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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Kat came in to visit me in the clinic after I woke up. “Jennifer is rather sneaky,” I said, “she should be on Misty’s team. She would be a perfect fit, she’s a great sneaker.” “Well, you did deserve that,” she said, “you were rather jumpy and you need Samantha to look at you.” “Samantha is busy with the girls,” I said, “and they are more important than me. If she tries to waste time in here I will order her to leave.” “You seem to forget Steve,” she said, “Samantha out ranks you in the clinic. She gives the orders, you obey them, and that is an order from me. You are in the clinic, so that means what?”
“Okay, you and Jennifer are in charge,” I said, “I know the rules.” “If that is the case,” she said frowning, “then why do you keep disobeying those rules that YOU wrote.” She deliberately put the emphasis on the YOU, and she was right, I too often forget the rules that I wrote. “Now,” she said, “here is a copy of our rule book, you have lots of time to read it and I expect you to read the whole thing while you’re in here. It’s not big, and you can’t leave until you have read it, and when Samantha says you can leave.” She smiled.
“How about a little kiss for your former husband?” I asked, “I need one right now.” “I’m not sure I should do that when Jennifer isn’t here,” she said. “She won’t mind,” I said, “you know that.” So she did. “You sneaky sneak!” I said. Jennifer laughed. “I still don’t know how you can tell us apart from a kiss,” she said, still laughing. She then left to go visit the girls. A little later Misty looked in the door, then came in quickly and closed the door. “I just wanted to visit for a while,” she said.
Then she took a couple of donuts from her pocket, wrapped in foil. “They’re fresh,” she said, “but I could only get us 2 each, and that wasn’t easy, everyone watches me so closely now.” I chuckled. “You’re still the best sneaker of all,” I said, munching on my second donut. Just then the door opened and Celestine peeked in, then she came in quickly and closed the door. “Fresh, hot coffee,” she said, “plus 2 donuts for each of us, it was all I could get. I saw Misty coming this way, otherwise there would be three each.”
While we were talking the door opened and a little head peeked in. Then she came in quickly and hid behind the chair. When the girls left, Steffie came out and jumped on the bed. “Hi daddy!” she exclaimed, “Look, donuts!” Misty was about to come back in when she heard Steffie call me daddy and that caused her to stop in her tracks and listen carefully at the door. “Hey little girl,” I said, “what’s with this calling me daddy?”
“Well, Erika calls you daddy,” she said, “and Mandy too. I want to call you daddy too, I need a daddy.” “Yes, that’s true, they do,” I said, “but I adopted them, so that makes me their daddy.” “You can dot me too!” she said excitedly, “and mommy told me a secret too, wanna hear it?” “Okay, what is it?” I asked. Poor Misty, she had her ear right against the door trying hard to hear what Steffie said, but she couldn’t. Then a hand landed on Misty’s shoulder. “AAAAAAAA!!!” yelled Misty. “YAAAA!” yelled someone else as she was getting flipped over Misty and landing with a thud on the floor!
The door then opened and in came Misty, looking rather sheepish, and Jennifer, with a big smile. “Wow, did I have a great ride!” exclaimed Jennifer. “You must have sneaked up behind Misty and touched her shoulder,” I said. “Yep, sure did,” she said, “and, I caught this sneaker listening intently at your door for some reason. Now I see why.” Out popped Steffie from under the blanket. “I heared screaming and got scared,” she said, “so I hide under the blanket.”
“I see donut crumbs too,” said Jennifer, “you know donuts are not allowed in here Steffie.” “I just wanted to make dad, I mean, Uncle Steve, feel better,” she said, “so I bring donuts and hugs!” “Okay, you’re forgiven,” said Jennifer, hugging Steffie, “now, back to school for you.” Off she ran. “That girl is fast!” said Jennifer. “Yep,” said Misty, “almost as fast as a ghost. Um, I brought donuts too.” “And a kiss,” I said, “on the cheek though.” “I suppose Celestine brought donuts too?” asked Jennifer. She sighed.
