Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Year End Case. Chapter 7. Explosions.
Mandar and the others were soon in Munich and heading to the hotel where Lavina would be staying. But as they got close to the hotel, Mandar told his driver to stop, so he pulled over. “What is wrong?” asked Kristina. “That is not a hotel Lavina would be staying at,” he said, “keep driving to the next hotel.” The went further down the street. “There, that is her hotel,” said Mandar.
They stopped along the street, but not in front of the hotel. Mandar phoned the other two cars and told them he would go behind the hotel, one of them to park in front and go inside to open the back door for him. The other car would go park in the side parking lot and go in the front door, but stay close to the building so they cannot be seen from above. The plan was put into motion.
The first men went inside and opened the back door, which was locked to outside entrance, but could be opened from the inside. The other men came in and sat in the lounge area to wait for Lavina and her friends. Mandar went to the front to ask which was Lavina’s room. “I am sorry sir,” he said, “but I cannot give out that information.”
Mandar handed the man quite a lot of money and soon they were on their way upstairs to the eighth floor, room 832. Mandar had been given the entry card and in he went to wait for Lavina. He ordered some food for everyone since they had not eaten since breakfast. Kristina was almost too excited to eat. Storm was downstairs with the men in the lounge area, eating his food with them. He too was waiting excitedly for Lavina to show up. She was to arrive before 9pm.
Meanwhile, back at the clinic… Lavina was watching the clinic and had a small device with a button on it. “Are you sure there was enough explosives?” she asked a woman. “Oh yes,” she answered, “and we got it done while they were having their Christmas dinner, so no one was around at all.” “Very good,” laughed Lavina, “now Steve, we will see if you can live through this.” But then a car drove up to the clinic so Lavina held off briefly to see who it was.
“Him!” she said, “he has more lives than a cat! But we will see if he can live through this.” Walter got out of the car, but Crandall called to him. “Someone is watching us on that far hill,” he said, “I saw the sun shine off some glass, probably a telescope.” “Drive ahead to those trees,” said Walter, “I will send some men to you, go get whoever is over there. And do not be nice about it.”
“Done,” said Crandall and off he drove and stopped behind the trees. Walter went inside and told Sky, who then told 4 men to go with Crandall and be prepared to fight. They went and jumped in the car and off they drove. Then could not be seen leaving from that spot on the hill. Crandall knew how to get there quickly, but would he be quick enough. Lavina smiled and pressed the button. The clinic was destroyed in a huge explosion! Lavina then left quickly, leaving others to destroy the chateau. Fortunately she did not know about the new chateau, only the old one. Another woman pressed a button she had and the chateau was completely destroyed in another huge explosion!
Now, back to Mandar and his group… “Do you think she will be on time, or late?” asked Kristina. “I know Lavina, she is meticulous to a fault in everything she does,” replied Mandar, “she prides herself at being punctual. She will not be late.” Mandar even had time for a short nap. Kristina laid down on the bed, but she could not even close her eyes, she was just too excited.
Mandar was on the other bed and was very quickly asleep. Storm had studied the picture of Lavina and knew right away when she came in with 3 other women. Mandar’s men were dressed in ordinary clothes so they would not be noticed. Storm went over to Lavina and rubbed against her legs. One of the women was about to kick Storm away from Lavina. “No,” she said sternly, “he is just beautiful.”
The man at the front desk said he did not know who he belonged too, but because it was raining, he let him stay inside. “If someone comes looking for him,” said Lavina, “you have not seen him.” She then handed some money to the man. Storm began purring for Lavina, even though he hated the thought, but he knew his job and did it. Lavina opened the door of her room, which was dark and one of the women turned the light on. “Mandar!!” gasped Lavina…
To Be Continued.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Coffee For Friday. #32
Good morning and Happy Friday everyone! Wow, this is our last Friday of 2022 and only one more day left in the year! This is also the last coffee post for the year. I am thinking of making a few changes for the New Year, but have not quite figured that out yet. Which means I better hurry. It is a bit cooler this morning again, 5F (-15C). A bit of a change from yesterday when it was 28F (-2C).
But tomorrow will be milder again, and Sunday also. A nice way to begin the New Year. The chickadees, nuthatches and blue jays have been here this morning. I have not seen any other birds yet. But with the windows frosted up again, it is hard to see anything. We had some freezing rain/drizzle yesterday, so everything is covered with ice including the deck and the step up to the bird feeder. The feeders themselves were covered with ice by late afternoon so I brought them inside to thaw them overnight.
Amazing the birds were still able to get seeds. That squirrel which was coming so regularly for a few days has stopped again for some reason. He is still around, running through the trees in the empty lot out back. But he does not come over here. He is a very strange squirrel indeed. Normally when a squirrel finds a good source of food, it will keep coming. But not this one. He must be getting good food somewhere else.
Does this mean that someone else is perhaps giving out better quality peanuts than I am? What a terrible thought! Hmm, maybe that is why my blue jays do not come around as much now. Maybe I need to put out a “sale” sign on my peanuts. Something like “Eat 2 peanuts, get 2 more absolutely free!” It might work. Oh well, just a thought. It is kind of odd this winter though. Yesterday I was outside for nearly half an hour and there was not one bird out there that whole time.
Not even one. That is odd. But every year is different. Last year I had record high numbers of birds, this year it is just the opposite. But it could yet change too. I am saving a lot on bird seed and peanuts though, so I guess that could be considered a plus. I am still trying to get a picture of that female Downy Woodpecker. But by the time I get out there she is usually gone. Or some noise will scare her away just as I am going out the door.
Or one of the Hairy Woodpeckers comes and scares her away. Sigh. But one of these days I will get her picture. I am still sorting out pictures. There is a lot to go through and it takes a lot of time. I thought it would be faster, but I was wrong. Like a project I was working on. I had already done half of it so I figured it would be only about half an hour left to finish it.
I was wrong. It ended up taking me all afternoon. There were some unexpected problems show up, so it took longer. Sigh. But now that it is done I can do something else. Once completed I will have more space in here and less stuff. I am also trying to downsize this winter. That is also taking longer than I thought. Sigh. Thank you all for visiting today. I hope you have a wonderful Friday, and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
