The Investigators, Inc. Mystery of Avina. Chapter 8. More Trouble.

When we got to the park we breathed a sigh of relief, that is, until we realized that no one was there waiting for us. What happened? There must have been some trouble. Sure enough, there was. Apparently the police showed up with lots of questions. Fortunately the helicopters were back and had been cleaned up before the police arrived. Storm alerted Muffin about what was happening and she told me.

“Great,” I said to the others, “everything was going so good on this one too. I better call Baldwin and let him know.” “What?”, said Baldwin, “I will handle this!” I am quite sure he will. His large company here brings lots of money into the government, plus provides lots of employment as well. But even if he gets the police out of there, they just might have someone close by watching the place so it would be dangerous for Kat and the others to leave.

However, it is definitely too far to walk from here. Hmm, maybe there is another way. Soon the vans from the prison came rushing down the road. I stood down by the park entrance with our prisoner and waved at the prison vans to stop. Fortunately a couple of the guards could speak English and I told them I had been in the park and caught this woman who said she had broken out of the prison and she wanted me to help her.

All of the guards were out of the vans by now. They did not believe my story and were going to take me back to the prison too. That is when my team showed up and soon we were driving away with the prison vans and the guards were tied to posts at the park, minus any way to communicate. But they were having a good sleep when we left them.

Once close to Baldwin’s complex we drove down a side road and off into the trees with the vans. Then we ran back to the base. Soon our jet was in the air flying back toward home. But, more troubles arrived on our way. John called me with the news. Seems some guy came along to him and he had Susan whom he wanted to sell to John. “Ever heard of a guy named “Toledo”?,” he asked me. “No, does not sound familiar at all,” I said.

“Well, this guy comes with Susan and said Toledo has a message for you to settle an old debt,” said John, “either I pay him $10,000 right then or Susan gets killed. Well, I did not believe the guy, people are always saying things. I told him to forget it, he has to deal with you personally. Well, he stabbed her right before my eyes, then tried to run.

I caught him before he got far and have him here. But Susan is dead.” He was quite choked up at that point. I was just plain angry. “Can you find out anything about this Toledo?”, I ask John. “I will find him for you Steve,” he said slowly, “this really hit me hard, I just never thought he would do it, I never thought…” It actually sounded like John was crying at that point.

“Call the police John,” I said, “right now you are part of my team, on a case for me. Give them Baldwin’s phone number, he will vouch for you. Give them that guy you caught. Please find out where I can locate this Toledo character.” “I can take him out for you Steve,” said John, “better for me to do than for you, besides, you do not have the time. I will give you whatever info I can as to why he did this.”

“Thank you John,” I said quietly, “and name your price.” “That is easy, free!”, he said firmly. I called Baldwin and let him know what had just happened. “Could be Avina is trying to tell you something,” he said. “Perhaps, but it could be coincidence,” I said, “for now that is the way we look at it. Avina will get her people, but once we have Krissy we will get them back, with Avina.”

We arrived at the airport, dropped off our prisoner, moved to Baldwin’s other jet and we were off again, this time to Poland. The authorities there had promised their cooperation so it will be a nice quick job. The prisoner had been given a drug to simulate a heart attack and they took him by ambulance to a hospital.

We intercepted the ambulance leaving the attendants sleeping on a bench while we drove away. We transferred to our own vehicle a few streets away and we were soon at the airport and once again in the air. That was almost too easy, but nice. Just 5 more to go…

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.