JC: Ed Biggers
Part 3: Accretion
Chapter 11
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

On landing at the airport, she had called the house and hadn't been 
able to reach anyone.  She then called the police and found that 
Bob had been taken to the hospital, but the dispatcher didn't have 
any details concerning the events of that night. Calling the hospital, 
she had learned that Marguerite and Kelly were there as well, but 
not available to take her call. Convinced that everyone had been 
injured, she had been elated to learn that John was at the FBI 
office. 

Ling stormed into the Federal Building looking for John. They had 
just lost Beth and now someone was trying to kill another member 
of the family while she had been away. When she entered the FBI 
offices, she told the receptionist, "Take me to John, right now."

The receptionist knew that John was in a meeting with Ann and 
didn't want to disturb them. She replied, "I'm afraid that I can't 
disturb them. If you'll wait, I'll let him know that he has a visitor."

Impatient, Ling raised her voice, "Take me to him now!"

Two agents, on their way to get some coffee, heard the commotion 
in the lobby and went in to see if they could help. The taller agent 
asked, "Is there a problem here?"

Irritated at Ling's insistence, the receptionist answered, "She's 
making a scene."

The agent made the mistake by grabbing Ling by the arm. Ling 
had worked half the night to arrange a flight home, spent two hours 
on the plane, and worried the entire night about her family. She 
wasn't in the mood to be jerked around. Over reacting, she threw 
the agent to the ground and put her foot on his crotch. The other 
agent moved in to subdue her and found himself bent over with his 
arm twisted behind his back. In a voice that was loud enough to 
carry down the hall, Ling shouted, "Take me to John right now or 
I'll twist your arm right off."

Within seconds, John raced into the room shouting, "Stop it, Ling. 
I'm okay."

She let go of the agent and walked over to John. Hours of worry 
and frustration boiled over. She slapped him across his face, the 
sound reverberating through the office. Anger fueled by worry 
drove her as 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. He knew that he had grabbed her and triggered her 
reaction. "No problem. Let's just not mention it to anyone. Please."

Taking a deep breath, John said, "Okay. I'll get her out of here as 
soon as possible."

"Thanks, John. Your wife is a tiger."

John laughed as he said, "You should see her when she gets mad."

Ling snarled at John and then asked, "Are you done here?"

Ling and John left the Federal Building after a very brief 
conversation with Ann. On the drive to the house, John told Ling 
about the events of the previous night. Dave, the security person 
who had replaced Ling when she married into the family, had let 
the intruders in the house. The men had taken the women in the 
house one at a time and tied them to the chairs in the dining room 
as bait for him. When they went to take Bob, Bob had fought like a 
madman getting knocked unconscious during the fight.

Even though the house was quiet when they reached it, Ling was 
happy to see Cathy was at her post. It tore her apart to see Cathy 
that tired and she was pleased when John sent her to bed. It still 
bothered her that no one had answered the phone when she had 
tried to call the house.

Ling went through the security office identifying the sabotage that 
Dave had performed. He had set the telephone switchboard in the 
house to route all long distance calls to the security office. That 
explained why she hadn't been able to get in contact with anyone 
in the house. Dave had removed all the security tapes before the 
attack so there wasn't any record of what actually happened in the 
house. 

Looking over at John sleeping in a chair in the security room, Ling 
realized that he had been awake all night. She shook him awake 
and sent him to bed. She went back to checking the security 
systems that she had installed. 

Ed had paced the room from the moment when Ling had flown out 
until had she called. Once he had found out the details, he was 
furious with himself that he hadn't taken just a few minutes to talk 
to Dave before leaving on this trip. One conversation and all of this 
could have been avoided. The villains, whoever they were, had 
taken advantage of Beth's death to attack John when he didn't have 
the full support of the family available. It was only after she let 
him know that everything was under control back at the house that 
he actually relaxed.

After talking to Ling, Ed hung up the phone and turned to look at 
Mrs. Hayes. She had sat on the couch waiting with him all night 
for news from the house. Although she was sitting ramrod straight 
in the chair looking very proper, she looked as tired as he felt. 
With a weak frown, he said, "Someone tried to assassinate John 
last night."

