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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
I was able to hear the whole conversation between Aari and Ryan through Carine. Something that is very handy. Right now nearly all of our ghosts are in Canada, except for Kitty and myself. Of course Sky will come right away when I call her, so that helps immensely in an emergency. Also, nearly all of our girls, and all the guys, are in Canada right now too.
But Richard sent two security teams over to help guard the chateau. Mandar is gone on a secret business trip and can only be contacted in a serious emergency. Hopefully we won’t have that kind of problem. The girls and cats are now out of the clinic and doing well, but they will stay at the chateau. I just finished talking with Kat, but they haven’t found anything at the old cottage yet.
They have a new way to protect themselves too, so no one can sneak up on them like before. I sent Jennifer to be with them anyway, just to make sure. There must be something in that old cottage, or why would Ralph and Luna be so interested in it? I was thinking about our very first case when we were looking for the inheritance of a young woman.
Very much like this case, except there was no criminal organization involved, just one criminal, John, who is now one of my best friends. In that case the treasure was hidden right in the open, but no one found it even after years of looking. Hmm, I called Kat again and told her to check the obvious things in the cottage, dishes, paintings, clocks, whatever.
She began to do that and sat down in the living room to look around the room and just notice things. One thing she noticed was an old cuckoo clock which was kind of out of place in the living room. And it never worked properly. So, she got up and took it off the wall to look inside.
Meanwhile, back to Aari and Ryan. “My sources tell me that Luna has a sister, named Brielle,” stated Aari, “and she is living with Luna right now. Is she part of your organization too? Luna only mentioned you and her, I don’t like surprises.” “You have good sources,” replied Ryan, “yes, Brielle is with us right now, but it’s only supposed to be short term.
She provides more money and she is smarter than Luna. She also stays calm, no matter what happens.” “I want to meet this Brielle,” said Aari, “like I said, I don’t like surprises. Call Luna and see about arranging a meeting, tonight if possible.” Ryan then called Luna to try and arrange a meeting. “How did he find out about Brielle?” she asked.
“It was his sources that told him,” said Ryan, “he has some good connections, he likes to arrange things like that before moving into an area.” “That man is smart,” said Luna, “I will get back to you in a few minutes.” Ryan relayed the information to Aari. I didn’t like the idea of a night meeting, but if it happened I would send Sky and Angel to join him and Carine.
Luna called back and said the meeting would go ahead at site 2. Ryan knew the place well, it was an abandoned building in an older part of the city with lots of warehouses. He admitted not liking that area, it’s very dangerous there, even during the day. Now I really didn’t like the idea and told Aari that he should perhaps cancel.
But he said that would show weakness, and he can’t do that or they would be finished trying to get at Luna and Brielle. This is likely the best chance we will get. They were soon off to this place, with Ryan in the lead. It took about 45 minutes to make the trip, Aari had Carine, Sky and Angel with him, plus Rock, Bear, Cal and John.
They were soon entering the building which was completely dark. Then Ryan stopped and lights came on, very bright lights, aimed at them so they couldn’t tell who was behind the lights. “Welcome Aari,” said Luna, “you wanted to meet my sister Brielle, well, she is here.” “Greetings Aari,” said Brielle, “what would you like to know?”
“I don’t talk to lights and voices,” he said clearly, “let’s sit down and talk plainly with each other. Or, I will take my Black Wolves and walk away from our deal. I don’t like surprises and if we are going to be partners, then we need to do things properly. Only people who are scared, hide.” The lights turned off and regular, but dull, lights came on instead.
They were in a nicely furnished room with Luna and Brielle seated on comfortable armchairs, with 3 more armchairs empty. There were also half a dozen well armed men standing behind Luna and Brielle, plus 2 more off to the side. Ryan stepped forward to sit down and one of the guards off to the side shot him 3 times and he fell to the floor dead…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
After Ryan and Aari left the cafe, they split up and went their separate ways. Ryan went back to their hideout and told Luna he had met briefly with Aari to find out more about what he’s like. But, their time was cut short because a gang of women came in, called The Bad Girls.
