She noticed his bare feet and she stomped hard on his toes making him yell and Storm jumped on his back, digging in all 18 claws! That made the man really yell and he let go of Trisha, so she then kicked him hard in the stomach. He bent way over and Storm jumped off when he saw Sky come around the corner. He had pressed his alarm transmitter earlier. Sky ran up the alley to Trisha as the man straightened up.

“What did you do to my daughter?” she demanded. The man slapped Sky hard almost knocking her down. I called Trisha and she came running over. Sky then proceeded to kick the man several times until he lay flat on the ground. His own fault. Then that headache hit me again and wham! I was down and out. Sky and Trisha said that I flew backward several feet that time.

Sky came running and sent out the alarm, Code A1. At the chateau the speaker said, Code A1, Code A1! Four of the girls were already on their way, having received Storm’s alarm before. When they got the Code A1 alarm they were just entering the village. Code A1 means that I am down with no vital signs. Everyone gets that message on their phones, including Rock and Baldwin who were at their hotel at the time.

Rock quickly called Annelie. “What is happening over there?” he asked. “Not sure honey,” she said, “this is the second time Steve has been hit by something.” “What do you mean the second time?” he asked, “why were we not notified?” “Steve said not to, your meetings were too important,” she said, “and Mandar is here, with a special team of guards coming to help us. Someone got by both our security systems earlier today.”

“I want a Code A in effect, and I mean now!” he boomed. “What was that?” asked Annelie. “Uh, please?” he said sheepishly. “That is better,” she said, “there will be no barking at me.” “I am sorry Annelie,” he said, “I am just a bit upset by what happened.” “Okay, Code A goes into effect right away,” she said. The speakers in the chateau, our cars and the hospital issued the alert for the Code A.

That means a total lockdown of the chateau and hospital. Baldwin then called home to his top security man, Henri, who has been with Baldwin for 16 years now. Baldwin told him to get Team 5 together right away and to be at home when they got back. He also said to put his most sensitive companies on high alert for now. “It is done boss,” said Henri.

Our ambulance arrived to pick me up, although I was awake by that time. The girls had subdued the big man, but he just laughed at everything. “You cannot do anything to me,” he boasted, “I will be free soon. Carmen will see to that.” So, he just told us something and that is the name of the person behind all this, Carmen. But the name meant nothing to me.

I was taken to the hospital anyway and Trisha brought her new cat along also, she hoped that Li Jing might be able to help him. As the doors of the ambulance were closed, the driver noticed a piece of paper on the door and handed it to Kristina. Once I was back in my room at the hospital, Kristina showed me the note. It was written with that old typewriter again.

It said, “Hi Steve, this is Carmen, do you remember me? You should, we had great times together. Then you had to put my parents in jail. Now you will die for doing that. But not right away, just a little at a time. When I get bored with this game, that is when you will die.” I could not remember this woman at all, or her parents.

“We need to ask Muffin, and perhaps Kathee too,” I said, “they should both know who this woman is, I hope.” “Must be an old girlfriend,” said Sky smiling. “If she was, I sure do not remember,” I said. Kathee and Muffin were brought to the hospital so we could find out what they knew about Carmen. But before they arrived, our prisoner came into my room.

“Sorry,” he said, “wrong door.” “Get him!” I yelled. Kristina tried to open the door but could not, it was locked. “That is impossible,” I said, “it can still be opened from this side.” “Not this time,” said Kristina. Then she put out a warning call. “Our prisoner has escaped, warning, he is dangerous,” she said…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.