Putting her hand in front of mouth in horror at the thought that 
someone would want to do that, she asked, "Oh my, is he all 
right?"

Shaking his head in the affirmative, Ed said, "John took care of 
them, but Bob, our handyman, was injured."

"That's terrible," replied the elderly woman.

With a sigh of weariness, Ed answered, "Yes, it is. There's a lot of 
evil in this world."

Mrs. Hayes watched as Ed walked to the window and looked down 
at the city below. By his posture, she could tell that the sight 
bothered him. She asked, "What's the matter?"

"I don't like cities. The only improvement that I've seen in city life 
is air quality. Since John invented the fusion battery, the air is 
cleaner. The people are still miserable and there is no reason for 
it," said Ed. With low-cost and highly portable power available, it 
was possible to live anywhere a person might want, yet people still 
clung to cities as though there was some benefit to being packed 
together like sardines in a can.

Mrs. Hayes answered, "You just don't know what the city has to 
offer. There are all kinds of stores, restaurants, and things to do. 
Cities are vibrant and alive."

Smiling at her assessment of the city, Ed replied, "I guess I like my 
little town. I know everyone and everyone knows me. When I walk 
down the street, people stop and talk to me. The stores may not be 
set up for hundreds of shoppers, but the owners take the time to 
know me. They even stock stuff they think I'll like. Maybe the 
variety isn't the same as in the city, but the quality is just as good."

She laughed and said, "I guess there are differences in people that 
can never be resolved. I like watching the variety of people in the 
city."

Several days later, leaning against the limousine as he waited for 
Ling's arrival, Ed thought about the past ten days. The 
investigation had progressed nicely and the scope was now 
national in scale. The case was very ugly. Even listening to the 
details as the agents brought in the reports made Ed sick to his 
stomach. He couldn't wait for the case to end. His plans for the day 
were simple, pick up Ling and start the arrests.

The case wasn't the only thing on his mind. Ed was curious to hear 
about this mystery man that had moved into the house. No one had 
provided him with any details about how it had come to be that 
they had a fulltime guest. The only thing that anyone said was that 
he would like the guy when he met him.

When the plane landed, he watched as a very vibrant Ling climbed 
out and headed towards him. She ran to him and threw her arms 
around him. After a very passionate hello kiss, she cooed, "It's so 
good to see you."

He lifted her up and swung her around as he replied, "I've missed 
you so much. How's John and Kelly?"

Ling giggled as she said, "Oh, John is still one of the two sexiest 
men in the world and no one can lick a woman like a Kelly."

Laughing at the answer, Ed said, "And to think that I was stuck in 
this horrible city horny as hell."

When they climbed into the limousine, Ling settled on his lap and 
promised, "I'll take care of that little problem."

"Little? I'm crushed!"

Giggling, Ling answered, "I said that the problem was small, not 
the parts involved."

Laughing and relaxing for the first time since she had left, Ed 
asked, "So tell me about the visitor that's moved into the house."

Wiggling on his lap, Ling said, "John said you would be curious 
about Leroy."

"Of course, when John calls and says he found someone that might 
make a good husband I have to pay attention," replied Ed as he ran 
a finger over one of Ling's shirt covered nipples. The lack of 
protest made his movements a little bolder, pinching it a little 
before returning to rub it. He asked, "So how did you find this 
guy?"

As her nipple stiffened under his touch, Ling said, "John, Kelly, 
and I were going into Phoenix for a charity event when a drunk 
driver passed us going at least one fifty. He would have clipped 
our car, but we drove off the road."

"Wow, sounds like the jerk wanted to get himself killed," replied 
Ed knowing that Ling was the one driving the car. She always 
drove when she was in a car.

