Chapter 21

John and Kelly stepped out the door of the administration building into the bright morning sun. The deep clear blue sky reached down to touch the soul. The clear air was cool and crisp. It carried the scent of trees and the aroma of the soil. Kelly stretched and smiled.

She turned to John and said, “What a glorious day to be alive!”

“Yes, it’s a glorious day.”

She skipped to the end of the walkway and twirled around like a young girl. Her happiness was contagious. John raced down the walkway to catch her, intending to chase her into the woods for a little morning glory. He made five steps before a shot rang out, dropping him like a rock.

Kelly screamed in anguish and ran to John. A second shot rang out, the bullet taking her in the shoulder. She spun around and fell to the ground. Without thought for herself, she crawled to John. A third shot rang out and caught her in the leg. This was followed by the roar of a bear and a scream of horror.

Druids poured out of buildings all around the college, green and black robed Druids converging on where Kelly and John lay bleeding on the ground. Red robe Druids ran in the direction from which the shots had been fired. The apparent chaos turned quickly into a self-organizing order. The victims were immediately treated and then carried into the school hospital. The unconscious perpetrator was rescued from the bear and taken into a holding area to wait for the arrival of the local police.

John had a team surrounding him. His wound wasn’t bad. The bullet had grazed his forehead knocking him unconscious. His care took less than ten minutes, requiring only a few stitches. Two people remained with him to clean up the additional abrasions received from falling.

Kelly was in far worse shape. She had lost a lot of blood and the bullet was still lodged in her shoulder. The surgical team was struggling to get the wound cleaned and the bullet removed. In the middle of the operation, Kelly’s heart stopped. The team used the time to remove the bullet and sew up the artery. After less than three minutes, the team stepped back as a second team attempted to shock her heart back into working. The doctor in charge declared that she had been dead for three and a half minutes. Her heart resumed beating.

The surgical team returned to working on her shoulder, removing bone fragments and checking for damage. The work was extensive and required tremendous concentration.

A second surgical team turned their attention to the wound in her leg. The wound was a simple flesh wound that missed all of the major arteries and veins. It was quickly treated. The wound was wrapped and the team disbanded.

The first team finished after four hours. They stepped back and examined the patient. She was getting a unit of blood. The wounds had been bandaged. The scrape she had received when she had fallen had been cleaned. Her heartbeat was regular.

In a private room, Ed, Ling, and Sheriff Lundy stood looking at a thin man tied to a chair. He was completely naked. Unshaven and unkempt, they looked at an empty shell of a human being. The man was literally foaming at the mouth, spittle dripping from his lips. When he spoke, his statements were incoherent.

“Can I kill him?” asked Ling. She entertained visions of cutting off his cock and watching him bleed to death.

Ed replied, “That’s not the Druid way.”

“I’m not a Druid,” Ling retorted. There were times when all of the talk about Druids irritated her. She really wanted to hurt this guy.

Sheriff Lundy said, “No one is killing anyone. This individual is now in my custody.”

“He’s insane now. I don’t think he was insane when he took the shot, though.” Ed knelt and looked at the man more carefully. He looked up and said, “Ling, could you ask one of the Druids to locate someone that can help us?”

Frowning Ling muttered, “Okay. I still say you should just let me kill him.”

Laughing Ed shook his head and said, “Too easy. We will let the Gods and Goddesses take care of him.”

Ling left the office after shooting a dirty look at the man in the chair. She knew that he would have an insanity defense and get away with attempted murder of her husband and wife. She wished that Druids practiced human sacrifice.

“She’s a mean one when she’s mad!” The Sheriff was extremely happy that she had left the room. If anyone had looked at him like that, he would never get another night of sleep. She was small, but he had dealt with some small people that could cause some major damage.

“She’s not mad. She’s only upset. If she were mad, he’d be dead.”

The Sheriff laughed until he saw the look on Ed’s face. His laughter died as he asked, “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Very serious.”

