Dan, the single guy, was visibly shaken by what has happened. Seems everyone else out here had been part of this plot to either question our sanity, or hit us with kidnapping. Either way would finish any chance of continuing as a PI, even if we could eventually prove we were innocent. It will be interesting to see what happens when those kids get back to Australia. I left the others in the lobby while the cats and I went outside. “What do you two think about all this?”, I ask the cats. Meow,meow.=Not know what to think, this bad, we in big trouble. Meow.=Yep, very confusing. Not sure about human Dan, he seem real, but also hide something. Meow,meow=Yep, me agree, we need to leave island fast.

“But leaving might make us look guilty if we are hit with kidnapping charges,” I said, “I’m calling Baldwin, see what he thinks.” I got hold of him and told him more of what is going on. Suddenly a shot! The phone flew out of my hand, blasted to pieces. Tom came running out and got me back inside while the cats took off in the direction of the shot. Good thing they had a good medical kit at this hotel. I’m also glad I was holding the phone in my left hand this time. I won’t be using that hand for a while, that would have been bad if it was my right hand. I asked Tom to call Baldwin. Unfortunately he left his phone on the helicopter. So Lena called him.

He was wondering what happened to our first call. He found out that all the people here at the hotel, including the kids, were part of an acting group that had been hired by Jimmy. Only Dan was not part of that and his story checks out okay, so he’s just a regular tourist like us. Baldwin said he would send a boat to pick us up. But I told him I would be staying to find out who is behind this, otherwise they will continue to hunt us. Lena and Tom both said they would stay with me, so Baldwin said he would send 4 more men to help out and take Dan back to safety. Just then there were several shots! We all fell to the ground.

I was going to fire back but remembered the cats were over there somewhere. I watched carefully, then I heard the familiar “Thwock!” I got up to go over there but a voice behind me said, “Don’t move”. Then another “Thwock!” I turned and a man lay on the ground by the hotel porch. Muffin came running over. Meow,meow!=I use rubber muffin, so he can talk. “Good girl Muffin,” I said. Then Mr. Cat came running over. Meow!=I get sniper man, but use steel ball by mistake, he done. “Good boy Mr. Cat,” I said, “don’t worry about using the steel ball, use it all the time now.”

Muffin had gone over to Lena and Tom who were still lying on the ground. I went back over there. Both had been shot but they are only wounded. “Only”, I thought to myself. There’s no doctor here. Then I noticed the blood on my leg, I had been shot too. That sniper could have killed us all easily, but he didn’t want to, he just wanted to slow us down. Why? Meanwhile back home…”What happened Baldwin?”, asked Calanthe. “There was shooting, then I lost contact again,” he told her. He got another helicopter in the air immediately with 4 men and medical supplies. One of the men was a doctor. But of course we didn’t know this.

Baldwin was very concerned by this time. So am I. Dan came out now and helped me carry Lena and Tom inside. We used the suite on the main floor and just as we got Tom on a bed, the electricity went off. Great, what else can happen? Dan went back to the lobby to get the medical kit and he came running and yelling, “Fire!” He was right, the fire was big and spreading fast. We carried Lena back outside and close to the beach. The cats stayed with her while we went back for Tom. We’re safe from the fire, but easy targets for anyone wanting to shoot us. Then I noticed the man Muffin had knocked out was gone. Someone is forcing us to do what they want, and I don’t like that.

To Be Continued.

©2021 Steve McLeod.