We had just pulled away from Martin’s house and a car began to follow us again. “Okay Sherry,” I said, “time to set our trap.” “Okay Fluffy, time for Plan T!” she exclaimed. “Me Fluffy, Plan T, fly straight!” “Is it just me,” I said, “or does anyone else find it odd that our lives are in the paws of a toy cat?” “I think it’s exciting!” said Sky. “Me too!” added Angel. “I’m in too!” said Kat.

The other girls also chimed in with agreement. Guess I must be the odd one here. “Why did you call it Plan T?” I asked. “T for trap,” replied Sherry, “what else would I call it?” “Well, Plan B comes to mind,” I said. “That’s boring,” she said, “oops, sorry Steve!” “Just keep your eyes on the road please,” I said as we actually turned in a complete circle when Fluffy said “Left!”

“Ohhhh! That was so much fun!” yelled Sky. Then he said “Right!” and we pulled into an open door going into an empty storage building of some kind. That car followed us inside, stopping behind us and the big door shut. We got out of our car with arms raised and the four men got out of their car, three of them had automatic weapons. The fourth man had a handgun.

“Okay, which one of you is the head detective?” asked the one man. “I am not a detective,” I told him, “I’m a private investigator.” “Very funny detective,” he said laughing, “just remember, these guns can cut you in half.” “Maybe, if they worked,” I replied, “but none of them work, try shooting me.” “Aim for his legs,” said the man. The other man did so, but his gun wouldn’t work.

The other two tried also, but their guns didn’t work either. Then they became too hot for them to hold, so they dropped them. Then they took out their handguns, but they dropped them right away too. “Look around you,” I told them, so they did. We had several of the girls hiding in there and they came out at that moment, all carrying guns.

“Oh, their guns work just fine,” I said, “so, come over here so we can talk without having to raise our voices. (they did so) Good, now, who are you working for?” “You’re a detective, find out for yourself,” the one man said sarcastically. “If you insist,” I said. Kat went over to him and kicked him hard in the stomach, then, as he was bent over, she grabbed him and threw him against the wall. He just groaned and slid to the floor.

Then she went after the other three, easily handling them on her own. After a short time they were beginning to wake up, but I told them to remain sitting on the floor. Then the main man decided to speak again. “Do you always have women do the fighting for you?” he asked. “Stand up shorty,” I said, and he did so. “Ha! I’m taller than you detective man!” he said laughing.

I then kicked his side and punched him a couple of times. He was now back on the floor. “You must be overweight,” I said, “you’re legs won’t hold you up.” The girls laughed heartily. “Now, once more, who are you working for?” I asked. “A woman named Jazzy,” another man blurted out. “Idiot!” yelled the first man. I called Cristy, but first put my shield around me so they couldn’t hear me talk.

That’s part of a new bunch of abilities that Kat has shared with me. It works through these bracelets from Sky which Kat has improved. “Try to get me Jazzy,” I told Cristy. “That’s easy, she’s right here,” she replied cheerily. I asked Jazzy if she had people following us. “Steve, that isn’t even nice,” she said, “I thought I made myself quite clear that we were now friends.”

“We are friends Jazzy,” I said, “I mean, you could have been keeping an eye on us to make sure we were safe.” “Right, liar, but I’ll forgive you anyway,” she said. “Thank you Jazzy,” I said, “I do apologize.” “Now, look for this phone number (which she gave me) on their phones,” she said, “that will be the man they work for.” I called Sky over, gave her the number and she went back to check their phones.

Sure enough, she found that number on each phone. That was Raven’s phone number. “Undoubtedly he is trying to find out if you and I are working together now,” said Jazzy, “now, about Warren Clarke, which of course is not his real name, he likes to hide himself. His real name is Wally Haugen. “Hmm, that last name sounds a bit familiar,” I said.

“Steve, don’t tell me your memory is getting bad,” said Jazzy, “think of a certain governor with the same last name.” “Clarke is related to Governor Stanley Haugen?” I asked. “Yes indeed, they are cousins actually and Governor Haugen gets his piece of the pie each month and that allows Wally to operate freely. Cairns works for Wally, but he’s the little guy in this trio,” she said, “and he would be the fall guy if anything should go wrong with their ‘operation’.

“Thanks Jazzy,” I said, “now to do something with Raven’s men.” “Just let them go Steve,” she advised, “Raven will take care of them.” So, we opened the big door and let Raven’s men leave us, which they did, very quickly. Raven will be wondering why we let them go, so it’s doubtful they will live long. I was right, the police found them dead in an abandoned house a couple of days later.

I then asked Sky to take Kat back to Jennifer, which she did right away. I wasn’t worried about Jennifer, but since we have most of the girls spread around in different places right now, I want to make sure we can keep Emerald, and Cindy too, alive and well. Poor Cindy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got mixed up in terror.

Sky was back so fast, it was like she never left. I still would like to know how she does that. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, “and the answer is no.” Sigh, being the top leader isn’t what it used to be. Oh well. We do know more information now, but it’s not getting us much closer to finding Amanda and her kids.

Though at least we do have a lead on the kids, hopefully we will hear back from Aari tonight with good news. Unfortunately, the hope of finding Amanda alive is growing slimmer all the time. Perhaps we should go back to the hotel and talk with Emerald again. We haven’t really talked with her much yet, and perhaps we should be, she must know some information that makes Clarke, I mean, Wally, very nervous, which is why he tried to kill her once and just might try to do so again.

Emerald knew about Clarke’s name of Wally Haugen, but she didn’t know it was his real name. She gave us 2 other names he also uses, depending on who he is talking with. But mostly everyone calls him Mr. Clarke, so she figured that was his real name. She also said he was scary and she never liked when he came to visit Cairns.

He kept telling Cairns he would like to take me home with him and that she would make a good pet for his men. She could never tell if he was joking or serious. Everyone was terrified of Clarke’s men, they were always cruel and would beat people to death, men or women, they didn’t care. Then she asked me if we had met Martin’s girlfriend yet.

“I didn’t know he had one,” I told her. “Oh, sorry, I thought you knew that,” she said with her head down, “guess I should have said something, but I have been so scared it has been hard to think.” “That’s okay,” I said, “we should have been asking you these questions, then we would know.”

She then gave us the girlfriends name and address, so Kat sent some of her girls over to keep and eye on Felicity Booker. “Mr. Clarke, or Wally, also gave me some numbers to memorize,” said Emerald, “but he never told me what they were for, only that they were important.” She then gave me the numbers…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.