“Hey, I have a signal from Steve’s alarm!” yelled Annelie. That brought everyone running into the library, including Baldwin, with his plate of donuts and a cup of coffee. “Where is he?” asked everyone. “He is in New Zealand,” she said, “it is a good thing the boys are still in Australia.” “Yes, that is good,” said Baldwin, “call Rock and get them moving now!”

She did so and Rock, Benson and John woke up, got dressed and were out the door in record time. They had a small jet from Mandar, and they were soon flying to New Zealand. Right after she called Rock, my call came through to her. “A call coming from New Zealand Mr. B” she said. “Well, answer it, maybe it is Steve,” he said. She answered. “Hi Annelie, guess who?” I said to her. “Steve, what happened, how did you get there, why are you not using your own phone, are you still with that woman?” she asked quickly.

“Hey, one question at a time,” I said, “I am tired, very sore and in the middle of nothing. Well, I managed to escape, and I am at a service station that is closed with absolutely no lights on whatsoever.” “How did you get there?” she asked. “I flew in a rocket,” I replied. “That is not funny,” said Baldwin. “It certainly was not,” I replied again, “I am glad you are there Mr. B, is anyone else around?”

“Just about everyone Steve,” said Annelie, “except Rock, Benson and John, they are on the way to pick you up. Fortunately, you are close to a town that has an airport big enough for their plane to land, then it is only about a 15 minute drive I would say.” “How long will it take them to get here in total?” I asked. “Probably about 4 hours or so,” she replied. “Oh good, I can have breakfast first if this place opens at 6 like she said,” I mused. “Who said what?” asked Annelie.

“Mr. B, clear the room, only you and Annelie can stay for now,” I said, “and Annelie, if you could put a stop on my credit cards, please, I would really appreciate it.” “Okay everyone,” said Baldwin, “you heard Steve, out.” They grumbled and complained, but left, and Baldwin shut the doors. The cats stayed too, but that was fine I said. “Okay Steve,” he said, “all are gone, why the secrecy?” “I will give my full report once I am back, someone might be listening in on this phone call,” I said, “it is the one the woman dropped.”

“What woman?” asked Annelie. “The woman that gave me a ride,” I said, “when I escaped to the road, a car came and stopped to pick me up, driven by a woman who brought me here. Then after I got out of the car, she got out, punched me twice, knocking me to the ground, then she kicked me hard in the stomach. She also took my wallet, but she must have dropped her phone, or maybe it was dropped by the person who dropped all these coins I found next to it.”

“She was a big, tough woman?” asked Annelie. “Um, well, uh, not exactly,” I said, “she was about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed maybe 115 pounds, and beautiful.” “You certainly noticed a lot while she beat you up,” said Annelie. I could imagine she was probably smiling when she said that. “Am I going to have a chance to speak too?” asked Baldwin. “Oh, sorry, Mr. B,” she said, “but you were eating your donuts.” “Thanks for your concern,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, and she drove extremely fast,” I added, “that is why I said a rocket.” “Thanks for explaining that,” said Baldwin. “Now, I do have a request,” I said, “or maybe two. One, I want to be taken directly to the clinic and have Chung check me out thoroughly.” “I will call Mriya right away Steve,” said Annelie. “NO!” I said loudly, “oh, sorry about that, but I am tired and sore and have a bad headache. I did not mean to yell like that. But I only want Chung to see me, okay?”

“I will make sure it is just Chung,” said Baldwin, “and the other request?” “This is a hard decision for me,” I said, “but it is important. For this I want Mriya, ask her if she can do an autopsy for me.” “On whom?” asked Baldwin. “Um, well, on Kat,” I said quietly, “I know it is odd, but I need her to check for two things. One, how did she die, positively. Was she shot, or did she hit her head when she fell? Or was it something else? I need to know, it is very important, I will explain later, this is hard for me…

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.