The Investigators, Inc. An Odd Rescue Case. Chapter 2. Now Celeste.

I was lying on my bed looking at some things, mainly photos of 3 different houses that Mandar has available for us. They are all good, though none are large enough. However, Sienna will help in enlarging any one of them for us, we just need to choose the one we want. I’m trying to figure out which one I like best, but I will wait for Jennifer to join me after she finishes showering.

I want to see if she will pick the same place as me. Then we will get all the leaders together to see what they think. But while I was doing this, Cristy came running in, jumped on the bed beside me and began typing on my keyboard. Apparently she wanted to show me some photos she found, and she seemed rather excited about this.

“There, just click and the photos will come up for you,” she said, “but, be warned, they are not, um, normal photos, so you might want to just go to the last one to see what it’s all about. I mean, it’s about Sapphire’s friend, Natasha.” Jennifer came out right then and joined me on the bed. “Cristy found some photos of Natasha for us,” I said.

Jennifer and I looked at them, well, Jennifer looked at them mostly. The last photo told us the information we needed, or mostly, anyway. Natasha is in a women’s penal colony and because she is a very beautiful woman, she gets “special” treatment. However, that is not in a good sense. That penal colony has it’s own porn site and the women there are used on that site. Likely they are forced to do that.

Natasha was arrested for aiding people to leave the country, people who were criminals, enemies of the state. Like Sapphire and her dad. She was tried and found guilty on all charges against her, including killing Sapphire’s dad. The government didn’t want to admit he escaped the country, so they made up a charge of murder instead.

She was also charged with being a top member of a large drug smuggling operation, which may or may not be true. She was also charged with kidnapping children for use in child porn, which is why she now must participate in porn herself as part of her punishment. Jennifer and I talked with Sapphire about these charges and she was convinced that Natasha didn’t commit any of these crimes.

I believe that too, as evidenced by the false murder charge. She is serving 40 years for her crimes. Sapphire said that prison is one of the worst in the country, however, it’s security is very outdated too, something that would be good for us. Next came a leaders meeting to discuss whether we should take the case or not.

I did tell them that since this was not an official case, no one is compelled to come along. It will be strictly volunteer and only a few would be chosen to go with 3 of our ghosts. Sapphire would have to go along, plus 5 others. That would give each ghost 2 people to watch over. After our meeting Galyna, Rochelle and Colette came into the bedroom.

Rochelle was crying and suddenly ran off, with Colette running after her. Galyna explained what was going on. Apparently Rochelle and a friend named Celeste decided to go for a year long vacation to Europe, which they started in the country our team will be visiting shortly. Rochelle is quite fluent in the language, but Celeste was not even though she did know 8 other languages, besides French and English.

However, things went wrong and Celeste was arrested on some false charges and Rochelle managed to escape before she too was arrested. She had offered $2,000 to a truck driver to take her with him to Latvia. He agreed and she made it safely and got back home. But she never heard from Celeste again. “Cristy,” I said, “try looking for Celeste Garnier for me, perhaps in that same penal colony.”

Cristy got back to me rather quickly with information that Celeste was indeed in that same place, and she has been there for about 2 years, a little longer than Natasha. “Well,” I said to Jennifer, “I guess getting 2 is not much more dangerous than one.” “I agree,” she said. Jennifer then went to talk with Rochelle. Poor Rochelle, she didn’t think she had any right to ask for help since she had only joined us recently.

Colette and Suzette also knew Celeste well. “The hardest part of this is going to be getting in and out of the country, and getting close to that prison without being followed. Kat, Carine and Carolyn have developed a new type of “camouflage” which we might be able to use on one of our small jets. That way they could fly in and out of the country without being noticed. Something that will be rather essential. Otherwise we could have some serious problems.

Rock and Burk will be the pilots, Oskar and Bear will also be along to help if needed. The guys will stay on the jet, unless necessary to help out with something. I’m sensing trouble again, but it is not about this case, I’m sure of that. Jennifer doesn’t sense danger though, so that is a good thing, but why do I sense trouble ahead?

We have had our share of trouble and danger lately, but not knowing what this trouble is about has me nervous. Jennifer doesn’t like it either, but as long as she doesn’t sense danger, I will not worry too much. Kat, Sky and Carine will be going on this trip. Angel had volunteered to go along too, but I asked her to stay behind since she is one of my specific bodyguards.

All of the ghosts could tell I was worried about something, even though I had told them I was not worried about the case, not any more than normal anyway. Sky reminded me that all I need to do is say her name and she would be by my side. Kat also reminded me of my new bracelets and that they work perfectly, giving me an added layer of protection. What could possibly go wrong?

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.