The Investigators, Inc. The Abandoned House Case. Chapter 17. Fire!

The wood in this old house is so dry we will not have much time to get out safely. However, they will be waiting for us to come out the front door and that is the only way out for us. Except perhaps through a bedroom window along the one side. I had sent the cats out their secret door already, except for Rusty and Jewel, Kat and Jennifer’s cats.

I told them to go out first and check the area quickly before the rest of us go out. Meanwhile, Muffin and Storm were checking that side for enemies. Meow,meow?=Hey you two, you good guys or bad guys? The two men turned around quickly but saw no one behind them. Meowr.=Must be bad guys. “Thwock! Thwock!”, and the two men were dead. Kat and Jennifer found two more men. “Hey guys, how about a date?” asked Kat.

Again, these two men swirled around quickly but saw no one. “Guess they don’t,” said Jennifer. Then they went into action killing them quick with their kicks. They came quickly back to the bedroom window and said all was clear. Good thing, the smoke had filled the entire house now and the flames were not far behind. The girls jumped out of the window one by one and ran over to the trees.

“You are next Steve,” said Aari, so I did not argue. Unfortunately I slipped going out the window and fell flat on a rock sticking out of the ground. I wanted to scream loud and long, but I knew I could not do that. Kat and Jennifer helped carry me over to the trees. I sat down by a large tree, and using my left hand, I gave my gun to Hope.

“I cannot move my right arm,” I said, “so a gun does me no good. But remember, in this team there are no loners and no heroes. Aari is in charge now.” Everyone left, but Jennifer, Muffin, Rusty and Jewel stayed with me. Almost immediately there was a shot which hit the tree beside me and the bullet grazed the side of my head. I fell into Jennifer’s arms and she called for Kat to come back and help.

Rusty ran off and “Thwock!”, he got the man that had shot me, and he then came running back. “Good boy Rusty,” said Jennifer. “Ooo, deep cut there Steve,” said Kat, “I will try to stop the bleeding.” “Muffin, send out the alarm to Matt and Mr. M.,” said Jennifer, and she did so right away. Mr. M. looked at his phone and the alarm just read, Code Red A1. Matt looked at his too. They both knew that meant that I was down.

“Can you get this tank to move faster Mac?” asked Matt. “Going top speed now,” he replied. Matt told everyone the news about me. “Tiger,” said Jennifer, “it is your turn now, do you see those two bright stars?” Meow.=Yep, me see them. “That is where you aim,” she said, “and do it now!” He aimed and shot. “Hey, thought I saw something Les,” said a man, “yeah, there, look.”

Then the two flares burst and along with the light from the fire the area was bright as day. He had 6 more such flares and fired them at intervals to keep the area nice and bright. The gunfight began now and it certainly sounded like we were greatly outnumbered. But I was quickly going under. “Keep Steve awake,” said Kat. “How can I do that?” she asked. “Well, you are his wife,” said Kat, “I’m sure you can think of something.”

“Thanks sis,” she said with a sigh. “Guess I need to pick someone different to be my wife next time,” I said, “I seem to be a bother.” “No way, you can’t do that Steve,” pleaded Jennifer, “I want to be your pretend wife all the time, please Steve, please!” Meow,meow.=Wow, that longest kiss they ever have. Meow.=Yep, maybe suction keep them together. Mewsy.=Or maybe they use glue. Then they all giggled.

Matt, Mr. M, and their teams arrived just as Tiger shot another two flares. Now we had the attackers trapped! The ones that were left decided to run through the trees and back to their vehicles that were parked out on the road. Les jumped into his truck but Mac tossed one of Catalina’s special bombs into the back of his truck. The whole truck burst into a ball of flames killing Les instantly.

Mike saw that just as she jumped into her car that her driver came with from down the road. She did not want to leave her car too close, so she told her driver to take it further away for safety reasons until she called for him. As they drove away Mike murmured to herself. “Okay Mr. PI,” she said, “you won this time, but I will kill you for killing my Les. No, I will kill your wife and any family you might have, that will hurt you even more.”

She smiled at the thought. Les and all his men died in the fight and many of Mike’s men died as well. But some did get away. We had no idea how many she brought with her though. The fire burned out quickly, just like it started. Mandar came to take a look at me.

“Amazing,” said Mandar, “that bullet came so close to your head, but it barely left a mark.” “It was bleeding badly,” said Kat, “so it looked worse than it was.” “Hmm, I see,” he said, “one of these days I must see how you do that.” He then walked away and the girls smiled at each other.

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.