The next day we were on our way to Paris to join the others. While we were flying Kat communicated with me that Helene and some of her men had indeed arrived and had joined Wendel in a rather large house. Cristy looked it up and found it was a rental property which Wendel rented for one month.

The price for that was 25,000 euros. He doesn’t mind spending money. “Now we just need to figure out the best way to get at Helene,” I said. “Spook her!” exclaimed Misty. “That only works with people who believe in ghosts,” I told her, “something tells me that Helene doesn’t.” “Wrong!” shouted Misty.

“Um, you’re sitting right next to me Misty,” I said, “you don’t need to yell.” “I was yelling?” she asked, “THIS IS YELLING!” “I think the plane just shook,” I said. Misty started to laugh. And laugh. Sigh. “Cristy found out that Helene does indeed believe in ghosts,” said Misty, “that’s why she wants Kitty, so she has her very own ghost. Now that she believes you’re dead all you need to do is go in the house at night, glow and talk spooky to her.”

I almost asked how I’m supposed to sound when I talk spooky, but I caught myself in time. However, the idea just might work. It’s worth a try anyway. I left Carine and Kitty at home this time. Kitty seems fine now and knows how to make all of her abilities work properly. Wish I could say that too.

However, I still wanted to leave Carine with her anyway, just in case. All the rest of the ghosts will be along on this trip, plus we have the Wildcats and the Bad Girls, except for Caleigh. I gave her some time off to heal from her “injuries”. I brought some of the girls from my team, we don’t have a name for ours although the girls keep asking for one.

Perhaps we should consider that more after this case. It’s not a long flight, but I decided to have a short nap anyway and Jennifer joined me. Meanwhile, up in Paris, Wendel and Helene were having a discussion about what had happened. “You did what?!” yelled Wendel, “You killed Steve?! That was not exactly a smart thing to do.

Now how do you expect to get Kitty? It was perfect, they would have traded Kitty for Steve, they just wanted to wait until the last day. And then you had to kidnap two of Steve’s girls on top of it. Then you leave Claude to guard them! What was going through that brain of yours doing that?? We didn’t need those two women!

And you know that Claude goes crazy when he sees beautiful, young women! You couldn’t have made a more stupid decision if you tried! We’ll never get Kitty now and those Investigators will destroy us! They won’t stop now until they find us and destroy us!”

“As usual you are overreacting!” shouted Helene, “I don’t know why I came here! I thought maybe you might have some useful ideas to get Kitty, but no, all you do is yell at me! I doubt you could have done any better! Steve needed that one girl for massages and I wanted him to stay healthy or we would never be able to make a deal. That’s why I brought Caleigh into this, it was necessary!!”

“Fine, she was necessary,” continued Wendel, “but his driver certainly was not necessary! Where were you hiding your brains when you picked her up?? That just meant there was a girl for both Claude and Hubert! Maybe if there was just one girl Hubert might have been able to stop Claude, or at least call Bunker for help!

This way it was easy for Claude to get Hubert on his side! Now we will have to fight maybe 300 people instead of maybe 50! How are we going to do that?!” “Where do you get these numbers from?” screamed Helene, “It’s a good thing I look after our money or we would have none left!”

“Listen,” said Wendel, “Jennifer has a sister named Kat, she is the leader of a criminal organization which the police estimate to have about 125 women. They all hate men terribly. She and her sister are on opposite sides of the law, but she has helped her sister before and I’m sure she will this time also.

They do not have to obey the law, they only obey their own law which makes them very dangerous for us. Then there is Aari Jensen and his Jaguars, another criminal organization with an estimated size of up to 150 tough men, hard criminals. He is the older brother of Jennifer and Kat. I’m sure he and his men would be very happy to help as well.

That is where I get my numbers! I do my homework, something you should try once in a while! All you thought about was checking Steve’s organization! And stop yelling at me and start thinking about what we are going to do!! Are you sure they didn’t follow you here?”

“No, the plane wasn’t being followed!” she yelled. She then began looking in her purse for something, but she noticed something else. A small device tucked inside of a pocket in her purse. “So, they didn’t follow you?” asked Wendel. He took the device and crushed it with a piece of metal that was sitting on the desk.

“They not only know where we are, but they also heard every word we have said since you got here,” said Wendel. “Well, we will have to get away from here quickly,” said Helene. “How?” asked Wendel, “they are likely here already just waiting for us to leave this house so they can gun us down for killing Steve!

I don’t know why I let you talk me into this ghost Kitty idea anyway. I don’t even believe in ghosts! They don’t exist! You say I waste money, you wasted 10 million on a ghost that doesn’t exist! And soon we’re not going to exist!”

“Oh, quit whining and be quiet so we can think,” said Helene, “we will have to make our escape tonight. Fortunately I didn’t bring Bunker here so I’ll call him and see what he says.” Now, back to us. Kat called and let us know all the fun between Helene and Wendel and that they found the listening device so they are going to try leaving tonight.

At least we’ll be there before it’s dark so hopefully we can spoil their plans. Caleigh did a good job planting that listening device and tracker. We have the house plans for that place, but there is no indication of a secret way to get in or out. Therefore, they are trapped like 2 rats in a cage. Perhaps we will have a bit of fun with them first…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.