Well, I thought it was worth a try and hopefully it would not get us in trouble. So I asked the man that seemed to be close to M and he is the one who brought us to our bedroom, along with a couple of guards. “Um, I have a strange request,” I began, “I have a cat, as you probably know.” “Yeah, which one is yours?” he asked.

“Muffin, and she is a type of cat that stresses easily,” I said, “so I put a phone beside her bed and when I am away I call her to say goodnight. So, I was wondering if it would be possible to make just a short call to her. You can stand her and listen in, I will not be saying much anyway.” “Your cat can answer a phone?” he asked. “Well, I taught her what to do to answer it,” I said, “and she usually gets it right. Just hearing my voice calms her down.”

“Tell me something,” he said, “do your cats talk?” I just stared at him. “Um, no, cats cannot talk, they meow to each other which I guess is a type of talking,” I said, “but they cannot talk like people.” “Oh, that makes sense,” he said, “but I could get in trouble with M if I let you call someone.” “But this is just my cat, not a person,” I said, “and if I start to say something I should not, you can take the phone away and tell M that I tried to steal your phone.”

“Oh, okay, but make it short,” he said. I gave him the phone number, which is Muffin’s own number, but it will go to the phone Sky uses. We have already planned this out between us, so she and everyone knows to be quiet while I talk to Muffin.

Meanwhile, “Hey, that is Muffin’s number,” said Sky, “everyone be quiet.” Muffin came over to the phone right away. “Hi Muffin, are you there?” I asked. Meow,meow. “Good girl, I will not be home tonight, so you go to sleep like a good girl for me, meow, meow, meowy, meow mew, meow meow,” I said. Meow, meow. “Good night Muffin,” I said. Meow,meow.

Then I backed away from the phone and the man left shaking his head. Guess he thought I was crazy! I learned something else, he obviously did not expect M to be listening to us, but that might be his job, so we will stay with our plan to whisper quietly except when talking about our job. I also learned that we must still be close to where we live, or he would have said something about it not being night where Muffin is right now.

Back to the team. Meow,meow.=He say M person want them to steal rocks from musty mum. “Musty mum?” asked Sky. “I think she means museum, from what I heard,” said Angel. Meow,meow=That what I say, he also say they treated good so far, but locked up, eat good though. Steal rocks soon, in next 2 days, tomorrow plan, then go. In country of Kat. “That would be Germany,” said Angel.

“Okay, we need to find a museum that is showing some expensive gems,” said Sky. She then called the Major. “Hmm, there are some diamonds, some of the most expensive in the world, being shown at a museum in Germany,” he said, “the showing just started today and going on for 7 days. He then told Sky which museum it was. “But it would be impossible to steal them,” he said, “even for your team.” “That part does not matter,” said Sky, “Steve will let him think he can do it and we can be there waiting.”

“Do not get too excited just yet Sky,” said the Major, “M is a madman, but no fool. If he sees anything at all that is wrong, Steve and the others will be killed on the spot, and maybe more of you besides. Victor has given me time off to help you trap M,” he continued, “I will meet you there tomorrow.”

He then gave the name of a hotel to stay at. Sky then called Baldwin and let him know what was going on. “Do not call Mandar,” he said, “I know what he has said, but for now we need to keep this a secret.” Sky understood. They all went to bed and were up early and headed to Germany. Benson and Carine went along too, they did not feel safe staying behind alone…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.