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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
I decided to make some last minute changes to our plans, since I didn’t like Kat being the only ghost on her team. I thought that perhaps twin ghosts would be far better and she loved the idea. I sent Sky back and she took Jennifer to Kat and then went back to take Jennifer’s place at the chateau. We still had Angel and Kristina here, plus me, if I can really be counted as a ghost.
I still have so much to learn and I just am not sure what I can or cannot do most of the time. When this is over I am going to get Kat, Jennifer and Sky to teach me how to be an effective ghost. Hmm, that thought seems kind of silly, but I do need some education in that area. And if Misty can learn all she does, then I should be able to learn how to be a ghost. Sigh.
Both Misty and Cristy have great memories and an amazing ability to learn quickly. I also sent Misty and Aasta back with Sky, though I didn’t tell Misty ahead of time, that way she couldn’t complain. Anyway, we begin with Kat and her Wildcats as they join Livia for lunch. Livia and 20 of her men were in a restaurant having lunch when Kat and half her Wildcats came bouncing in like they always do.
Right then the electricity went off too and Jennifer was with the manager and informed him not to worry, but no one would be allowed to leave. She also promised that no innocent people would be hurt. All phones, including mobile phones stopped working, as did computers.
Our girls are thorough when they want to be. Kat landed on Livia’s table, scaring everyone. “Hello dear Livia,” said Kat, “remember me?” “Kat!” she exclaimed, “I heard you were dead!” “I am dead my dear sister,” said Kat, “but I have come back to stop people like you.”
She then disappeared and immediately reappeared beside Livia, causing her to jump. “As a ghost, I can do lots of things dear sis,” she said and disappeared again, standing behind a man at the other end of this long table. She had her arm around the man’s neck. “Move mister and I will snap your neck,” she said firmly. A man next to Livia took out his gun to shoot, but it wouldn’t work.
“You can’t kill a ghost sir,” said Kat shaking her head. She then disappeared and reappeared with her arm around Livia’s neck. Then her Wildcats pulled out guns too and more came into the restaurant. Customers tried to leave, but the Wildcats told everyone to sit still and they would not be hurt. They couldn’t let them leave or they would contact the police.
“Tell your men to put their guns on the table dear Livia,” said Kat, “or I will snap your neck.” She did tell her men and then the guns became exceedingly hot to touch, as a couple of the men found out. “Those guns will stay hot until we leave,” said Kat and she disappeared again, then reappeared on the table next to them, which also had Livia’s men.
“That order for guns was also for you men,” said Kat. One of the men then tried to grab her legs, but his hands went right through her. He was standing at this point and was quite shocked. “You can’t catch a ghost,” said Kat, “I’m not solid like you, except when I want to be, like right now.”
She then kicked him and he fell, dead. But Livia gave an order and all her men got up and attacked Kat and her Wildcats! It was chaos for a while, but it was all fighting since Livia’s men couldn’t use their guns. Livia tried to leave in all that chaos since she saw Kat fighting some men, so she ran for the door. But Kat suddenly appeared in front of the door, smiling at Livia.
She pulled out a gun, but it wouldn’t work. “Your time is over dear Livia,” said Kat frowning at her. With a kick to the stomach, then one to Livia’s head and she fell to the floor, dead. What was really happening was Kat and Jennifer, dressed the same, working together for their fun at the start. Then Jennifer was fighting so Kat could deal with Livia herself at the end.
Several men died in the fight, the rest surrendered and the police were called in. Rossana had contacted the police to be ready and not interfere with the Wildcats. She said they were a special undercover police team. After the fight everything in the restaurant began working normally again.
It was a short fight, but then, she didn’t have Jud and his men with her this time. Well, Livia has been taken care of and it’s probably best it happened quickly. Since we had a bit of time, I called Sky to come and take some more girls back to the chateau. There are not many of our team left at the chateau right now, although Sienna does have 2 of her teams there as well and that gives an extra 24 people.
