Rossana, Annelie, Rock and Galyna took Krissy to a safe hiding place that only the 4 of them know about, that should keep them safe. Rossana wants to come back and help chase down Avina once we find out where she has taken her “friends”. That may not be so easy, Jenny and Sovia stayed behind to watch them to see where they might go.

Unfortunately Avina had a private jet of her own and they flew off somewhere the next day. But where? They could have gone literally anywhere. We might need Annelie’s talent for this one. Or will we? Two days later I got a call from John again. “Hey Steve, have you found Avina yet?”, he asked. “No, but we have not tried too hard,” I said, “we have been resting up a bit after that whirlwind chase around the globe getting all those prisoners for her.”

“Well, I got a call from her,” he began, “seems someone recommended me to her. She wants me to bring you to her, or just outright kill you if you will not come along like a good little boy. She offered me $25,000 to do it. I laughed good and hard over that! I told her that was not even close for someone like you, I said it had to be $150,000 and not a penny less.”

“I can imagine what she said to that,” I told him. “Ha, you would be wrong, she accepted my price!”, he exclaimed, “but not to worry, I am not going to do it. I will not turn you over to anyone, if I want to kill you at some point, then I will do it because John says, not because of what anyone else says.” “Thanks John, I think,” I responded. “Not to worry Steve,” he said, “you are not on my hit list anymore. That is the honest truth.” “I think I can believe you John,” I admitted.

“Oh, and another thing, that Toledo guy is working for Avina,” he continued, “actually, they are married.” “That means that Avina really is responsible for killing Susan,” I said. “Well, she claimed it was all Toledo’s idea,” said John, “and I still want him for what he did.” “That is fine with me John,” I said, “now, how much do you want for telling me where Avina is located?” “Well, ol’ John is getting a bit low on cash at the moment,” he said, “so just give me $25,000 and let me come with you. Like I said, I still want that Toledo character.”

“Okay,” I said, “that seems like a good deal, and I will pay you up front. When you come along, you will be part of my team, sort of as a ‘freelancer’. Do you think she will stay there for a while?” “Oh yeah,” he said, “that is her headquarters for her project, she will not leave, too difficult to move stuff around. And I like that idea of being a freelancer!” “Good, we need a couple more days,” I told him. Then I told him where we would meet him.

I also told him about Kat being poisoned. I also asked if he knew what her project was going to be. He did not know the answer to that, only that she said it was something big. Avina never did like doing anything small, she wanted everyone around to know what she did, ever since high school. I was starting to get that headache again and told Chung about it.

“You need to relax Steve,” he said, “you are doing too much right now and you had too much of that other medication. Please remember, if you go back to that “nowhere” state again, there will be no coming back. And Kat needs you right now, she received a lot of poison over the last 3 months. If you will not think about yourself, think about her. And your whole team relies on you as well, you must take a break.”

Chung was right, but what about Avina? If we do not stop her now, we may not be able to stop her at all. I decided to call for a team meeting and lay it out before everyone. Jenny spoke up first and said we should relax for a while longer. Rock, Annelie and Galyna were listening in as well. Rock said it was time to take it easy, we can track down Avina some other time.

In the end we all voted to wait, that was a big relief to me, even though I want to get Avina as quickly as possible. I called John to tell him and said if he would tell us where she is right now we would pay him $50,000. Or if he would keep track of her for us, we would double that. John said he would do that and if she moved or if he found out what her plans are, then he would tell us right away. So now we rest for a while…or will we?

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.