Carine communicated with me right away and told me what just happened. I then told Sky to bring Rock and John back to the clinic right away, which she did. “Okay Aari,” I said, “obviously Mr. Marchetti wants to play rough, so let’s do that. But make sure you hit him hard, not just a little or he won’t get the message. Kat, I want you and your Wildcats to join in on this one too. Just make sure you hit him in different ways, Sky and her Bad Girls will stay in backup in case they are needed, and Jennifer, you go with the Black Wolves please, for a little added protection. And remember my dear ghosts, Marchetti can’t touch you, but he can certainly hurt those on your teams, so please be careful.”

Sky was still here and had come to see me about my orders. “Hey, how come the Bad Girls are only backup?” she asked, “We don’t want to sit and play that mouse game all day, we want to fight!” “I know you do Sky,” I said, “and I know your Bad Girls want to help, but we need to keep some in reserve, just in case Marchetti is stronger than we think. Plus, I think Marchetti is likely going to send men over to search the hotel rooms. If he does, make sure he knows that was not a good decision on his part.”

“What are we allowed to do?” asked Sky, pouting a bit. “Stop them,” I said, “any way you want.” That put a smile back on her face. “Aye, aye, Captain!” she said and disappeared. “Um, Sky just disappeared,” said Courtney quietly. She was still in my office since we had been talking, and our dinner had been brought up to the office for us. “Yes, she does move quickly,” I said. “No, she disappeared,” said Courtney. Friskie began to giggle. “Have fun explaining that one,” she said. “It’s quite simple really,” I told Courtney, “we have discovered a way for people to disappear. That’s how you got here after you were put to sleep.”

“Wow, that’s cool,” she said. “Now, why did you come looking for your sister?” I asked. “Well, being twins, Carmen and I were always very close, even after she got married,” she began, “but about a year and a half ago Carmen began acting a bit strange. She didn’t talk much anymore, never called, I always had to call her. Before we took turns calling each other. When I asked how she was doing, how their marriage was doing, typical things, she just didn’t say much in reply and sometimes she even got nervous by my questions, or she would actually get angry with me for prying, something she never did before.

Then about a year ago there was nothing from her, and Vincent just kept saying she didn’t want to talk with me anymore because I was prying into their private affairs all the time. Finally he told me to stop calling, so I called the police to check on her. They were reluctant at first, but then went to check when Rossana got involved. That’s when Vincent said she had left him a few months before and he hadn’t heard from her. They got a search warrant but found nothing unusual.

When your team found a grave in the basement of the house, I knew that had to be Carmen, but I made up that story about him making a place to hide our valuables. I had come out to look for Carmen, hoping she had just run away, but I was sure that Vincent had killed her. She had given hints before that she was afraid of Vincent, but she didn’t want to leave him or he would just come after her and that would be worse. Guess I just got in the way and messed up badly.

But I love my sister and since the police were not really doing anything, I wanted to find out what happened, especially after hearing that Vincent had been murdered. I never realized how dangerous this was, but I’m no coward, just stupid. I wanted to find my sister and I couldn’t afford to hire anyone to help me.” Well, we just learned a lot from Courtney and about her as well. I had Dawn come and take Courtney down to meet the girls and show her to a room.

A little later I had finished putting new hinges on my door, so Friskie helped me put it back. She held the door in place while I put the pins in the hinges. However, before I was able to begin, “Whack!”, and Friskie fell to the floor with the door on top of her and Misty on top of the door. Misty looked at me. “Sky must have come back,” she said, “only she would do this twice in one day.” “Maybe you should let her get up,” I suggested. “I should just stay here,” said Misty, “it hurts running into doors all the time.”

“Maybe you should stop doing it then,” I said. “It’s a round staircase,” she reminded me, “I can’t see what’s coming until suddenly, whack!” She gets up and takes the door off Friskie. “Oh, it’s you,” said Misty, “I thought you would be more sensible.” “I thought you would be more careful,” said Friskie frowning at her. “Misty, why did you come up here anyway?” I asked. “I can’t remember,” she said, “running into that door again has given me a headache.”

“Maybe if you try walking down a few steps you will remember,” said Friskie nicely. “Might work,” said Misty and she started down the stairs. Suddenly the stairs disappeared and turned into a stone slide! !AAAAAAAA!!!!” yelled Misty as she slid down, rather quickly. “How did you do that?” I asked. “This smaller rock here,” she said, “press it and the steps flip up and make a slide, press again and the steps return. Steffie showed me that one.” “I’m always amazed at how she finds these things,” I said.

“And she knows a lot more about this place too,” said Friskie smiling, “she’s like me, always exploring.” “Yes, I do remember that,” I said. Meanwhile, back in Italy. “This is one of the places where Marchetti’s men like to hang out,” said Clarence. The Wolves were wearing our special lightweight bullet proof vests, so they don’t show so easily. Jennifer had asked Sky to join them so she could deal with any security cameras, outside and inside. And that is what she did.

“The cameras outside have quit working,” said one man. Just then Bear came crashing his way through the doors leading into the lower room! The Black Wolves had automatic weapons with them this time and they knew the men on their list. One after another they fell to the floor dead. Then Aari called out, telling who they were and why they came. Eight of Marchetti’s men were killed, then the Wolves left, heading to the next spot. But, news travels fast and when the arrived 5 of the men they wanted were coming out of the building and jumped into a waiting car.

But Trapper drove his van into the front of the car, stopping it quickly. The men jumped out to shoot, but quickly dropped their very hot guns, then the fight was on! They just wanted to hurt this group. But one man tried to run and Sky suddenly appeared in front of him, terrifying him. Sky then began to punch and kick the man until he was unconscious. Giorgio told the news to Marchetti who was now in a rage. “Those dogs will pay a high price for this,” he said…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.