There was supposed to be a third team as well, but the plane that was to bring them developed some mechanical problems at the last minute. That seems to be too much of a coincidence to me. I helped Sky take the remaining girls from my team back to the chateau and she left her Bad Girls for me. We then went and joined Aari and his guys.
Neil and his men were having some kind of meeting, probably trying to figure out the best way of dealing with us. Hmm, we need to get close without them seeing us. The best way is to knock out their electricity, so I threw a lightning ball, as Sky likes to call them, hitting a light above the main entrance. The whole building went black. Perfect.
Of course it does make it harder for us to see as well. Except for Angel, Kristina and myself. Angel and Kristina went first with the cats, followed by Aari and his team, then me and the Bad Girls. Since we were last, we decided on going down to the basement to see what we could find. I was not quite prepared for what we found and I suddenly just stood still, staring.
The Bad Girls went into action! There were just 10 men and there were 19 Bad Girls since Angel was upstairs. A couple of men tried to run up some different stairs, but I shot electricity at them, killing them instantly. Of the remaining 8, 6 were killed but 2 surrendered. These photo studios always affect me when I see what these women are subjected to.
Aari and his team went upstairs and found the meeting in progress. Neil was about to say something when suddenly there was a bright flash in front of his eyes and he was blinded. It happened to his two top men, Kellen and Kaden, as well. It was chaos in that room for a while! Rock, Bear and Oskar were having a great time, picking up men and tossing them around the room at other men.
There was a lot of that familiar “Thwock!” sound as well. Finally Courage entered the fight and that sent men running and screaming, but the three big guys had all three doors blocked so no one could leave. The only ones still standing were Kellen and Kaden, Neil had been killed, plus most of the other men. The police were called, real ones, we made sure of that, and they arrested the 7 men still alive.
They also took care of the women and children found in the basement. Unfortunately Aileen and Finn disappeared without a trace, Garrett had been killed in that meeting room, but the other two were not at the meeting. Three of the guys, plus two of the Bad Girls, were wounded, but not seriously. Sky had previously taken Aoife back to our clinic for safety. But what about Jud’s attack on our chateau?
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Before this Mr. M. contacted us about a ransom for Misty, I had been talking with Jennifer and told her that Neil had kidnapped Misty and was using her to get me to cooperate. “Remember one of our main rules Steve,” she said, “we do not pay ransom of any kind for anyone, no matter what. It just can’t be done or our enemies would be kidnapping us left and right and demanding ransoms.”
“But…this is different,” I said, “it’s Misty. How can I come home and face Cristy and tell her we, or I, left Misty behind with our enemies. Misty and Cristy have no other family, just each other. Cristy would be devastated and maybe even hate us all and leave. We can’t just betray her like that.”
“Then why have that rule?” she argued, “We don’t want to leave anyone behind. But sometimes we get killed and never make it home. Every time Misty goes on a case Cristy knows that she might not come home. I know, sometimes it’s hard to be the leader and make these decisions. I will help, you be firm.” Sigh. Sometimes I think it’s time to disband The Investigators.
We have lost so many people over the years, even people we try to help. Now we lose a lawyer that wasn’t even part of our team, he worked for Sienna. Anyway, back to the present and Mr. M. He now has Misty and is holding her for ransom and wants to meet to complete the deal. I agreed, but he needed to bring Misty with him or there would be no talking.
There was a sidewalk cafe not far from our hotel, nice and open, so that is where we agreed to meet. We certainly had a lot of cash with us from the two safes we emptied. So, in a sense we are not really paying ransom, our enemies are doing that for us. I wonder if I can argue that point effectively with Jennifer?
We arrived at the sidewalk cafe about 15 minutes early, Sky being with me to help if needed. We had the money with us and Sky was guarding that. Mr. M. was very punctual, arriving just one minute early. He had a large black limousine and 2 beautiful bodyguards with him. He was dressed in black, wearing dark glasses and his bodyguards were also dressed in black and also wearing dark glasses.
