For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
There is a meeting taking place at the newest ManWell Escorts location with Norman Wellhouse, a woman named Deborah and several other people including the city Mayor and some prominent business people. Suddenly there was a large booming sound in the building’s lobby area. “What was that Norman?” asked one of the men present. “Go check on that noise!” Norman yelled at two of his men. They quickly left the meeting room. Then, suddenly, the door to the meeting room flew off it’s hinges and Rock came storming into the room. He grabbed one man and threw him at another man!
Aari, Carine, Kristina, Kitty and Sky came in next, followed by Bear, Joseph and Mac. “Well, well, look who we find here,” said Aari, “Norman and his fellow sex traffickers. And this lovely woman must be Deborah. My name is Aari Jensen, I’m leader of the Black Wolves. I guess you have all heard of the death of a young woman named Harley Corner, the beautiful young woman murdered by Norman.” “I murdered no one!” he exclaimed, “I already said it was one of my men, the one she fought with today.” He was pointing to Kristina.
“You murdered her!” said Aari firmly, “You ordered your man to do it and that’s the same as killing her yourself.” He then gave Norman a hard backhanded slap, knocking him off his chair. “Get back on your chair you coward,” said Aari, then he turned to Bear, “tell the others to take this place apart.” “Shall do Aari,” he said with a big smile. “Are these all your friends and backers Norman?” asked Aari, but Norman said nothing. He then hit Norman again, knocking him off his chair!
“When I ask a question, I expect an answer,” said Aari, he then turned to the next man, “well, how about you? Are these all his backers or are there others?” “There’s more, please don’t hurt me!” pleaded the man as he sat there with sweat rolling down his forehead. “Yes, there is more,” said Aari, “I just wanted you to admit it. You decided to check on us Deborah, a very wise thing to do, unlike your boyfriend here.” “Boyfriend?! Ha!” she said, “That thing is no boyfriend of mine, but he is quite helpful to have around, most of the time. However, sometimes he does make terrible mistakes, like underestimating you and your gang.”
“Very true, he should have checked things out much better,” said Aari, “then he would have realized we are more than a minor disturbance, and yes, we have a rather large handful of men available to us Norman. As for being more talk than tough, what would you say now Norman?” However, Norman just sat there like before, not saying a word, so Aari calmly hit him a third time, knocking him to the floor again. “You don’t learn very quickly dear Norman,” said Deborah, “just answer the man and you will have fewer bruises on that pretty face of yours that you spend so much time with.”
“Or perhaps you would prefer to have Kristina give you some bruises like she gave Marcel?” asked Aari. “No, I would not,” he said quietly. “Now you are showing more wisdom,” said Aari. “Ha! More cowardice would be a better fit for him,” said Deborah, then she said “Uncle Major”, but in Italian. Aari, however, was too smart to answer her, knowing that would give him away. “I think Deborah was talking to you my darling,” said Carine. He then turned toward her. “I think you know my name, please use it when addressing me,” said Aari.
“I was hoping that I was,” she said, “you remind me of someone that I once knew.” “You are a bit too young,” he said smiling. “It was back when I was a little girl,” she continued, “a man just like you would come to visit my father. He would always carry me around on his shoulders and I called him Uncle Major.” “Sounds like a good memory,” he said, “too bad I was not part of it.” “Would you mind taking off your dark glasses so I can be sure?” she asked nicely. “I’m sorry,” said Carine, “but these type of lights bother my husband’s eyes terribly, even for a short time.”
That gave Wellhouse an idea and he lunged at Aari to try and knock his glasses off! But Carine moved lightning fast and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall backward and over his chair and onto the floor once more! “Wow, I didn’t even see her leg move!” said Lucien, a prominent businessman. “Neither did I!” said Pascal, a government official. “Ah, Lucien and Pascal can actually speak,” said Deborah sarcastically, “may I ask one more question Mr. Jensen?” “Go right ahead,” he replied. “Why are you so interested in one obscure young woman?” she then asked.
“Perhaps because I have a soft spot for obscure young women,” he said, “also, my sister asked if I would help since I was visiting anyway. She is married to Steve of the Investigators.” “Interesting that you two chose different paths,” she said, “yet you still keep in touch.” “Well, I try not to hold it against my sister for marrying a private investigator,” he said chuckling. “And Steve doesn’t try to turn you over to the police?” she asked. “He has no quarrel with me here,” said Aari, “and he seldom comes to Canada on official business.”
While all this was going on, the Black Wolves were having fun destroying the new ManWell Escorts Club and making a lot of noise doing it. “May we leave now?” said another woman angrily. “Oh my, Alodie, you speak too,” laughed Deborah. She is another government official. Our girls at home are digging up information about each of the named people. “You may leave,” said Aari, “when I say you may leave, and not before.” “Do you realize how much money we spent building this new club?” asked Jean loudly.
