“There is an old friend here to see you Steve,” said Angel. “Hmm, I better hang around and see this woman,” said Sky. “How do you know it is a woman?” I asked her. “Your old friends are always women,” she replied. In came my visitor. “Chuck!” I said happily, “this is a quite a surprise, we have not seen each other since high school.” “Hey man,” he began, “yeah, it has been way too long Steve. My family and I are on vacation doing a quick tour of Europe. I knew you were here somewhere, but it took a bit to find you!”

“Hey Chuck, this is my wife, Sky,” I said, “the most wonderful woman around!” “Hi Chuck,” she said cheerfully, “so nice to meet one of Steve’s friends. I know you two probably want to be alone, so I will go get something to eat.” She was about to take Muffin with her but I told her to leave Muffin on the other bed. I do not think Muffin even woke up.

She had been playing with the kittens all morning, great way to get some exercise. Sky left, looked at Angel and Tracy, pointed, then kept on walking to the cafeteria. “Bring back some fries,” said Tracy. “Okay!” replied Sky. Chuck and I talked for about half an hour, just catching up on each other and some of our old friends. Chuck, who had always said he would stay a bachelor, was now married with 3 kids. He leaned over to show me pics of his family on his phone.

Sky was talking with Saranna in the cafeteria, mostly about me, she was trying to get straight answers from Saranna. Suddenly Muffin hit the alarm button on her collar and was sitting, staring at Chuck and growling. When that alarm sounded, Angel and Tracy were in the room amazing fast, guns out and pointing at Chuck. That is when I noticed what Muffin had seen. Sky was already running as fast as she could back to my room.

“Okay Chuck,” I said firmly, “hand your phone to Tracy, slow and easy. You move wrong and you are dead. On three Chuck. One, two…” He then handed his phone over to Tracy, who had her hand out. Sky came in at that moment, went past the girls, and in a quick succession of 3 hits, had Chuck on the floor groaning. Chopping with her hands is getting to be almost as good as her feet. Chung is a good teacher.

Tracy handed the phone to Sky who recognized it right away. She pushed a button on the side and out came a 4 inch razor sharp, two-edged blade. “Only those working for M carry those special phones,” I said to Chuck, “who do you work for?” “Figure it out man,” was all he said. “Put him in detention and call Rock,” I told the girls, “and if he does not cooperate, you know what to do.” Tracy and Angel then took him to our detention room on the far side of the hospital. Rock got the alarm and was on his way with John.

“You have some great friends in your past, Steve,” said Sky. “We had a nice high school,” I told her, “it attracted all kinds. Obviously our friend, the doctor, did work for, or with, M. And he must have hired Chuck to get at me. But how he managed to find Chuck so fast is hard to figure.” “Unless Chuck has been working for M all along,” she said, “then it would be easy for that doctor to find him.”

“Hmm, very good point,” I admitted, “thank you Muffin, you noticed that phone before I did, that was very good.” Meow,meow.=Me look at other phones lots, that way I can see easy if phones show up again. “Good for you Muffin,” said Sky, “we girls know how to do things.” Meow,meow.=Yep, that what me tell MC and Storm, they not think phones important anymore. “Okay then,” I said, “MC and Storm have some homework to do.” Both Sky and Muffin giggled.

Rock questioned Chuck but got nowhere with him, so we handed him over to the police charging him with attempted murder. That likely would not stick since he did not actually try anything, but it will keep him in jail for a while, and we need that time. I then had another meeting with Rock, John and Sky, we need to change our plan just a little to make things safer. During the meeting Sky got a phone call. All she managed to say was “hello”, then she frowned…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.