“Apparently they are from Montreal and they know you and I,” said Ryan, “the leader of the group came over to talk with Aari and I and she said they plan to kill us, when the time is right. She also told Aari not to get involved with us or they would kill him too.” “What did Aari say to that?” she asked.
“He told me that no small gang was going to scare him off,” said Ryan, “when he wants something, he takes it and stomps on anyone that gets in his way. I am going to meet him again for dinner at a restaurant he chose. He doesn’t want me saying anything to anyone, just in case the wrong ears hear me. He won’t be telling anyone on his side either. He didn’t like the idea that those Bad Girls found us this morning, I mean, how did they know?”
“I would like to know that too,” said Luna, “we need to be more careful when we talk around here. We have to remember that most of the men around here are more loyal to Ralph than to us.” “Yeah, we need to get rid of Ralph and his two main friends,” said Ryan, “then the others will follow us. I will talk it over with Aari, might be easier for him to do it.”
Later that evening Aari and Ryan met at the restaurant that Aari had written on that paper he had given Ryan earlier. They talked more about joining together against Luna and he asked Aari if he could take out Ralph and his two top friends. He gave pictures of the two men to Aari. Just then Ryan got a call from Luna who told him that Ralph and his two friends were dead, all found at 3 different locations.
“Well, I didn’t do it,” said Ryan. He then asked Aari but he said no, besides, he didn’t even know what Ralph’s two main friends looked like. “I would say that someone else is getting involved,” said Aari, “but who is it?” “I wish I knew the answer to that one,” said Ryan, “I mean, killing them in 3 different locations means someone had some very good information.”
“It also means that someone knows more about your organization than you think,” said Aari, “someone is giving us a message and we need to find out who it is, quickly, and get rid of them.” Just then the Bad Girls came into the restaurant and sat on the other side of the room. Katresa kept looking at them and smiling. “Do you think they could have done it?” asked Ryan.
“That’s possible,” said Aari, “but they seem like just a small gang. How would they know where to look for those men? And how did they know where to find us?” “The only person I told was Luna,” said Ryan, “and she wouldn’t tell them.” “Are you sure about that Ryan?” asked Aari, “She’s the only other person who knew we were meeting here tonight.
Someone had to tell those Bad Girls. You told me that with Ralph and his 2 friends gone, the rest of his gang would be loyal to you, or maybe just to Luna. That would leave you in a bad spot my friend.” Ryan sat there silently for a few minutes. “You know, I agree with you,” he said finally, “she has pushed me to find out how many men you actually have with you, since we only see 15 with you.”
“I have many more men than that with me Ryan,” he said, “I was planning to take this city away from all the smaller gangs floating around, I can’t do that with 15 men. I have 75 men with me and they are all very loyal, and they are a tough bunch of guys, we can crush anyone who tries to stand in our way.” “Sounds good Aari,” he said, “we might need those men of yours too.”
Then Katresa came over to their table, still smiling. “Missing some men Ryan?” she asked, “You should be more careful than that, after all, you could be next on the list Ryan.” “You are taking a chance showing yourself again,” he said, “especially with only 8 women in your gang.” “There are 12 of us now,” she said, “or don’t you know how to count. And I have many more available to me. Can you come up with 50 men Ryan?”
“If I wanted to, yes,” he said, trying to sound confident. “I doubt it Ryan,” she said, “but I would be worried if I were you, Luna has control now and she doesn’t need you around any longer.” She then went back to her table. “She might have a point with what she said,” Ryan told Aari, “Luna doesn’t need me now that Ralph is out of the way. That’s why I was stalling on killing him.”
“So she decided to do it for you,” said Aari, “she may have even hired those Bad Girls and pretended not to know anything.” “You are making more sense all the time Aari,” he said, “I think maybe I will hide somewhere for tonight.” Meanwhile, in another place a voice is heard. “Be patient, she will soon come into view,” he said…
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