"Yeah, he got his wish too. After we got back on the road, we get a 
little further up the road and there's a car with the whole side 
smashed in. We stop but there is nobody in it. About a hundred 
yards further down the road is a second car. Now that one was in 
really bad shape. It was one of the old gasoline powered cars and 
the smell of fuel was everywhere. When we get to it, there's a guy 
with a broken arm trying to get the person out of the other car."

Raising an eyebrow, Ed asked, "You could tell that his arm was 
broken?"

"Big time. The bone was sticking out through his shirt," answered 
Ling.

Grimacing at the image that invoked, Ed said, "So what was he 
doing?"

"The door on the car was locked. Leroy was trying to kick the 
window out so that he could open the door to release the woman 
that was trapped inside." She laughed for a second. "You should 
have seen him. He couldn't use his arm and each time he kicked at 
the window he lost his balance. He wasn't going to give up no 
matter what."

Ed nodded impressed and asked, "So what did he do when you 
guys showed up?"

"He was very concerned about the woman in the car, particularly 
since she was bleeding. He wouldn't let us treat him until she was 
pulled out," answered Ling. She shook her head as she observed, 
"Since most cars use the Fusion Battery for power now, most 
people think that an old gasoline car blows up after a wreck."

"Only in the movies," said Ed. This guy sounded like a hero and he 
could understand why John took him into the house. He asked, "So 
everything ended up okay?"

"He's so much like John, that you wouldn't believe it. He was more 
concerned about the woman getting treated at the hospital than 
him," answered Ling. 

"It sounds like you like him."

Nodding, Ling replied, "Yes, I do. He's a real nice guy. I mean, 
he's polite to everyone, even the staff. He's also kind."

"Hmm. What does he do for a living?" asked Ed wanting to find 
out more about Leroy.

"He's a college student working on his doctorate in animal 
physiology, or something like that. He explained it to me one 
evening over dinner. He wants to understand how individuals 
within the same species that live in cold and in hot environments 
differ based on the environment in which they live."

With a mischievous grin, Ed tickled Ling as he said, "You have to 
watch out for those doctoral students, they are a tricky lot. I know, 
'cause I used to be one."

Reacting to the tickles, Ling playfully slapped his hand and said, 
"You stop that. First you get me all worked up by playing with my 
nipple and then you abuse me by tickling me."

Ed laughed and stopped tickling her. Putting his arms around her, 
he asked, "How does he accept the rules of the house?"

"He fit right in. I don't think anyone has explicitly told him the 
rules to tell the truth," answered Ling uncertain of her answer. She 
had never thought to ask if anyone had explained the rules. She 
said, "He didn't have a problem with nudity in the house. He never 
said a word about it. He hasn't hit on anyone or made any 
untoward advances."

Impressed, Ed looked out the window for a moment. It sounded to 
him like the guy was pretty nice. Seeing where they were, Ed 
reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of mirrored 
sunglasses. Ling noticed and asked, "What's with the sunglasses?"

Smiling at her, he answered, "I waited for you to get back to make 
the busts. We're on our way there now."

Torn between her happiness that he had waited for her and her 
disappointment that he wasn't going to ravish her, she said, "You 
got me all wet down there to take me to a bust?"

"I'm sorry, you're just so beautiful that I couldn't keep my hands 
off you."

Thrilled by the unexpected complement, Ling said, "I'll forgive 
you this time."

The limousine stopped by the side of the street. Spotting Mike, 
Norman, Venessa, and Jimmy waiting for him by a building, Ed 
said, "We're here. Let's get this taken care of so that you can have a 
little fun."

Ling glanced over at the people waiting for them and got quiet. 
Hesitating, she asked, "Is Jimmy Lee going to be here for a day or 
two?"

Smiling at her, he answered with a wink, "I promised Jimmy Lee 
that you would have a sparring match this evening. I imagine that 
it is going to take all night for you two to decide who has the most 
stamina."

Playfully, she grabbed his cheeks and said, "You're so bad."

"You don't want to do that?" asked Ed with a smirk on his face.

"I want," answered Ling as she looked over at the man leaning 
against the building. 

"Let's get to it. They are probably worried that we're going to miss 
the raid. It's scheduled to start in fifteen minutes," suggested Ed.

