For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Our new chateau is much larger than our old one, so Jennifer and I have a larger bedroom. It has a smaller bedroom off to one side which is where we sleep, the main bedroom is where our bodyguards stay at night, and they can take turns sleeping on the bed in there. During the day I rest on that bed and get my massages there as well. We also have a small home office off to the other side of the main room which is very nice. We are on the top floor right next to one of the two towers.
The guys on our team stay at the old chateau with Baldwin, along with Penny, who is married to Matt, and Brook, who is married to Miles. Of course Rock lives here with us too since he is married to Annelie. I am lying on the bed right now waiting for Caleigh to come and give me my massage today. She is just as good as Beryan and it gives Beryan a rest now that she only needs to massage me every other day. I had my eyes closed but felt something and when I opened my eyes Sky was lying on the bed next to me, smiling.
“Did you make the bad girls your bodyguards yet?” she asked. “Uh, no, I haven’t had a chance to talk with Jennifer about it,” I said, “and she must give her consent for it, just like you did.” “Good,” she said, “just make sure you don’t wait too long, it’s important. They will be good bodyguards for you.” “I agree,” I said, “and I have come up with a team called the Bad Girls, with your suggestions. Now I just need a name for it, Jennifer doesn’t like the name Steve’s Bad Girls.”
Sky giggled. “It could be considered a bad name, I guess,” she admitted, “but the girls like it and that is important.” Right then Jennifer came in from the office and looked at me on the bed. It looked like I was touching something and talking quietly. Caleigh then arrived too. “I must go,” said Sky, “remember what I told you and please be careful.” She then disappeared again. “Daydreaming again Steve?” asked Jennifer.
“Uh, yeah, guess I was,” I admitted, “and it’s starting to… well, it doesn’t matter right now.” “Suzette used to have a real problem with daydreaming,” said Caleigh, “almost got us discovered by Sebastien’s men once. So, she asked us to help her. Amerie and Chloe did wonders with her and she no longer daydreams like that anymore.” “Hmm, I must have a talk with them,” said Jennifer, “since it seems to be starting to affect Steve, or bother him anyway.”
“They would be most happy to help,” said Caleigh. “Would you bad girls like to come along early tomorrow morning when we go looking for cats?” I asked. Wow, did she get excited! She jumped right over me, landing on the bed beside me. “Do you really mean it? For real?” she asked excitedly. “Yes, I mean it, for real,” I said, “but only if you are ready to leave by 7:30.” “We will be ready! Even earlier if you want!” she said, still excited.
“However, we won’t be going unless you massage my back,” I reminded her, and she went back to work right away. After Jennifer and I went to bed, she asked me why we had to leave so early. “Uh, I just want to get out,” I said, though I obviously didn’t sound too convincing. “Hmm, okay,” she said, “and I agree, the bad girls would make good bodyguards for you, so we will add them to the list and remove any that are part of the Wildcats team, since they are not around much anyway.”
“Yes, I was thinking that would make sense too,” I said, “I didn’t realize I had mentioned that to you yet.” “Yes, you did, earlier today,” she reminded me, and smiled. “This daydreaming is really starting to bother me,” I said, “I have been wanting to talk with you, Kat and Angel about it.” “No time like the present,” said Jennifer, and soon the other two ghosts were with us talking all about this. “Nothing we did to you before would have this effect on you Steve,” said Kat, “your daydreaming has moved around between this and that and now has landed on Sky for a while, which is understandable.
Being cooped up inside all the time is definitely not good for you, it will be necessary for you to get out and involved in cases again, even if there is danger.” “Between the 3 of us we should be able to guard Steve all the time,” added Angel. “True,” said Jennifer, “but if what Sky told you about Carmen is true, then you can’t be the one to deliver those gems to her. She wanted you before and she still wants you, that was evident in her note.”
“We can go along and make sure he isn’t kidnapped,” said Kat, “Carmen will never know. By the way, I like the idea for the new Bad Girls team, maybe it could be called Steve’s Bad Girls.” I think that was the loudest sigh I ever heard from Jennifer. The night passed quickly, breakfast is over and we are now nearly at our destination in the city, the Cat Shelter. We have Muffin, Snow, Jewel, Rusty, Ginger and Midnight with us to help us find the right cats.
