The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Carmeline. Chapter 8. Medina is Back.

Here we are at the home of Colin and Sugar Davies and he is supposed to be at work this time of day. Hmm, his car is not here, but there are two rather expensive vehicles in the driveway plus a large van on the street in front of the house. Someone is obviously here and up to no good I’m quite sure of that. We went up to the front door and I told Rock to open it, his way. He smiled and with one big body slam against that door and it flew off it’s hinges! We went in quickly after that with guns out, and found Sugar on her hands and knees in the middle of the floor.

There was a man standing next to her so I told him to back away from Sugar and do so quickly. He just stood there looking at me and folded his arms. He was quite big and muscular so I told Rock to move him out of the way. Rock smiled and walked toward the man and when Rock got close enough, the man hit him on his cheek, then a punch to his stomach. Rock just stood there without flinching, then he gave the man a solid punch to his chest, knocking him back about 5 feet and onto the couch.

“What do you think you’re doing?! yelled a woman sitting on a chair to my right. I turned to her and said, “Well, well, if it isn’t our old friend Ms. Medina,” I said, “you don’t give up easily I see, but you will this time.” “I should have known it was you!” she exclaimed as she stood up, “Now, get out of here, we have every right to be here, this woman has signed a contract with us of her own free will.” Medina had a smug look on her face so I went over to her and slapped her hard, knocking her back onto her chair.

Back home Jennifer was about to yell “danger” to me, but Friskie got the message first and she jumped in front of me just as a man hiding on the other side of the large fireplace began shooting at me. He emptied his clip shooting at Friskie as she began walking toward him. Before he could put another clip in his gun Friskie was in front of him and she began to hit him amazingly fast, finally kicking him and he fell against that brick fireplace and he fell, hitting his head on the marble hearth. “Don’t worry Sugar,” I said, “we are friends and have come to take you away from this.”

“Don’t believe him Sugar,” exclaimed Medina, “he plans on taking you to a much worse life than you have now!” “Don’t believe her!” said Celestine emphatically, as she now came into the house. “Celestine!” exclaimed Sugar and she then got up off the floor and hugged Celestine tight. “You don’t have to be afraid Sugar,” said Celestine, “you can trust Steve and all of us. We are going to take you away from this horrible life.” I sent Angel and Friskie with Celestine and Sugar so that Sugar could do some packing. “You won’t get away with this Steve,” said Medina.

“I already have Medina,” I said, “but I’m not here to fight with you right now, so you can leave if you want.” “You are parked behind me,” she retorted, “how am I supposed to leave?” “Just get in your fancy little car,” I told her, “and my car will get out of your way.” Just then I got a communication from Angel saying that Medina had Carmeline’s gems. “Stop Medina!” I yelled to her as she stepped out the door. John was there so he grabbed her and brought her back inside.

“Let me look in that big bag of yours Medina,” I said, “it seems you have something that belongs to someone else.” “Everything in here belongs to me!” she yelled angrily, “And no one is going to take it from me!” Mac, however, was right behind her and with a quick slice with his very sharp knife, her rather large bag fell to the floor and he picked it up, handing it to me. “Hmm, let me see what we have in this cloth bag,” I said, while untying it.

At that moment a man jumped up from behind the couch with a shotgun aimed at me! Rock was closest and he threw himself at the couch smashing the man against the wall and quite obviously breaking a few ribs in the process. The man groaned and dropped his shotgun and Rock pulled him out, throwing him onto the floor with a loud thud and even louder groaning. “Your people are getting better Steve,” said Medina, “my compliments to you. May I go now?”

“There seems to be a few of these lovely gems missing,” I said, “would you happen to know anything about that?” “Come now Steve,” she said, “can’t you let a poor girl keep some of those beautiful rocks?” “You are not poor Medina,” I said, “so the answer is no. Hand them over please.” She then opened her jacket and the inside lining revealing an assortment of interesting things. “I was wondering why you were wearing a jacket on such a warm day,” I told her as she put a smaller cloth bag on my hand. I then reached over and took some money she had also.

“Hey now Steve, that is theft,” she said, “the money is mine.” “Let’s just say you are making a donation to our orphan fund,” I said, “after all, I could hand you over to the police and have you charged with extortion, sex trafficking, selling drugs, theft of gems and attempted murder, to name a few.” “You will regret this Steve,” she said, “I mean that.” “You may go now, and take your dead men with you,” I said. She gave the order to her men and they left, with their dead friends.

Then Medina was about to leave, but she turned around and quickly stuck something on my back. “That, my dear Steve, is a bomb,” she said, “and this little gadget in my hand will cause that bomb to explode. If anyone tries to stop me, or kill me, then you will die too. An explosion just big enough to kill you, and I know it works because I have used it before. Now, I will take my property back, including Sugar, plus Celestine, for my orphan fund. I also want Carmeline. I know you have her hidden somewhere, but you will give her to me or your team will lose their leader, and I’m sure they don’t want that.”

“Are you talking about this little bomb Medina?” asked Friskie who was now standing beside Medina holding the bomb in her hand, “go ahead and press that button.” I turned so Medina could see my back, then I turned to face her. “That’s impossible,” gasped Medina, “nothing can loosen the glue on that bomb!” Then Medina lunged toward me, but Sky tossed a lightning ball at her which sent her smashing through the window and onto the lawn…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.