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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
We seem to have spooked Lombardi enough that he decided to leave and head back to his office where he figures it will be safer for him. I wonder if it will be safer though? Somehow I doubt it. David and Vinnie have turned out to be traitors and have been for some time obviously. “David said he got the list from the top man himself,” I said to Sky and Misty, “I wonder who he was talking about? Is there someone else higher up in this organization?”
“Seems to me he was talking about Rossana’s boss,” said Misty casually, “who else would know the list of infiltrators? Just makes sense. Give him enough money and there you have it, the complete list.” She smiled. Now it was my turn to stand there and blink. Misty was right, of course, it does make sense. I gave her a big hug and kiss.
“Hey, you two,” said Sky, “are you trying for some kind of kissing record?” Poor Misty, she was red as could be after Sky said that. “Oops, sorry Misty,” I said, “I was just so happy.” “That’s okay,” she said, “I didn’t complain did I?” “Um, shouldn’t we have gone with Lombardi in his car?” asked Sky. “Might have been a bit crowded,” I said, “besides, we know where he’s going, to his office.”
“What if he has more than one office?” asked Misty. “He probably does,” I said, “but the way he said it tells me he was referring to his main office, the place where he feels the most safe. We know where that is and can get there first. Besides, we can’t leave Vinnie behind, she can identify us and that would be trouble.” “Um, but we have the family now,” said Sky, “so what’s the problem?”
“Well, even though David and Vinnie have turned out to be traitors,” I said, “they are still Rossana’s family, so I don’t want to just leave Vinnie for these guys to toss overboard for the fish. We will take her with us to Lombardi’s office, that should shake him up a bit more.” The girls giggled at the thought. Sky then went over and touched Vinnie and I held Misty’s hand and we were all gone to the restaurant.
Lombardi’s office is on the second floor, but we will start here. We put Vinnie on a chair that had arms on it so she wouldn’t fall off. “Okay, Misty, you stay here with Vinnie,” I told her, “Sky, you take the back entrance and I will take the side entrance. That way they can’t sneak in without us knowing about it.” “Hey, smart thinking Steve,” said Misty.
“Thank you Misty,” I said, “now remember, if there is trouble, just say my name and I will come right away. After all, this is the way they will most likely use to come in.” “Right,” she said emphatically, then she thought, “um, wouldn’t it be better for you to stay here Steeeee…you’re gone already.” She sighed.
“I’m the only one that can’t go invisible and I’m at the most likely entrance they will use,” she thought to herself, “I need some invisible powder, or something, otherwise I am going to get killed one of these times, and if I do, I, I, I will come back and haunt Steve! Hmm, guess I can’t do that without being a ghost, and I can’t be a ghost.
I don’t want to be killed anyway. I’ll just sit and wait. How is a woman supposed to sit with these tight clothes anyway? It’s almost like they’re part of my skin. Steve says this is what these criminal types like to see. This skirt is so short my whole leg shows…both of them. At least this tight skirt won’t get in the way of kicking, providing I get a chance to kick, maybe they’ll just shoot me.
Nah, Steve said Lombardi would likely torture me first. Thanks Steve, now I have something more to worry about. Steve doesn’t want a pretend wife, he wants a decoy. ooooh, I’m sorry Steve, I didn’t mean that, honest, I’m just nervous, a little. Well, maybe more than a little. Okay, a lot. I’m nervous a lot. Sigh.
I can barely breathe in these clothes they’re so tight, I don’t even have anywhere to put my gun since I wasn’t allowed to wear a holster. Steve had to carry it for me, now I have to hold onto it. I’m going to join Kat’s team, they don’t wear tight clothes like this. Wait, I have my own team now. I hereby declare that no tight clothes will be worn on my team!
Sigh, I doubt if that would work, I’m not on my team right now. Hey, did I just hear something? It sounds like voices.” Just then Lombardi and his friends entered the restaurant. “Hey, how did Vinnie get here ahead of us?” asked David, “And she’s tied up and gagged too!” Lombardi’s men looked around. “Hey, it’s that same woman on the yacht!” yelled one of the men, “How did she get here so fast?”
Misty stepped into the open better with her gun pointed at Lombardi. “I told you before,” said Misty, “I’m a ghost, I don’t need to use a car, I just think about where I want to go, and I’m there. I was nice enough to bring Vinnie with me since your men were going to take her out for swimming lessons and she wouldn’t be able to swim when she is paralyzed. Steve.”
But I didn’t appear. “Sky.” said Misty. Still nothing, no Steve, no Sky. “Uh, uh,” said Misty when she saw one of the men going for his gun, “take out a gun and Lombardi dies first, then the rest of you. Remember, you can’t kill a ghost because I’m already dead, but I can certainly kill all of you. Steve!” She said my name louder that time but still nothing.
The others looked all around. “STEVE!” she yelled, “You miserable male ghost, you come here right now!!” She yelled so loud that time that I heard her quite clearly, so did Sky. But when Misty yelled that time she had her eyes closed, which she always does when she yells that loud. That gave one of the men time to pull his gun and shoot Misty. She fell to her knees groaning.
“You got me,” she said, “everything is going black and, hey, I just found 5 euros under this chair!” She stood up and waved it. “See, I told you that it’s not possible to kill a ghost,” she said, “you just won’t believe me.” She shook her head. All the men took out their guns now but they dropped them quickly because they were too hot to hold. Misty laughed at them.