If there are any cats able to communicate with us, they would most likely be more willing to talk with our cats, than directly with us. Katresa and friends are very excited about the possibility of finding their own cats, even though I reminded them that they would have to be willing to share, and not each have their own cat. They are amazingly good at saying “awwwwwwww” all at the same time. But I plan to be firm with this, we already have quite a few cats.
However, it would be nice to have at least 5 cats with each team. I think this would be very beneficial, cats are small, quiet and fast. However, that would mean another 12 cats, so, maybe we should aim for 4 cats per team. That would still mean 7 more cats. Maybe 3 cats per team would work just fine? Oh well, let’s see if we find anymore cats at all. Our friendly cat shelter has expanded and now has nearly 300 cats! I came with 10 of our girls, plus those 300 cats, equaled 3 hours.
We did find 5 more cats however, so I guess it was worthwhile. We had lunch, did some shopping and then returned home. Charlette is getting along well with Erika, even though there is a slight language problem at times, but Aasta is fluent in French so she is helping the girls right now. I am guessing it will be wild when we arrive home with our five new additions. Unfortunately Annelie was not quite so excited when she told us what she found out about those gems and how they will be guarded.
It would have been nice to have more time planning our theft, but, time is something we don’t have. They will be much too heavily guarded on the way to the museum, so that is out. We must be careful not to hurt or kill anyone, that means we can’t use bullets, only our sleeping darts, which means we need to be closer. The guards will have automatic weapons and large caliber machine guns, plus armored trucks.
So, it means stealing them from inside the museum. But, if we do it at night and turn off the alarm system, there will be 30 police officers arriving in 10 minutes, plus the security guards in the museum. I am not concerned about the museum guards, we can deal with them easily, but 10 minutes is just not enough time to get away before the police arrive. However, something is making me feel uneasy…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
I had called Matt and told him to take his Knight Riders over to that pub and check it out. Cal has his cat, Squirrel, with him too, and that might be a big help to them, if he can bring Squirrel inside. Both Squirrel and Tiger have bike helmets and leather jackets with the Knight Rider logo on them. It makes them look rather cute and often opens the door for bringing them inside places, like that pub. I think our guys need a couple more cats though, if we can find the right ones.
Our bad girls would would like cats too, but not everyone can have their own cat, so they will need to share, if we can find some. It is not easy finding the right cats who can communicate with us and be trained to work with us. Amerie has her own cat, a kitten really, which doesn’t have a name. Muffin assures me he will be able to communicate with us once he is a bit older, right now he can communicate with the other cats. While I was sitting thinking about the case, Kristina called me.
“We just found a note under the front passenger seat of Mandar’s car,” she said, “I don’t understand why they didn’t find it before.” “Quite simple,” I replied, “it wasn’t there the first time when Mandar’s security people were looking through the car. It was put there after the car was searched. They obviously wanted us to find it and not Mandar’s security.” “I guess that makes sense,” she said, “if they want to deal only with us.” She then read the note to me.
“Hi Steve, remember me? Of course you do. It is so nice to play with you again. Do you remember how we used to play together as kids? We had such fun, didn’t we? I always hated when some of the other kids came along and took your attention away from me, I wanted you for myself. I always dreamed of being a wealthy, important woman and having you beside me. We would travel the world solving crimes and mysteries of all kinds.
Then my family moved away and I was left with dreams only. But, now I am wealthy and important and I would love to have you by my side, however, I know you won’t agree to that. Anyway, let’s get down to business. First, let me congratulate your team for getting the girl loose from that cage. It was totally impossible to do, of course, since the way it was hooked up would never allow anyone to get the girl away before that bomb exploded.
