Just as the cats began to stare at the door and growl, I sensed trouble, but vaguely and Jennifer said she sensed danger, but not close. That didn’t make sense of our senses. “Sky,” I said casually, and she appeared beside me immediately. “I don’t see any trouble Steve,” she said as she frowned at me. “The cats sense trouble at the door, Jennifer and I also sense trouble of some kind.

“The cats?” she asked, “That’s different.” She went to the door but asked Amerie to open it. She did so quickly, but the only person at the door was the young lady that works at the front desk. “Oh!” she exclaimed, “I was just about to knock. Um, a man left this note and asked me to bring it to, um, Steve. And he wanted me to wait for a reply.”

The poor woman looked rather nervous. “Read it please,” I said to Sky, so she opened it and began to read. “I meant out loud,” I said. “Oh, you didn’t say that,” she said, grinning, “a man wants to talk with you and he’s waiting in the lounge.” “Any name attached?” I asked. “Nope, no name,” she replied. The young lady also said he did not leave his name with her.

He had 2 other men with him and she said that all three men were rather large. “Let him know I will be there in a few minutes,” I said, “we need to get dressed.” She then left quickly and we got dressed and ready to go down to meet this mystery man. “Perhaps he is the one that has people following us,” I said. I had called Kat to join us, so I will take her, Jennifer and Sky with me and Angel will stay behind to protect Emerald in case this involves her.

“Are you people really bad criminals?” asked Emerald, “I looked you up for Mr. Cairns and it said you were a large criminal gang that specializes in drugs and kidnapping women to use, well, for not so nice things.” “Do we really look that bad?” asked Angel, “We helped you and we have all these cute and cuddly cats.” Azura, Sky’s cat, went over to Emerald and curled up on top of her, purring.

“She likes you,” said Melanie. “I love cats,” said Emerald, “but that doesn’t really answer my question. I’m scared, but, but I do trust you though…it’s just hard to know what to think.” “Can you trust us until morning?” asked Angel, “Then we will get Steve to explain things better for you.” “Okay, that works,” she said, smiling.

Meanwhile, we went down to the lounge and the woman was right, all three of those men are rather large. We went over to the men and before sitting down I decide to ask something. “Which of you wanted to talk with me?” I asked. “That would be me,” said the one man, “sit down and join us Steve.” “I like to know who I’m talking with,” I said, “or I don’t talk.”

“My name is Warren Clarke,” he said, “though I imagine you haven’t heard of me. I do know about you however, as the leader of a group of PI’s called The Investigators.” Jennifer and I sat down, but Sky and Kat kept standing. “One of these beautiful ladies must be Kat Williams,” he began, “the leader of a group of criminal women called The Wildcats, a rather dangerous group I have heard. I find it interesting that the two of you work together at times.”

“Sometimes we have abilities that can be helpful to the other side,” I said, “and this is Kat.” She smiled at Warren. “Now, I am wondering what brings you to my territory,” he mused, “I don’t like when criminal gangs show up unannounced, it makes me think they are planning some expansion ideas. I would advise you against such plans, I would be forced to stop you rather quickly.”

“As you must know, Kat and I are on opposite sides of the law,” I said, “I don’t expand territory since I have none. What Kat does is her business, but that is not why she is here. If she was, you wouldn’t be able to stop her. We have a much different reason for being here. A friend of hers has a friend that disappeared, possibly kidnapped, we are here to try and find her and her 3 children who have also disappeared.

We discovered she worked for Cairns and wanted to quit, that’s when she disappeared.” “If she worked for Cairns then she is likely dead,” he answered, “so you are wasting your time looking for that family.” “Well, the children are alive,” I said, “they showed up on Cairns’ porn site, yet he claims he knows nothing about them. So, we plan to refresh his memory a bit.”

“Cairns doesn’t make his own videos,” said Warren, “he buys them from others, or rents them, to put on his site. So, someone else likely has those kids.” “Know anything about the father of those kids, his name is Martin Evans?” I asked. “He’s a worthless slob that hasn’t worked in years,” he replied, “all he knows how to do is gamble, and he’s terrible at that. I know he owes Cairns a lot of money right now.”

“He did, but apparently not anymore,” I said, “though Cairns did take his old car and his house, but that wouldn’t pay his debt, so he got money somewhere else.” “Then I would say you know what happened to his kids,” added Warren. “By the way,” I said, “are you the one that keeps sending people to follow us around?” “No, I have not done that,” he said, “I prefer the direct approach, such as talking face to face.

You know, I keep looking at this young lady here (pointing to Sky), but I don’t recognize her face from either of your groups.” “That is because I have my own, shall we say, group of friends,” she said smiling, “we are also on the opposite side of the law from Steve. But I owe him a rather large debt, not money, so I have promised to help him whenever he needs it. My name is Sky.”

We talked for a little longer, then Warren and his bodyguards left. He never did say why Cairns is operating in his territory. Perhaps Cairns works for this Warren Clarke. But then, why didn’t Cairns know who we were? We still don’t know who is following us either, that part is puzzling. It isn’t Warren and Emerald said it wasn’t Cairns. It is now 2am, time for bed. Later we will visit with Martin again, hopefully before he goes missing.

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.