“What’s wrong guys?” she asked, “Are your guns a bit warm?” Then she laughed some more. “Don’t just stand there,” yelled Lombardi, “go get her!” The four men ran for Misty, but now she could take care of herself quite nicely, I had been helping her before this so she wouldn’t get shot. Sky and I sat on a table and watched the fun as Misty kicked these guys around and threw 2 of them over her shoulder, 3 times no less.
Finally the show was over. “And why did you two just sit and watch?” asked Misty. “I thought if we joined in then it wouldn’t be a fair fight,” I said, “and I do like to watch you fight, you’re so amazing.” She blushed red again. “Uh, Steve,” said Sky, “Lombardi, David and Vinnie are gone.”
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
The van with its escort of three cars arrived on time at the park and they stopped not far from the van that was waiting at the park for them. But Eddy did something that Sky was not expecting, he ran over to the lead car yelling at them to leave or they would be attacked! “And we were going to be so nice to that man,” said Sky to Angel, “he’s just a big coward and he betrayed us.”
She then tossed a small lightning ball hitting Eddy on his back right at his heart. He yelled and fell to the ground, dead. Then Sky tossed a larger lightning ball high into the night air and it exploded, lighting up the whole area like a large flare, making it easy to see the cars and van.
Suddenly three vans came driving across the grass and smashed into the sides of each car, pushing them off the roadway and onto the grass on the other side. Kristina and Kitty suddenly appeared inside the van quickly killing the three men inside that were driving and guarding the family. There was just one problem. The whole family was not there.
Rossana’s brother and his wife were missing. Their 3 young daughters were present and the sister of Rossana’s sister-in-law was there with her daughter. Kitty was perplexed by that because she checked to make sure the family was getting on the van and they all did. So, what happened to Rossana’s brother and his wife?
Meanwhile, the crashing into the cars by our vans killed most of the occupants, others were injured and four with just minor injuries surrendered. I called Rossana with the news and asked what to do with the men who were still alive, some needing medical assistance quickly.
Misty and I were still at the boat with Lombardi and Spence, but Sky arrived to let me know what had happened. Rossana told me to wait until our team heard sirens coming, then leave the area quickly before the police arrived. That is what I told Aari to do, but Kat and her team left right away after the sister told them that Rossana’s brother and his wife had gotten out of the van quickly at a certain street corner and jumped into a waiting car which drove away quickly.
That doesn’t sound good, it means that they are likely working for Lombardi. The sad part about that is, they obviously don’t care about their own children. Apparently the oldest daughter had tried to follow her parents, but her dad yelled at her to sit back down or she would be punished worse than the last time.
The girls sat down right away with a terrified look on her face. I communicated with Angel to check the girls completely. Sky was going to head back to help too, but I told her to stay with Misty and I. I then reminded her what Samantha had said and what could happen to both of us if she found out. We both looked at Misty.
“What?” she asked, “Did I do something wrong?” “No, you didn’t,” I said to her. “Tell Sky to stop looking at me,” she said, “she’s making me nervous.” “Stop looking at Misty,” I said, “you’re making her nervous.” “You didn’t need to repeat it,” said Sky, “I heard what she said.” “Sky said she heard what you said,” I told Misty, “so I didn’t need to repeat your message to her.”
“I heard what she said Steve,” said Misty, “it’s not necessary to tell me again, my hearing is quite good.” “Misty said I don’t need to repeat what you told me to tell her because what you told me to tell her she already heard you say it before I told her what you told me to tell her so it isn’t necessary to repeat what you say anymore since she has good hearing and can hear what you say before I tell her what you tell me to tell her about what…um…about what…whatever you say about her,” I said and smiled.
They both looked at me and blinked repeatedly. I’m not even sure what I said and it probably didn’t make sense. However, something is about to happen, something rather surprising. While we were talking, in a way that no one could hear us, the door to the room opened and Rossana’s brother, David, and his wife, Vinnie, came walking in.
“Did they stop the van?” asked David. “Yeah, they got it,” said Lombardi, “and I lost some good men too. I don’t know what we are supposed to gain by this stupidity though.” “You want to find out who the infiltrators are, don’t you?” asked David. “And how will this help find them?” asked Spence. David pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and tossed it on the table.
“There’s the list,” he said. “Get that list Sky, destroy it,” I told her. She was suddenly by the table and touched the paper causing it to burn. “Hey, what kind of trick was that David?” shouted Lombardi, “I hope you remember that list or you will not like what happens next!”
“I didn’t do that!” David shouted back, “What would I do that for? It took me a long time to acquire that list for you and it came from the top man himself.” Then Misty appeared leaning on Spence’s shoulder. “Actually, it was me,” said Misty, “I told you I was a ghost and I like having fun with you mortals.” “Get that woman!” yelled Lombardi.
But before anyone could, she disappeared again. “Where’d she go?” asked David. “Hey, I recognize her,” said Vinnie, “she works for…” But she became paralyzed before she finished talking. “What is going on in this place?” asked Lombardi, “Let’s get out of here and go back to my office!” “What about Vinnie?” asked David.
“Leave her behind,” said Lombardi, “my men will take care of her.” It was now beginning to get light outside as Lombardi and his friends drove away. “By the way Lombardi,” said David, “I do have another copy of that list with me.” He was about to take it out of his pocket, but Lombardi told him to keep it until they got back to the office…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 