Ling slowly climbed off his lap and took a moment to prepare 
herself. Opening her purse, she took out a little compact and 
checked that her makeup wasn't smudged. While she was checking 
herself in the mirror, Ed leaned over and traced each nipple with a 
finger. Wearing a crooked mischievous smile, he said, "Your 
headlights are showing!"

Falling over in laughter, Ling couldn't control herself. It took her 
five minutes to get control of herself. Finally, they left the car and 
went to join the others by the side of the building. Unlike the first 
time that Ling and Jimmy Lee met, there wasn't any teasing on his 
part. He was watching the building like Tiger used to watch 
rabbits. The entire group was tense. Ed asked, "What's up?"

Mike answered, "The night crew was picked up after leaving here 
this morning. The information we got out of them is really ugly."

As she shivered with an inner chill that contrasted with the hot 
weather, Venessa said, "I'm not going in."

Without taking his eyes from the building, Jimmy Lee said, "Don't 
make her go in. We've got five cops at the back exit in case they 
run. There are about twenty nurses in hazmat suits waiting for us to 
clear the building. None of them know what is going on."

Surprised to hear that nurses were being dressed in hazardous 
material suits, Ling asked, "Hazmat suits? You expect to find 
chemicals in there?"

Norman, his voice strained, answered, "No. We expect to find 
people in there."

This sounded a lot worse than Ed had imagined. He asked, "What's 
the plan?"

Norman said, "Mike, Jimmy, and I are going to go in there and 
grab them. We are going to be wearing protective masks and 
bulletproof vests. If anyone other than us comes out the front door, 
then you two take care of them. Don't bother being nice to them, 
they will be the bad guys."

Mike came over with a radio and headset so that they could 
communicate with each other. As he put it on Ling, he said, "This 
is a reserved channel. All of the radios are live so anything anyone 
says will be broadcast."

While Mike fitted Ling with the radio, Norman handed Ed a 
bulletproof vest and a jacket to put over it. When Ed finished with 
the vest, it was his turn to be fitted with the radio. Looking over at 
Ling, he noticed the troubled look on her face. He asked, "What's 
the matter?"

"I don't like wearing these things."

Once everyone was ready, the group waited three minutes and then 
headed for the door to the building. Even looking through the 
sunglasses at the building, the evil radiating off it was horrible and 
made Ed sick to his stomach. When they reached the door, Jimmy 
used keys taken from the pair arrested earlier to open it. Holding 
the door open for the other two men with his voice muffled by the 
mask he was wearing, he shouted, "Law Enforcement. We have a 
warrant to search the premises!"

From the open door, a stench billowed out that threatened to make 
Ed and Ling throw up. It forced them to step back several paces 
even as the three men ran into the building. Everything was quiet 
until Mike shouted, "Freeze!"

The volume of his shout through the radio was almost enough to 
hurt their ears. The shout was followed by the sound of gunfire. 
The radio suddenly became a jumbled mess of shouts, cries, and 
gunfire. Ling patted her vest, thankful that she had it. 

The front door burst open and a man ran out firing behind him. On 
leaving the building, he turned the gun towards Ling. Ed watched, 
as she became a whirling dervish with arms and legs whipping out 
at the man. It took her less than a second to render him 
unconscious. Standing over him, she glared at the motionless mess 
on the ground and spat, "Try to shoot us!"

The radio was still a confused stream of shouts. Ling had returned 
to stand near the door in case anyone else came out. Suddenly, 
everything calmed down as Mike's voice came over the radio 
reading rights to someone. Once that was done, Jimmy shouted, 
"All clear, get the nurses in here. Now."

Ed turned and saw a number of people in full body hazmat suits 
leave a building next door and head their way. The county health 
commissioner was with them, looking wildly around at the scene. 
He stopped next to Ed and asked, "What is happening here? I'm 
asked to bring twenty hazmat suits to the police station for training 
and then we end up here."

