DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.


John Carter
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2003


Part 3: Robes of Acumen
Chapter 15

The sunset this evening was particularly dramatic. The sky was 
painted in hundreds of colors. The men sat in the lawn chairs 
watching the sky as the colors changed while the sun dipped below 
the horizon. No one said a word until the sun had dipped 
completely below the horizon and the colors had faded. Ed stated, 
"Can you imagine, Kelly is pregnant?"

John shook his head. "I'm just as surprised as you."

"Are you as happy about it as I am?"

John laughed, "Yes, maybe more. It's long past time for the patter 
of little feet to be heard around the house."

The most excited person in the family was Ling. She was the one 
that was busy fixing up a nursery and searching for a nanny. If 
Ling was to have her way, this child was going to be a prodigy. 
Leroy smiled, "I'm surprised by how much Ling is enjoying this."

Ed laughed as he agreed, "She's definitely enthusiastic."

Even Linda was getting into the action. She was busy making 
outfits for the child. She was also making clothes for Kelly. John 
understood why she would chose to make the clothes. Of everyone 
in the house, with the exception of Leroy, she was the poorest. 
John doubted that she could afford to buy a present. John stated, 
"It's fun watching Linda working on the clothes for Kelly."

"I've been wondering what kind of present I could get for Kelly. 
I'm not really able to afford much," stated Leroy. He felt 
embarrassed by his financial situation. He only had enough money 
for school. It was a sad fact that working on a doctorate meant you 
were poor.

"It doesn't matter what you get her, so long as it is from the heart."

From the heart, that phrase was used so often around this house 
that Leroy could hear it in his sleep. He had spent many hours 
looking at the gift from the tribe. John stated that it was from 
created from the hearts of individuals from the tribe. Leroy knew 
that it was priceless.

John looked over at Leroy for a moment. He asked, "So Leroy 
have you given any thought about joining the family?"

The smile disappeared in a flash. The real question was if he was 
ready to have sex with John and Ed. He answered, "Do you want to 
know the truth?"

"Always."

"I've given it a lot of thought, but I just don't know if I can do it."

The two men looked at each other. They decided it was time to 
give Leroy a little more experience with the ugly side of life. John 
stated, "I have a trip to make in two days. Ed is going to come with 
me. I would like you to join us."

Leroy was surprised by the request. "Where are you going?"

"Denver."

"What's in Denver?"

"We are going to arrest some people there. I have to warn you, it is 
liable to be dangerous."

Ed added, "These are really nasty people. We are going to be the 
last ones into the building, so the danger isn't that great."

Leroy thought about it for a moment. "Why do you want me 
along?"

John took a deep breath, "We want you to watch our backs. The 
people we are working with do not know us. We want to make sure 
that when we yell charge, we aren't the only ones running 
forward."

Leroy shrugged his shoulders, "Sure."

Three days later, John, Ed, and Leroy were crouched behind a van 
in front of a middle class suburban house. There were all kinds of 
cats in the area, some with collars while others were clearly feral. 
John watched the cats as they kept their distance, yet remained 
close enough to reach them within seconds.

All three men were wearing headsets with microphones. John 
checked his watch and waited until eleven o'clock. At that time, he 
whispered into the microphone, "Go!"

They stood up and walked around the van. Two men were already 
at the front door. One man shouted, "FBI, we have a warrant."

The other man kicked the door. As it burst open, the men ran 
inside with weapons at the ready. John and Ed followed them with 
Leroy bringing up the rear. The room they had entered looked like 
any room in a middle class neighborhood. The couch and chairs 
faced a color television. It was a picture of complete normality.

John stopped at the center of a fabric-covered wall when he 
noticed a cat sitting there. It was a cat from outside. He waited 
there with Ed while the FBI searched the rest of the house. Leroy 
wandered around the living room looking at the décor. The agents 
came streaming into the living room. One turned angrily to John, 
"There's no one here and nothing to suggest that anything wrong is 
going on."

