For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Knight Riders and Wildcats then drove over to the next state and found another nightclub owned by a gang that was also working for Adamson. “Hey Matt,” said Kat, “let me check and see if an old friend is in here first, it is one of the places where he has been seen lately. And maybe we can get Trapper to help us out.” “Okay, you can check it out first Kat,” he said, “but don’t take too long, and keep us informed, just in case there is trouble.”
So, Kat and four Wildcats went inside and sure enough, Trapper was there playing cards with three other men. She then flipped over and over until she landed on their table, startling the men. “Hi Mr. Trapper!” said Kat excitedly, “Remember me?” “How could I forget such a good friend as you Miss Kat,” he said smiling. “Aww, you’re always so nice to me Mr. Trapper,” she said in her little girl voice.
She then jumped down and gave him a kiss. “Sorry to interrupt your game Mr. Trapper,” she said, with a somewhat sad look, “but I really need to talk to you about something really important. Daddy wanted me to.” “Well, we’re almost finished our game, then we can talk, okay?” he said. “Okay Mr. Trapper,” she said smiling, “um, I don’t know much about card playing, but is it cheating to hide cards?”
“Yes, it would be,” said Trapper, “that’s why I play with these men, I can trust them.” Kat frowns, which is noticed by one of the other men. “Do you think one of us is cheating Miss?” he asked. “Well, that man just put some cards under the table,” she said, “two of those one cards, you know, um, they have a special name.” “You mean aces?” asked another man.
“Yeah, that’s it,” she said, “he put two under the table, he has one in those cards in his hand and there is one on top of the deck there.” The one man was looking sort of nervous now, one of the others looked under the table at a little gadget that held cards and could easily swing around to hand them to the man sitting there. The other man checked the deck and sure enough, there was an ace on top.
Then a rather large man named Harry came over to see what the problem was and Trapper told him. “Well, well, time for you to see the boss,” said Harry, “and he’s here tonight too, you’re a lucky man. Is the lady with you Trapper?” “Um, yeah, she’s a good friend of mine,” he said. “Okay, but no more acrobats, got it?” he said, pointing to Kat. “I’m sorry Mr. Harry sir,” she said, “I didn’t mean no harm.” “Okay, apology accepted,” he said and grinned at her. She smiled back.
“Now, Mr. Trapper,” said Kat, “can we talk now please?” “Sure thing Miss Kat,” he said, “what is the problem?” “I have a job for you, but it might be a bit dangerous,” she said. “Uh, how dangerous?” he asked. “Well, first, I’m willing to pay you $25,000 for two days work,” she said, “if you know how to use a rifle.” “I can shoot anything Miss Kat,” he said, “and hit my target.” “Uh, I’m good with a rifle myself,” said one of the other men.
The third man said the same thing. Kat giggled. “I can’t pay all of you that much money,” she said, “but I can give you $5,000 each, and I pay, um, up front. I said that right, didn’t I Mr. Trapper?” “Yes Miss Kat, you did,” he said, “Miss Kat here is just a little girl really, in a woman’s body. Same with her little friends over there.” “Oh, I get it,” said the one man, “is she being honest about this deal?” “Course I am,” said Kat pouting, “I don’t lie to my friends, and Mr. Trapper is my friend.”
She then told them what she wanted and they knew all about Adamson, though they did not know that he used little girls in his “Business”. That made the men quite angry. They all agreed to work and Trapper was going to give some of his money to his two friends. “We better leave, it’s going to get awfully hot in here real soon,” said Kat. They all went outside to the parking lot and over to a van which was full of Wildcats.
“Here’s your money Mr. Trapper,” said Kat, “and here is for your friends. I will call you when it’s your turn and give you directions.” She kissed Trapper again, then got into a different van and off they went. Suddenly people came running and screaming out of the nightclub, so Trapper and friends left quickly and went back to their hotel to wait. Next morning Kat called Trapper and told him where Adamson would be at precisely 9am.
Trapper and his friends were ready at the place Kat told them to hide. From their spot in a parking lot they had a clear shot as Adamson came out of a restaurant. He had 4 bodyguards around him, but they quickly fell to the ground as Trapper and his friends shot. Then a few more shots at his limousine and they ran back to their car and back to their hotel, laughing all the way. Adamson was furious! First three gangs that had been loyal decided to break ties with him and now this.
But who was doing this to him? So he decided to call a man that he could rely on to find out who was after him. It turned out, however, that four rather large men from the Knight Riders were with this man when he got the phone call from Adamson. “Forget it Adamson,” he said, “you are finished and I don’t work for a man that’s finished. Do your own work for a change.” Adamson was furious again and sent four men to teach him a lesson.
The four men were later found dead in an alley. At dinner Adamson and four men were in his favorite restaurant eating when Trapper and his friends came in wearing masks, went to Adamson’s table and shot his bodyguards. They had silencers on their guns so they wouldn’t scare people too much. “One of these times it will be you Adamson,” said Trapper in a gruff voice, “you’re days are over.” Then they started to walk out, but Adamson stood and pulled a gun but was unable to shoot it.
“Having trouble Adamson?” asked Kat. “Hey Trapper, it’s your friend Miss Kat,” said one man. Trapper turned around and yelled, “No! Miss Kat, he has a gun!” He then pulled his gun out and shot several times, killing Adamson. He ran back to Kat. “You should know better than that Miss Kat,” he said, “you could get yourself killed.”
“Aww, Mr. Trapper,” said Kat, “you know he can’t kill a ghost. Oh, oh, police are here, get close to me all three of you.” The police came in and went to look at the bodies, but Kat, Trapper and his friends walked out without being seen. She walked with them to their car and told them to leave quickly, which they did. A van was waiting for Kat and they quickly drove away as well. It wasn’t quite the ending for Adamson we had planned, we wanted him in prison.
