JC: Ed Biggers
Part 2: Equilibrant
Chapter 9
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Swimming in the pool was one of the few pleasures that Ed 
actually scheduled to make sure that he had the chance to pursue. 
Every Wednesday, he left the school early and would not allow 
Bill to schedule a meeting for him. He would enter the pool area 
and swim by himself, taking pleasure in the feel of the cool water 
flowing around his naked body. 

This was his moment of peace. He enjoyed the chance to be alone 
with his thoughts knowing that John, Kelly, and Beth were at 
work. The staff would be busy with their normal duties. Even the 
cat that normally followed him everywhere would be hiding in the 
garden. 

Having finished his laps, he was floating in a relaxed fashion when 
his revelry was interrupted by a naked Ling slipping into the pool. 
She slowly swam across the pool with her breasts peaking out 
above the water. The extremely erotic sight was impossible for Ed 
to ignore and he wondered how often the staff took advantage of 
the pool when they were alone in the house. 

Rather than just stare at Ling, Ed climbed out of the pool to relax 
on one of the poolside chairs. There was a plate of snacks and a 
glass of iced tea on the table next to the chair that Marguerite had 
provided. Picking up the glass, he took a sip of the iced tea and 
watched Ling swim. As he watched, he realized that this was the 
first time that he had seen any of the staff naked. He wondered if 
she would prefer if he left the pool area, particularly since his cock 
was beginning to respond to her presence. He asked, "Ling, would 
you like me to leave?"

As she swam languidly across the pool, she replied, "No, that's 
okay."

Reaching over to the plate of snacks, Ed took a couple of chunks of 
cheese and ham on toothpicks. While eating the snacks, he thought 
about the activities of the next few weeks. Tomorrow, they were 
going to send out the orders for the various agents to follow in 
taking down organized crime. It would be about ten days before 
they would execute those orders. 

The attack on the house the other night had put the entire family 
and staff on edge. Ling had performed very well during all of the 
previous attacks, but even she was getting tired of it. This situation 
would only last two more weeks and there wouldn't be a ready 
source of organized criminals seeking to eradicate them. At least 
that was the hope.

Ling sat down in the chair next to Ed and glanced at his cock. It 
was semi-erect and the idea of it inside her almost took her breath 
away. She said, "You are thinking about the attacks on the house?"

Nodding, Ed replied, "Yes, I am."

"I am worried," replied Ling. The last attack had incorporated a lot 
of very heavy armament including missiles. She said, "It will only 
take one mistake on our part and we will lose."

Ed replied, "We only have to resist two more weeks."

"Why do you say that?"

Shaking his head, he answered, "I can't tell you."

The secrecy of John and Ed had just about driven Ling crazy. She 
was getting tired of it and said, "You can't tell me why you think it 
will be over in two weeks?"

"You aren't the only one who's frustrated. You should see the 
office heads of the IRS and FBI. They are ready to kill us," replied 
Ed with a laugh. Ann Moore and Gary Smales were bothering 
them every time they went into the office wanting details about 
what they were working on. 

Shaking her head, Ling stood up and said, "I'm going back to 
work. Talking to you or John drives me crazy."

Ed watched her leave, enjoying the sight of her ass swaying as she 
walked. He glanced down at his cock relieved that he had been 
able to concentrate on work rather than let it react to her fully. The 
entire episode confused him as he tried to understand her behavior. 
Why had she come in here naked? That was very unusual behavior 
for her.

Deciding that it would be nice to relax in the Jacuzzi, he went over 
to it. Before he could enter, Bob came in the room. Ed looked at 
Bob and asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," replied Bob as he looked around nervously. He knew 
better than the lie to Ed, but he didn't feel like it was his place to 
comment on some of the undercurrents in the household.

Ed climbed in the Jacuzzi as he considered the sour tone in Bob's 
voice. Leaning back in the tub, Ed closed his eyes letting the jets 
massage his back. Without looking at Bob, he said, "You don't 
think it is your place to discuss the matter."

"That is correct."

Taking a deep breath, Ed said, "And you would not like to be 
forced to expose the secret by clever questioning on my part."

"Ys, that's right," replied Bob. He was upset that Marguerite had 
sent him in here to find out how Ed had reacted to Ling. 

Ed replied, "I only have one question. Will this problem put my 
family at risk of harm?"

This was a question that Bob felt comfortable providing a reply 
without violating the trust of his coworkers. He said, "I do not 
think so."

Satisfied that Bob had answered truthfully, Ed sighed and allowed 
the water to relax his body. He said, "I won't question you any 
more."

