Well, it has been a few days since our last case and we are all relaxing nicely. Of course, not too many of our team were used on that last case either, so most are ready for another case. I think all of us are ready for another case actually. However, we were not quite expecting what came our way this time. Jennifer and I had just come down for breakfast and Cristy called me over.

“Roger is on the phone,” said Cristy, “he said it was urgent.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. “I just did,” she said with a puzzled look, “he just phoned.” “Oh, okay, put the call through,” I said. “Steve, I have some bad news,” he began, “as you know, Sienna is on an extended business trip and her second stop was one of her companies in Panama.

When she came out, her and her security detail, which was 6 armed guards, were quickly surrounded by masked men with automatic weapons. There were approximately 20 attackers and they took Sienna and are now holding her for ransom. It is a large drug cartel that has her and I spoke with the leader, a man named Fredrico Manchez.

Apparently he prefers to be called Rico. He wants 1 billion US dollars for her release. He knows who she is, but I told him only the Board of Directors can make that decision and they have to be brought together to vote on it in person. That isn’t true, but I was trying to buy some time and it worked. He originally said 3 days but extended it to 7 days. I also said that I need to talk with Sienna each day to prove she is alive.

I mean, we can pay the money, but I know it wouldn’t help, so I’m turning to you Steve. Just name your price.” “I told Sienna that she needs to take her own security more seriously,” I said, “but she didn’t think anyone would attempt to kidnap or kill her. We will take the case, naturally, but all I ask is expense money.” “You have it Steve,” he said, “just let me know what you need.”

“I will do that once we do a bit of planning on our end,” I told him, “I will call a meeting right away.” I did so and we discussed various options for doing this. I listened especially to Aari, Hannah and Carolyn, plus I called Jazzy and Mandar to get their opinions as well. I then called Roger and told him to book us rooms in three different hotels, 2 in Panama City and one in La Chorrera.

This Rico has a nice country place outside of Panama City and towards La Chorrera. We will be taking most of our team on this one, I don’t want to take any chances. Jennifer and Kristina will stay at home this time, Kat said that Kristina isn’t quite ready to go on a case yet and I wanted Jennifer to stay behind and help Kristina.

We found out that Rico is only the leader here in Panama, the main part of this cartel is in Honduras and Rico’s brother Carlo is the top leader. There is a third member of the family, a cousin, that looks after the cartel’s dealings further north. No matter how we handle this, it is going to be dangerous. One slip and Sienna will be killed. We were soon packed and flying over to Panama, on three separate jets.

We don’t want to be seen together just yet. Kat and her Wildcats will land first and get to their hotel. Aari and his Jaguars will be next, and his team is being helped by Team 8 from Mandar which is a team of 15 well trained men. Aari’s team is small now, so they are a welcome addition. Sky’s Bad Girls are coming with me, but 6 will be staying behind so I can bring 6 from my team.

Roger is sending 10 of Sienna’s top security girls to help at our chateau and Mandar is sending Team 5 to the chateau and it has 15 women on it now. So, those girls we are leaving behind will be well guarded if needed. Jazzy told me to be extra careful on this one, we will only get one chance to rescue Sienna. If we fail, she will die. I am not normally nervous on a case, but I am this time.

We brought several of the cats with us too, they might be helpful in finding Sienna for us. I asked Aari what he thought about perhaps kidnapping Carlo, since he is Number 1 and trade him for Sienna. But he said that Rico might take the opportunity to place himself in the Number 1 spot instead. Just because they’re brothers doesn’t mean they like each other.

And Rico might be looking at this money he might get as a way to take over the cartel. Aari is probably right, and that would finish any possibility of rescuing Sienna. We landed about 3 hours after Aari’s team and went straight to our hotel. Not only did we arrive at different times, but each jet looked totally different too, that way they would not be connected.

We had flown to Brazil where we managed to book a commercial jet to bring us to Panama. It refueled and left immediately after picking up passengers going to Brazil. That worked out perfectly for us. We arrived as tourists on a group tour package. We were not doing anything today, it was kind of late, so we decided to relax until tonight, then we will go looking around a bit.

We have all been studying photos of men belonging to this cartel, so hopefully we can find some hanging out in the city somewhere. Maybe even Rico himself. We were not doing so good in our part of the city, but Aari did a bit better in his section. It wasn’t a fancy nightclub, but this is where a lot of these guys like to hang out.

They found someone on their list, someone close to Rico at that, and he was playing pool with some others. “Are you Snakebite?” asked Aari. “Don’t talk, I’m in an important business meeting,” he said, and then laughed. So did his friends, that is, until Rock ended the business meeting. He just flipped the pool table over.

“I see your business meeting is over Snakebite,” said Aari, “now maybe we can talk.” Snakebite looked around him. He and his friends looked rather small next to Rock, Bear and Cal. Snakebite went with them to sit at a table and Aari explained why they were in Panama. “I’m Aari Jensen, leader of Jensen’s Jaguars,” he began, “we’re from Europe and I’m looking for a new supplier.

A man named Danny said I could find you here and maybe you could put me in touch with someone named Rico. I need a large and steady supply.” “I’ll talk with Rico and let you know,” he said. Cal then gave him a card and said what hotel they were staying at. Then they all got up and left. Snakebite left too and went back to Rico…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.