But somehow your team managed to do the impossible. Some day you must let me know how they did that. I needed that impossible test for your team to find out what you were able to accomplish. Now, I’m sure you would like to have Mandar back again, and you can gladly have him. Frankly, he is a real pain to have around, but I will keep him alive and in good condition for you until you do a little job for me. I do not have people around me that can do this job, since it is something impossible to do.
But, now I know you can do the impossible so it should not be difficult for you. Coming soon to a museum here in London will be a set of gems, featuring the most expensive diamond, ruby and emerald in the world, plus a few other amazingly precious gemstones, and I want them all. They will be arriving two days from now and will go on display the day after their arrival. Get me those precious stones Steve, and you can have Mandar.
If you can do the impossible by getting that girl free, this should be easy for you and your team. I will be in touch again after you steal them so we can arrange a trade. Love you Steve, Carmen.” “Well, she certainly likes to write a long note,” I said, “and at least we know what is going on.” “Hmm, seems like your girlfriend is still in love with you Steve,” said Jennifer giggling. “That wasn’t nice,” I said, rolling my eyes a bit, “I doubt she is capable of loving anyone but herself.”
Jennifer then came over and sat on my lap. “I’m sorry Steve,” she said, trying not to laugh, then she gave me a nice kiss. Right after this I looked toward our door and was shocked by what I saw. “Every time I turn my back you have a different girl on your lap, kissing you,” she said. “Sky?!” I exclaimed. Jennifer turned quickly, but Sky was gone. Then Jennifer looked at me. “I thought I saw Sky standing over by the door,” I said.
“Maybe I should make an appointment for you with Samantha,” said Jennifer, “or perhaps with Galyna.” “I think I’m spending too much time indoors,” I said, “it’s making me daydream too much. I’m a hands on type of guy, I need to be out there working on the case, not stuck at home directing traffic.” “Hmm, you might have a point,” she agreed, “but I want you to see Samantha anyway, just in case it’s something else.” I agreed to do that and we were soon on our way to the clinic.
“At least we know that Carmen and friends are still in London,” I said. “How do we know that?” asked Jennifer. “Carmen said these gems were coming to a museum HERE in London,” I replied, “she would have said it differently if she was somewhere else.” “Or, she might have said that just to throw us off,” said Jennifer, “she doesn’t seem like the type to make such an obvious mistake.” “Thanks for ruining my theory,” I said smiling. “You’re welcome,” she answered, also smiling.
Well, Samantha said there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with me and actually agreed that I might be spending too much time inside. “Daydreaming can be a real problem in cases like that,” she said, “so you need something to occupy your time better Steve. Why not take a trip to the city tomorrow and look for some more cats, you have been wanting to do that.” “Good idea,” said Jennifer, “we can’t do much about those gems anyway until they arrive and we can find out how they will be guarded.”
Well, that seemed logical enough. Back at home I asked Annelie to check out that museum and try to find out how they are going to protect those gems. “And check to see how they will be arriving,” I said, “and how they will be guarded before going on display.” “I’m already on it Steve,” she said, “they have tight security on that place right now, but I will find out what you want.” Later I was in the library, the only other person in there at the time was Annelie and she was busy with her work.
Suddenly I saw Sky again and she came over and sat on my lap and began talking to me. Amerie then came into the library and saw me, like I was holding someone, and talking, except no one was there. “There is one of your new bad girls,” said Sky, “they should be your bodyguards.” Then I felt a hand on my knee and Sky was gone. Amerie was there on her knees, looking up at me with a puzzled look. “Who are you talking to?” she asked quietly.
“I’m just daydreaming again,” I said, “I have been doing a lot of that lately.” The remaining bad girls now entered the library. “Where are your bodyguards?” asked Suzette. “Do you girls have your guns with you?” I asked. They all said yes. “Then you are my bodyguards, so there is no problem,” I said, “um, please keep this quiet, okay?”
They all smiled and agreed. My regular bodyguards now returned from the kitchen with fresh cookies and tea. “Sorry it took so long Steve,” said Dawn, “the cookies were not quite ready.” “That’s okay,” I said, “my bad girls were here to take your place.” This daydreaming isn’t good, it’s occupying too much of my time…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.