For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The room was very bright so I closed my eyes again for a few moments. I felt someone pick up my hand and hold it, then someone kissed me. I opened my eyes again and looked around, there was just one person in the room with me and it was Amerie. She standing beside my bed, holding my hand still, and smiling so cheerfully. “Where is Jennifer?” I asked weakly. “She cannot be here all the time Steve,” said Amerie, “so Katresa and I take turns to help out.”
Her smile disappeared when she spoke so I sensed that something was wrong. “I need some water,” I said, “please.” “Good thing you added please to that demand,” she said, sort of scolding me a bit. “I’m sorry,” I said, “another sip please.” “Do not drink too much at once,” she said, “you were hurt very badly. The doctor gave you medication to relax you so you could sleep, but drinking too much might not be good for you.” “May I be alone for just a few minutes please?” I asked.
Amerie looked at me, frowning somewhat. “I could get in trouble, leaving you alone,” she said. “Just 5 minutes, please?” I asked again. She sighed. “Okay, 5 minutes, no more,” she said, “and I will be standing right outside the door. Here, you push this button if you need help.” She then went out of the room. I tried very hard to speak normally, but the first time was not much above a whisper. The second time worked, “Sky, please come,” I said.
I then said the same thing a second time and felt a hand in mine on the other side of me. I turned my head and Sky was there smiling at me. “Are you the real Sky?” I asked, “Or part of my daydreams?” “I am real,” she said, and she leaned over and kissed me, “convinced?” “Yes, thank you for coming,” I said, “you will stay from now on, right?” “I am not sure if I should,” she said. “I want you to stay,” I told her, “Jennifer also wants you to stay. Did she talk to you?”
“I hid from her so she couldn’t,” said Sky, “are you sure she wants me to stay?” “Yes, I am sure,” I said, “we all want you to be a part of the Investigators again.” “We, or just you?” she asked. “We,” I said again, “I know what you are thinking, but it will work just fine, like it did with Kat and Jennifer when they came back. You underestimate Jennifer. Please talk with her, please.” “Okay, I will talk with Jennifer,” said Sky, “Amerie will be back in the room very soon, so I must go again, but I am close by.”
“Please stay,” I said, “Amerie knows about you, she would be very happy to see you here.” “I will think about it,” she said, “but for now I will stay invisible. Jennifer is still looking for me, tell Amerie to call her back because you know where I am.” She then disappeared just as Amerie came in the door. “Your 5 minutes is over,” she said smiling. “You are very punctual,” I said, “that is good to know. Get in touch with Jennifer and tell her to stop looking for Sky and come back to me. I must talk with her.”
Amerie just looked at me. “You are on health leave,” she said, “I should not obey your orders, I could get in trouble.” “I am too weak to communicate directly with Jennifer,” I said, “but this is important. I will not eat or drink until she returns and we get a certain problem resolved.” She sighed again. “The second time you wish me to go against the rules,” she said, shaking her head. “But you will do it for me, right?” I asked. She called Jennifer and gave her my message.
“Steve, if you haven’t eaten anything by the time I get there,” said Jennifer, “then you will be in big trouble! And I don’t like the idea of not looking for Sky.” “You don’t need to look for her,” I said, “I know where she is.” “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?!” she said. Amerie looked at me again. “I am not stupid,” said Amerie, “Sky is in this very room.” “Yes, I am, Amerie,” said Sky. “That is why you wanted to be alone,” said Amerie, “you do not trust me maybe?”
“That is not it Amerie,” said Sky, “but Steve knew I would not appear if you were in the room.” The three of us talked for a while, then we heard footsteps coming toward my room and Sky disappeared. Kat came in and slammed the door shut. She didn’t seem to be too happy about something, it had to do with someone not eating. Then she asked about Sky, who then reappeared. Sky asked Amerie to stay while we talked which made Amerie very happy. However, we did most of our talking once Jennifer arrived. At the end of it all, Sky will be staying with us.
Since I had been rescued, Rock called off breaking those 3 men out of prison. I imagine Granger figured that would happen after he disappeared, or maybe that is why he disappeared, knowing the team was getting close to rescuing me. We did discover those 3 men were high up in Granger’s organization and prison was definitely the best place for them. Without them his expansion into Europe will be much more difficult, and that is fine with us.
But, he did escape from us, and that is not a good thing. It looks like he will be slippery, like his uncle Toledo. We found out that Granger was Toledo’s favorite nephew and he trained him personally. That will make Granger a very difficult foe to fight. However, Matt and his Knight Riders did a lot of damage to Granger’s European plans, so perhaps he will stay on the other side of the ocean for a while longer. The Investigators are now a lot stronger with the return of Sky.
Kat, along with Sky, fixed our communication system between the ghosts and myself so that high voltage electrical charges will not interfere anymore. Sky’s ability to work with electricity had a simple explanation, though we are keeping it a secret for now, especially knowing that Granger watches us, or at least had been, so we want to make sure he doesn’t find out too much about our ghosts. It was good that we gave Carmen a new identity since Granger knew her from before.