Bob left the room and went directly to Marguerite to let her know 
that Ling had raised Ed's suspicions. Ed wondered what was going 
on, but decided that there was time to investigate before anything 
too dramatic happened. 

After a nice long soak, Ed got out of the Jacuzzi and dried off. It 
was getting late and he needed to be in Phoenix for a meeting of 
the Fusion Foundation. The meeting was supposed to cover the 
forest fire fighting capabilities that were part of the emergency 
response branch of the foundation. Ed would be the only member 
of the family attending that meeting. John was putting finishing 
touches on the plans for the raid, Beth was working at the hospital, 
and Kelly was participating in a triage seminar for Fusion 
Foundation volunteer nurses. 

Heading to his room, he cut through the garden. He paused to 
watch the fish swimming through the meandering stream and 
realized that he had not been taking much time for himself or his 
family. He and John would sit on the parapet and watch the sunset, 
but the amount of time they spent up there had been shrinking. All 
of them were so busy that he was seldom able to spend an evening 
with both Kelly and Beth. 

He went into his room and dressed in his typical clothes. Grabbing 
his hat, he headed out of the room ready to face a long meeting. 
Shadow appeared beside him as he walked along. Glancing down 
at Shadow, he asked, "Getting tired of being out of the house all of 
the time?"

The cat didn't respond, but continued pacing him. Smiling, Ed 
went into the garage and held the door of his truck for the cat. This 
was still his old truck, although John was making suggestions that 
he get a fusion powered truck. With the cat covering the entire 
passenger side, Ed pulled out of the garage. 

The headquarters for the Fusion Foundation in Phoenix occupied 
an unpretentious building in the downtown business district. He 
was a little early for the meeting and many of the staff members 
and volunteers were still present. On entering the building, the 
receptionist greeted him, "May I help you?"

Shadow went on ahead knowing where he was going. Shaking his 
head, Ed replied, "No thanks. I know my way to where I'm going."

As Ed went to go down the hall, the receptionist stepped out from 
behind the desk and said, "Excuse me, but you can't enter."

"I can't?" replied Ed in surprise. He looked at the woman and 
asked, "Could you explain why I can't go in?"

Looking very prime and proper, the woman explained, "You have 
to be escorted by someone that works here."

Amused, Ed asked, "How about you call Grace Green?"

The receptionist returned to the desk and made a call. After several 
rings, she turned to Ed and said, "Grace Green does not appear to 
be here at the moment. Are you sure your business is with her?"

"Oh, I just wanted her to walk with me to my office and catch up 
on news about her daughter," replied Ed.

The receptionist said, "I know everyone that has an office here and 
you do not have an office, sir."

As far as she knew, she was telling the truth. Getting tired of 
playing games, Ed said, "Well, I guess we'll just have to call 
Ellen."

"Which Ellen sir?"

"Ellen Faber," replied Ed. 

Raising an eyebrow at Ed, the woman sat back and said, "May I 
tell her who is here?"

Smiling Ed replied, "Ed Biggers."

Without batting an eye, the receptionist called the office of Ellen 
Faber. Ed listened as she said, "There's some guy out here insisting 
on talking to Ellen."

There was a moment of silence and then she said, "He says his 
name is Ed Biggers."

Amused, Ed watched the expression on her face change from one 
of superiority to confusion to embarrassment. Her eyes glanced up 
in his direction and then returned to the desk. She answered, "Yes, 
ma'am. I'll send him there."

Hanging up the phone, the receptionist said, "I'm so sorry. I didn't 
know who you were, sir."

"No problem," replied Ed. This was just another little delay in 
what promised to be a long day. At least it had filled five minutes 
that would have been spent waiting for the others to arrive.

He headed down the hall to the elevators and found the cat waiting 
there for him. It actually looked irritated at the delay. When the 
elevator arrived, the pair of them entered and pressed the button to 
the top floor. The ride up was uneventful.

When the elevator opened he headed towards his office. His office, 
what a joke. There had been a major argument about whether each 
of the board members should have their own office. None of the 
Carter Clan saw the need, but the staff had gone ahead and set 
aside an office for each of them. The offices took up almost an 
entire floor. The conference room took up the remainder of the 
floor. Ellen was the only one that had an office up here, but she 
normally worked out of the office on the lower level.

Ellen was waiting for him outside his office. She said, "Mr. 
Biggers, I'm sorry about the delay downstairs, the receptionist has 
never seen you before."

Irritated at being called Mr. Biggers, Ed said, "No big deal. This is 
the first time I've been here during business hours. Maybe I ought 
to come in and meet people so that they can put a face to the name. 
I'll suggest that to John tonight."

