John tried his many contacts to try and find Brenda, but without success. It seems she has just vanished. John figures she decided to go into hiding for a while after the attack on us. I agreed with that assessment, she likely feared retaliation for that attack. And she should. So, right now we are just waiting to see what our next move will be, and letting everyone rest thoroughly.

Angel, Galyna and Sovia are fine now, they were not injured badly. Stanley, Mriya and Carine are still in the clinic but are recovering well. We have been getting many requests from people in Baldwin’s workforce to join our team. Some have begun our training tests and are doing well so far. We have Luvia and her brother Eilhard from Finland, Tuva, from Sweden, Brooklyn, Mandi and Franklin, from the US.

I do not know if all will join, but they have put in a request. They first need to be questioned, then enter our training tests. So far Tuva, Brooklyn and Franklin have begun training. Mandi is a nurse and is already helping Chung at the clinic, she does not need to go through our regular training since her work will be only at the clinic for now. We are still working on that crazy clue for the treasure hunt, something I think is not going to yield anything but a dead end.

Still, there is always that possibility of finding something worthwhile. But it has already cost us a lot, so I am not really sure it is worth anything. One day Krissy was outside playing with the cats when she suddenly fell to the ground. MC came running in to tell us and we all ran out to see what was wrong. We rushed her to the clinic but she was already dead by the time we got there.

How could that be? Rock and Annelie were devastated by the news. Krissy had never complained of any problems, so what could it be? Chung soon had the answer, poison. Baldwin’s men were soon scouring the whole area looking for clues. She must have been shot with some kind of poison dart to kill her so quickly. But there was no evidence of any dart.

The cats were out sniffing around too. Meowr!=Come here, me find something! We went running over. Meowr.=Poison on ground. I took a sample of the soil and brought it to Chung at the clinic. Sure enough, the same poison on the soil and that is where Krissy fell. Chung then told me he had found a tiny mark on Krissy’s neck, so small he had missed it at first.

He said it would have been made by a dart, possibly one that had dissolved after impact, therefore leaving no dart to be traced. Would Brenda be so brave to hit us again? That evening I was in the library and John came in. “I found Mandar,” he said with a big smile. “Great news,” I agreed. I was soon calling him. “What may I do for you Steve?”, he asked. “Do you have any idea how I might be able to find Brenda?”, I asked, “she seems to have disappeared completely.”

I then told him about Krissy. “That would be Brenda,” he said sternly, “she has these poison darts that melt immediately, leaving no trace and only a pin prick in the victim, usually the neck. I cannot be sure where she is, but I can give you 3 possible destinations where she often goes to hide when she needs to.” “That would certainly be a huge help,” I said. He gave me the 3 locations, one was in Australia, one in Panama and one in California. I picked the easy one first, California.

I left Rock at home, he needed to be with Annelie right now. I decided to include Tuva, Brooklyn and Franklin in our team for this one, we might need the extra help. Everyone knew the danger and I gave our 3 new team members the choice of coming or not. They all chose to come along and help. Luvia also arrived before we left and wanted to come along with us too. So, we have me, 12 team members and the cats. I hope we all come back from this…

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.