Fortunately she picked up her two caracals after the time she knew Granger, or that would have been a real giveaway. So, she remains safe as Hannah, though nothing is really foolproof, but it helps anyway. Well, no one can say that our vacations are dull, although it would be nice to have one that is dull for a change. We won’t give up trying anyway.
Nicole and her younger sister are staying with us temporarily until they figure out what to do. It certainly has been a hard time for both of them. No one in their extended family wants them around and will not help them in any way. All because of things Nicole had to do working for Emerick. Both Nicole and her sister are receiving counseling from Galyna.
Annelie will be fine, but it will still be a long recovery. The cats are all doing fine as well, though Tracker, Storm and Midnight need to take it easy for a while. As for me, it looks like I will be on recovery for a long time too. That’s it for this case, or vacation, or whatever it was. I wonder what will come our way next?
The End. A new story will be coming soon.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Sky and Angel decided to go looking for another way out of here, following the map that they found. I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea, however, there was no stopping them. And I do have the cats for protection. The cats and I were on the mattress, I was thinking, they were sleeping. One of them should have been awake, but they looked so contented sleeping that I decided to let them sleep. I was half asleep myself, or maybe fully asleep, when I was suddenly awakened by a large man picking me up and smashing me against the wall, which nearly knocked me out.
Two other men had caught the cats and threw them against the wall too. “Where did you get the cats PI?” asked the big man, “And where is that girlfriend of yours? Talk fast or you won’t live long!” I barely was able to say “Sky”, then the man punched me in the stomach and let me drop to the floor. He then kicked me 2 or 3 times, I wasn’t sure which. Then I heard a roar and thought I saw a tiger leap through the air, knocking the big man against the wall.
It was Sky and she was angry, more angry then I had ever seen her. Instead of killing this man quickly, she decided to fight him. Angel took care of the other two and both her and Sky finished at the same time. “How did they catch you and the cats off guard Steve?” she asked. “I let the cats go to sleep while I watched,” I said weakly, “but I must have fallen asleep too.” I couldn’t say any more than that. The cats were not hurt too badly and I didn’t want to give ourselves away just yet, so we decided to spend the night here.
But, about 3am Sky woke up and sat up quickly. “Wake up everyone!” she said, “There’s a fire down the corridor!” Angel and I did not smell any smoke, but Sky did. “We will have to leave out the restaurant door,” I said, “you girls will have to help me walk though.” I was right, once they got me on my feet, I could barely move. The cats were stiff and sore too, so one sat on Sky and the other two on Angel. As we headed toward the restaurant door we could start to smell the smoke and it became strong quite quickly.
As we passed Granger’s office we noticed it was empty. “Granger started the fire,” I said, “after they left, in order to kill us, including those upstairs.” “The fire alarm is not working up there,” said Angel, “so it must have been turned off.” “Yes, Granger is hoping to kill all of us,” I said, “and hopefully our team won’t find out until after they get those men out of prison.” “We need to stop him!” said Sky angrily. “First we need to get out of here,” I said.
“I hope your idea works,” said Sky, “it’s the only way to get you out of here.” “It will work,” I said. I was sure hoping it would anyway, but I wasn’t going to say I did have some doubts. The smoke was heavy by the time we got to that door. “Feel around the door for an electrical charge,” I told Sky, “that will be want you want to short out, if you can.” She felt around and sure enough, she did notice an increase in electrical energy around the door. Suddenly all the lights went out.
“You got it Sky,” I said, “now try to open the door.” Angel was beside her and I sat on the floor, too weak to stand, and barely able to breathe because of all the smoke. “Here Steve,” said Sky, “this is fresh air for you to breathe. Don’t worry, I won’t blow hard.” “Hey, I got it!” exclaimed Angel. Sure enough, the door was now open. But the smoke was just as thick on that side. Everyone was running outside but Angel called for help.
Amerie and Suzette were overjoyed to see us and came running over to help carry me outside. Jennifer came out right behind us and was so relieved that I was out. “What happened to you Steve?” asked Jennifer, “You look like you were beaten.” “He was,” said Angel, “a great big guy was beating Steve and he called Sky for help since her and I were off looking for a way out. You should have seen Sky fight that big guy! She was a tiger! The men hurt the cats too, so be careful with them.”
“Thank you so much Sky,” said Jennifer. But there was no response. Everyone looked around, but Sky was nowhere to be seen. Growlrr= Ghost Sky go sit on big rock, then disappear, said King, one of Car… I mean, Hannah’s caracals. “Go find her Jennifer,” I said, “before she is gone and never comes back.” Jennifer went running over to the rock and disappeared.
“Whether you like it or not,” said Amerie, “you are my brother and I will kiss you.” And she did, a very long kiss too. “Maybe you do not approve,” she said again, “but that is how I do things.” She then smiled so nicely. “I enjoyed it very much,” I said, still weak. I guess I must have fainted at that point and when I awoke I was in a strange, brightly lit room…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.