Ellen said, "Everyone is here except for Mr. Smith. He said that he 
would wait until after business hours because of his bear."

Ed didn't make the connection that Mr. Smith was Sid until she 
mentioned the bear. Ellen really didn't know how to deal with 
Druids. He hadn't met one that was interested in titles of any kind. 
Ed said, "Sid is a Druid. Like myself, he'd prefer to be called by his 
first name."

"Mr. Biggers, men in your position deserve a certain level of 
respect," replied Ellen, totally unaware that she was saying exactly 
the wrong thing to Ed. She wanted to impress him with her 
professionalism, but it was backfiring. The effect was to make her 
look petty and small. Her fawning made her as if she was 
overwhelmed by important people and wanted to derive 
importance by being in their presence. 

With a bluntness that shocked Ellen, Ed said, "I agree and in my 
opinion you would show the proper respect by calling me Ed. 
Making me feel uncomfortable does not show me the proper 
respect."

Standing in front of him, Ellen stammered for a full minute trying 
to figure out how to respond. She said, "Okay, Ed."

With a short nod of his head, he replied, "That's much better."

She said, "They are serving dinner in the conference room."

"Thank you," replied Ed. He went into the room and greeted the 
people already present. Ellen stayed outside collecting herself. Ed's 
comments had the tone of a rebuke and she didn't know what to do 
to correct the situation. She sat in the chair at the desk in front of 
her office.

She was still sitting at her secretary's desk when Sid arrived with 
his bear. After taking one look at her, he asked, "What's the matter 
Ellen?"

She looked up and realized that she had been crying. She tried to 
pull herself together and answered, "Nothing."

Sid replied, "A nothing that brings tears to the eyes sounds like a 
something to me. Tell me about it."

Without understanding why, she said, "Someone rebuked me 
because I wouldn't call him by his first name."

Sid asked, "Did that person ask that you call them by their first 
name?"

"Yes, he did," replied Ellen. She looked up at Sid to see his 
reaction. 

"Is the person a VIP?"

Ellen responded, "Yes, very much so."

Sid recognized the touch of Ed in this. Rather than comfort her, he 
recognized that Ed had provided a lesson. Sitting down in the chair 
opposite her, Sid said, "Important, successful, and confident people 
are very well aware of who and what they are. They don't need 
pretentious fawning people to bolster their egos. They have their 
own definition of success and know they have met it."

Staring at Sid wide-eyed, she couldn't believe what she was 
hearing. Sid continued, "Ed and John are Druids. They know their 
worth and prefer to be treated like human beings. Do you know 
where they spend their free time?"

Shaking her head, Ellen replied, "I have no idea."

"There is a little bar in the town they live in. They spend their time 
drinking cokes and talking to the local people. Everyone in the 
town knows him and John. They'll take twenty minutes to find out 
how someone's kid is doing in school. They are regular people 
despite the fact that John can buy entire countries." 

This revelation was the most surprising thing that she had ever 
heard. It was her understanding that they lived in a mansion and 
basically stayed out of public view. Her thoughts were interrupted 
by a roar from the cat and a loud bellow from the bear. The two 
animals ran into one of the offices. Laughing, Sid said, "I better get 
in there now that they know I'm here."

In the conference room, there was a large buffet with Romaine 
lettuce with various toppings to create a Caesar Salad. Ed had 
made a large salad topped with strips of sliced beef that was very 
good. Noticing Sid enter the room, he waved in a greeting which 
was returned as Sid made his way to the buffet. 

After Sid had finished making his salad and seated himself at the 
table, Ellen entered and made herself a small salad without any 
toppings except for croutons. She was very reserved as she seated 
herself at the table.

Looking around the room, Ed said, "I'd like to call this meeting to 
order."

At the nods around the table, he continued, "Sid, last meeting you 
agreed to get information from the forestry service about the needs 
that we can satisfy with our equipment and people."

For the next half hour, Sid explained the full fire fighting needs of 
the forestry department. Ed followed the discussion carefully and 
made detailed notes. The bottom line was that they recommended 
two different options. The first option put most of the money into 
airplanes that could drop large loads over the fire. The second 
option put most of the money into helicopters that dropped smaller 
loads, but allowed greater precision. When Sid was finished, Ed 
sought to clarify the situation and asked, "So you have two 
separate proposals?"

"Yes, either option would augment our capabilities significantly."

Ed asked, "Are there any questions?"

Jack Anderson, the Carter Clan accountant, asked, "Cost wise, 
what is the major distinction between them?"

