“Okay,” I said, “now the planning of our own little game.” So first of all I contact Rossana and explain what we need to do, everything has to be done right because I know that Anthony will be watching, or at least some of his men will be watching. Now, Kat and I, with help from the cats, will need to break into the police headquarters in Paris to get the new identity info for Jennifer. Rossana will make sure it is in the right spot, and Jennifer will become Carrie Wilson, a Canadian on vacation traveling around Europe and staying right now in Paris. That’s where Anthony is staying as well so it makes things easier. Off we go to Paris, but Jennifer is coming separately with Baldwin a day later and they will stay in a hotel not far from Anthony’s hotel.

Hopefully we’re not making things too easy or he might suspect a trap. Then Kat, the cats and I head off after midnight to do our job. This part we want is closed at night, so we have to contend with alarms, but I already know how to shut them off and I have sleeping darts for any guards we might encounter. We get inside quickly and into the alarm room to shut things down. Now off to the records room where we spend the right amount of time to find what we want, take pictures and leave. No guards around which was perfect, but I almost forgot to turn the alarm back on. So I went back to do that and I must have done something wrong because I set off the alarm, and it was loud!

But we managed to get away in plenty of time and nothing was taken so hopefully they will forget about it. Now, back to the hotel and the room where Carrie was staying. Baldwin is staying too and he brought some men with him just in case we need them later, and we probably will. At breakfast Anthony called me and asked if I got the information. “Yes,” I said, “and I will pick her up and deliver her to you, in person, not your men. I’m not trusting anyone in this, so it’s between me and you.” “Okay,” he said, “but I want one of my men to identify her for me first, before I show up.

If it’s her, he will give you the first half of the payment that we agreed on. Then when we meet, I will give you the rest and take my sister.” “Sounds good to me,” I said, “but don’t try to cross me on this, or I will hunt you down. I will have her with me in this hotel restaurant at 8pm, um, she might be a bit drugged, I don’t think she would be willing to come otherwise.” “That’s okay,” he said, “I will see you at 8.” The day passed slowly and Jennifer got more nervous all the time. But she still wanted to do it, she knew it was the best thing to do. At 7:45 Carrie (who is Jennifer), Muffin and I went to the restaurant.

I had to get special permission to get Muffin in there and she was dressed up like a nice wealthy cat should be. It was 8:25 before Anthony’s men showed up. “Well,” I said, “are you satisfied?” “Yeah,” said the one man, “it’s her alright.” The other man put a briefcase on the table and opened it for me. It contained 250,000 euros, half the agreed upon price. I closed it and put it aside. “Okay,” said the first man, “we meet Anthony out front in his car.” “No,” I said, “the deal is to meet here, and that’s what we do. In here we can do a safe exchange.” They looked, then left. It was a few minutes later that Anthony came in and put another briefcase on the table.

I opened it, another 250,000 euros. Very nice. “Okay Carrie,” I said, “it’s time to go home with your brother.” “Go home?”, she asked, “oh good, let’s go home, I want to go home.” She was playing her part extremely well. Anthony took her by the arm and started for the door, but 3 men with rather large guns stood in the way. I then had a gun at the back of Anthony’s head. “Let her go Anthony,” I said, “I certainly won’t hesitate using this gun.” “You are playing the wrong game PI,” said Anthony firmly. Then I suddenly got an attack and staggered backward, my head pounding terribly. Anthony quickly seized on the moment and pulled Carrie in front of him to use as a shield…

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.