Ed turned to the man and said, "Five of your health inspectors have 
just been arrested for taking bribes. An assistant coroner has also 
been arrested for covering up the deaths at this facility. The owner 
and all of the employees of this place have been arrested as well."

The man stepped back and said, "I've had nothing but good reports 
about this place."

Norman and Mike came out of the building. Ripping off their 
masks, both men raced to the side of the building. On reaching it, 
they bent over and retched. Jimmy Lee came out of the building 
pushing a woman that was bleeding from her shoulder and leg. 
Without any tenderness, he threw her to the ground next to the man 
that Ling had caught. He stood over the pair with his pistol drawn 
and hands shaking. Ed shouted, "Jimmy Lee. You have fulfilled 
your service to the God!"

Jimmy lowered the gun and returned it to his holster. Ripping off 
his mask, he looked up at Ed with tears in his eyes. Angry, he 
shouted, "You have no idea what it is like in there!"

At a commotion near the door, Ed saw that several of the nurses 
had come out of the building and joined the men in throwing up. 
Looking at the effect that the building had on people who had gone 
in, he told the commissioner, "Maybe you should go in there."

The man went to the building and opened the door reeling back as 
the stench billowed out through the door. Closing the door, he said, 
"I have to get a mask. That's the worst thing I have ever smelled in 
my life."

The sounds of sirens from all over the city filled the air as 
ambulances, police cars, and others poured in to the crime scene. 
Several police officers came over to take custody of the pair on the 
ground. Ling went over and said, "The unconscious one hasn't had 
his rights read to him."

Mike came over to the police officers and, with a furious 
expression on his face, said, "Leave them there until everyone else 
has been cleared from the building."

The officer looked up from the wounded woman and said, "They're 
wounded. The city will get sued if we don't get them to a hospital."

Angry that he hadn't shot to kill, Mike shouted, "Leave them there. 
There are over a hundred people in that building that are in worse 
medical condition."

Norman and Venessa came over to where Ed and Ling were 
standing. The health commissioner had disappeared, presumably to 
find a mask to wear. Jimmy Lee and Mike joined them after 
turning custody of the criminals over to the police officers. Ed 
looked at their faces and said, "I knew it was going to be bad. I 
don't know how bad it really is."

Looking away, Norman said, "There are at least a hundred elderly 
people in that building. They are tied naked on wooden planks. 
Most of them are covered in feces and vomit. We caught the 
woman in one of the rooms washing off the patients with a hose."

Voice quivering, Mike said, "They've been starved. Every one of 
them looks like a skeleton. I didn't even realize they were alive 
until I saw one blink."

At the sound of a cell phone ringing, Norman reached into a pocket 
and pulled out his phone. He stepped away and talked for several 
minutes. The rest of the group stood around, each lost in their own 
thoughts.

Jimmy Lee didn't say a word about his experience in the building, 
but continued to look back at the pair on the ground periodically. 
When Norman returned to the group, Jimmy asked, "Any news on 
the other raids?"

"They all went off without a problem. It's the same story 
everywhere," answered Norman with a shiver. One place like this 
was bad enough, but learning that there were places like this all 
over the country made one wonder.

Ed asked, "Everyone was taken?"

"All two hundred and thirty two people were arrested here in the 
states. There isn't any news from the Russians." 

Looking up at the news helicopters circling over the nursing home, 
Ed said, "It's going to be on the news any minute now. If they 
didn't get the Russian leaders by now, then they won't get them."

The front lawn of the nursing home had turned into a zoo. 
Ambulances were parked everywhere, tents had been set up to treat 
the victims, and police officers had established a perimeter. The 
county health commissioner showed up looking very pale with 
signs that he had thrown up. He came to Ed and said, "There are a 
hundred and nineteen people in there."

At the announcement, Venessa looked up and said, "There are 
supposed to be a hundred and fifty-eight."

Shaking his head at the implications of the discrepancy, Ed said, 
"We'll have to let the detectives follow up on that."

Jimmy Lee asked, "So what do we do now?"