“That’s scary.”

Ed looked at the Sheriff, “We’re lucky the bear got to him first. Ling was the third person to reach him. It took the first two people to hold her back, at least long enough for more to show up. It finally took five people to keep her from him.”

“He was stopped by a bear?”

“Yes, Fluffy took him down and then sat on him until help showed up.”

The Sheriff looked at the captive for a moment. He said, “I know why he’s crazy. I think I would go crazy to have a bear sitting on my chest.”

Ed laughed and said, “You’re probably right. We had to clean this guy up. He had shit and pissed on himself. His clothes are sealed in a plastic bag over there.”

“I’ll have to take that as evidence.”

Ed nodded his head and said, “I know. We also have the gun. We left it where he dropped it. The car that he used to drive here is still parked where he had left it. We didn’t touch anything. We figured that you would want to follow your own evidentiary procedures.”

“You seem familiar with handling evidence. Care to explain to me how you know so much?” The Sheriff didn’t trust people that knew too much about his business. In many cases, it meant they were part of it.

Pulling out his ID, Ed said, “I’m a Treasury Agent.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Half of the red robed Druids are associated with law enforcement in one way or another. John, the intended victim, is a special agent with the FBI. The head man in this area should be arriving here any time now.”

“That explains why you have asked me to wait before taking the suspect out of here.” The Sheriff had met John and Ed previously. He had harbored suspicions about them, particularly as they represented the heads of a cult that was moving into his jurisdiction. His queries into this group had all returned with nothing but praise. To find out that they held high positions in government surprised him.

“Would you like to see the college while we are waiting for them?”

The Sheriff thought about it. He had wanted to get a tour through the building for a long time, but had never found a reason. He felt that he couldn’t leave the prisoner alone. “I would love to see your school, but I wouldn’t feel right leaving him here alone.”

Ed laughed at the suggestion that they would leave the prisoner unguarded and said, “We’d never leave him alone, particularly with Ling around.”

Ed picked up a telephone and made a call. He spoke softly into the handset and then hung it up. He asked, “Would you trust a US Marshall with the task of watching your prisoner?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. One is on his way down here now.”

There was a knock on the door and then Sid entered the room with Fluffy. He said, “Excuse me, but Fluffy is still a little upset about earlier. I think he wants to look at the guy and make sure he won’t hurt him back.”

The Sheriff stared at the bear while Ed nodded. Ed turned to Fluffy and said, “You’re safe now. He’s being watched constantly by us. The Sheriff will take him off to jail.”

The bear looked at Ed for a minute and then turned to stare at the Sheriff. The Sheriff swallowed heavily out of nervousness. The bear then turned around and left the room. Sid said, “Thanks a lot for letting him get that out of his system. Maybe he can get a little rest now. It’s not fun trying to take a nap when you have an upset bear in the room with you.”

“I understand.”

“Did he raise that from a cub?”

Ed had to laugh and said, “No, the bear adopted him when his last bear got too old. One day, his previous bear wandered into the woods while this one wandered out. I think this is his seventh bear.”

“It’s a wild bear?”

“Yes.”

“Oh,” replied the Sheriff. He sat back, realizing that dealing with these people was going to be a lot more challenging than he had anticipated.

A solid knock on the door announced the entrance of Ted Harper. A very large man entered the room and nodded to Ed. Ed returned the nod. Ted held up a badge and announced, “I’m Ted Harper, US Marshal.”

An hour later, an FBI agent arrived looking rather tired. He was shown into the college by one of the administrators and taken to a room to wait for Ed and the Sheriff. His wait was less than ten minutes. Ed performed the introductions, “Hello, I’m Ed Biggers and this is Sheriff Lundy.”

The man stood up and said, “I’m Agent Haroldson. I received a call from the director himself that one of our agents was the subject of an attempted assassination. Can you fill me in on the details?”

