Well, the guys should soon be arriving in Belize. Aari took with him John, Clarence, Miles, Cal and Burk, all men who know the criminal way of life very well, and they know how to act and deal with people. That is 6 of them altogether. Matt and the remaining men are waiting in Florida in case they are needed for a rescue mission of the first team. Rock and Bear are still with Martha and Theresa, Alfred, Oskar and Mac stayed here in case we need them.

Kat and her team, which includes, Angel, Tracy, Catalina, Kera and Amber, will be arriving about 2 hours later than the guys and will stay in a different hotel. Tracy knows the country well, she used to go there a lot from Mexico when she was involved with drug trafficking. Some people she knew back then might spot her, but that’s okay, they might just think she’s back in business again. That makes for a good cover for the girls.

Back home here we are still organizing our new chateau and doing a few touch ups here and there. Our new girls are going through their tests which they must pass in order to join our team. I am quite sure they will all pass quite easily. Colette doesn’t know English very well, though she can understand it better than she can speak it. However, I won’t let her lack of English stop her from joining the team. She will learn quickly enough being around all the girls here.

Our 6 newest girls haven’t given up on the idea of a team called the “Bad Girls”, but they still want my name at the beginning and Jennifer thinks perhaps I’m putting them up to that, which I’m not. It is totally their idea. I asked the cats to vote on it and they voted 100% on keeping my name in there. Anyway, Jennifer just sighed again. Aari called and said they were in position and Clarence flew a drone over the area to check things out.

Getting in will not be easy and getting back out will be hard. I’m not sure there is a difference between the two. Coming in the back way would require some expert rock climbing skills, so that is out. Coming in from the south or east is rather open country so they would be spotted too easily. The west side is the best, but how to get there without being seen is a big question. So, a helicopter will be used to carry them west and they will then walk back to the mansion, though that will take them about 4 hours.

There isn’t much time, but it seems that is the only way. Later, while lying on the bed with Jennifer I was thinking again, but I didn’t tell her that right away. “There is a problem with this case,” I said after a while. “What is that?” she asked, putting down her book. “How did they know where the man’s daughter was being held?” I asked, “That is not something that a kidnapper will usually tell, normally it is kept a secret. And they found out rather fast too, which is rather suspicious to me.”

“Hmm, you do have a point,” she said, “That could mean it is a trap, yet I do not sense any danger yet, nor do I sense danger concerning Mandar, and I should. And you should be sensing trouble too, for both. That tells me there is no danger or trouble.” “But that doesn’t make sense either,” I said, “after all, Melvin and Allen were both killed, so this is not just a test by Mandar. I need to call the twins again.” I did so right away and Krissy answered.

“Something doesn’t seem right about all of this Krissy,” I said, “Jennifer and I have been talking about this and things don’t add up. How is Richard doing?” “He is still very sick and is now in the hospital Steve,” she said, “and Kristen and I have been thinking the same thing, there are problems with all of this.” I shared with them what Jennifer and I had talked about and the twins had been thinking the same things. Plus, Mandar didn’t seem to be concerned about things, not even himself.

Normally he would have given a coded message to the twins, but he didn’t, and that worried them. I wonder if they even talked to the real Mandar, or was it someone else with a similar voice? “That would make more sense,” said Jennifer, “it was all well planned.” She then contacted Kat and let her know what we were thinking, and told her to be careful. Kat said I may not be able to sense trouble that far away yet, and it’s also possible that there is no trouble or danger yet, which is why Jennifer can’t sense anything either.

“Kat said that maybe someone just wants to get our team spread out, then they could attack us at home.” “Yes, that is possible, except we still have most of our team at home,” I reminded her, “it would be foolish of anyone to try and attack us now.” However, I decided to put us under a yellow alert so that we would be more cautious for the next few days. That also means being more diligent with our food, even though we already test things thoroughly now.

I called the twins back and asked if they knew how Mandar and Richard got sick. Mandar’s doctor said it was a type of poison that likely came in some food, though he hasn’t been able to discover what food as yet. The poison wasn’t meant to kill, just to make them sick. Hmm, another piece of the puzzle that fits this odd picture. Something is just not right about this whole affair, we just need to figure out what. And we need to do it quickly. I called Aari next and talked with him.

He did not like the way things are going. Clarence has flown a drone over that mansion several times now and there has been no response whatsoever. He figured that if it is a large criminal organization, then they would have the ability to detect drone activity around the mansion. They are going to stay around after dark and see what they can discover. The helicopter dropped them off at a certain spot and they walked back to the mansion, arriving just before it began to get dark.

Lights did come on in different rooms at different times. They got in nice and close, walking beside the mansion to one of the larger windows, which turned out to be the living room, or possibly so anyway. The place is huge, so there may be more than one such room. They walked around to other windows and even climbed easily to the second story. They had to shine their flashlights into the dark rooms. What they found in every room made no sense at all. John and Clarence went around to check on a guest cottage and the rather large garage. They were amazed at what they found…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.