Sid smiled and said, "Spoken just like an accountant. The 
immediate costs are identical. The long terms costs favor the 
planes more than helicopters. You will see in the packet, the short 
term and long term costs broken out in detail."

Jack opened the packet and examined it. His eyes took in the 
details of the costs. Looking up at Ed, he said, "He's right. It does 
favor planes over helicopters."

Shaking his head, Ed asked, "Which option satisfies the need more 
fully?"

Sid said, "They are effectively the same. The tactics employed to 
quench the fires differ, but the overall strategy is the same."

Ed asked, "Well, we have a large fleet of transport planes. Derrick, 
you were going to look into the possibility of making the transports 
duel use."

Colonel Derrick Barnett, head of the Fusion Foundation fleet, 
replied, "I looked into it and it can't be done without significantly 
impacting the ability of the planes to transport freight. That would 
mean no bulldozers, fire trucks, or crew trucks."

Nodding, Ed said, "That was a long shot anyway. Are there any 
suggestions?"

Derrick replied, "I favor the planes. I view it this way. If the long 
term costs are lower for the planes, then we can afford to increase 
the fleet in the future."

Jack shook his head and said, "That's not going to be the way that 
it works. We'll review the budget annually and put the money 
where it is required. The fact that you're saving money doesn't 
show up."

The people around the table looked thoughtful as they considered 
the two options. Frustrated, Ed was angry that they weren't able to 
do more than what Sid had laid out. He vented his frustrations, 
"There has to be more that we can do."

Jack replied, "You only have so much money to spend on this 
particular problem. We could put it up to the full board to 
rearrange the priorities, but you'll be cutting other things that are 
just as important."

Sid leaned forward and said, "You may think what we are doing is 
nothing, but it almost doubles the resources that are currently 
fielded against fires. The fact that you are doing this is going to 
save thousands of acres."

The pleasant tone in the voice let Ed know that he was telling the 
truth. Leaning back in his chair, he asked, "Would anyone mind if 
we identify which of the two options presented each person 
supports?"

There was no objection, so Ed said, "If you support option one, 
then raise one finger. If you support option two, the raise two 
fingers."

Excluding his preference, it was three to three. Ed asked, "Would 
someone that supports option one please give a simple argument as 
to why they think that option is best?"

Jack replied, "Lower long term costs."

"Okay, how about a simple argument for the second option."

Ellen, feeling very nervous, raised a hand to get Ed's attention. Ed 
noticed and asked, "You have an argument?"

Looking around the table, she said, "Well, I don't have a vote, but I 
favored the second option for a very simple reason."

Ed asked, "What is it?"

She said, "The helicopters can be duel use while the airplanes 
can't."

Ed leaned back and thought about it. They already had a number of 
helicopters in the fleet. A smile spread over Derrick's face as he 
considered what that meant. Even Sid was given pause by that 
suggestion. Everyone looked around the table to see what others 
thought of the reason. Finally, Sid said, "Perhaps if the Colonel 
and I are given a little extra time to review what assets we already 
have that can be utilized, then I think we might be able to come up 
with a hybrid solution that is better than either option that I 
presented earlier."

Looking thoughtful, Derrick said, "I agree with Sid. I don't think 
we've found the best solution for the money that we have."

Looking around the room, Ed could see that a lot of people were 
nodding their heads. He said, "Does anyone disagree with giving 
them another month to identify a better solution?"

Expecting at least one nay, Ed was surprised when no one said a 
word. After waiting a full minute, Ed said, "Okay. I believe it is 
unanimous that we give it another month. Are there any other 
announcements? New business?"

Everyone was silent. Smiling in happiness that they had spent less 
than two hours in this meeting, Ed announced, "Meeting 
adjourned."

As everyone filed out, Ed, Ellen and Sid stayed in the room. When 
the room was nearly empty, Sid said, "Ellen, would you mind 
leaving us alone for about five minutes? We have Druid business."

Looking from one man to the other, Ellen slowly left the room 
feeling like she had been dismissed. When she was gone, Sid got 
up and closed the door. He asked, "Druids Revenge. Is it going to 
happen?"

Ed nodded and said, "Sooner than you can imagine."

As he reached for the door, Sid said, "Sean was a friend of mine. I 
miss him a lot."

Although Ed had not known Sean, it appeared that the guy had 
friends everywhere and many of the Druids were absolutely 
infuriated by his death.  Ed said, "I didn't know him, but I feel for 
your loss."

Opening the door, Sid said, "Thanks."

 After Sid left, Ed stayed in the conference room thinking about 
how many people Sean must have helped to have such a large 
circle of friends. One of the consequences of serving the Two-
Sided One was that it tended to scare people away. It was 
understandable. How many people would feel comfortable 
knowing that the person they were talking to could detect each and 
every lie they said? He understood but it didn’t diminish the 
distance that it tended to put between them and others.

