The Black Wolves have come into the restaurant where Pierre and 3 of his men, including a man named Banker, were having their dinner. Mac, who knew Banker some years ago while he used the name Carver, began a conversation with Banker. Then Aari entered the conversation after Pierre revealed who he was, and Aari told Pierre that Jacques had paid them 50,000 euros to kill him.

One of Pierre’s men had his gun out and under the table, aimed at Aari and he tried several times to shoot, but his gun just wouldn’t work. “You know Arnaud,” said Aari, “you should always ask your boss before you try shooting someone. Your gun won’t work, by the way, no matter how many times you pull that trigger. What are you at now, 10, 11?” “Put your gun away Arnaud,” said Pierre, “that’s a cool trick mister.”

“I don’t do tricks Pierre,” said Aari, “and my name is Aari.” “How did you know how many times I pulled the trigger?” asked Arnaud, “Considering you couldn’t see what I was doing.” “I’m good at guessing,” said Aari, smiling, “by the way Pierre, I’ll let you finish your meal before finishing what I was paid to do.” “Then you collect the other half?” asked Pierre.

“I quit doing that years ago,” said Aari, “people would keep disappearing when I went to collect the other half, then it took time to track them down and collect my money. Now I get paid in full, or I don’t work.” “Got proof of that?” asked Pierre. Aari snapped his fingers and Rock put a nice leather bag on the table. “That’s one of Jacques’ courier bags,” said Banker, then he looked inside and counted quickly, “yep, it’s all there.”

“How about if I paid you 100,000 euros to let me live?” asked Pierre. “Up front and you walk out of here free and alive,” said Aari. “Let my man Banker go and he will bring it back for you in about 20 minutes,” said Pierre. “He can go, but you 3 stay,” said Aari. “Fine with me,” said Pierre. “Oh, Banker,” said Mac, “come back alone, with the money, or your boss dies slow and painful. Plus I will track you down, and you know I can do it.”

Banker then left and Aari with his team sat down at another table. “That’s a lot of money to pay him Pierre,” said Arnaud, “you should have just offered 60,000. He would still be making more money.” “Maybe you don’t value your life too highly Arnaud,” said Pierre, “but mine is worth a lot to me. Besides, I’ll get it back, with interest, from Jacques.”

“If he pays,” said Arnaud, “I wouldn’t trust that guy for nothing.” “I don’t plan to trust him,” said Pierre, “just take some money from him, then kill him. He will regret putting a price on my head.” It was 23 minutes and Banker was back with a briefcase filled with 100,000 euros and Pierre told him to hand it off to Aari.

He looked inside, then nodded to Pierre, so he and his men left the restaurant and headed out to Jacques’ country house. There was even an envelope inside with 3,000 euros for Carver. Mac smiled when Aari handed him the envelope. “We did take a chance revealing you are still alive Mac,” said Aari, a bit concerned.

“Chances are Banker won’t be alive after tonight,” said Mac, “and chances are, no one would believe him anyway. Some very important people saw me dead and buried. Banker isn’t really one to trust.” Then Aari made a phone call. “Jacques,” said Aari, “this is Aari, leader of the Black Wolves, I have some news for you. Some of my boys and I were having dinner at a nightclub and Pierre was in there too with quite a bunch of men.

Apparently he is planning a surprise party for you tonight, and he has 40 men with him. If you are at that country place of yours, I hope it has a second way to get out of there, otherwise you are trapped in a big bonfire.” “I suppose you want more money now?” he asked. “No Jacques, you have paid enough,” said Aari and he hung up. Then he left with his men.

The rest of the Black Wolves, and the Wildcats, were spread around outside to make sure no traps were set. “We get out of here now,” said Jacques, “Pierre is after us with 40 men.” “I knew we couldn’t trust that rat,” said Francois. Meanwhile… “Patience my dear,” said a male voice, “it won’t be long now.” Soon Jacques came out of his house with his two most trusted men beside him. But, one by one they fell, dead, as did a few others.

The remainder made it to the cars and left in a hurry. About 15 minutes after they were gone Pierre showed up and they looked over the dead men. “Who did this?” asked Banker, “Are those mercenaries here already?” Then Arnaud and the Banker fell to the ground, dead. Everyone else just stood there, quietly looking around, but there was not a sound to be heard.

Pierre took a briefcase of money from the hand of Francois, then he told his men to run back to the cars! Just as Pierre got to his car there was a shot, barely audible, and Pierre fell to the ground dead. Then 3 more of his men fell dead also, but the rest got into the cars and sped away. An anonymous man had called the police and told them of a gang fight out at Jacques’ country house.

Police arrived not long after Pierre’s men left, but those men didn’t get far, they were stopped at police roadblocks that had been set up. Meanwhile, back to us. “Guess that clears up another case for us,” said Jennifer. “Yes, and hopefully now that Kat is back, she and Samantha can get me out of here,” I said. “Wait, you can’t leave unless I do,” said Misty. “Why is that?” I asked.

“I can’t stay here all day by myself with no one to talk with,” she complained, “I would go crazy!” “I think you’ve already made the trip Misty,” said Jennifer. Misty looked at her, blinking her eyes like she does. “Stop, you’re going to hypnotize me,” said Jennifer, “I thought you said Steve doesn’t talk?” “Well, he doesn’t, but he listens good,” she said smiling.

“Strange, he doesn’t listen to me,” said Jennifer as she looked at me and folded her arms, “I will make sure he stays here until you’re ready to leave, Misty.” “YES!” she said loudly. Sigh. Well, what looked like something more normal for a change, turned out to be something major again. Although no one was killed, we did end up with some injured this time, including a couple seriously injured.

And poor Cassie is busy keeping all the patients happy with donuts every day. Cristy no longer has to sneak them in to us, though she says it’s not as much fun now. Well, I wonder where we go or what we do in our next case? This is now the second case where that male voice and sniper have shown up, though we don’t know about it. Will we ever find out what it’s all about?

The End. A new case is coming soon. ©2025 Steve McLeod.