Talking with Cam’s girlfriend was a waste of time, I really do not think she knew enough about anything to help us. Or she was a very good actor. But Sky seemed to think she was telling the truth, so we left her and went back to the hotel. I am sure the police arrived not long after we left, another reason for not staying too long. Better to stay away from the police as much as possible, since only the police chief knows about us.

At the hotel we gathered up all the papers and put them back into the boxes and then we talked about what we should do. “I think it would be better to leave now,” I said, “we did accomplish what we came here for, that is to find out who murdered Kathee’s parents and look for anything that might be related to that. We found a lot more than we thought and have enough to put those crooked cops in prison for a while.

There is also enough here to put Carnival in prison, which I would enjoy doing, but that is not really why we came. And we helped out Victor at the same time.” “It might be better to let Victor take care of Carnival,” said Ralph, “he has a lot of ways to do so, and he has ways to find him too.” “True,” I said, “that would be fine with me.”

Everyone on my team agreed it would be better to head back and go through the paperwork more thoroughly. “Plus, we really need to get MC back to our hospital where we can look after him better,” said Saranna, “and Li Jing knows more about looking after animals than I do.” Apparently MC is doing worse now and will not eat or drink.

Getting him home is important, and maybe having Muffin close by will help him too. Fortunately no one here knows where we live, so it would be much safer for us. Before we left, we had painted the insignia that Victor uses on his jets onto our jet, so it would look more like we came from him. So we will fly back there and drive home. Then Baldwin will send someone to pick up the jet and bring it back and change the insignia back to his own.

Fortunately Victor uses the same kind of jet that Baldwin has, bought from the same company, which Baldwin owns. Baldwin did not know who Victor was at the time or he likely would not have allowed the sale. But it did turn out good for us on this trip. I would like to find out why so much interest in these papers though. Perhaps other organizations just want to have information about Carnival and Victor?

It would be bad for Victor if rivals got hold of his information in these papers. Not that we support Victor, but I still would not want his rivals to have that info, better for the police to get it. But this time it goes back to Victor for his help to us on this case. Hmm, a couple of those cardboard boxes were not in very good shape. I decided we should go across the street to that store and pick up a suitcase to put them in.

So Sky, Kristina, Sigurbjorn and I went for a stroll. We got down to the lobby area and I spotted this yellow van parked outside. Something told me that we should turn around and go back upstairs. However, before we could do so, 6 men with guns were behind us with automatic guns in our backs. They took our guns and tossed them aside and told us to go out to the van. I knew that van was trouble.

The person at the front desk saw what was going on and called up to our room. Rock answered the phone, then quickly yelled for the guys to come and that we were in trouble. The elevator was on our the floor above so arrived quickly, but we were gone by the time they got downstairs. The woman at the front desk said we had been taken in a yellow van with the words, “Budget Cleaners” on the side.

Ralph and Carver had gotten our cars and they all gave chase, but to no avail, that van had disappeared. Back they came and Crystal told them that someone had called with a weird voice to say if they wanted to see us alive again, to leave the country at once. They talked about it for a while. “We should leave,” said Angel, “we can come back after we regroup and get this stuff safe, that is what Steve would want.” Rock agreed and soon they were flying home.

Meanwhile, The four of us woke up in a small rustic cabin in the mountains…

To Be Continued as The Lost Team Case.

©2023 Steve McLeod.