cock. She gently massaged his balls as she sucked. A finger brushed lightly against his nipple. He sighed and said, “Oh, that’s so good.”

Kelly stopped what she was doing and climbed atop him. She lowered herself onto his cock. The slow envelopment of his cock by her hot moist cunt was heavenly. He reached up and started to massage her breasts as she rode his cock. Her hand was massaging her clit driving her into ever increasingly wild motions. She came very quickly, the spasms of her cunt muscles felt like a milking motion on his cock. He exploded very quickly.

She lay upon him breathing deeply. She murmured, “On a scale of one to ten; that was a ten!”

John whispered, “After all that work, I’m ready to roll over and sleep.”

She laughed and argued, “That’s not the idea. You’re supposed to be energized.”

His stomach growled. He laughed aloud and then said, “Who said romance is alive! Here I am, resting in the arms of the woman I love, and all my stomach can think of is food.”

“I heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Your stomach is demanding a little love right now.”

John laughed and said, “I’ll buy that.”

“Good, now I’ll let Marguerite take care of that!”

John asked, “What’s up with Marguerite? She’s still wearing that body jewelry and waist chain.”

Kelly answered with a smile, “Maybe she’s waiting for her punishment to end.”

John said, “Well tell her that it’s over.”

“Actually, I think she’s waiting for a certain person to take her to bed.”

“Who’s she waiting for?” John asked, more than a little afraid that it would be him.

“I can’t tell if it’s Beth or me.”

“Thank the Gods and Goddesses,” replied John.

“What?”

“I was afraid it was Ed or me that she was interested in bedding.”

Kelly was puzzled by his response. She knew that he thought she was nice looking and couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t want her interested in him or Ed. “Why? Don’t you think she’s pretty?”

“Oh, she’s pretty enough. She’s just not you or Beth.”

Kelly frowned and asked, “Didn’t we agree that everyone could play some outside of the marriage if they were honest and up front about it?”

“Sure.”

“So what’s the problem with her?”

John realized that he wasn’t going to get out of it that easily. He admitted, “I don’t feel comfortable sleeping with someone that works for me. It’s such a cliché.”

Kelly laughed aloud at the sheepish look on his face. She asked, “You’re serious aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.”

She said, “When you hired them, you stated that they were going to be seeing us without our clothes on from time to time. They all knew the score at that time.”