The Investigators, Inc. The Secret Vacation Case. Chapter 13. Captured!

Well, we had a nice quiet night so everyone slept peacefully. Everyone except me. I was troubled by something, but didn’t really know what it was. Half way through the night Jennifer woke up and asked me what was wrong. “How do you know something is wrong?” I asked her, “You were sleeping.” “I could sense it Steve,” she said, “you should know better by now. Ghosts don’t sleep the way everyone else does.” “Sometimes I really do believe you are a ghost,” I said, “but part of me wants you to be a real person too.”

She smiled. “I am a real person Steve,” she said calmly, “and also a ghost. Now, tell me the problem.” I started to tell her what I was thinking, but that I wasn’t sure that was the problem or not. “Guess I’m a little confused right now,” I said, “it will be good to get back home and relax after this ‘vacation’. If anything happens to me, please make sure that Sigrid gets away safely,” I said. “Nothing will happen to you with me by your side, Steve,” she said, “please believe me on that.”

I smiled and went to sleep finally. We were all eating breakfast and discussing what might happen that day and what we should do to prepare. “Steve, I sense danger coming our way,” said Jennifer, “but it is still a ways off.” “Okay everyone, time to get ready for our visitors,” I said. Everyone then went to different parts of the mansion, except for those who would be staying in the living room to greet Montana, or whoever she sends to talk with us. I would not be staying, but went back to my bedroom with Sigrid, Beryan, Cynthia, Samantha and Jennifer.

Muffin, Storm and Rascal also came along, or so I thought. A man named Conrad came, along with Harder and a few other men. Somehow I don’t think Harder realized why they wanted him along. They were allowed to come inside and Matt, along with Kat, talked with Conrad. “Montana has instructed me to offer you a deal,” he began, “she is willing to give Steve $100,000 for Sigrid.” “Well, that is a lot of money,” said Matt, rubbing his chin, “but you are not even close, so I think you better leave while you are still healthy.”

“Okay, I see your point,” he said, “so why don’t we raise that to $300,000.” Kat came upstairs to tell me, then came downstairs with my answer. “Steve said that is a nice amount,” she said, “but there needs to be one more thing.” “And what is that?” asked Conrad. “Steve also wants the man who ordered the killing of his wife,” she said, “plus the money.” Back upstairs with us, Sigrid was on her knees begging me not to sell her to Montana. She promised to do anything I wanted if I would just keep her safe from Montana. “Come, sit beside me,” I said to her, “what did I tell you before?”

“You said that you would fight to keep me from her,” she said sobbing. “And that has not changed one bit,” I said, “I’m doing it like this for a reason. I want Harder for killing your family. I also want to hurt Montana as much as I can. She won’t even miss that money, but she will regret messing with us. Please believe me, I will never give you to Montana or anyone else, not for any amount of money or anything else. You have a home and family with us for as long as you want.” Well, she threw her arms around me and kept crying, but I think she was happy now.

Back downstairs again. Conrad looked over at Harder. “You don’t really think that Montana would just hand me over to you,” said Harder, scoffing, “you are a stupid fool for suggesting something like that.” He then looked at Conrad who was still looking at him and not saying a word. He then nodded to another man who put a briefcase on the coffee table and opened it to show the money. “There’s the money and here is your man,” said Conrad. Rock took Harder and Melissa put handcuffs on him. Then Jennifer came downstairs with Sigrid. “Come here girl,” said Conrad, “Montana is waiting for you.”

“No, no! You can’t do this!” she yelled, “Steve said he wouldn’t give me to Montana, you can’t do this. Ask Steve!” “I hate women that are always yelling and crying,” said Matt. He then raised his gun and shot Sigrid 3 times and she fell to the floor. One of Conrad’s men checked her right away. “She’s dead Conrad,” he said. Then her body began to glow with a bright yellow light and as the light dimmed, her body was gone. “Whoa! This place really is haunted!” said the man who had checked Sigrid, and he backed away. “The deal is off man,” said Conrad to Matt.

Suddenly Conrad and his men were surrounded by guns. “I would suggest you go back to Montana and tell her you failed to complete the deal,” said Matt smiling. “You made a fatal mistake man,” said Conrad, “Montana will kill all of you!” “Don’t make threats,” said Matt, “just leave while you are still alive. And that money stays with us, Montana won’t miss it anyway, she has too much to spend now.” Conrad and his men then left in a hurry. Jennifer and Sigrid then appeared, smiling. Poor Harder was terrified at seeing this.

“You’re all ghosts, the whole bunch of you!” he exclaimed. Suddenly Jennifer yelled, “Danger, it’s Steve!” Her and Kat ran up to my bedroom and found the three girls and Rascal lying on the floor, all had been shot. There was a rope ladder out the window and some men were dragging me through the back garden and a helicopter was coming in to land. Kat was now holding Rascal and rubbing his wound. “Rascal, aim for the big rotor blades on top,” she said to him. Meowrr.= It too far for little missiles.

“Don’t worry about that,” she said, “just aim and shoot.” He did so and somehow Jennifer gave an extra boost to those missiles and both hit their target with enough explosive power to cause that chopper to crash and burst into flames before we were too close. The four men that were with me began to fall to the ground one by one. Jennifer had jumped out the window and was now running toward me. Kat had been joined by Angel and Sigrid now.

Samantha was not seriously wounded but was temporarily knocked out when she fell and hit her head on the dresser. Angel woke her up and she went to work removing the bullets from the other two girls and Rascal. Then Kat went to work. “Are you okay?” Samantha asked Sigrid. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said. Angel then called downstairs telling Rock to go out back and help Jennifer carry me. He was out there fast. Then four military type vehicles equipped with large machine guns came driving toward the house, and with them about 50 men.

Meow, meow!= Chop chop come, ours this time. Muffin let Tiger know and he told the others. It was actually 4 of Mandar’s helicopters, and they were also equipped with large machine guns. It was a rather short fight and Montana’s forces surrendered. Soon the real police were there, about 40 of them, and they arrested Montana’s men and hauled them away. Unfortunately, Montana herself managed to get away. As for me, I had a horrible headache once more and did not recognize anyone, except Jennifer. Does this mean the nowhere drug has returned?

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.