For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
After the Major left I went and told the others the rest of what Major and I had just talked about. “We will need to go at this very carefully,” I said, “if the kidnappers suspect we are looking for her, then they will know that the Major hired us. That will mean sure death for Macey. So, we do not use our scramblers, we just have to be careful how we talk, and do most of our talking about the case outside. But we will take the new scramblers just in case we can use them at times.
Inside we send notes to each other, on paper, then destroy the paper. We will arrive in teams and we do not know each other. We will pretend to meet and spend time together once we are there. Sky, Crystal, Kristina and I will go first, with Muffin. Annelie, can you work your laptop over there? They might have someone smart enough to hack into your laptop.” “If they can do that,” she said, “then I will retire for good!”
“Okay, you, Rock, Benson, Carine, and Astrid, with MC, will be in team 2,” I said, “then Galyna, Angel, Tracy, Marlene (one of our new nurses), and Sigurbjorn, will be in team 3, with Storm. Chung, Saranna and Bridgette (our other new nurse) and Ilda, will stay here, but will be ready to come if we need them.” We actually managed to get a commercial flight early the next morning which will take us to a larger island close to the one we want.
From there we will use a boat for travel to the island, or other islands if needed. Baldwin would have a boat ready for us by the time we got there. The others will use regular boats that travel among the islands. I then called Crandall to get his take on things. “No need to worry about the Major, Steve,” he said, “he is on the level with this. And Macey would never do this herself, she loves her dad, she really does.
And she does not need the money, the Major’s whole estate is hers. He even offered to give her half of it when she turned 20, but she turned it down. Her two brothers have a good place in the organization and lots of cash to go with it. Plus, it was partly their idea to give Macey all the inheritance. And it would be death for them to go against their dad, Victor would never stand for that.
Do what you want to their enemies, but you never touch anyone inside the organization, no matter what.” “Thanks Crandall,” I said, “that helps a lot.” “I can help you with something else too,” he said, and went on to tell me. “That is good to know,” I said, “I appreciate all your help, and if you come up with any more information, let me know quickly.”
“I will sure do that Steve,” he said, “wish I could come along, but those kidnappers might know me.” “Yes, it would be too dangerous for you, and for Macey,” I said. We hung up and then it was off to bed for all of us, our day would be starting early. Two hours into our flight and we hit some turbulence, not fun for this guy. It didn’t seem to bother the girls though. Meow,meow.=Man behind watch us.
“Yes,” said Crystal, “I have noticed that too.” Her and Kristina were sitting ahead of us and turned around most of the time talking to us. Once the turbulence ended the man who had been watching us fell asleep, or at least had his eyes closed. Muffin disappeared before I had a chance to stop her, I knew what she was planning. One of these times she will get caught, I am sure of it.
She came back after a bit with the mans wallet. I still do not know how she does that so easily. Sky just giggled. I looked through the wallet, not much interesting here. Wait, what is this? I recognized a small logo on the inside of his wallet. I pointed it out to Sky, she just frowned. Then I showed Crystal and Kristina.
Crystal recognized it right away. He had no money with him, not unusual these days, except he had no credit or debit cards either. Possibly he kept those in a separate holder. There was also a phone number written on a piece of paper, so Sky quickly copied it down. Then I sent the wallet back with Muffin who quickly dropped it in the aisle by the man and returned to us.
A flight attendant found it and returned it to the man. Finally we landed and hopped aboard our boat and headed off to our vacation destination. That is what we are calling it for now. There was a mix up at the hotel and we ended up with just one room instead of two. Sky thought that would be better anyway, and she might be right. All the others arrived and settled into their rooms. That man from the plane was also at our hotel, that was something I did not like…
To Be Continued.
Β©2023 Steve McLeod.
This should be an interesting case! Already looks like you’ve picked up a tail!π¬π¬ But with the others trailing you can keep this guy busy while they recon the place!π Good thinking there!
