Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. Mystery of Avina. Chapter 16. Run!
We had our headlamps on as we went inside, but we did not meet anyone in the hallway. We stopped at a large room which appeared to be the command center of this operation. As soon as I entered the room a recording began… “Hello Steve, did you really think I would be here waiting for your arrival?” That is as far as it got when MC meowed=Me smell bomb, run now! I sounded the alarm and yelled to run outside.
We all ran hard! I remember hearing a loud roar, then everything went black. I woke up in our room at the clinic without knowing how I managed to get there. Muffin saw me open my eyes and quickly pressed the buzzer. Chung came running in. “Ah, you have rejoined us at last,” he said, “now you are getting your much needed rest.” He was smiling as he said it. “Why cannot I move my legs?”, I asked in a quiet voice.
“Oh, not to worry,” he said, “some tissue damage, but they will be fine.” I had been here 2 days already. Kat was still here too, in the bed next to me. This was our designated room and we had it decorated the way we liked to make it more of a cozy room, not a typical hospital room. “How did we all get back here?,” I asked Chung.
“Oh, Jennifer and her team were still outside so they were not hurt in the blast. She contacted Baldwin who sent in his rescue team to get you out quickly,” he answered. Apparently they were already in Norway since Baldwin was expecting we might need help, since we often do. I am sure glad he planned ahead on this one. I just made it out when the first blast occurred which knocked me flat onto the ground.
Sigurbjorn ran back to get me and dragged me away from the building just in time before the second blast which would have killed me for sure. I think she kind of disobeyed orders on that one, but I am glad she did. Laying in that bed day after day I had not much to do but think about things. For example, how did Avina know we were coming?
Did she see us that far in advance that she had time to leave? It is possible. She may have had people watching all along those fjords just in case. I am sure she knew I would chase her down. But someone could have warned her ahead of time from a more distant location. But who would have done that? Not many people outside our team knew what we were doing.
But people working for Baldwin have sold information to our enemies before so it could have happened again. Only one person was not found from our team, that was John. That is all the information I could get from Chung. Finally I had a good talk with Baldwin, I needed to know if any of our team were killed or hurt. “Well, you should not be thinking about other things right now,” Baldwin said, “just concentrate on getting better.”
“No, I need to know what happened up there,” I said. “Okay, Jenny, Carine and Kristina were outside, so they are fine,” he began, “Sigurbjorn was just ahead of you and did not realize she had gotten that far ahead, so she turned, saw you down and came back for you, or you would not be here right now. She did get hurt from the second blast, but not seriously. John simply was not found, but if he was still inside that building there likely would not be anything to find.
Jake was seriously hurt but will be okay, Tracy had some minor injuries but she is fine. Benson is in rough shape, we are not sure if he will make it, Bellamy died. Galyna, Rossana and Sovia were also injured, but not too bad, they will be on their feet quicker than you.” “Well, that certainly knocks down our team quite a bit,” I said, “and Avina wins a second time.
We cannot let her win a third time or there might not be anyone left in our team. What about MC?” Right then MC and Muffin jump on my bed. Meow!=Me fine and okay too human boss! I chuckled at the way he said that. Meow,meow.=Yep, still have us 3 cats for next operation. “And we will need all 3 of you too,” I said, “so stay in shape, once enough of us are back to health we will be going after Avina again.
But this time Avina will lose, I promise that.” Just then Storm jumped onto the bed too. Meowr.=That good, we need to stop her quick, she bad. “Yes Storm, we will stop her as quick as we can,” I said seriously. “Well, right now you need to concentrate on getting out of here Steve,” said Baldwin. “You know,” I said, then that headache began again…
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Better check the 💊 they are giving you!! Could be another spy on the inside??😬😬🤨🙁😲😳
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No inside spy this time, only Chung and Mriya working at the clinic, with Jenny and Carine working as “nurses”. But I was without my real medication for so long that it might take a long time to get things back to normal. But where is Avina?😯👩😾😾😾🕵️
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That’s the real question isn’t it??🤨🤨 But where in the World 🌎 is she? Could be anywhere!! Where to even start? John most likely is dead and Jake was injured I guess Annelie better get her hunting skills sharpened up!😳😳😲
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Yes, she has had ample time to hide herself and the remnants of her team, we know that 4 of them were killed for sure, maybe more. Yes, John is likely dead. Annelie is already working on trying to find Avina but when Avina wants to hide, she is very good at it. But she is the type that likes attention, so she will be back sooner or later. But the longer she is out there, the worse things will get for us.😬👩😾😾😾🕵️
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So do you think this was her plan all along? To draw you in and kill you??🤔😳😲
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Nope, she only did that because I found out where she was and she decided to then trap us and get us out of the way so she could continue with her plans, or maybe new plans. If MC hadn’t been there most of us would have died in that explosion! He is well trained to sniff out bombs!😮😾🕵️
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It is a good thing he was there and his sniffer was sniffing like it never sniffed before!!
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Yes, and Avina was smart to leave that recording behind to keep me there listening to it to ensure I would be killed. MC is our hero on this one!😾😻🕵️
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You should give him some special team recognition 🤨 after all he did save you.
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Well, we have never had anything like that since we work as a team, each member is important in whatever they are doing, that way no one feels left out. But he did get lots of hugs, kisses and special treats, which he shared with Muffin and Storm.😻😻😻🕵️
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That’s good!! He works hard that’s for sure!!😉😁😊
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Yep, that is actually the third time he has saved us from a bomb in our PI series.😺😺😺🕵️
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You should get him a nice new cat bed!😁😊
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He and Muffin already have a huge one! Fluffy and soft, filled with pillows, stuffed toys and blankets!
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Oh that’s good! It is King Size right??🤔🙄🙄
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It is for a cat bed!😻😻
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They do need to stretch out now and again!😉😁😊😂
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How much stretching can a little cat do?
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You might be surprised!!🙄🙄😂😂😂😂
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Not anymore!
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Did I give it away again??🙄🙄🤔😂😂😂
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😂😂😂 We’ll see what Muffin has to say about that!!😂😂😂😉
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This is a puzzler ! 🤔 thankfully , MC recognized bombs were in place and warned the others ! 🕵️♂️👩👩👩🙀😼
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Yes, MC is well trained to sniff out bombs of all sorts! Avina was smart leaving that recording to hopefully keep me inside long enough for the bombs to go off and kill all of us at once. But she failed again even though she won round 2. We can’t let her win next time or it could be our last!😬👩😾😾😾🕵️
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