The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Baldwin’s Murder. Chapter 14. Code Red A2.

Catalina knew what she was doing. Once she knew the thickness and type of steel used on that door and frame, plus the type of lock, she knew how much explosives to use. And it worked, that door and frame was ripped right out of the wall and tossed down the hallway. Well, they knew we were coming now if they did not already know. In we went, ready for a big fight, but hoping for a small fight.

The first room was dark and the cats scattered around the room quickly. But a man stood up and shot numerous times with us returning fire. “Thwock!” and the man was down. That was one for Storm and no others were in the room. Rock had been hit in the leg, but it did not slow him down any. We were all wearing vests, but we were short one vest and Sky gave hers to Tiffany.

It was still dark and I did not notice until Muffin screeched. Meow,meow!=Human Sky down! Sure enough, only 3 feet from me she was lying on the floor. Kat shone her flashlight on Sky. I could not believe what I saw. I just collapsed. The message went out to everyone, though silent this time. “Noooo!” said Tiffany, “it can’t be true!”

Back in England, where Annelie and Trisha were staying with Carine and Benson, they got the message too, but theirs was not silent. “Code Red A2, Code Red A2” Trisha screamed so loud that Benson heard her even though he was outside. He came running back inside. “What is wrong?” he asked. Annelie showed him her phone. Poor Benson was speechless for a moment.

“I should have gone instead of Sky,” he said, “she should be here, safe, I should have gone, I should have gone.” “Then you might be dead instead of Sky,” said Annelie quietly. “No, they do not want me, they wanted Sky,” he said, “it was deliberate to kill her. I should have gone.” He just walked over and sat beside Trisha. Carine was already sitting beside her too.

Benson was a quiet man that never showed his emotions much, but he did that day. He put his arm around Trisha and cried with her. Meanwhile, back with us. Muffin stayed with me but Storm and the kittens went ahead with the others. Crystal stayed with me too. “Miracles can happen Steve, you know that,” she said, “just look at me.” She gave me a hug.

“You are a remarkable woman,” I said quietly, “I do not know how you do it.” “That is just part of being a Kat,” she said, “right Muffin?” Meow,meow.=Yep, we cats remarkable people, me miracle too. “Yes little one, you are a miracle too,” I said and picked her up to cuddle her. Kyan was ready now, expecting that some of the men would try to escape out the front, and she was right.

One man came running out. She waited. Another man quickly followed, then another, when they saw there was no shooting. Kyan took her time, then suddenly shot three times and all 3 men dropped. Two more men tried to make a run for it going the opposite direction. Cynthia shot one and Tiffany shot the other one. Incredibly there were only 12 men in that safe house, 9 were killed and 3 surrendered.

Two men on Team 5 were wounded, plus Rock on our team. Then there was Sky. Muffin was the first to notice that she was still alive, though how I do not know. That bullet must have hit her heart. We are now at the hospital, but no surgeon wanted to take a chance at pulling that bullet out. It was just so close to her heart. The surgeon told me if he tried to remove the bullet, she would die.

“And if you leave it there?” I asked. “She will die,” he said. “Then remove it,” I told him. Carine and Trisha flew down to be with me, a long flight for them. Four days later Sky opened her eyes and smiled weakly at Trisha and I. Muffin immediately started purring loudly. Finally the day came when Sky could be moved back to our own hospital.

This has been a long, hard case, it almost makes me want to quit this job of being a PI. Aasta and Crystal had been staying with us in New Zealand too. Aasta especially was not prepared for what was waiting for us back home. I stayed with Sky at the hospital, so did Muffin and Crystal, but Rock picked up Aasta and took her back home to the chateau. He told Aasta to go directly into the library.

She was puzzled by that but she did it. I imagine her scream could also be heard outside, but no one was out there to check. When she stepped into the library, that is when she screamed, and she ran jumping into her dad’s arms, nearly knocking him right over. Yep, Major was still alive. He had been shot, so it was reported that he had been killed and now we can give him a new identity since Major has already died.

Victor is behind bars, his organization has been crushed and I am the full owner of Baldwin Corporation. But what am I going to do with it? Hard to believe it is all over now, we definitely need time to relax from all of this, and the girls that were drugged still need more time to heal as well. But we will soon have a new case I am sure.

The End. But a new case is coming soon!

©2023 Steve McLeod.