I look around for some movement. Then I spot some movement so I returned fire and I saw someone drop. “Okay Muffin, let’s go”, I said, “M.C., you stay with Kat.” Off we went through the trees. “You go too M.C., make sure they come back,” said Kat. Zoom, off went M.C. through the underbrush. While Muffin and I were looking at the man I had shot, another man came up behind us and ordered me to drop my gun. Reluctantly I did so. Can’t believe I let him sneak up behind me. “Thwock!”, and the man fell to the ground, and M.C. came out with a smile on his face. Meow.=You two need help, also need to keep ears open. Human Kat tell me to come and help. “Good thing you did,” I said rather humiliated over this turn of events. Meow,meow.=Oh, I make big bad mistake, must be more careful!

Meanwhile, there is a phone conversation going on elsewhere. “You weren’t supposed to have any shooting today, just watch until tomorrow!”, said the woman. “I’m sorry Kat, but…”, he was cut off. “Don’t ever use my name! Can’t you remember anything? It has taken too long to get this set up right, I don’t want it messed up, understand?” “Yes, I’m sorry K”, said the man, “it won’t happen again.” “It better not,” said K, “or I’ll drop you off in this wilderness and leave you there. Now, remember what to do next, tomorrow.” “No problem K, it will be done correctly this time,” said the man.

Now back to us again. “Are you talking to yourself Kat?”, I asked. “What, no,” she said, “I was talking to that squirrel over there.” Meow,meow!=Squirrel! And the cats went for a chase, right up the tree, and the squirrel just hopped over to the next tree, leaving the cats stranded on a small branch. “You’ll have to get yourselves down,” I said, “I don’t have the energy to climb trees right now.” “Guess we have people tracking us,” said Kat. “I don’t think they have been following us,” I said, “though they were wearing hiking boots.” “Then why don’t you think they were following us?,” she asked. “This is mid summer, it’s hot and very dry, it’s impossible to walk around here without making a noise,” I said.

“That’s true, it has been noisy walking,” she admitted. “Yep, the cats would have heard or seen them while they were sitting on our backpacks,” I said, “plus, look at our shoes.” “They’re black from walking through that burned out area,” she said. “Right,” I said, “but their boots were clean. They were here already, waiting for us to arrive. They know we have to go a certain direction to get out of here, that’s why we were dropped off at that particular spot. So I think they have men at certain spots waiting for us, even though we may have to go around things, such as this bog ahead of us, they still know approximately where we will be.” “I know we got rid of their tracking devices, but can’t they track us through the cats collars?”, asked Kat.

“Only when they are turned on, and they are off except at night when we are not moving,” I said, “so they know where we are at night, but not how we move around during the day. This way Baldwin can also track us.” “Hmm, good thinking,” said Kat. Then the cats starting meowing so I went over and let them jump into my arms. Then we ate and settled down for the night. Baldwin also dropped a small tent for us to use, and it was small. “Did he send a shower too?”, asked Kat. “Sorry, that will have to wait,” I said. Kat just gave a very loud sigh. The night went by too fast and both Kat and I were a bit stiff the next morning.

But we enjoyed our breakfast and got ready for another day of hiking. “Either way we go will take a long time going around that bog,” said Kat. “We’re not going around it, we’re going right through it,” I said. “Isn’t a bog full of water?”, she asked. “Well, yes and no,” I said, “this is a spruce bog, so there will be places firm enough to walk on, hopefully,” I said and started off. “Hey, what do you mean hopefully?”, she called out. I just laughed.

Things were going quite good, I told Kat to stay on the tree roots where it’s safe. But then I heard a sploosh sound and yell. I turned to see Kat up to her waist in water, very cold water. “I, I’m, fro…frozen,” she said shivering. “You do need to dry off, good thing we have extra clothes,” I said. However, her shoes were still wet so she decided to go barefoot for now. It wasn’t easy pulling her out of that hole, but I tried not to show it. However, my old wound was now acting up again making it very difficult to walk through this area. Each minute seemed like an hour until…

To Be Continued.

Previous chapters of this story, and more stories, can be found on my home page under “The Investigators, Inc.”

Pictures of M.C. are kindly supplied by his human, Nina.

©2021 Steve McLeod.