John pressed the center panel of the fabric covering the wall. Much 
to the other agent's surprise, the panel swung open giving access to 
stairs down to a basement. Everyone stood looking at the stairs for 
a moment. John stated, "If I'm not mistaken, it is down there."

The FBI agents ran down the stairs. As a shot rang out, Leroy 
stepped in front of John in an attempt to protect him. The shot was 
followed by an answering volley. When it had quieted down, the 
cat left the house. John softly spoke into his microphone, "We need 
the nurses now. Call in an ambulance."

The three men went down the stairs. The sight that greeted them 
was sickening. The room was filthy and smelled. There was a bed 
with camera's surrounding it. Pictures of children engaged in 
various sexual acts were hung up on the wall. Some of the pictures 
showed kids with kids, but the majority of pictures were of adults 
abusing the kids. One very large picture showed a man with his 
cock in the ass of a four-year-old boy. The boy's face was twisted 
in pain. The man in the picture was grinning excitedly.

John and Ed stared in horror as a naked little girl about eight years 
old begged one of the FBI agents to leave the man alone. "I'll give 
you a real good blowjob if you are nice to my uncle. Would you 
rather fuck me? I've got a real tight ass, you can fuck it if you 
want."

Leroy stared in horror as events unfolded around him. There was a 
naked boy about the same age making similar statements to one of 
the other agents. Leroy looked at the wounded man on the floor 
with handcuffs holding his arms behind his back. He was naked. 
Apparently, they had interrupted him while he was having sex with 
one of the kids. Next to him was a handcuffed woman crying about 
the treatment of her husband. She looked up at the people in the 
room, "Go on, fuck the kids. I know you want to. Just let us go."

John looked at the woman in disgust. He walked around the room 
examining the walls. One region of wall looked suspicious. He 
tapped it. The wall swung open to reveal stacks of pictures and 
notebooks. John pointed to the notebooks. "Agent Mauz, the 
notebooks here should contain all of the records that you will need 
to bring down the rest of the ring."

The agent went over to the shelves and glanced in it. Putting 
gloves on his hands, he picked up the notebook on the top of the 
stack. He opened it whistling as he read the contents. In awe, he 
stated, "This logbook contains everything they've done. It looks 
like there are at least two hundred members in this gang and at 
least three hundred kids being abused."

He picked up one of the photo albums and shook his head. Inside 
there was a picture of each kid and a description of the types of sex 
they had been trained to perform. He looked up at John. "This is a 
catalog of kids."

Ed went to the women and knelt down. "Are there any other 
hidden panels here?"

She spat at Ed and answered, "No."

He asked, "Is it along this wall?"

"No."

Ed pointed to the wall, "Gentleman, there's another secret panel 
here on this wall."

One of the agents looked around the wall and found a seam. He hit 
the wall and the panel opened. The door lead to another room with 
cells. Most of them were empty, but there were two with a child in 
each one. These kids were even younger than the two in the first 
room. All of them were naked. Each cell had a simple pot for them 
to use as a toilet. The stench in the room was overwhelming.

The nurses from social services came into the room and took 
charge of the children. One of the children in the cell was hungry. 
She looked at the nurse, "I'm hungry. Are you the one I'm 
supposed to fuck for supper?"

The nurse stared at the girl in shock at the revelation that these kids 
had to perform sex in order to get something to eat. Leroy heard 
the news with disgust and walked away. This perversion of all that 
he held dear sickened him. His dad had often preached about evil, 
but he doubted even his father had seen such evil as this. He 
swallowed trying to keep the bile from rising.

Even as the nurses were dealing with the kids, the kids in the main 
room were continuing to offer their sexual services. The little girl 
was lying back on the bed fingering herself and trying to look 
sexy. A nurse was trying to get her off the bed and into some 
clothes. Once the little girl understood that the nurse wanted her to 
get dressed, she stated, "Oh, I get it. You want me to wear a 
costume while I eat your cunt."

The nurse looked at the men in the room and then fled the room 
with tears in her eyes. John went over to the little girl. He smiled, 
"Put on the clothes. You are getting a special treat. You'll get to eat 
without having to have sex with anyone. Today is a special day for 
you."