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Yep, I was thinking perhaps we might have some unwanted company, though I wasn’t expecting it quite so soon. That part is unnerving, though it might be a coincidence that he showed up on the same plane. After all, no one knew what flight we would be taking. Team 2 used one of Baldwin’s jets so we can have a quick getaway if needed.π€π©πΌπΌπΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Good plan… how much time before the exchange π€
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Well, we are down to 3 and a half days now. And we don’t know if they are even on this island still, although this is where the money is to be paid.π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Well, they could be holding her on a nearby island and bring her over to make the swap. Sounds like one of the teams need to do a little scouting….π€π€«
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Yep, we are going to branch out and look around, just pretend to be the exploring type of tourist. Our team will stay on this island while the others do the island hopping. Since each team has a cat, that will be a good way for us all to “meet” each other so we can talk.π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Perhaps the cats π can pick up her scent and get an idea where she might be held? They could sure do plenty easy… but you know that already, that’s why they are all on different teams! Smart!π
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Yep, I wanted each team to have a cat. Major knew about the cats and their abilities, to an extent at least, and brought some clothes from Macey so the cats could memorize her scent. They are ready to do some tracking if possible.π€π©πΌπΌπΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Great! I’m gonna say it will be Storm that picks it up and finds her! He’s such a low key unassuming little guy that just does his job.π€πΊ
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That is quite possible. Being a wildcat does give him an advantage in scent tracking, they need a good nose to survive in the wild. I just hope there is enough scent around for the cats to find, and follow.π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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If it’s there… they will find it!!ππ But what to do if you locate her??π¬π³π³
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One step at a time, first we find her, then figure out how to get her safely out.π€π©πΌπΌπΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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That’s where the plane will come in handy!π
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Yep, but it’s on a different island. We have to go there by boat, that’s where it could get dangerous. And depending where she is being held, it may not be easy to get at her.
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Maybe have Baldwin figure out a good excuse to get you a chop chop??π€
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From what I can see, there would be no place to land it, except maybe on the water.π€
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They make pontoons for them to do just that!ππ
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Yep, but none of his big choppers have them, and we would need a big one. It would take a while to get one here anyway. However, there might be another way, though we might have to “borrow” some extra boats.π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈπ
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You’re on an island π so there should be plenty around to borrow or rent or even buy if needed…
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There are lots of boats, including some nice large ones. I think “borrowing” might be the quickest way. We will give them back, by leaving them with a note thanking for the use of their boat.πππ΅οΈββοΈ
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That’s so nice of youβΊοΈπ€π€π€ Maybe a little something extra for their trouble would be curtiousπ€π€π
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Well, we don’t exactly carry a lot of cash with us, it’s plastic these days, safer. Actually, Sky even confiscated my wallet, she takes care of the finances now.ππ©π΅οΈββοΈ
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You could leave a gift card at a business for them to pick upππ
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But I don’t know who to leave it for, we will just grab any boat we can, um, start quickly. Sky says she can start any boat, even when they are locked. I keep learning more about her every day.π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Careful…. you might learn more than you bargained for??π€π€π€
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Apparently she learned little activities like this during her slightly rebellious teen years, as she calls them.ππ΅οΈββοΈ
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hehehe π€π€π€ She has a free spirit that’s for sure! She sees something she wants and goes and gets it!ππ€π€
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Yep, I get that impression too. Apparently from the first day we met, she told herself she was going to marry me. Like I had no say in that! She does have a bit of wildness in her.π€π©πΌπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Nothing wrong with that! Just need to remember you can never control it! She’s smart though so I’m sure you’ll have no issues together!ππβΊοΈ
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Yep, we fit together like an pine tree and a squirrel!ππ©π΅οΈββοΈ
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Ok….πππππ¬π€π€π€π€ Like it was meant to be!!π
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Precisely! Of course I had to make it look like she was catching me. My PI skills are quite varied too. Speaking of PI skills, that looks a lot like…π₯Έπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Albert Einstein??π€π€π€π€π€
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You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the answer!π₯Έπ΅οΈββοΈ
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Alright.. I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.ππ
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Maybe, maybe not, but I’m not telling! But it’s someone that could be a big problem for us and might give us away!π²π΅οΈββοΈ
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Oh oh….π³ I wonder who that could be?π€ I can’t think of anyone out there that could give you trouble in that part of the World….
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Perhaps someone on vacation and a coincidental meeting!π₯Έπ΅οΈββοΈ
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π¬π¬π¬ That could be a problem!!π³
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Big problem.
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Good Morning Frosty Steve βοΈ βοΈ
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