Well, Kat, Sky, Kitty and Kristina are with Carmeline at Mandar’s safe house in Italy now. Vlora is there too with Teams 4 and 5 from Mandar Security Forces. Vlora is very trustworthy and works with these two teams, plus Teams 6 and 7, on a regular basis. That way they learn to work together which is very important. The Wildcats are also with them, though at the moment they are just wearing regular clothes so they don’t attract attention. Although we expect Harold to check on the Wildcats and look at the photos posted of them, it won’t help him much.

We have changed the photos of all the Wildcats to make it impossible to track them down. Actually, everything has been changed about them, even names. That way they can still be seen at our chateau as part of our team, just not by the name Wildcats. Carmeline can’t believe how much effort and expense we are putting into keeping her safe. Oh yes, Celestine is there with her now as well, plus 6 of our cats. “Do you ever hear from Sugar?” asked Celestine.

“Yeah, poor girl,” said Carmeline, “that is, until her husband took her phone away. He kept her a prisoner in their home. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere and he would lock her up during the day when he was at work. Then he would let her out of her room when he came home so she could make dinner and as long as she “behaved” herself, she could stay out in the house until 10pm, then he locked her in her room again.

If she did anything he didn’t like, then he would hit or kick her and lock her up early. She was allowed to call me or text me providing I promised not to call the police. If I did call them, then he would kill her right away.” Celestine told this to Kat who then told me about it. “Steve, we have to do something to help that poor girl,” said Jennifer. I agreed with her, so Jennifer asked Kat for Sugar’s address which turned out to be in Miami, Florida. “Which team hasn’t had much action lately?” I asked Jennifer.

“Well, either the Night Owls or the Sneakers,” she replied. I looked at her. “Well, that narrows it down,” I said, “but I actually asked which ‘team’, not which ‘teams’.” “You are the leader, my dear husband,” she reminded me, “therefore you should know the answer to that yourself.” She then smiled. I sighed. She also insisted that I take 2 ghosts with me, although she really wanted me to take 3, but that would leave her alone here so I said no to that one. I will take 5 of the guys with me on this trip too, and that will be Mac, Rock, John, Cal and Trapper. Plus, I can always call Sky if I need to.

“That’s providing you have the ability to call her,” said Jennifer, “can’t you take her with you? Kat, Kristina and Kitty should be able to handle things without her.” “I don’t really think that’s necessary,” I told her, “this isn’t as bad as a prison break, and it’s only one guy.” “Only one that we know of,” said Jennifer, frowning at me. She then communicated this with Kat and she agreed that I should take Sky with me too, especially since Friskie was a new addition and not able to use her abilities fully yet. I was outvoted again.

Good thing Jennifer had just reminded me that I was the leader of the Investigators, otherwise I might not know. Sigh. I understand though, they want to make sure I don’t get killed, after all, I likely wouldn’t be coming back as a ghost. Melody told me that she had finished checking on this guy and he still lives at the same address. She also found photos of Sugar on a porn site and she said it was quite obvious they had been using makeup to hide some bruises. That is not good, I wonder what else he is doing with his “wife”.

She isn’t a real wife as far as I’m concerned, she is just a sex slave and this guy is making money off her. It’s amazing how often this happens, yet people don’t believe it happens in our modern society. Melody told us this information while we were flying across to the US. Since this guy is trafficking his wife there is a good chance there are friends of his that are involved in this too. That could also mean a gang is involved so Melody is checking on that possibility for us as well.

Akila has hacked into this guy’s computer to try and find out more information about him and what he does. She has also hacked into his phone and is now checking out his contacts. The man’s name is Colin Davies and, interestingly, he is involved with people that we know. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, yet it still does. Maybe I should say person, not people, and that person is Danielle Boyer, also known by us as Medina. That woman sure gets around, but it also means that Colin Davies has some serious money backing him., and her gang is back too, though it isn’t a large gang at least.

We had slowed Medina down a bit before, cutting off a large chunk of her money, but it seems she must have remedied that little problem. However, we just want Sugar, so we will go in and take her as quickly as possible and then get out again. Sounds easy on paper. Yes, I still use paper, it can actually be safer at times. I was feeling a bit lightheaded for some reason, so I decided to lie down for a while since we still had 5 hours to go. A short nap might help right now. Celestine came into the room shortly after me and laid down beside me.

“So, what’s bothering you, my dear husband,” she said, “you’re not lying down because you’re tired, so what is it?” “Are you sure that you’re only 21?” I asked, “I mean, no one else came to check on me, but you spotted something even though you were talking and laughing with a couple of the girls.” “I’m your counselor and advisor, remember?” she reminded me, “It’s my job to notice things.” “Right,” I said, “I just felt a bit lightheaded, nothing serious.”

“Hmm, you have been under a lot of stress again, which is not good,” she said, “you don’t need to get involved in every part of the case, not even every case. Let the others take over now and then.” She smiled at me. “But I need to stay involved,” I reminded her, “otherwise I fall apart. I’m a hands on kind of guy and I didn’t start the Investigators so I could sit and watch other people risk their lives while I sit at home well protected from danger.” She smiled again.

“Yes, I see your point,” she said, “we need to work on some kind of compromise, otherwise you’re going to burn out totally and no one wants that Steve, no one. Now, relax for a while and try to get some sleep.” “Are you going to tell Jennifer?” I asked. “I won’t tell anyone right now,” she said, “but all the leaders need to get together after this and get things figured out. Deal?” “Deal.” I said. She smiled again and kissed me on the cheek. I asked her to stay with me and make sure I don’t sleep longer than 2 hours.

She woke me up right on time and we went back out to the others and began to go over our plans to get Sugar out of the house while her husband was away at work, or wherever he goes. Soon we were landing at the airport where the cars and vans were waiting for us. Soon we were getting close to their house and the team parked on the street, though our car, a limousine, pulled into the driveway…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.