The girl looked at John for a moment, "You aren't going to fuck 
me?"

"No," replied John. "You don't have to do that any more."

She frowned as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. She 
asked, "Am I going to a new aunt and uncle today?"

"No, you are going to a safe place where you'll have food when 
you want it. You will never have to have earn your food by having 
sex." John handed her the simple gown. She took it and put it on. 

When John turned around, he noticed a video camera aimed at the 
bed. He examined it and frowned. John turned to one of the FBI 
agents in the room. "He was taping what was going on here. The 
tape is still running."

The agent went to the video camera and shut it down. He stated, 
"Evidence."

Leroy glared at the man on the floor. He wanted to hurt that man 
more than anything else in his life. The man on the floor saw his 
look. The man growled, "Hey nigger, I bet you'd love to fuck that 
little white boys' ass."

If Leroy didn't have his arm in a cast, he would have kicked the 
man in the face. As it was, he only replied, "You better buy some 
Vaseline before you get to prison. Talk like that will have a line of 
niggers waiting for their turn at your ass."

John smiled at Leroy and gave him a thumb's up sign. He saw how 
angry the man had made Leroy. He had been afraid that Leroy was 
going to react violently. Instead, he had only state a fact of prison 
life. John stated, "An ambulance is on it's way."

Ed returned to the woman. "Are there any other hidden panels?"

She glared at Ed, "No!"

Ed turned to agent Mauz, "You will have to take this house apart 
board by board. There are still more secret panels hidden around 
here."

Agent Mauz looked at John and Ed in awe, "You guys are as good 
as I was told you were."

"It's a shame that we have to deal with monsters like these two," 
replied John. He added, "Thank God we have men like yourself 
working hard to protect us from them."

Somehow, Agent Mauz found himself thanking John for his praise, 
"Thank you."

John asked, "Can you take it from here?"

"Yes, we can."

"Good," replied John. He added, "I'm going to the hotel to take a 
shower and try to wash this filth off me. We'll be at the Federal 
Building later this afternoon."

"Alright."

The man shouted at the agents, "Leave us alone. We aren't doing 
anything wrong. These kids like being treated like this. They want 
us to fuck them. Listen to them begging for it."

One of the agents looked like he wanted to kick the face of the 
pedophile. He moved as though he was going to kick a soccer ball. 
Another agent pulled him back shouting, "Don't do it. He'll walk if 
you do that!"

Agent Mauz turned to John and Ed. "These kids only know one 
way to please adults and that is with sex. They're going to require 
years of treatment."

"They need to be fed. They are used to getting food in exchange 
for sex. Feed them constantly. Make sure there is always food 
available for them. Don't worry if they get a stomachache, they 
need that more than any thing else right now." John sighed as he 
looked at the kids in the room. They were all dressed. The nurses 
had used his tactic to get them dressed. 

John, Ed, and Leroy walked up the stairs. The nurse that had fled 
the room below was sitting on the couch crying. Leroy put his 
hands on her shoulder and rubbed her shoulders and back. As he 
massaged her shoulders, he sang an old hymn. That and his touch 
eased her tension. She looked at Leroy, "How can such animals 
exist?"

"You insult animals by comparing those monsters to them. The 
kids need some food. See if you can find something here to feed 
them. You don't have to go back down there."

The nurse hugged Leroy, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The men walked out of the house. Leroy stopped outside the house 
and threw up onto the rosebushes. He wasn't embarrassed by his 
action. He turned to the other two, "I have never seen such evil in 
my life."

John frowned and answered, "I have. It never gets any easier to 
deal with it. I leave feeling dirty just by having stood next to 
them."

Ed nodded, "It's always hard when the victims are innocent 
children."

Leroy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stated, "They 
aren't innocent children anymore. They have become twisted by 
those sick bastards in there. Let's get the hell out of here."

