Meanwhile…back with Annelie. Rossana had arrived to visit, she was on vacation and decided to stop in and check on us. She did not know we were gone on vacation ourselves. Then Annelie got a phone call from John. “Hi John, what is going on?”, she asked. “I was talking with Steve, to let him know I was not involved in what was happening to them,” he said, “then there was a lot of static came on the phone, so we lost our connection. I tried to call him back, but without success. Thought you should know that.”

“Thank you John,” she said, “I will check into that right away.” She tried to call me, but nothing. Then she tried Kat, then Carine and Galyna. Then she got worried and called Baldwin to come into the kitchen. Baldwin, Rock and Benson came running in hoping the donuts were ready. “No donuts guys,” she said, “something serious.” Then she told them. Baldwin told Rock and Benson to get ready to go.

Annelie then called Jake and asked him about a woman named Q. “She is a bad one girl,” he said, “you do not want to mix with her.” She then explained we already were. So he was going to do some checking around and let her know. Annelie would stay behind at the clinic with Chung where they can both be guarded well. Mriya would be going along as well.

Rossana said she would like to go along too and soon they were all in a jet beginning their long journey to our mountain retreat. Rossana had heard about Q, the police have been trying to catch her for a few years now, but without success. At the last minute Baldwin decided to bring Annelie and Chung along, but they would be left behind at a secret location. He felt that would be safer than leaving them back home where a lot of our enemies knew we lived.

After a long flight across the ocean they landed and all got off to walk around a bit while the plane refueled. They all decided it would be best for Baldwin to stay behind with Annelie and Chung as well where he could coordinate things better and send more help if needed. Soon the jet was in the air again. Meanwhile, back to us. The girls were out on their next hike, except Jennifer and Kristina who stayed with me. Muffin also stayed behind, but MC and Storm went on the hike.

The girls stopped at a lookout spot which was just beautiful, and they were all busy taking pictures. That is until…shots rang out, but just at the feet of Salka who was a bit by herself. The shots were designed to make her back up and fall over the edge. As soon as the shots began, Sigurbjorn and Angel were climbing up to where the shots were coming from. MC and Storm also went, but they were a bit faster than the girls. The other girls began shooting, but the shooter was too high.

He kept shooting at Salka, but she then moved quickly away from the edge. Then the next 3 bullets hit her and she was down. The cats reached the area where the shooter was but he had left, along with another man. They were too far away so the cats ran after them, with Storm in the lead and he jumped on the man’s back digging in all 18 claws nice and deep. That caused him to stop and “Thwock!”, MC got him and he was down.

The other man turned to shoot Storm but both cats ran into the trees. This helped the girls catch up and the man was about to shoot at them but the girls shot first and the man fell. But as they approached the men someone else began shooting at them. Sigurbjorn saw where the shots came from and fired at a tree next to the spot.

The cats arrived, but no one was there. The girls then arrived at the spot and looked around, but there was no sign of anyone and no footprints in the soft moss. They all decided to go back quickly. “How is Salka?”, asked Angel. “She is dead,” said Nyura. The girls told Kat what had happened. “Sigurbjorn did not even seem scared at that last spot, but I sure was,” said Angel. “I try not to show emotions,” said Sigurbjorn. “Don’t do that,” said Galyna, “it will eat at you until you explode.”

“Yes, that is true,” said Kat, “we are all a team, we live together and work together, emotions among us are perfectly okay. And I know how you feel too, do not worry about it.” Sigurbjorn looked at Kat and smiled. “Thank you,” she said, “I do feel much better now.” “Good, now we can concentrate on our case,” said Kat, “you and Galyna still need to talk with Jazzy.” And now, back to us…

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.