“On another note,” I said, “we should maybe let our three guests go back home, we don’t need them anymore and they just might lead us to someone else. They must have more women hidden somewhere, if we watch them, we might find out where.” “Good thought,” said Jennifer, “I will get Sky to take them back.” I called Sky at that point. “Why are you dressed like that?” I asked. “Because I was in bed,” she said, “it’s night in Australia, night is for sleeping, remember?” “But you’re a ghost,” said Misty. “I still like to sleep,” she said.
I told her what we wanted her to do and Jennifer put them to sleep first, then Sky took them back and left them in the parking lot of the hotel. After an hour they woke up and called Hugh to pick them up. Hugh was not impressed with his brother for giving up his part of the combination for the vault. “So we lost what was in the vault,” said Bradley, “we still have our bank account which is more than the vault.” “I have news for you Bradley,” said Hugh, “somehow they found a way to clear out our account, there is nothing left. We are going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Yeah, Vanessa won’t be too happy,” said Bradley. “Vanessa is dead,” said Hugh. “Oh,” said Bradley, “that means we have to deal directly with Mr. Flynn. He won’t be happy at all.” “Well, at least we didn’t lose our merchandise,” said Hugh, “if that happened Mr. Flynn would be taking us out on his yacht for a one way ocean cruise. So we stay away from location M for a while. Those Black Wolves are tough and they will likely be watching us for a while.”
“Hey, that’s where I live too,” said Bradley, “I have to go there.” “You will stay away from there Bradley,” said Hugh, “stay in a hotel for a while.” “What do I use for money?” he asked. “Fine, you can stay with me for a few days,” said Hugh. “But I need clothes,” he said, “you and I are not exactly the same size.” “Okay, we use plan X to get you back to location M, then you stay there,” said Hugh.
Three taxis showed up and three men, all the same size got in, one to each taxi. The taxis let them off at a club, but one of the men went out the back way and into a waiting delivery truck. This went on several more times with Bradley finally making it back to location M. Aari had men following each of the taxis, but they lost Bradley. But, Steffie had already told me that her mom liked to play hop, skip and jump…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
After we had the vault open at Intimate Jewels, Aari and more of the Black Wolves came in. “How’s things working out Steve?” he asked. “Going according to plan,” I said, and smiled. “My name is Aari Jenkins Mr. Kingston,” he said as he walked over to Hugh, “you are a very stupid man.” “Just a minute, who are you anyway?” said Hugh defiantly. Aari then hit him hard with a backhanded slap. Aari always wears black leather gloves making his slaps felt even more.
This one knocked Hugh off his feet causing him to fall onto a chair. “You are in no position to ask questions,” said Aari calmly, “I ask the questions, you answer them, that way you may not get hurt.” “My name is Steve Mackenzie, Hugh,” I said, “leader of Mackenzie’s Girls. My wife is the sister of Mr. Jenkins.” “Yes, and when things happen to my sister and Steve or their organization,” said Aari, “I always offer our help. Now, tell me, who is your boss?” “You think I would tell you her name?” asked Hugh, “I’m not as stupid as my brother.”
Meanwhile, back home. Jazzy had been looking at that “gun” again but she was still convinced it was not one of Toledo’s inventions even though he was working on something similar at one time. He gave up though since he just couldn’t get it right so it could be carried around easily. Then she remembered something and called Kat. “Do you remember a woman named Vanessa?” asked Jazzy. “Yes, we met her in Norway and she ended up in prison the same time as you,” said Kat.
“Check and see if she is out yet,” said Jazzy, “she was in on lesser charges and may have been able to get out early. She is a citizen of the UK and also Australia.” Cristy was on it right away, and sure enough, she had been let out of prison just 3 weeks ago. She had given testimony against someone else the police had been trying to put in prison for a long time so they reduced her sentence to time served and she was free. She then disappeared, but Cristy traced her to a flight to Australia 2 days later. With a little digging she discovered that a woman named Vanessa White was the CEO of Intimate Jewels.
