Chapter 9

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 wouldn’t 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’m 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’s your place to discuss the matter.”

“That is correct.”

Taking a deep breath, Ed said, “And you wouldn’t like to be forced to expose the secret by clever questioning on my part.”

“Yes, 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 to, 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, but many of the staff members and volunteers were already 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 doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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?”