Brenda had been shot twice, in her shoulder and side. Kat had been shot in her abdomen, but was doing okay. “Well girl,” I said to Kat, “was it worth doing this?” “Yes Steve,” she said, “I’m glad I did it to keep Kat safe for you.” And she managed a smile. “Do you know who it was that got away?”, I ask Brenda. “Yes, that was Gina, she was second to Kat, and she will likely come after you again sometime, but it won’t likely be soon,” answered Brenda, then added, “my poor kitten, she’s in the lodge.” “Speaking of cats, where are my two?”, I asked. Then I spotted them making their way out of the wreckage of the lodge entrance with Muffin carrying a kitten and she brought her right over to Brenda.

“Oh, thank you so much for rescuing her you two,” smiled Brenda. Meow,meow.=M.C. find her, I carry her out, he not good at that. “Steve, look out!”, shouted Brenda. I turned to see another woman with a gun pointed this way and she shot. The helicopter pilot was with us and he returned fire and the woman fell. Then the police ran over to check. It wasn’t me she wanted to kill however, it was Kat, who was now laying flat on the ground, motionless, from a second wound, this time in the chest. “That was Gina,” said Brenda, “hard to believe she came back instead of getting away.”

“She wanted to make sure Kat died too, like Katrina did,” I said checking on Kat. She opened her eyes and said, “yes Steve, it’s still worth it.” “Hey, don’t talk, just relax, we’ll get you to the hospital quickly. “I’ll take everyone in the helicopter,” said Jim, the pilot. We carried them on stretchers to the chopper, then we were all off to the hospital. The cats and I waited nervously while the girls were in surgery. Finally it was over and we were all in the room. Kat was still out however, but Brenda was awake now. “Hey, how did you manage to get a bed in here?”, asked Brenda.

“Well, Kat is still my wife you know,” I answered, “so they asked if I wanted to stay here, and I do, I want to make sure you two are protected until I can get you home.” “Sorry, I forgot for a moment,” said Brenda, “guess I have no home now.” Meow.=You have home with us, we take you back with us. Brenda looks at me. “He’s absolutely right,” I said, “complete with a whole new identity. From now on you are, Annelie Nyholm, from Sweden. And you are best friends with Jennifer Johannson who is from Norway. And you have a home and job working for Calanthe and her brother Baldwin at their senior’s resort and spa.

“I’ll gladly take the job,” she said excitedly, “I’m looking forward to meeting my best friend too! Um, my kitten, can I keep my kitten?” Muffin comes over to me and I pick her up and put her on Annelie’s bed, while she carried the kitten. “Yes, you can keep the kitten too,” I said smiling. Just then pain hit her again. “You have to be careful for a while,” I said to her. “How about your Kat?”, she asked, “is she going to be okay?” “The doctor said she would be fine, but it will take a while,” I said, “her one lung was punctured by that last bullet. But she’ll pull through okay.” “She’s a brave woman to do what she did,” said Annelie, “she could easily have been killed.”

“Yes, so true, but the whole thing was her idea, I tried to talk her out of it,” I said, “but she insisted and said it would work, which it did.” After a few days we were back home, Kat was there at the airport and literally threw herself at me hugging me tight! “I was so worried about you and Jennifer,” she said, then turning to Jennifer, “I don’t know how I can ever thank you for what you did, you were almost killed!” “That’s okay,” said Jennifer, “I already told Steve, it was worth it, you and Steve are perfect for each other and Steve did so much for me, I just knew I wanted to do this for you both.” Then Kat turned to Annelie (Brenda), “hi Annelie, nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you again Kat,” she said, “and to be on the same side.” Jennifer, being the same size as Kat, and looking so much like her, decided to pose as Kat in order to bring Katrina out in the open so we could capture her and put an end to these crazy games of hers. Meanwhile my Kat went into hiding so no one would see her around, just in case she was being watched, which would ruin our plan. So it was really Jennifer who got shot, not my Kat. Somewhat complicated, but it was the best way to do things. Now it was time to relax again for a while until our next case, which hopefully will be something a bit more simple for a change. Meow,meow=like hunting ghosts in old castle. Meow!=you change! Now you like me. Meow,meow.=The way we going, might end up ghosts anyway, may as well go chase them. Meow.=I agree, old castle next time. We all laugh. But perhaps…

The End.

©2021 Steve McLeod.