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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Mandar had gone along with Hannah and the others, he was looking forward to doing his part. He is a natural for dealing with people like Koffman. Mandar walked in first, with his usual two women bodyguards. He always uses women for his bodyguards. I asked him why one time. He just said, “because I want to.” Good answer. Misty and Cristy used to be his bodyguards at one time. Those two are amazing fighters and super fast, plus accurate, with a gun.
As Mandar walked past the doormen, he told them to tell Mr. Koffman that Mandar was here and wished to talk with him briefly. The nightclub has been renovated with a much larger gambling room, or really, rooms, but one main one which is about 3 times larger than before. The dining area is also much larger and Mandar sat down at a nice, large table in the corner, along with Hannah, Astrid, Monika, Mac, John and Oskar. Oskar stood behind Hannah and Mandar’s two girls stood behind him.
The table had a reserved sign on it and the waiter mentioned that to Mandar. Oskar then took the sign and put it on the next table. “There, no sign now,” said Oskar. Just then Koffman showed up with two men. “Ah, Mr. Koffman,” said Mandar, “please join us my good man, we have some talking to do. I am sure you will be interested.” So, Koffman sat next to Mandar and his two men stood close by. “We are not here to hurt you, my man,” said Mandar, “just looking for some information, and I’m sure you can help us in that area.”
“Time is money Mandar,” he said, “so is information.” “I think you should be willing to help us out,” said Hannah, “after all, you do owe us one, or perhaps more.” “What information do you want?” he asked, “And why did Steve not come himself? I imagine he is the one that really wants the information.” “Wrong, my good man, it is I that would like the information,” said Mandar, “I am quite sure you have heard of a man named Mr. Flynn, I would like to find him. And soon, if possible.”
Koffman chuckled a bit. “I think even you are out of your league with this one Mandar,” said Koffman, “I would suggest you don’t get involved with Mr. Flynn, or you will likely end up dead.” “Everyone dies at some point, my man, everyone.” said Mandar. “Even you Mr. Koffman,” added Hannah, “you appear to be afraid of Mr. Flynn, but we are not.” “You should be afraid of Mr. Flynn,” said Koffman, “everyone is that has any sense. If I give you information, then I will be on Mr. Flynn’s hit list, and I don’t want that.”
“My good man,” said Mandar, “Steve has let you live many times now. He could have put you in prison numerous times. It seems to me that you should be willing to help him out now or perhaps you will end up on someone else’s hit list. Where can we find Mr. Flynn?” “What’s in it for me?” asked Koffman. “Well, for one thing,” said Hannah, “we can keep you out of prison. And, if you tell us where to find Mr. Flynn, you won’t have to worry about him finding you because he will be dead.”
“You sound quite confidant,” said Koffman, “Mandar and the Investigators are working together on this one, that part is interesting. I would like to know why Steve is not here though. Also, have you ever seen Mr. Flynn?” Hannah took out a picture of him and handed it to Koffman. He then whispered something to one of his men who then left. “This is the man Mr. Flynn wants everyone to see,” said Koffman, “and I am thinking that Steve has been kidnapped, or perhaps killed, by Mr. Flynn.”
“You are correct on the first,” said Mandar, “and possibly even the second.” Koffman’s man returned just then and handed a photo to him. Koffman then handed the photo to Mandar. “That is Mr. Flynn,” said Koffman, “a clever way to keep her identity a secret.” Mandar handed the photo to Hannah. “She’s a very beautiful woman,” said Hannah, “now, once again, where do we find her.” “I think you’re both crazy going after her,” he said, “she is death to anyone who tries going after her. But, you can find her in Florida, that’s where she lives and has her main office.”
He then told them exactly where to find her at different times of the day. “Did you hear it Kat?” asked Hannah. “Yes, thank you Mr. Koffman,” said Kat, “if we don’t stop Mr. Flynn, we will warn you and try to help you. Does she have a name?” “Wendy Wilder, Miss Kat,” he said, “watch her carefully, she enjoys hurting and killing.” “Wendy Wilder is about to feel the wrath of the Kat, Mr. Koffman,” she said. Koffman invited the others to stay for dinner, which they did.
Meanwhile, “If we stop to fight with Mr. Flynn,” said Rock, “then we might be too late to save Steve and the others.” “Yes, I realize that,” said Kat, “so we will leave the Black Wolves to watch Wendy in case she decides to fly away and we will go help the others if they are still alive.” “Please don’t say it like that Kat,” said Rock, “we must find them alive.” Soon they were back in the air flying to, wherever…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Friskie had finally been able to communicate with Kat by jumping high into the night sky. Up around 30,000 feet she told us, that way if there were mountains in the way, hopefully she would be able to send that communication over them. It was dangerous, even though she is a ghost, which is why she had talked with Jennifer and I about adopting Steffie so she could have parents that would love her and care for her. But, it could still take Kat a couple of days to arrive with water for us, perhaps even longer.