Ellen came into the conference room and looked at Ed sitting in the 
chair. It was apparent to her that something was bothering him. 
She asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Looking up at Ellen, Ed replied, "Not really. Just thinking about 
fallen comrades and friends left behind."

Not knowing what brought that on, she simply answered, "Oh."

Realizing that he had made her uncomfortable, he decided that it 
was time to change the subject. This whole evening he had been 
pretty rough on her and it was time to mend some fences. He said, 
"That was a very good argument that you put forth. I think that 
we've got a chance to really make a difference there and a good 
deal of the credit goes to you."

Flushing brightly at the compliment, she replied, "Well, it just 
made sense to me."

Laughing, Ed replied, "That's the whole secret. It doesn't take a 
complex insight to come up with the solution that everyone 
recognizes as the correct one. It takes a simple insight that 
everyone else has missed. In hindsight, everyone wonders why 
they didn't think of it."

"Thank you," replied Ellen. She said, "I'm sorry about earlier. I 
guess Sid was telling you what we talked about."

"Not at all, we were discussing a friend of his that was murdered a 
year ago," replied Ed. 

Startled, she looked at Ed and said, "I didn't know that he lost a 
friend."

"Yes, he did."

So many of her assumptions about these people were wrong. She 
said, "I had a little talk with Sid about what you said to me."

Noticing that she had finally started using first names, Ed smiled 
and asked, "So what did you discover?"

Licking her lips nervously, she replied, "He told me that you and 
John are just regular people."

Laughing, Ed said, "And you believed him?"

Not sure what to make of his question, she replied, "Yes, I did."

"Good because he told you the truth," replied Ed. Gesturing to a 
chair for her to sit in, Ed sat back and said, "You might want to 
remember that I'm basically a cowboy at heart. Even though I 
didn't think much of the job while I was doing it, I am happy on 
the back of horse riding the range."

Ellen sat down amazed that this important guy was telling her this. 
She said, "You really enjoy that job?"

"Well, I don't think much of the cows. However, I do love riding 
the range, but you can't make a living doing that. Now, I ride when 
I’m out hunting rocks. That's the best of all my worlds," replied 
Ed.

Shaking her head, she said, "I can't believe that you aren't a 
business man. You seem to run meetings very naturally."

"That's only because I hate meetings," replied Ed. His whole goal 
in running a meeting was to get it over as fast as possible. In 
contrast, Beth was incredibly patient asking each individual for 
their input. Her meetings lasted for ever, but at least stayed on 
topic. Kelly let meetings wander in topic all over the place. It was 
his opinion that if anyone felt strongly about a topic they would 
voice their opinion. If there was a conflict, then those involved 
would be assigned the task of resolving the conflict outside the 
meeting.

Laughing, she replied, "Some people live for meetings."

Still a little hungry, Ed went over to the buffet and fixed himself 
another salad. It seemed a crime to let so much food go to waste. 
Watching Ed, Ellen was amazed at his attitude. Ed asked, "Still 
hungry?"

She replied, "No. I don't eat a big dinner. My big meal of the day is 
lunch."

Shrugging, Ed finished fixing the salad and carried it to the table. 
After spearing a little of the lettuce on his fork, he asked, "I was 
wondering if you feel like we should introduce ourselves to the 
staff?"

Surprised, she asked, "Why?"

After swallowing the last bite of food he had taken, Ed replied, 
"Well, the receptionist didn't know who I was and I wonder if that 
is good. It's just that in case of an emergency, we should be able to 
get in here and fulfill our responsibilities."

Wonder what responsibilities it was that he was suggesting, she 
asked, "We have a full staff here."

He ate a little more of his salad as he thought about it. It was clear 
that she didn't know about John's gift from the Goddess. John 
would know when something major was going to happen and 
they'd show up here prepared to stay during the entire emergency. 
Smiling to himself, Ed replied, "You don't understand. When 
something really major happens, we will be here before it begins. 
People will be mobilized before anything happens."

"I really don't understand."

Ed replied, "That's okay. You aren't expected to understand. It's 
just that when we show up here unexpected, then you can bet that 
something big is going to happen."

Watching her think that over, Ed finished eating his salad. After a 
lot of thought, she asked, "Does this have anything to do with 
being Druids?"

"Everything," replied Ed.

Silent, she stayed behind when Ed left with Shadow. She watched 
him go thinking that it was a shame he was married. She could use 
a little masculine attention at the moment.