The radio came on when John started the car, but he turned it off 
preferring the silence. The men drove to the hotel without saying a 
word. Each man was trapped in his own recollections of the horror 
he had witnessed. They went straight to the room.

Leroy was the first to take a shower. He left the bathroom filled 
with steam. His body was bright red. It looked as though he had 
tried to burn the stench of evil off his body. Ed went in next. He 
emerged from the bathroom five minutes later, bright pink from 
the hot water. John's shower lasted the longest. He had turned the 
temperature down to something that was reasonable. He used most 
of the soap washing his body repeatedly.  Exiting, he found Ed and 
Leroy looking out the window at the people below. 

He joined them at the window and watched the people scurrying to 
their next appointment. John stated, "Most of those people will 
never find love. They will find someone they feel they can settle 
for. When they do see a person with whom they can share true 
love, they discount them if they aren't perfect."

"They live empty lives according to rules they didn't make, but feel 
they can't question or break those rules. Then you see true evil and 
you realize that many of those barriers only prevent true love from 
developing. You can't love a fat person. You can't love someone 
who is poor. You can't love someone of the same gender." Ed 
sighed as he looked out the window. 

Leroy nodded, "I know what you mean now. I have just seen 
wrong and I will always know it when I see it."

"The first time always hits you the hardest, but you never get used 
to it."

Leroy went to his clothes and got dressed. He turned to Ed and 
John, "I'll be back soon."

When Leroy shut the door after leaving the room, Ed stated, "He's 
gone to get a drink."

John answered, "He won't drink it. He'll sit there thinking about 
what he has, what he can have, and what his alternatives are. He is 
at a crossroad in his life and needs to select a direction."

Leroy returned an hour later. He entered the suite and sat down in 
one of the chairs. He looked over at John, "I wanted to get shit-
faced drunk. I got down to the bar and realized that it wouldn't do 
any good."

"I know."

He continued, "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in 
my life. Those people have no idea of what love is all about."

Ed asked, "So what is love all about?"

"Love is caring about others. It is about wanting them to be the 
best person they can be. It isn't about sex."

A glance between Ed and John was followed by John stating, 
"That is what we believe as well."

Leroy was silent for a moment, "Your family cares about each 
other very much. You support each other, particularly when things 
are tough. I have never seen so many healthy people."

"Thank you."

Leroy continued, "I've watched you with Linda. I can see that you 
would like to sleep with her, but you are waiting for her to be 
ready for it. You are waiting for her to care about everyone else in 
the family. She loves you and Kelly. She trusts Ling and she's 
starting to know Ed. You are also working to help her realize her 
full potential. She's starting to think about futures that she could 
only dream about."

Ed nodded, "That's true."

"It wasn't until I watched you with her, that I realized you were 
doing the same thing for me. Even today was an opportunity for 
me to share in your life and to be able to contrast what I saw there 
with what I see at your house." Leroy looked at the two men for 
confirmation of what he had stated. Reassured by their nods, he 
continued, "I would like to understand what you see in me that 
makes you feel like I belong in your family."

John stated, "You care about others. You were more worried about 
the woman that was trapped in the car than you cared about 
yourself. You looked at those kids today and the treatment of them 
made you sick to your stomach. You comforted the nurse that 
couldn't handle the sight below. You didn't feel ashamed by 
throwing up afterwards. You are a good person and our family 
needs good people."

Ed added, "You have a good sense of humor. You have lived in the 
house with us and haven't been critical of our lifestyle. When you 
did see something you didn't support, you only made a suggestion 
leaving it up to us. That was particularly true of the discussion with 
Mrs. Hayes about the rules of the house."

"Do you love me?"

"Yes, I do." John answered as honestly as he could. 

"Same here," replied Ed. He looked carefully at Leroy, "The real 
question is if you love us."

Leroy looked thoughtful for a moment. "I've always considered 
love to be some sort of passionate emotion more akin to lust than 
like. I realized that the deep emotional bond that I have for all of 
you is love."

John asked, "You have a problem, though."

