The Investigators, Inc. The Kidnapping Case. Chapter 11. Real or Not?

Jennifer and Kitty once again ran off the same way they had gone the first time. “Those girls sure can run fast,” said Steve to Sky, “I have never seen anyone run like that before.” “Well, they are ghosts after all,” said Sky, somewhat puzzled by my remark, “are you feeling okay?” “I’m not sure,” said Steve, “my head is certainly sore.” “Strange that there’s no mark at all,” said Sky as she searched Steve’s head. “I have a hard head,” said Steve.

“That is certainly true,” said Sky. That’s when Muffin and Storm tried to get Sky’s attention by pulling on her jeans. Sky looked down, but Muffin had her paw on her mouth and Storm was pointing with his tail over toward a large tree. “Go talk to Yana and Cristy, Steve,” said Sky, “it will make them feel better knowing you are concerned about them.” “Oh, yeah, guess I should do that,” said Steve and he walked over to Cristy.

Then Sky followed Muffin and Storm over to that tree. Meow, Meow.= “That not my human.” Meowr.= “Yep, me think so not too.” “Are you two positive about that?” asked Sky. Meow, Meow.= “Yep, me be with my human long time now, me know if it not him or not.” “That would explain why he’s acting strange,” said Sky, “now we find out some things.” Sky then called to Steve and he came over to where she was. As soon as Steve arrived she hit him in the stomach causing him to bend over groaning.

Kristina saw this and decided to find out what was going on. “Tell me who you are!” demanded Sky, “Or maybe I will need Courage to come and help me talk with you.” “What’s the matter with you Sky?” asked Steve, “Have you gone crazy?” “No, not me,” she said, “but you have, and I want answers quickly or I will let Courage have you for breakfast!” “What are you doing Sky?” asked Kristina.

“This isn’t the real Steve,” she responded, “he’s an imposter! Muffin and Storm told me.” That’s when Kristina joined the questioning and hit Steve hard with her fist, knocking him to the ground. “Courage, we need you!” yelled Sky, and this huge lion came walking over to the group causing Steve’s eyes to get rather large. “What is that thing?” he asked with a rather terrified sounding voice. “If you were the real Steve, then you would know all about our lion,” said Sky, “now, you better start talking real fast or you will end up as breakfast for our little pet.”

“Okay, okay,” said Steve, “just keep that lion away from me. I’m just an actor and was hired for the job of taking the real Steve’s place so that the others could get away far enough that you wouldn’t be able to catch up with them.” He then told Sky and Kristina that we were headed for a certain city in Belarus and we would then be forced to work for the WE Alliance. They are a new group that wants to control the drug trade for eastern Europe and Russia.

They know about the Investigators and their ability to get rid of competition very quickly and that’s why they want us. They especially want us to eliminate their main competition which is led by a man named Papa Levi. Well, at least we have something in common, we both have the same enemy. At this point Jennifer and Kitty returned with two cars and they wondered why Courage had been called into action, so they came over to check things out.

After Sky explained Jennifer was furious! She gave Steve a good solid kick to his stomach, then told him she can kill someone with just one kick, if she chose to do so. He was now lying on the ground, holding his stomach and groaning. “Now, tell us everything you know about what is going on!” demanded Jennifer. Steve, which is actually his real name, told them everything he knew including where the bus we were on would be stopping for a meal at 16:00. “Why don’t people use English?” asked Jennifer. “He means 4pm,” said Kitty. Jennifer then communicated all of this with Kat…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.