"Norman is the federal agent in charge. Mike is the LAPD 
detective in charge of this particular raid. So I guess the two 
leaders should face the press," answered Ed with a grin. 

For the first time since entering the building, Jimmy Lee broke out 
in a smile in response to the looks on the faces of Mike and 
Norman. He asked, "Can I leave?"

"Not yet," answered Ed. 

The group went over to where the press had gathered. On the way, 
Venessa handed out the statements she had prepared about the 
scope and purpose of the raid. Ed stepped up to the podium and 
removed his sunglasses. Looking over the crowd of reporters, Ed 
said, "A great evil has been removed from across this country this 
afternoon. We can not tell the details of this case until justice has 
been served. We can say that this was international in scope."

Pausing for effect, Ed looked across the reporters and into the 
cameras. In a very somber tone of voice he continued, "Over two 
hundred people have conspired to exploit the elderly for financial 
gain. Under the guise of being a nursing home, they took 
individuals with no family or friends. The conditions under which 
they were kept were horrendous and we shall not go into details 
about their treatment in order to preserve the dignity of the 
victims."

Ed stepped back and let Norman take the podium. Norman 
outlined the national level of effort that had been undertaken. The 
number of government agencies that had been involved was 
significant, spanning the FBI, IRS, INS, the state department, and 
local law enforcement agencies. 

When Norman had finished, Mike stood up and outlined the 
operation that had been undertaken at the local level. He described 
how arrests had been timed to take place simultaneously so that no 
warning could be given to others. The initial reports were that all 
suspects had been captured.

After a period of question and answer, the group split up with 
Jimmy Lee, Ed, and Ling heading to the limousine. Inside the car, 
Ed turned to Jimmy and asked, "So this was your first service to 
the God. What do you think?"

Jimmy stared out the window at the crowd gathered around the 
building. In a very quiet voice, he said, "I didn't know what to 
expect. I'm happy to have been a part of bringing down something 
this evil, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Yes, it is a nice feeling to know that you've made a difference," 
answered Ed. Glancing over at Ling and the tension in her body, he 
asked, "Are you happy that I didn't dive in front of any bullets?"

"You were still too close to the action, but at least you let me take 
care of the bad guy," answered Ling with a smile. 

Ed said, "Drop me off at the hospital. Why don't you two work off 
some of that energy?"

Strolling into the hospital, Ed looked around at the main lobby. No 
matter what they did to make a hospital look friendly, they were 
still depressing places. People, worrying about their loved ones sat 
in small groups, frowns and quiet voices filled with fear were the 
status quo. The woman over there was worried about breast cancer, 
the elderly man over there was worried about his gall bladder, and 
the guy coughing might have lung cancer. There were the 
traumatic injuries, sloppiness with a saw, a car out of control, and 
falls. Hospitals were places where the wall between life and death 
was very thin. People were always uncomfortable wherever that 
wall was thin.

After chatting a little with the nurses at the nurse's station, he made 
his way to the room of Dr. Hayes. Entering, Mrs. Hayes said, "Ed, 
did you see the news?"

"What news?"

Agitated, the elderly woman answered, "About those people in the 
nursing home. We just turned on the news. All of the nurses are 
talking about it. It's so terrible."

Dr. Hayes commented, "I have no idea how those animals could do 
that to human beings."

Wondering if something had happened after he had left, Ed asked, 
"What happened?"

He looked over at the television set, just as they started replaying 
the new conference that he had held. Ed said, "I know about the 
news conference, did something else happen after it that I need to 
know?"

A stunned Dr. Hayes stared at Ed. His suspicions about Ed 
crumbled into dust. An awestruck Mrs. Hayes sat watching Ed. 
Finally, Dr. Hayes said, "I guess that explains your mysterious 
disappearances the past few days. I thought you were cheating on 
your family. I'm sorry about that."

Maggie Hopler, looking at the television and then at Ed, slowly 
moved out of the room to talk to the other nurses. She knew the 
news would spread through the hospital within minutes. 

Shrugging off the accusation, Ed said, "No problem. I was just 
working on a case."