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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, we are on the way to meet with Koffman today. I sure hope he’s not just playing games with me, it won’t go well for him if he is. We pulled up in front of his restaurant and casino, but I sensed trouble was around. Jennifer said she had sensed danger too, but that it didn’t seem to be anything major.
I still didn’t like it, I really thought that Koffman was being honest the other day. I decided we would try something, just in case. I went up to the door with Carine pretending to be my wife, and Jennifer came along too, but invisible. There were two guards at the door as usual and they said that only I was allowed to come in, not my wife.
So, I complained a bit saying that my wife always comes with me. However, they insisted that only I was allowed to come in, so I told Carine to wait at the van. Jennifer was already inside by this time, waiting for me. “I know the way,” I said to the guards and went walking to Koffman’s office.
I knocked and Koffman said to come in. I opened the door and Jennifer appeared just as I did so and we walked into the office together. Koffman was sitting behind his desk as usual and Decker, Koffman’s top man, sitting behind his desk. There were also two guards in the room, large men, just standing by Decker’s desk with their arms folded, staring at us.
Then there was another man, also fairly large, standing by Koffman’s desk. He was the trouble I sensed before, and now as well. “How did she get in here?” he demanded. “This is my wife,” I said, “she always comes with me.” “She is not allowed in here!” he bellowed, “Ramon, take her out!”
One of the large guards started walking toward us. I stood in the way. “Touch my wife and I will kill you,” I said casually. Koffman, you and I have a deal to conclude, let’s get it done.” “The price is $200,000,” said the man beside Koffman, “and Ramon, I gave you an order.” Once Ramon was close enough I touched him, sending him flying across the room and against the wall.
He fell to the floor groaning. The other guard took out his gun but he quickly dropped it saying it was too hot to hold. “Amazing how many people say that,” I said, “you did once too, Koffman. Now, who is this loudmouth idiot? Get rid of him so we can talk.” “I am Luther Schmidt, the senior partner of our organization,” he said with an odd smile, “I go nowhere.”
“Well, you are not part of this deal,” I said, “so you have nothing to say, so be quiet.” He then took out his gun but again he also dropped it quickly because it was too hot. Luther must have pressed an emergency button or something because 4 more men came bursting into the office. “Take him and his wife and throw them out,” yelled Luther, “but leave his money here!”
“Sky,” I said. “What’s with all these men?” asked Sky. “They want to steal our money and throw us out,” I said. “That’s not nice,” she said. She touched two of them, they screamed and fell to the floor, dead. I shot a bolt of electricity at the man by Decker’s desk and killed him. The other two men backed away from Sky.
Jennifer went over to Luther kicking him once in the stomach, then to his head, which knocked him to the floor groaning. “Carine, time to come inside,” I said casually, “if anyone gets in your way, kill them.” “Wait Steve, please don’t kill any of my men,” said Koffman. “Hold off Carine,” I said, “there has been a change of attitude.”
“Not really Steve,” said Koffman, “Luther here showed up yesterday and decided to take over my business. Unfortunately he was stronger than we were so I had to give in to him.” “Where did he come from?” I asked, “And why does he want your organization?” Then a thought came to me and I motioned to Koffman not to say anything.
I then went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. “Okay, now we can talk,” I said, “and no one can hear us. Obviously your office was bugged by Helene when she was here and she found out you were going to tell me where she is hiding. So, she sent some of her men to keep you quiet. Although I didn’t really think she had that many men right now.”
“Neither did I,” said Koffman, “but I only have a dozen men here right now, usually that’s more than enough. The rest are spread out at my other places of business. Profits haven’t been so good lately so I had to dismiss a lot of my men. I guess this means Helene won’t be at her hideout now.”
“That’s exactly what she wants us to think anyway,” I said, “but I think there is a good possibility she is still there. Wendel has gone the opposite direction I’m sure, to lead us away from Helene.” “I’m surprised he got out on bail,” said Koffman. “It was just a minor jewel theft he was wanted for,” I said.
“You’re behind in your information Steve,” said Koffman, “Wendel killed 3 people when he stole those gems. The security camera captured it all perfectly. He just lined up the 3 people and shot them.” “Obviously there is a cop or two on the take at that police station,” I said, “Helene is a busy woman.” “Well, she has the money to spend,” said Koffman, “and speaking of money, do you still want the information?”
“Yes, I certainly do,” I told him, “and I have your money here as well.” “You may as well keep it,” said Koffman, “this guy will just take it anyway when he wakes up.” “He won’t be waking up,” said Jennifer, “my kicks kill and he had a terrible attitude problem, which has now been corrected.” “I made a deal Koffman,” I said, “so let’s get things done shall we…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Well, we are back home and somewhat relaxing after dealing with Helene and Wendel. Or maybe I should say we tried to deal with them and lost. Helene once again outsmarted us and got away. I’m still not quite sure how, since we had that house under surveillance at all times. But somehow Helene got away in a rather common way, by getaway car.
Amazing really. I admit, those of us in the house were a bit distracted by my fight with Wendel, which Misty finally ended for me. Sigh. I need to practice more so I can fight properly. Defensive I’m okay, but offensively I definitely need to upgrade my ability. For too long I have not been fighting, due to all my health problems, so others have been there to protect me.