She would use her best girls as intimate escorts for government officials and top people in the business community, especially those who were married. Then came the extortion part of this Intimate Jewels operation. That brought in a lot of money for them, plus they were also involved in drugs and large theft operations which brought in millions for them over the years. While we were at Hugh’s office I got a message from Angel who was at the hotel with Dawn and her team, plus the remainder of Sky’s team and Kat’s team.
I then left things in Aari’s hands and Jennifer, Kitty and myself left. Before going outside, though, I told Sky to stay in case the others needed help and I told her what we would be doing. She smiled and stayed behind, but still invisible and Kitty stayed too, also invisible. Jennifer and I drove back to the hotel and walked into the restaurant, along with Angel, to greet our newest guest. They were so busy eating, Vanessa and 4 friends, they didn’t even see us walking up to their table.
“Hello Vanessa,” I said, “remember me?” She looked totally shocked to see me, but then she pretended like it was no big deal. “Yeah, I remember you Steve,” she said, “but I haven’t escaped, they reduced my sentence for being cooperative, so I’m free now.” “Yes, I know that Vanessa,” I said, “I also know a lot more about you, especially the fact you are the CEO of Intimate Jewels and you are responsible for kidnapping 13 of my girls, plus seriously injuring 3 of them.
Plus you tried to kill me and you wounded a total of 6 others. That makes 9 of my girls you injured. That was very foolish of you and now your organization is being crushed, very thoroughly.” “How did you manage to survive my special weapon?” she asked, “No human could survive that.” “Maybe I’m not human,” I suggested, “and fortunately I was standing somewhat in front of one of my girls so she didn’t die either, though she was hurt.”
Then Vanessa and her friends quickly took out guns but they screamed and dropped them right away. “How did you manage to do that?” she asked. “Sorry Vanessa,” I said, “but it isn’t wise to give out secrets.” Then her friends got up quickly and attacked us, but we easily overcame them. But Vanessa ran for the door, however, Angel anticipated that and was already at the door waiting for her as Courage. “Where did that big lion come from?!” exclaimed Vanessa and she turned toward us again. But Jennifer put up her hand a huge shockwave hit Vanessa, tossing her against the wall and killing her.
Vanessa didn’t learn much from her time in prison, she could have turned her life around, but she chose to continue with her life of crime. I asked Angel how she knew that Vanessa was here and she said to follow her back to our room. In our room with four of the girls was one of the waitresses. Angel said she looked like someone we could trust so she showed her a photo of Vanessa, so when she came in the waitress came to tell Angel. She was told to stay in our room for protection until Vanessa was dealt with.
Apparently her older sister had gone to work for Intimate Jewels where she was promised she could make a lot more money than as a waitress in the restaurant here, but she never returned home after that. The two sisters lived together after their parents died. Her sister’s body was found 4 weeks later in a park. That was just 3 days ago and she is terrified living alone. Plus her boss here keeps suggesting she work for Intimate Jewels so she can make more money and be able to travel.
Well, well, that’s one way they manage to keep getting women to work for them. I wonder how many other places provide women for that organization? After talking with Kelsey, the waitress, a bit more I decided to call Sky. Suddenly I felt something touch my shoulder. “Yaaa!” I yelled. “Wow, are you ever jumpy,” said Sky, “you should be at home in bed.” “I agree,” said Jennifer. “I’m not jumpy, you sneaked up on me,” I said.
“I did not sneak up on you, you called me,” she said, “or did you forget about that?” “But you came behind me,” I said, “so that counts as sneaking up on me.” She sighed, very loudly. “Why did you call?” she asked, “We were just about to blow up that place.” “I bet it was a huge fireball too,” I said. “Yes, and I missed it because you called me,” she said, “am I supposed to guess why you called me?”
“No, I want you to take Kelsey back to the chateau,” I said, “she has been put to sleep for the trip.” Behind me Jennifer was also pointing to me and Sky smiled. I didn’t know what was going on, but I found out soon enough. Jennifer put me to sleep too and I ended up back in the clinic. Sky took Kat back with her to Australia and brought Jennifer back here, though no one told me…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 