The Investigators, Inc. The Friendly Buyer Case. Chapter 2. It Begins.

Just like last time, our three teams are arriving at different times and on different jets. I have decided it’s safer for us never to all use the same jet or arrive at the same time. This way if we are attacked, it would only affect one third of our team. And for this case we don’t want to be seen together right now. That may change as we go along on the case, but for now, we don’t know each other.

Ezra was going to meet us at the airport, but he had called Sienna and told her that some problem had come up and he didn’t want Tammy to deal with it by herself. He didn’t say what the problem was, but it didn’t sound good. We picked up our vehicles and drove out to their business which was a considerable distance from the airport.

When we arrived, Ezra and Tammy were in their office with another man. The secretary in the outer office said we would have to wait, a Mr. Finders was late for his appointment and is with Ezra and Tammy right now and he did not want anything to interfere with his appointment, it was too important. “Good,” I said, “we won’t interfere, we will just join them.”

“What?!” she exclaimed, “No, you cannot go in there.” She had such a shocked look on her face. “Try and stop me,” I said and headed to the office door. She picked up her phone to call Ezra but Jennifer, showing no emotion whatever, told her no, and she took the receiver from the secretary’s hand and put it down. Then Misty, Jennifer and I went into the office.

“I told that woman I don’t want to be disturbed,” he said, looking at us. “You won’t be disturbing us Wayne,” I said calmly, “we will just sit and listen for now. Hi Ezra, Tammy, I’m Steve, this is my wife Misty and this is Jennifer.” We were all dressed very nicely and had arrived in a new limousine. “Do I know you?” asked Finders, “I certainly don’t recognize your name, yet you know mine.”

“Well, you are quite a successful businessman Wayne,” I said, “and so am I. These people have hired me and my team to help safeguard their business. As you might know, they have had a few problems lately, so we are here to fix that.” “Well, you may have wasted your trip coming from, wherever,” he said, “I am here to make these fine people a very generous offer for their company.”

“Oh, have you sold it already Ezra?” I asked. “No, Mr. Finders hasn’t presented us his offer yet,” said Ezra, “just how much are you willing to pay? You may talk freely in front of these people.” “Very well,” he said, “considering your recent losses, I am still willing to pay 2 million dollars.” “We are not remotely interested in such a meager offer,” said Ezra.

“And just how much do you want for your company?” asked Finders. “Try 40 million dollars Mr. Finders,” I said, “if that is out of your range, then I would suggest that you leave.” I just looked straight into his eyes, he was obviously quite angry with what I said. Ezra, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to laugh, but he held back. Finders did leave right away, slamming the exterior door on his way out.

I noticed he stopped and looked at our limousine before going to his car and leaving. Sherry and Aasta were sitting in the front seat the whole time and they began laughing after Finders left. I talked with Ezra and Tammy for a while. It seems that all of their security guards at their other two warehouses quit this afternoon.

I told him not to worry, that is why we are here, to take over those guard duties, and it is something we are good at doing. I called the girls to come to the warehouses, which are next to each other. We have 4 ghosts with us, Jennifer, Sky, Angel and Kristina. I left Carine at home this time to look after things there.

And Kat is with her Wildcats. So, we have 2 ghosts for each warehouse and we will do 2 twelve hour shifts, one ghost for each shift, plus there will be 4 other girls for each shift as well. Aari and his Jaguars will be keeping an eye on Wayne Finders, from a distance, checking to see who comes and goes from there.

Just in case he is crazy enough to use his office landline phone to talk with other “business” partners, we have his phone tapped so Aari can listen in and find out what’s going on, hopefully. We set up the first two groups of guards, then we decided to head back to our hotel. But before we had a chance to leave, Tammy invited us for dinner.

“We really would like you and your wife to have dinner with us tonight,” she said, “so we can get to know you both a bit, especially since you are helping us in such a big way.” “That sounds very nice,” I said, “we would be happy to.” Misty just looked at me. Ezra stayed in the office a bit longer, so Tammy came with us. I had already informed Tammy that our driver, Sherry, was with us too and she said that was no problem.

That should help calm Misty a little, she wasn’t quite prepared to have a major visit with Tammy and Ezra. As we were driving I noticed Fluffy in his usual position. “Me Fluffy, C1F, C1F”. “What is that?” asked Tammy. “Oh, he’s our mechanical cat, we use him in place of GPS sometimes,” I replied, “we can be traced through regular GPS, but not through Fluffy. He has become quite valuable to us.”

“Wow, I would never have thought about that,” she said. Fluffy was warning us that we were being followed by a black car. “Let’s show Tammy how Fluffy works Sherry,” I said casually. “Okay, hang on everyone!” Said Sherry. But before we had time to get going, one of the rear tires blew apart…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.