That news dampened the excitement that everyone had when Friskie returned with the help of Sky and Jennifer. We have used most of our water already, but we will try to ration it to last another two days. That could be hard though. Right then the cats became excited when Storm returned with something. Meowr!= “Me have water, human people welcome to share, get first helping!” All the girls realized what Storm was talking about. All, except for Misty, and she came running to the cats.
Meowy= “Here human Misty, eat insides of lizard, lots of water and vitamins.” Misty looked down at the cut open lizard and her eyes got real big. Meow, meow.= “Oooo, human Misty changing different pretty colors.” The cats all watched, going “ooooo and aaahhh”. Poor Misty, suddenly she put her hand over her mouth and ran behind the cave. Valeria went after her to help and they returned after a few minutes. Unfortunately the cats were still eating their lizard and Misty had to run away again with Valeria following her and sighing.
When they returned I told Misty not to throw up like that, it would just make her more thirsty. She just groaned and went to lie down. “What all noise about?” asked Steffie as she came outside to join us. “It’s okay Steffie,” said Friskie, “Auntie Misty isn’t feeling well.” Misty came back out right then. “It’s too lonely in there by myself,” she said, so she sat down beside Jennifer. “Can I cuddle with you daddy?” Steffie asked me. “You sure can,” I said, and she jumped onto my lap.
Misty’s eyes got big again when Steffie called me daddy, something that Jennifer noticed. “Steve said she can call him daddy while we’re stuck out here,” Jennifer whispered to Misty, “so that hopefully it will help her to remain calm.” “Awww, that is so nice of Steve,” Misty whispered to Jennifer, “he is so thoughtful, caring, loving, helpful, kind, giving…” “Don’t overdo it Misty,” whispered Jennifer. “Oh, right,” Misty whispered, “it might go to his head.” Jennifer sighed.
The night went by slowly and the next day seemed to be hotter than ever. Once the temperature got too severe, we all went to bed, except for the ghosts. They still went, two at a time, to look for water, and the others were on guard duty. We didn’t really expect any problems, however, our ‘friend’ Mr. Flynn just might try something. Like dropping some explosives on us, or using a machine gun to attack us. He could do these things with drones with his men staying a safe distance away from us.
Kat was able to tell Friskie that Mr. Flynn was behind all of this which doesn’t surprise me. He is obviously very annoyed and angry with us for what we did to his organization in Australia on our last case. Although that was really his fault, not ours, if he had left us alone we would not even have known he was there. Oh well, can’t do much about that now. Poor Steffe, she slept a lot during the night even though Friskie, and the girls too, tried to keep her awake by playing with her so she would sleep during the day with the rest of us.
So, she is awake now and so am I. We got into a tickle fight which amazingly didn’t wake up the other girls. I guess they are just too tired. Steffie is also very thirsty, but she has to ration like the rest of us. Finally she settled down and fell asleep so I just walked around our cave, which is actually quite large. It is now close to evening and I am looking forward to that cooling night air again. I stayed inside the cave all day, I wasn’t feeling well, but didn’t want to tell anyone or they would start to worry.
I feel like I’m dried out completely. I can’t see clearly either. My thoughts continually wander and I can’t control them. I feel so weak. I have been lying down most of the time, telling everyone I want to conserve energy and thereby use less water.
Meanwhile, back with Kat and the others. “Cristy,” said Kat. “Yes Kat?” she replied. “I want you and the other computer girls to find Mr. Flynn for us,” said Kat, “spread yourselves out so you can work around the clock, we must find him.” “I was thinking,” added Hannah, “maybe our friend Koffman knows something about this Mr. Flynn.” “That’s a good thought,” said Kat, “is Mandar still there?” “Yes he is,” said Hannah.
“Ask him to tell you how to deal with Koffman,” said Kat, “and take whoever you want with you, plus the men that are with you, and move quickly.” “Already going out the door Kat,” said Hannah. Mac, John, Clarence, Alfred and Oskar were still at the chateau, so they went with Hannah. She also took Monika, Astrid, Sapphire, Sigrid, Tracy, Nicole, Roxette, Melanie, Melissa and Crystal. They were pulling into the parking lot of Koffman’s nightclub about an hour after it opened…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 