I wanted to see Misty first to make sure she was okay, so one of his bodyguards opened the back door so I could see her. “Are you okay?” I asked Misty. “Yes, except I feel like an idiot for letting them kidnap me,” she responded with her head down. “Are you satisfied with the merchandise?” asked Mr. M. “Yes, the money is in that bag,” I said, and Sky handed it to him and he checked it.
“Very well,” he said, “I will keep my part of the deal. Come out here you nasty woman! That creature actually bit me!” “You pulled my hair!” she exclaimed. “That was an accident, you horrible woman,” he grumbled, “this could get infected.” “Well, I accidentally bit your hand!” Misty said firmly. He mumbled something, then got back in his car and drove away.
Our car pulled up just then and Misty got in first. I had been watching a second floor window of a building across the street. Someone had a rifle pointed at us. Sky was about to get in next but she stopped when she saw me raise my arm. I shot a ball of electricity at the window which lit up the room brightly. There were a couple of brief screams, then silence. “Yes!”
said Sky excitedly, “a perfect lightning ball Steve!” She threw her arms around me giving me a big hug. “My twin is learning!” she exclaimed again. We got into the car and drove away. “I always miss the action,” said Misty, then she added, “you two are twins?! That is so cool, we now have 3 sets of twins on our team! Oh, guess what, guess what?”
“You are very excited,” I said. “Yep, true, but that’s not it,” she said, “so I’ll give you a hint. While they had me locked in the office for about 20 minutes I turned on the computer and figured out their password, it was super easy, then I started looking for information about their gang and Carole Ann’s family and lots of other stuff.
There was a flash drive in the desk drawer so I downloaded all the information I could get on that thing and I have it with me! We thought Carole Ann only had two brothers, but she actually has 4 of them.” She then looked at me and smiled. “Cynthia has been teaching me how to break into computers, hack into them, what to look for and how to find it quickly,” she said, then smiled again.
I looked at her. “Do you ever sleep?” I asked. “Of course I do, why?” she asked. “With all that you have been learning lately,” I said, “and all your regular work too, I just don’t see how there is enough time in the day to do all that. Don’t you ever take your break periods?” “Sure, I spend them at the pool,” she said smiling.
When this case is over I’m going to watch her closely and see how she does this. “Also, we thought that Carole Ann was dead, but she isn’t,” said Misty, “she is still alive and she coordinates the activities of the rest of the family.” Sky was sitting next to me and she grabbed my arm and moved in tight beside me.
Carole Ann can’t hurt Sky anymore, but she put so much fear into Sky that she is still scared of her. I can’t even imagine what Carole Ann must have done to Sky, but it must have been absolutely unthinkable terror. I put my arm around her and held her tightly. “Um, Steve,” said Misty, “how come Mr. M’s bodyguards came with us?”
“That was part of the deal I made with him,” I told her, “he didn’t want them anymore and he would sell them to me if I wanted them. So I said sure.” “Oh, that was nice of you,” she said, “I’ll give you that flash drive at the hotel.” I almost asked why I couldn’t have it right now, but I stopped myself in time. I’m learning that there are certain things I should never ask Misty and Cristy.
Back at the hotel I contacted Aari and he was ready with his men. Jennifer said they were ready at the chateau as well and that Carine had arrived home safely. I sent her back to help out since the only ghosts left at home were Jennifer and Kitty since Kat left. That would be enough really, but they may need to help protect others.
I sent Angel with Aari to help the men and Sky and Kristina are here with me. We are now on our way to join Aari and the guys. Kat is ready on her end too, she discovered where Livia was having lunch with some of her men. “I have a grand entrance planned Steve,” she said, “Livia is not going to escape this time.”
“Good, but be careful,” I told her, “she might have some surprises ready for anyone who would dare to spoil her lunch. And your Wildcats can be killed.” “They are all wearing vests Steve,” said Kat, “the wrath of the Kat will begin now!”
“Okay Aari,” I said, “hit fast and hard, don’t give them time to think!” Misty had taken us all to the office building that Neil Moore used as his headquarters. Misty found out exactly when Jud and his men would attack the chateau, which is why we timed our attacks to match his…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 