I still need some bodyguards, at least for a while. Anyway, we have been tracking Wendel, but just like I thought, he seems to be staying away from Helene for now. I was sitting in the library enjoying my morning coffee, with a donut, and Muffin came along and jumped onto my lap.
Meow, meow.= Not worry too much, we find human Helene. Just need to catch scent again, then pounce real quick. Always keep one eye on mouse, human Wendel is mouse, but always keep two eyes on rat. Human Helene is rat, she more dangerous. “Thank you Muffin,” I said, “I will remember that.” She purred.
That’s when Jennifer joined us. “And what are you thinking about Steve?” she asked. “Muffin was just giving me some advice,” I said, “she thinks I need to be more watchful.” “She’s right,” said Jennifer. “Hmm, okay, maybe I do, just a little,” I admitted. I then reached for the remainder of my donut. It was gone!
“That sneak!” I said, “She distracted me and stole my donut!” Just then Cristy came in with 2 donuts for me, giggling as she handed them to me. “I saw what Muffin did,” she said, “she accomplished that so perfectly. So I thought I would be nice and bring you 2 to replace it.” “Thank you so much Misty,” I said, “you are number 1.” She looked at me.
“Uh, Steve, I’m Cristy, not Misty,” she said. “That’s what I meant,” I remarked, “you’re Misty, not Cristy.” “That’s better,” she said, “and after I brought you donuts too.” “I’m sorry Misty,” I said, “I’m just tired and constantly thinking about Helene.” “You’re forgiven,” she said and she began to walk out of the room as Misty was coming in.
Cristy stopped and looked at Misty. “He did it to me,” she said, “Steve won!” She put her head down and shuffled out. Misty came over. “That wasn’t nice,” she said, “whatever it was.” “If you don’t know what it was, how do you know it wasn’t nice?” I asked. “No, stop it,” she said, “you just want to confuse me.” “Okay Cristy,” I said, “you’re right, I’ll stop.”
“Good, thank you,” she said smiling and began to walk away just as Cristy was coming back into the library, still shuffling. Misty looked at her. “Steve did it to me too,” she said. They looked at each other, then they began to shuffle out the door. “That wasn’t nice,” said Jennifer, “you apologize right now. After all, they are your favorite girls.”
I called them back and asked them to sit on each side of me. I put my arms around them and apologized. They each kissed me on the cheek and went skipping off to work like normal. Dawn then came over and stood beside me pouting. “I always thought I was your favorite,” she said, looking at me with such sad eyes.
“Sit down on my lap,” I said, “please.” So she did. I whispered in her ear and held a donut in my hand. She smiled, broke it in half, gave me a kiss and went back to her book she was reading. “And what did you say to her?” asked Jennifer. “I only share donuts with my favorite girls,” I replied. I then held out my other donut to Jennifer.
“I’m keeping the whole donut,” she said. “I wanted you to do that,” I replied. “Phone call for you Steve,” said Tracy, “it’s from an old…friend.” The way she said it meant it was not really a friend, but that had me curious. “Hi Steve, remember me?” said the voice. I recognized him right away. “Yes Koffman, I do indeed,” I replied, “though I must say that I’m rather surprised by your call.”
He laughed. “Well, I heard you were looking for a certain woman,” he continued, “by the name of Helene. Ring a bell?” “Very funny. But I see that word gets around quickly,” I said, “and I haven’t even been trying to get the word out. Mainly because I didn’t want to alert Helene too much.”
“Well, I didn’t hear from the usual sources,” he said, “but from Helene herself. I do know her, though I would prefer not to. She grabs more territory all the time, and with very few men too.” “And she has even fewer now,” I said. “Yes, she told me that,” he said, “she also said that one of her men shot and killed you and now you have come back as a ghost to haunt her and Wendel. Is any of that true?”
I chuckled a bit. “Well, I think Helene might have embellished the story just a bit,” I told him, “she seems to be thinking about ghosts a lot lately. Apparently she believes in ghosts and she wanted to buy one from me.” Koffman couldn’t hold back any longer and he roared with laughter when I said that. “Is that a new side business Steve, selling ghosts?” and he laughed some more.
“Hey, she offered me $10 million for one of my girls that she said was a ghost,” I told him. “If that had been me, I would gladly have sold her,” he said, still laughing so much he could hardly talk. We talked a bit more, then he got more serious. “How much would you be willing to pay to find out where Helene is hiding?” he asked.
“What is your price?” I asked in return. “2 hundred thousand,” he said, “and I need it in 2 days, in cash.” “Well, that is a lot of money Koffman, and a short space of time,” I said. “What can you raise in that space of time?” he asked again. “Probably half of that,” I told him. “Okay, that’s a deal,” he said, “bring the money to me the day after tomorrow and I will tell you where to find her.”
“Fine, but don’t play with me Koffman,” I said, “I can easily destroy you.” “I won’t argue that point,” he said, “no games, just a simple transaction.” Sienna was happy to supply the money if it meant catching Helene. I really don’t think Koffman is just playing with me, I think he really does know where Helene is hiding.
But perhaps she wants him to tell us in order to trap us. But she would need a lot of men to effectively trap us, so this seems legitimate. We need to check it out anyway…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 