Ed nodded and said, “Follow me gentlemen and I’ll lead you through the sequence of events such as we’ve been able to reproduce.”

Ed took the Sheriff and the FBI agent outside the building. He pointed to the small patch of blood on the ground. “This is where John fell when he was shot. It was a single shot to the head. Fortunately, the shot only grazed his forehead and knocked him out.”

Ed took several steps forward to where there was a large spot of blood with a long thin trail of blood. He said, “Kelly was shot here. The first shot appears to have been in her shoulder. She fell and was dragging herself to John when she was shot a second time.”

Ed then led them to where the suspect had been apprehended. Ed pointed to the site and pointed out three empty shell casings. He said, “He fired three shots from here. The bear that took him down came out of the woods over there.”

He pointed to the rifle. “The suspect fell down as the bear ran to him. The rifle flew over to there. We have not touched it.”

Ed then walked a hundred yards down the road to where a car was parked. “We assume this is the suspect’s car. He parked it here out of sight of the buildings and moved up to where he fired the shots.”

Agent Haroldson asked, “Excuse me, but who was the FBI agent that was wounded?”

“John Carter.”

The blood ran out of the agent’s face as he realized the magnitude of the situation. He fished out his cell-phone and made a call. He turned to the Sheriff and said, “Ah, I’ve called for additional agents to come out. They will collect evidence under your supervision, since this is your jurisdiction. John Carter happens to be one of the most well known agents in the FBI and we will do anything to make sure that justice is served.”

Shocked by the reaction of the FBI agent to John’s identity, the Sheriff just numbly nodded. He said, “Thanks.”

The agent turned to Ed and said, “I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize your name earlier. I studied all of the cases solved by John. You were with him for the amputation murderer and the white slavery ring. You were also responsible for the Druid’s Revenge campaign against organized crime. My God, you two are legends.”

“Thanks, I appreciate your kind words. Now let’s go to the infirmary and see how they are doing.”

Ed led them to the infirmary. Kelly was just wheeled out of surgery and John remained unconscious. Laura Anderson, the person in charge of the ward, stopped the visitors. Ed asked, “How are they doing?”

“Kelly was dead for three and a half minutes, but her condition is stable, now. We are worried about John, though. He should be conscious by now. We have ordered an ambulance to take him to the nearest large hospital where we can do an MRI.”

They were surprised by the arrival of Beth. Ed knelt down and picked her up. He said, “Hey, Beth. What are you doing down here?”

“I came to see Mommy Kelly and Daddy John.”

“You know both of them were hurt?”

Beth looked at him with a funny expression, “Of course. I told you about my dream yesterday, Daddy Ed. The pretty lady in the forest said that I would hear bad news about Mommy Kelly, but she was going to be okay. I dreamed about the pretty lady again and she told me that Daddy John was visiting her, and would return when Mommy Kelly woke him up.”

Ed looked up at Laura and said, “Cancel the ambulance.”

Laura just stared at Beth. With a shaky voice, she asked, “Do you know the lady in the forest?”

Beth looked at her and said, “Of course, she’s a first year student!”

“Why do you say that?”

“Silly, she doesn’t ever wear clothes.”

Ed nodded at Laura. He gave Beth a great big hug and then set her down. He said, “Beth, why don’t you go look at Kelly and John?”

“Okay,” Beth smiled and skipped down to where the beds were located.

When she was gone, Laura asked, “Does she see the Goddess often?”

Ed nodded, “She sees her in her dreams. You will notice that she doesn’t act four. Her brother dreams about the God. He doesn’t act three.”

Agent Haroldson and Sheriff Lundy looked around uncomfortable about the topic of discussion. The Sheriff leaned over the agent, “I think they live in a different world.”

The Agent laughed, “I think you are right.”

Beth returned from visiting the patients. She looked at the FBI agent for a second and then said, “You are from the FBI. Did you ever work with Daddy John?”