“I don’t really care,” replied Aari, “we are just going to destroy it. And if you rebuild, we will return and destroy that one too. By the way, the two locations you have in London and the two in Paris are now closed for repairs too. I hear that all four locations have burned down. It’s so terrible how arsonists run around as they do these days.” While this talking was going on, no one noticed a secret door open behind Aari and a man stepped out with a gun and pulled the trigger…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
The next morning, after breakfast, I was in my office finalizing my plans with Jennifer when Samantha contacted me. This was not the information I was wanting to hear. I just put my head in my hands and couldn’t say a word. “Steve, are you still there?” she asked. “He took that news very hard Samantha,” said Jennifer, “maybe you should come and give him something.” “I’ll be right up,” she replied. “Cristy,” said Jennifer, “all work and activities are cancelled for today, just take time to relax. Post that please.” “Shall do Jennifer,” she said, “but, um…” “I will give details later,” she said.
“Right, good as done,” said Cristy. She then posted it for all to hear. Only guards stayed on duty that day, plus the girls looking for information on our present case. Samantha arrived with a mild sedative for me. “I know this is a bad time to talk about such things Steve,” said Samantha, “but perhaps this death can help us take down Wellhouse and whoever is backing him. It will certainly give the Black Wolves and the Wildcats some wild anger for dealing with that man anyway.
Oh, I also gave Rock permission to leave the clinic, though I did ask him to take it easy for a few more days. I doubt he will, though, when he gets this news. And, as your doctor, I want you to stay out of this Steve, you have daughters to think about and your wife.” “And he is going to obey his doctor too,” said Jennifer, looking at me rather sternly, “and I can lock you in here if I have to.” I smiled. “Forget it, Steffie showed me that escape route too,” Jennifer smiled in return. “Oh, that sneak!” I said. “She is a junior sneaker,” said Samantha.
“Junior sneaker first class!” said Jennifer, “Misty promoted her.” We all laughed. Well, my original plan wasn’t going to work so good anyway, so maybe this new plan from Samantha will work better. The news was put out that Harley had died, news that made it onto TV and every other news feed in the area. “Hey boss!” said Eric, “Did you hear the news?” “What news? I don’t listen to the news,” he grumbled. “That girl Harley that you beat up,” he said, “she died this morning.”
“Perfect!” he exclaimed, “Now that is good news for sure! Call up the folks, we can celebrate tonight! Tell them to meet us at the new ManWell Escorts location at 20:00.” “Right away boss,” said Eric. Meanwhile, “That new listening device works good,” said Aari, “nice and clear.” “Yep, Carolyn is getting better all the time with her inventions,” said Kristina, “almost as good as Kat.” Aari then contacted Kat to let her know what was happening and where. Kat told him she found the location of the new ManWell Escorts and said it was a large and fancy place.
Sky had brought Jennifer in for a short time so they could get into the building without breaking into it to look around ahead of time. Then Sky brought Jennifer back home with all the layout of the place and complete with photos of everything. “Let Sky take me back with her Steve,” said Rock, “I need some exercise after lying around for so long.” I sighed, but I said okay. Rock ran back down the stairs and Sky appeared beside me. “That’s not nice,” she said, “do you know how much that man weighs?” “You can do it Sky,” I said, “after all, there’s no one better than you.”
I then hugged her. “That’s not fair,” she said, pouting a bit, “but thanks!” Off she went. Aari then had a meeting of his team in their rather crowded room. No such thing as big rooms in that hotel except the Honeymoon Suite and it was already booked. Anyway, Wellhouse and his friends arrived later that evening for their planned meeting at the new location of ManWell Escorts. He showed his friends all around the new building and everyone seemed to be genuinely pleased with everything.
Then they went into the meeting room and the first thing Wellhouse told everyone was the joyful news that Harley had died, so their secret identities were secure. “Yeah, we heard the news Norman,” said the city Mayor, “but will that get those Investigators off our backs? Or will they try even harder to find out who killed her?” “Don’t worry about them,” said Norman, “my boys can handle them okay.” “And what about those Black puppy dogs, my dear Norman,” said a woman, “that’s what you called them, is it not?” Norman turned around and had a shocked look on his face.
“Deborah, when did you get into the city?” he asked, somewhat nervously. “This afternoon,” she replied and came over to sit down with the others, “have you even checked on these Black Wolves dear Norman?” “Who is she talking about Norman?” asked the Mayor, “I don’t like the sound of that name.” “They are a large organization from Canada,” said Deborah, “numbering over 500 men, a criminal gang actually, that have taken a special interest in this young woman Harley. They are not so easily dismissed as a minor disturbance.”
“I was going to check on them tomorrow,” he said, “but they only have a handful of men in the city here.” “I checked that out too,” said Deborah, “there are more than 30 of them in the city, with others in Paris and London. That’s a rather large handful dear Norman.” “They’re more talk than tough,” grumbled Norman. “Oh, did that woman talk Marcel into that garbage bin and cover him in all those bruises?” she asked sarcastically, “And I hear she wasn’t even a big woman.” Suddenly there was a large booming sound coming from the lobby area…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.