“They will likely be following us again, especially going out during the day,” said Candace. “Yes, that’s true,” I said, “but there is a lot more traffic this time of day, easier to get lost in the crowd. But we are going to need a car.” I look online for some ads. “Here is what we want,” I said, “let’s go.” The hotel let us use one of their cars, but I don’t plan to use it for long. I let Candace drive while I called the guy that had a car for sale. We stopped to look at it. He let us take it out for a test drive and I left the hotel car behind. “How long are we going to keep this guy’s car?”, asked Candace. “Actually not very long,” I said, “you are going to take it back and pick up the hotel car and return it.

Then quickly go across the street to that shopping center and go out a back door, I’ll be waiting for you.” Candace just looked at me and shrugged. We stopped at a small museum and I went inside with the cats while Candace took the guy’s car back and went to return the hotel car. From inside the museum I could see a car drop off two men and then take off after Candace. By this time I was back outside from a different door and took a shot at the car’s front tire. Got it. That will slow him down and give Candace a chance to get away.

Meow.=Gun not make much noise, that good little gadget. “Yes MC, it helps a lot, I should use it more often,” I said. Just then the two men following me came out that same door I used. We were hiding behind a shrub and with my dart gun aimed, those two men were soon sleeping peacefully. Off we went to another waiting car driven by Mr. Baxter. I introduced him to the cats and their ears went straight up again. A car came right then to pick up Mr. Baxter and we went off in our car. “Sorry I couldn’t let you in on this kittens, but I’m just not sure if we can trust Candace or not,” I said. Meow,meow.=We understand now, but Candace seem to be okay, why you not trust her?

“I don’t know Muffin,” I said, “there is just something strange about what is going on here. I’m sure that Candace isn’t giving information to anyone, we are watching her too closely. But still, something is wrong.” We were waiting when Candace came out and hopped into the car. “Nice car,” she said, “but how did you arrange it this time, and are you sure there is no bomb?” “Yes, no bomb on this car, the cats and I inspected it,” I said, “Mr. Baxter actually helped with this car. And now, we go see if we can find Anthony.” We drove out of town for a while and past an old house to a spot where we could pull off the road and park the car.

“There’s enough trees and shrubs in the way that we should be able to get close to that house,” I said. “Well, that’s on the right road,” said Candace, “but I was expecting a nicer looking hideaway than that place.” “Which is what they were hoping,” I said, “but I’m sure that’s the house we want. We’ll know soon enough.” Off we went through the trees, then across the lawn to the back of the house. “This seems kind of easy,” whispered Candace. She was right, maybe this isn’t the house we want. The place looked to be quite deserted. The back door was locked but MC had it open quickly. I opened the door slowly. Just ahead were stairs leading to the basement.

I heard someone walking around on the main floor, coming into the kitchen which was right next to us. We froze. Except the cats, who ran down the basement. The man got himself a cup of coffee. A woman’s voice called out to bring her one too. “How long do we have to watch that brat?”, she called out. “Only until they come to get him, then we leave in a hurry,” he answered. That’s odd, something doesn’t add up right with that. Down the basement we went and there was Anthony sitting in a cage with iron bars. I whispered to him who we were, then I held MC so he could pick the lock. Meow.=Not touch this lock, it have wire. I looked and sure enough, a small wire came from the lock down to the bottom of the cage and around back to a box. I open the lid carefully, it contained a bomb, big enough to destroy the entire house. That’s it…

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.