Aari and the Black Wolves had quite the encounter with Jacques and his gang. Jacques lost 10 men in that fight and the others were arrested, though Jacques’ lawyer got them out of jail quickly enough. Then Jacques went to his meeting with someone named Geffrey. I asked Cristy to look up this man for us. “According to the rules,” said Cristy, “you’re not allowed to give orders while in the clinic, only Leader 1 can do that, and you’re not Leader 1 right now.”

“Atta girl Cristy,” said Misty laughing. “Cristy?” I asked. “Yes Steve?” she asked in return. “How would you like 30 days of inactive duty?” I asked her. “I’m on it Steve!” she exclaimed, “I was just joking before. You know, like ha ha.” “I knew you were Cristy,” I said, “and thank you. By the way, doesn’t your break begin in 5 minutes?”

“Yep, sure does,” she said, “might have to work through my break today though.” “If she does that,” I said to Misty, “she will get 10 demerits.” “But you’re not Leader 1 right now,” said Misty, “you can’t give demerits.” “You can though,” I said. “What?” she exclaimed, “Give my sister demerits? Never!” “If she doesn’t take her break,” I said, “we don’t get any donuts today.” Misty looked at me blinking like she does.

“If she doesn’t show up with donuts,” said Misty, “she will get 20 demerits!” “Atta girl Misty,” I said. A couple minutes later our door opens slightly. “It’s safe,” I said. Cristy zipped inside and locked the door. “I was smart today,” she said, “I wrapped them in a towel and slipped them into my bag so no one would notice. And, I got a whole dozen today!” Both Misty and I said “YES” at the same time.

“That’s 4 each today,” said Misty. “Atta girl Cristy,” I said, munching on my first donut. We just managed to finish our donuts when Akila knocked on the door, so Cristy let her in, then she went back to work. “Cynthia and I have been working overtime on that laptop and phone,” said Akila, “there is a lot on there too, especially the laptop. No wonder he wanted it back! He killed that government official, his mother and Clarisse, but he hired someone else to kill his brother.

He also killed 2 business people in Paris and the police still haven’t found out who did it. He brags about it on the laptop about how he outsmarted the police. There was also a young woman he had hired, but she wouldn’t do any of the “extra activities” he wanted from her, so he stabbed her too and left her in her flat. He hired someone to kill 3 other people, a person named Hunter Wilson.

He wanted you for a kind of ransom Steve, to make us do some things for him. Like kidnapping the families of 3 new officials for the police service in Paris, to make them resign so that the second pick people will get the jobs. All three of those are willing to be on Jacques’ payroll, which would give Jacques a free hand to do whatever he wants basically.

Then he wanted us to divert a shipment of small arms to him for outfitting his new “army”. Now that he has the money, he will hire an army of mercenaries to work for him, but he needs weapons for them. There is also a huge shipment of drugs coming soon, landing in Denmark, which he also wanted us to divert to him.” “My, we certainly would have been busy,” I said, “I’m getting tired just thinking about it.”

Then Jennifer walked in the room, right through the door. “I brought you each a donut,” she said smiling. “Donuts!” we both exclaimed together. “Oh, Misty,” she said, “just a reminder that since you are in the clinic, then the Leader 1 position falls back on me again.” “What? I can’t give orders anymore?” she asked. “That’s right, sorry,” said Jennifer. “That’s okay,” said Misty, “I’ll still enjoy donuts, providing people bring them to us.”

“I’m sure Cristy will keep you two well supplied,” said Jennifer, “that’s why I only brought two.” “Hey, I have been thinking,” said Misty. “No,” I said. “You didn’t hear my idea yet,” she said, folding her arms. “Yes, that wasn’t very nice,” said Jennifer. “You do that all the time to me,” I reminded her. “That’s different,” she said, “your ideas always cause problems.” Akila began to giggle a little, then she burst out laughing. “It wasn’t that funny,” I said. She was still laughing and couldn’t answer me. Sigh.

“Anyway,” said Misty, “I was thinking, Pierre #2 is still in Paris, right? Right. I doubt he would be excited about Jacques’ plans to take over everything. And right now Pierre #2 is likely stronger than Jacques. Sooo, why don’t we get Pierre #2 to take care of Jacques for us while Jacques is still weak. Who knows, maybe both gangs will take care of each other. Even if they don’t, it’s probably better to have Pierre #2 than to have Jacques around.” She smiled at me.

I looked at her, blinking the way she does, or so I thought. “No, that’s not it,” she said to me, “you need bigger blinks for it to work.” Hmm, anyway, her idea did kind of make sense. Why risk some of our people when we can use another gang to do the work. I relayed this message to Carine, who told it to Aari. He liked the idea, but how do we get the message to Pierre #2?

That was a good question and I have just the answer to it. Trapper. With Kat and her Wildcats to look after him so he doesn’t get killed. I also asked Aari if the money from Jacques had come through or not. He said it was all there. That was quite amazing really, I wasn’t so sure he would part with that much money. We will turn it over to the police later.

Pierre #2 and 4 of his men were having lunch at a restaurant and Trapper came along and sat down on an empty chair. “Trapper,” said Pierre, “you are either a very brave man, or very stupid, which is it?” “I have some information you will want to hear,” said Trapper casually. Just then Kat and her Wildcats made their usual grand entrance, with Kat stopping next to Trapper.

“Well, hi Mr. Trapper!” said Kat in her little girl voice, “I haven’t seen you around for a long time. Did ya miss me?” “I always miss you, Miss Kat,” he said, “you go sit down and I will come over and visit with you right after I talk with these gentlemen, okay?” “Hmm, they don’t look like gentlemen to me Mr. Trapper,” said Kat, “but we’ll just be over there if you need some help.” She then left and sat down with the other girls. “A girlfriend of yours?” asked Pierre.

Trapper then filled them in about the girls. “Just the kind of girls we could use in our business,” said another man to Pierre. “You wouldn’t be able to handle those girls,” said Trapper, “they would turn you inside out.” Then he told Pierre about Jacques and his plans and that now would be a good time to put him out of business for ever, otherwise he would end up putting Pierre out of business…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.