Chapter 11

Bob lay in the hospital bed unmoving. The even ping of the heart monitor, intended to reassure, irritated Kelly as she watched over him. It was a constant reminder that he was seriously injured. The concussion was serious. A vertebra in his neck had been cracked. It would heal, but he would have a stiff neck for the rest of his life. His concussion was much more troubling. He had not regained consciousness after twelve hours.

Marguerite returned to the room with coffee for them both. As Kelly took a cup of coffee from her, she noticed the redness of the cook’s eyes. Her heart nearly broke when she realized that Marguerite had been crying. She suddenly realized that Marguerite and Bob had been with them the longest of all the staff. Of the original staff, Ling had married them and Bill had gone to Florida.

When Marguerite sat down next to Kelly, Kelly grasped her hand. She said, “You love him, don’t you?”

“Yes. We had talked about marriage and having a child.”

Kelly reassured the woman, “He’ll be okay.”

Marguerite started to cry again. Kelly hugged the woman closely. She understood very well the fear of losing a loved one. She had been through that with John when he had been wounded in the white slavery raid. He had survived, but only after dying. Now she watched as Marguerite went through a personal hell.

A doctor came into the room and noticed Kelly. His voice was friendly, as he asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be on duty this afternoon?”

Kelly looked at him with anger at the idea that he was worried about her being at work on time. The dissatisfaction at working without Beth nearby bubbled up to the surface. She bluntly said, “I’m resigning my position.”

The doctor looked shocked, “Kelly, please reconsider. We need you around here.”

Kelly was about to reply, but realized that her anger was rooted in a lack of sleep. She apologized, “I’m sorry to be so short with you. I’m very tired. I haven’t had any sleep since yesterday morning. I was held hostage at gunpoint and a very dear friend of mine was seriously injured.”

The doctor nodded and said, “I understand. You have had a tough couple of months. Rather than resign, why don’t you take a leave of absence.”

Kelly answered, “I’ll think about it.”

The doctor nodded and then said, “Let me examine the patient now.”

The doctor examined Bob carefully. He shook his head at the results. He turned to Kelly and said, “He took quite a crack on the head last night. I’m afraid that he has some swelling. It’s not much, but I’m going to have to relieve some of the pressure. I’m sure that you understand that procedure. While I’m doing that, why don’t you and your friend go into Beth’s old office? She had a couch in there that opened into a bed. Get some rest and I’ll get you when there’s any change in the patient.”

Kelly and Marguerite took his advice and went to Beth’s old office. She still had the keys to it. She realized on entering the office that she had never started to clean out Beth’s old stuff. She almost cried when she saw the picture of the whole Carter Clan that was sitting on her desk.

Marguerite opened the couch into a bed. Both women settled onto the bed, hugging each other. It was only a matter of minutes before they fell asleep.

John sat in Ann’s office watching as she read the report that he had given to Sidney. It was a very complete account of everything - at least, as much as he knew - of all that had occurred. Ann looked up from the statement and said, “Very impressive. You took out six all alone. Sidney told me when he handed the report to me that you must have been blind in a past life. You handled them as well as he could have ever hoped to deal with a group like that in the dark.”

John thought about the bats and wondered if they had helped somehow. He said, “I was scared to death the whole time.”

“Why didn’t you leave and call the police?”

“They had my family held hostage.” John’s mannerisms in answering the question suggested that he had no second thoughts about the wisdom of his actions. His family was threatened and he acted to protect them.

“Do you know who they were?”

John answered, “No. I have no idea why they were there.”

Ann smiled. For the first time in a long time, she had information that he didn’t already have. She said, “The man that attacked your family was Alberto Rodriguez.”

John looked puzzled and said, “I thought he was dead.”

Ann shrugged her shoulders and replied, “He is now. He died an hour ago from the blow to the back of his head.”

“So where has he been all these years?” John wasn’t concerned about the man’s death. The man had been a monster that dealt in human flesh.

“We’ll follow up on that. For now, we have no idea.”

John nodded and said, “I’d appreciate it if you let me know what you find out.”

Ann set the papers on her desk and turned to face John. She changed the subject. “I talked with Director Olim about you after I heard the news.”

“Does he want my resignation?”

Ann smiled at the question. They had discussed that topic several times in the past. He had suggested that John tackle a specific case that had been open for over a year with no progress. She picked up a folder and handed it to John. She said, “He wants you to solve this case.”

John opened the folder and glanced at the contents. Inside was a picture of a young girl and a young boy engaged in a sexual activity. He read the accompanying report as a slow anger began to boil inside him. He looked up at Ann. Through clenched teeth, he said, “We need to find out how many children the wife had.”

Ann’s eyebrows went up in surprise as she said, “May I ask why?”

