After our ghost patrol returned, Kat gave me the information I wanted, but since it was so late I decided to wait until morning to digest all the information. Morning came very quickly, even though Kat allowed me to sleep an hour later than normal. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier?” I asked her.

“You mortals need more sleep than us ghosts,” she said smiling, “and I don’t want you collapsing due to lack of sleep. Jennifer would not be very happy with me. Besides, it’s only one hour and there isn’t much we can do early in the day anyway. Aari will be calling Manuela and setting up a meeting with her. He will let her know that he is very upset with Rico, and why.

So, he is very willing to help her against Rico in a fight, and that now would be a good time to attack Rico since Snakebite is out of action completely. She said that Snakebite was not just Rico’s right hand man, he was very intelligent and knew how to plan, and execute those plans, with precision. So, Rico should be a bit disorganized for a while. Rico doesn’t know how to run things on his own.”

“A certain question comes to mind right now,” I said, “can you guess what it is?” “Yep, how does she know so much about Rico and his mansion?” replied Kat, “That one is easy to answer, and Rusty is the one to ask her, without any prompting from me. She used to be Rico’s girlfriend, but one time she was away for three weeks and returned home 3 days early.

Well, she found Rico with not just one, but two, women. She was extremely angry with him because of this, understandably so, and she left him. She then went and started her own gang which she then turned into the second largest cartel in Panama.

They periodically kill one or two men from each side, but it never erupts into a full blown war, which Manuela realizes she would lose since Rico’s cartel is just too strong for her. But, with our help, it just might work. Oh, she also knows about his kidnapping of Sienna, which was Snakebite’s idea she figures, but she also thinks it was a stupid idea.

She thinks it will bring international police involvement, which would be bad for her too.” “She has a point,” I said, “it did bring us, though we are not exactly the international police, but we do work for them at times. Well Angel, will the trip be okay for you?” “As a lion the trip will be easy enough,” she replied, “it will still take some time to get there though.

It will be a good chance to test out our new saddlebags for the cats to travel in. Once there they can walk around and take all the necessary photos we will need.” “And hopefully they won’t be spotted by anyone,” I said. “If they are, I can rush in and pick them up,” she said, “this is one lion they can’t shoot. And I can keep disappearing and reappearing which should cause them to freak out a little.

It might also cause Rico to think his men are going crazy, or perhaps drinking too much on the job.” “Or maybe even dipping into the drugs too often,” I added, “now, you will take Storm, Ginger, Tracker and Moonbeam in the saddlebags. Plus Rascal should be able to make the trip with you on his own feet.”

“Sure he can,” said Angel, “Courage will be walking mostly, but we will be invisible and Rascal will be visible.” “No he won’t,” said Kat, “my new little invention will keep him invisible too, right Rascal?” Meowrrr.= Yep, we try already and it work great, answered Rascal. Soon they were off on their walking journey to Rico’s house.

Sky drove them as close as she dared go so they would not be seen in the car, then she turned around and came back to the hotel. Meanwhile, Aari had contacted Manuela and set up a time to meet with her. “Why do you want to help me?” she asked Aari as they met in a restaurant.

“I am from Europe and I came here looking for a supplier, a reliable one,” he began, “and I was told to see Rico. I made a sample purchase worth $100,000 and he said we could pick up the goods at what he called drop 8. We went there and all we found was a bag of popcorn. I don’t like when people cheat me.”

“That sounds just like Rico,” she said, “or more precisely, Snakebite.” “Well, Snakebite is no longer a threat to anyone,” said Aari, “and now would be a good time to strike with him out of the way, before he gets replaced.” “Yes, I agree,” she said, “but right now is his monthly meeting, so we will need to wait until that is over.”

“Why wait?” asked Aari, “All his top people should be there, it’s a great time to attack him.” “True, but we would have to find him first,” she said, “and each month they meet in a different place, with designated numbers 1 through 12, all beginning with an R, but they are never done in any particular order, otherwise it would be easy since I know where each one is located.”

“Well, this month’s meeting is tomorrow night at R7,” said Aari, “does that help?” She just stared at him. “Getting information like that would require having someone on the inside, and high up,” she said, “only 3 people ever know ahead of time where the meeting will be held.” “Well, Rico himself told us this time,” said Aari, “though he doesn’t know it.”

Manuela laughed. “How did you manage to get a bug in his office?” she asked. “Actually we didn’t,” said Aari, “but there are other ways to do things, and money talks louder than words at times.” Aari was being careful not to tell Manuela exactly how we find out information from Rico, just in case she might be willing to tell him, in exchange for a favor of some kind.

After all, their falling out was quite some time ago and she might not be quite as angry with him now. We must trust her to a certain extent, but not fully. She does know we want Sienna, or at least she could figure that out due to our asking about Rico’s mansion. Speaking of that mansion, Courage and the cats should be there by now…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.