"Yes. I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of having sex with a 
man." Years of life as a Southern Baptist had established clear 
rules of right and wrong. Yet today, he had seen true evil. The 
other petty things paled in contrast.

John stated, "When the family was formed, Kelly insisted on that 
point. At the time, Ed and I had very serious doubts. Now, I've 
come to accept that she was right. It does eliminate jealousy."

The topic was still tough for Ed to talk about, but he added his 
observations, "We decided that sex between men was very 
different from the sex between a man and woman. When I just 
want to get off, I go to John. We don't do foreplay like you would 
with a woman. We just get straight to it."

John stated, "I don't think that Ed and I have ever kissed. Yes, we 
do suck cock and take it in the ass. To tell the truth, I enjoy both of 
them."

Nodding his agreement, Ed added, "When a woman is involved, it 
is a totally different experience. Usually, anything that goes on 
between us is really part of the foreplay for the woman. Kelly 
really enjoys watching men with men. Ling likes having 
threesomes where one of the people is getting pleasured by two 
people at once."

Leroy listened to the descriptions of their activities with each 
other. In some ways, it helped him accept the idea. The hardest 
image to over come was kissing another guy. In other ways, it 
made it harder to accept. He sighed, "I just don't know."

John laughed, "It's not like you have to make a decision any time 
soon."

"Yes, I do."

"Why?'

Leroy stated, "I feel like I'm taking advantage of you and your 
family. I haven't contributed anything since I came."

"You mean you haven't been helping Mrs. Hayes? I guess all those 
trips to Phoenix to pick out carpets, tiles, paint colors, and fixtures 
weren't contributing anything." Ed stated as he examined Leroy.

"Of course, all those hours you spent keeping Dr. Hayes company 
while he was stuck in bed wasn't helping us. Let's not forget the 
fact that you're pushing him around in the wheelchair despite 
having an arm in a cast," added John.

Ed nodded, "Oh, let's not forget that you've been helping Bob 
around the house when his neck hurts too much."

"Well, I haven't improved life for you guys."

"Really? I hadn't noticed that. I guess all those evenings watching 
the sun set together and talking about desert life didn't improve my 
quality of life."

"Yes, I've really hated those discussions. I haven't looked forward 
to watching the sunset since you've moved in." The sarcasm in Ed's 
voice was unmistakable.

"I didn't appreciate the fact that when the shooting started, you 
stepped in front of me." John laughed, "You might have gotten 
shot instead of me!"

Leroy laughed. He stated, "Okay guys, I get the message."

John and Ed smiled at each other. John asked, "Food?"

After a consensus was achieved, John called down to room service. 
He ordered three steaks, one medium rare, one medium, and one 
medium well. Since he and Ed were still naked, they went into the 
bedroom so that Leroy could deal with room service. When the 
food arrived and room service had left, John and Ed joined Leroy 
in setting out the food. 

John looked at the other two and stated, "Burnt, ruined meat."

Ed looked at the other two and stated, "Raw, you need to get the 
meat cooked."

"You both need to learn moderation," stated Leroy. John and Ed 
laughed. He was the first person that had responded to their normal 
exchange with a joke.

The plates had the required Broccoli and the famous fat French 
fries. John and Ed looked at the plate and laughed. When Leroy 
went to eat a French Fry, John held a glass while Ed filled it with 
iced tea. The look on Leroy's face when he bit into the fry was 
priceless. Ed handed him the glass of iced tea before he even had a 
chance to ask for it. After drinking half the glass, he looked at 
them accusing, "You knew they tasted like crap!"

Ed laughed as he retorted, "The first time we ate one of those, we 
would have killed for something to wash it down with."

John stated, "You wouldn't have believed us if we had warned 
you."

Leroy looked at the plate and sadly said, "The only thing worth 
eating is the steak."

"That's why we are having it for lunch instead of dinner," clarified 
Ed. He laughed, "We had this for dinner the first time he and I had 
sex. We woke up in the middle of the night hungry as hell."

John laughed as he added, "believe me when I say that his cum 
tastes batter than that fry."