The Investigators, Inc. The Hidden Castle Mystery. Chapter 8. Sebastien.

Aari and 4 of the guys were sitting in a van waiting. The front passenger door was unlocked so that someone could enter easily and quickly. All of them were watching the area around them. It wasn’t the best part of the city and there were some tough looking people, both men and women, walking and sitting, watching this strange van sitting at the side of the street.

“I wouldn’t want to be alone in this neighborhood,” said John, “just doesn’t look too safe.” “Yeah, it is a strange place to meet someone,” said Aari. Just then the passenger door flew open and in jumped a small, young woman with long very blond hair. She was quite dirty looking and smelled quite bad too. Aari asked her name. “Cricket,” she said with a big smile. Then Aari drove away, heading to a safer part of the city. Cricket kept talking, non stop, the whole time Aari drove.

They stopped in a store parking lot and Aari called me. I had already asked Alizea to stay until they picked up Cricket, so she could talk to her and reassure her, in case she is scared of the guys. Apparently Cricket had a friend, her only friend, who was caught spying on this gang. She was put right outside the door where Cricket lived, after two days with that gang. Cricket got her to the hospital, but she died a couple hours later. Now the gang has been chasing Cricket around for the last 2 weeks.

She had to leave her apartment since they knew she lived there and she has been living on the streets since. “I haven’t had a shower in a week,” she said, “you can probably smell that.” Her clothes were very dirty and what she was wearing was all she had. “When did you last eat?” asked Jennifer. “Um, kinda yesterday,” she said quietly, “I had a partially moldy bun that I found in the garbage at one of our parks. I picked off the mold. It wasn’t too bad, I was hungry, so it was better than nothing.”

“Aari, you will buy some clothes for her right away,” said Jennifer, “just a pair of jeans and a couple T-shirts, underwear and shoes, and a jacket if it is needed.” We found out she wanted to get far away from there before they find her and do what they did to her friend. She told us what that meant. “How would you like to come here and stay with us for a while?” I asked, “Alizea, Melanie and Melissa are here, working on the right side of the law now.”

Cricket was ecstatic. After getting her clothes she was taken back to their hotel so she could get cleaned up, then they took her to a nice restaurant for a proper meal. Aari was amazed at how much that little woman could eat. They were not able to get another room on their floor of the hotel, so they put Cricket in Aari’s room and he took the new room on the floor below. “If anyone tries to get in that door,” said Aari, “just press this button and the guys will be at your door very fast. I’m just sorry we don’t have any of the girls with us this time, I hate to leave you on your own.”

But she said that she felt very safe having that emergency button with her. In the morning she would take them to where Sebastien would be. He is the leader of the gang. He is not the type of man to stick to any kind of schedule, he is too smart for that. But sometimes things happen and he has to be in a certain place at a certain time, like in the morning. A special shipment of something was coming in, though Cricket did not know what.

It wasn’t the usual drug shipment, he would never come out for something like that, too risky. So, this shipment has to be something extra special. Cricket thought it might be guns, or other weapons since she knew there was a war going on between this gang and another big gang. Aari didn’t think that was it though, guns could be handled by someone else in the gang, not by the leader, especially if there was a war breaking out between the two gangs.

“But what else could it be?” asked Cricket. “People, specifically, women or children, perhaps both,” he said sadly. That is when Cricket told him about her and her family. Her parents had abused her as she was growing up and made money from videos of her with her dad and other men. Her mom was a photographer so she took all the videos and photos. She mentioned other things as well. Aari and the other guys were very angry hearing about this.

Alizea confirmed what Cricket said. Cricket has 5 sisters and 2 brothers and they all hate her because Cricket finally went to the police and her parents are now in prison. Her siblings felt she should not have done that and it was Cricket’s responsibility to help with the family finances in that way. Apparently Cricket is much prettier than her sisters and that made them hate her even more. It was early morning now, Aari and the others were in place, Cricket was with them too.

She did not want to be left alone at the hotel. At the time that Cricket told them, a car came driving up and stopped by a bench near a children’s playground area. Five men got out of the car and stood looking around the area. Then another man got out and sat on the bench. “That is Sebastien,” said Cricket quietly. Sebastien had a small suitcase with him and soon a white van showed up, along with another car. The back doors of the van were opened, showing women and children inside.

Sebastien handed over the suitcase, one of the new men looked at it quickly, then the new men got in their car and drove away. It was quickly out of sight and that’s when Aari gave the signal and his team moved in, shooting Sebastien’s men and surrounding him. Aari is fluent in French and told Sebastien that he is a dead man.

He then called the police and told them where to find the van, then they left on foot back to their own vans about 2 blocks away. The police arrived quickly and took the van away. Sebastien said they were crazy to kidnap him, his people would destroy them. He thought they were from the other gang. “You better hope that your gang thinks you are worth bargaining for,” said Aari, “or you won’t live very long.”

Aari let us know they had Sebastien and Kat was on her way with her team to that hidden castle. Back here Storm was still at the clinic and now two other cats are sick as well. So far Bridgette has no idea what the problem is, but she is still doing some tests. This is not a coincidence…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.