“The girl they found had no memory of any other kind of life. That means she’s been doing it since the age of three or so. They have been unable to match her to any missing child reports. The only conclusion is that the parents know what happened to her. If so, then they are part of this. If I take it to a logical conclusion, it’s a bunch of adults swapping their children around as sex toys.”

“You got that out of a single reading of the report?”

John nodded and said, “Yes. The girl is eleven now. That means it has been going on for at least eight years. I would predict that it’s been longer than that.”

Ann sighed as she thought about the scenario John had spelled out. This would be a tough one to crack. She activated the speakerphone and called Olim. She was put through to Olim immediately. She reported John’s assessment of the case. There was a long pause at the other end. Olim asked, “How would you go about finding these families?”

John was quiet for a minute as he thought it through. He said, “If this is as I suspect, then there should be some kids that have grown too old to be of interest. They would have been dumped. Of course, these kids have no life skills other than sex. They don’t know how to read or write. Probably, they don’t even know how to deal with money. I’m sure that if you were to contact juvenile detention facilities, they would have information about kids that fit that profile. If we can interview those kids, we may be able to acquire additional clues concerning the ring. A police artist will at least give us an idea of what these creatures look like.”

Olim was silent for a minute. He said, “I’ll assign a dozen agents to this problem. They’ll send you their reports.”

John said, “Don’t worry. We’ll get them.”

Olim asked, “Ann, can I talk to you privately?”

John said, “I’ll leave the room now.”

John went into the hall and walked down to Sidney’s office. Sidney heard his dog react to his presence. “Hello, John.”

“Hi, Sidney. How’s Timmy?” John asked. His earlier stay in the office had been business only. Now that Sidney had submitted his report, they could talk casually.

The blind man reached down to pet his new seeing-eye dog. He answered, “We’re still learning how to get along. He’s a good dog.”

“That’s good. How’s married life?”

Sidney smiled broadly as he answered, “It’s great. Shirley and Mary are about to wear me out at night. Thank god I have Edward.”

John understood. There were times when the women were ready for sex and he was too tired to accommodate them. He asked, “If I may ask, how are the living arrangements in your household?”

Sidney answered, “We followed your advice. A separate room for each person. We aren’t quite as liberated as you guys, so the sexual roles are much more traditional.”

“You mean you aren’t bisexual.”

“Right, but I will say one thing. Edward and I are a lot closer than I ever thought two men could be. We get together and just talk for hours at a time.”

John nodded and said, “Yes, I’d say that I talk to Ed more than all of the wives combined.”

Sidney laughed and joked, “I guess it’s true what they say. Misery loves company.”

John laughed as he retorted, “If that is misery, then I’m a parrot!”

Sidney said, “Well, I’ll see if there’s an evening when Shirley is free and we’ll have you over for dinner that night.”

John answered, “That would be great. I look forward to it.”

Sidney said, “I better get back to work.”

Leaving the office, John returned to Ann’s office. Her door was open. Remembering to knock, he entered the office. Ann smiled as she said, “You’ve definitely got him confused. You told him more in five minutes than they’ve been able to learn in almost a year.”

“Glad to be able to help.”

Ann sat back and smiled at John. She asked, “When are Ed and Ling returning?”

“I’m not sure. We’re still waiting for the hospital to release Dr. Hayes. He’s still in traction. As soon as they get a cast on him, we’ll bring him home. Ed and Ling will accompany him.” He paused for a second and then added, “When they get back, we’d like to invite you and your husband over for a weekend.”

She was about to argue and then realized that it would be best for all parties concerned. They wouldn’t leave the house all together because of Dr. Hayes’s injuries. She conceded the invitation, “We’d be delighted. I guess things are pretty hectic in your household now.”

John laughed heartily. He was about to say something in return when they heard a disturbance in the front office. Ling’s voice carried down the hall, “Take me to John right now or I’ll twist your arm right off.”

He raced out of the office to the front of the suite. Ling was standing there with an agent in an arm lock and another one on the ground, her foot pressed against his groin. John shouted, “Stop it, Ling. I’m okay.”

She let go of the agent and walked over to John. The sound of her slap across his face reverberated through the office. Angrily she asked, “How dare you not call us? We’ve been worried sick.”

John rubbed his face in shock. “Ah, I didn’t have a chance.”

She held up a cell phone and asked, “Don’t you have one of these?”

“No, I don’t.” They had tried to get him a cell phone earlier, but he could never keep it charged and never thought to use it.

“You had better get one today! Ed and I were going crazy. No one was at home. We called the police office and they said that there had been an assassination attempt on you. The dispatcher didn’t know if you were okay. She only knew that an ambulance had been called to take one of the men to the hospital.”

“Ling, calm down.” He turned to the other agents and helped the one off the floor. The other one was standing sheepishly rubbing his shoulder. John said, “I have to apologize. She was worried about me.”

The agent that had been on the ground shook his hands in front of his body. “No problem. Let’s just not mention it to anyone. Please.”