However, Trapper was just trying to protect Kat, he still doesn’t understand that she needs no help. Oh well. Meanwhile, back home. “Now that the case is over,” said Erika, “you and mom can get married.” She had a big smile on her face. “But the other kids are still in the clinic,” I said, “we should wait for them.” Actually, Mandy was now at home, but Madison and Eina were still in the clinic.
Their wounds were more serious so it is taking longer to heal, but they will be fine. “Are you trying to get out of marrying mom?” asked Erika, “I know you love mom and she loves you. So what’s the problem daddy?” “Well, we want things to look nice for our wedding, preparations take time,” I suggested.
“With all the girls we got in this chateau,” said Erika, “we could get everything done in, like, a couple days!” Everyone laughed. “I agree with Erika, Steve,” said Kat, “a couple days should do it quite easily.” Anyway, another case is over and it’s time for us to relax for a while, although with Erika around, that might not be easy. Sigh.
The End. Another case is coming soon.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Well, it has been a few days since our last burials and it was now time to talk about Adamson again. We can’t leave him running around or Cynthia will never be safe. And if we leave him alone, he will come back on his terms and surprise us like last time. We can’t have that happen again. It is time for us to surprise him and put an end to his empire ambitions. So, I called, I mean Kat and Jennifer called, a meeting of our team leaders and a few others.
“Okay, we have waited long enough,” I said, “now Kat and Jennifer have decided it was time to go after Adamson.” “We did?” they said together. “Um, yes, anyway, we need to move quickly so we can surprise him before he surprises us,” I explained. “What is all this “we” that you keep saying?” asked Kat and Jennifer together. “You know, I really like when you talk like that,” I said smiling. “Talk like what?” they said together.
“Like that, talking at the same time,” I said. “We only do this when we get excited or nervous or something,” they said again. “I still like it,” I said, “it’s so perfect since you are twins.” They both sighed together. “Sorry I’m late,” said Samantha, “did I miss anything?” “Not too much,” said Kat and Jennifer together, “except Steve seems to be talking like he is going on this trip to get Adamson.” “I love when you two talk like that,” said Samantha smiling.
They both gave a big sigh together. “As for you Steve,” she said firmly, “you will not be going anywhere until I say it’s okay, and it is not okay right now!” “But Samantha,” I said pleadingly, “this is important for me.” Then she called Erika into the library with us. Erika came right over to me and stood in front of me, looking right at me. “Why do you want to go away and maybe get yourself killed?” she asked, “I want a mom and a dad. And, I want them married. To each other.”
She then grinned rather sheepishly. “Why don’t we talk about this another time,” I said, “we are having an important meeting.” “Are you going to stay home then?” she asked. “Yes, I will stay home,” I said, “and that’s a promise.” “Good,” she said and gave me a big hug, “I love you daddy!” “I love you too,” I said, “now, off to bed.” She hugs Jennifer next. “I love you too mom!” she said, then she looked, “You should be holding hands.” So we did.
She smiled and ran off to bed. Kat then came over. “She has the right idea,” said Kat, “maybe you two should do some serious talking.” “Steve, Rock has a real nice shotgun, if that will help you think faster,” said Annelie smiling. “Very funny,” I said. We finished our meeting and it was decided that Matt and the Knight Riders would take on this task. Kat and some of her Wildcats would go along to help out.
Aoife, from the Wildcats, and Astrid, from Kristina’s team, are the two best snipers we have, so they will be going along for sure, just in case they are needed. Mostly they will likely just be used to scare Adamson. We want him to sweat a little first, and hopefully tear down his organization a bit more as well by scaring off any friends he might have left. So, everyone left the next morning, getting to their destination by mid afternoon.
Then they needed to do some driving. Everyone would be using our armored vans this time. First stop was one of Adamson’s friends at his organization headquarters. This was really just a gang that handled a lot of “imported goods” for Adamson. That is what he called it on his financial records. The headquarters was located in a nightclub on the edge of a fairly large town. Matt and his Riders went inside and the doormen tried to stop them, but they just kept walking.
“Hey, Mister Stork!” yelled Matt, “Get out here so we can talk about something important. I promise you will be interested as it has to do with Adamson.” Mister Stork came out with 4 big men around him. “And just who are you, coming in here and making all this noise?” he asked, “You might scare my customers.” “I just want to warn you Stork,” said Matt, “stay away from Adamson, he is poison right now. And if you don’t stay away from him, my boys and I will destroy you.” He laughed.
“You will need more men than that to do the job,” he said, “now leave while you can, or my men will start shooting. Oh, and the sheriff here is my brother, so he won’t help you.” “You are a fool, Stork,” said Matt, and he whistled, which brought in more Riders. Suddenly people were running and screaming, trying hard to get out of the nightclub. The Knight Riders were easily handling Stork’s men who were afraid to shoot in case they shot a customer, so they tried fighting.
However, they were no match for the Riders and soon Matt and his men were smashing everything in sight. They did a very thorough job too. Finally they told the employees to go home because things were about to get hot. They hauled Stork’s men out to the parking lot and then set the building on fire. Then they all travelled to another city and went into a nightclub there. Matt asked to see the owner, a man named Gordon Blacken. He came out and sat at the table with Matt and Alfred.
“Peter Adamson sends his greetings,” said Matt, and he then whistled. His whole team of Knight Riders came walking in and began smashing everything in sight. “You will regret this!” said Blacken, “and so will Adamson!” “You talk big for a man on the losing end of things,” said Matt, “Bear, this man’s arm is broken.” “My arms are just fine!” growled Blacken. “I will fix that,” said Bear, and there was a loud crack.
The customers were all gone by this time, so all employees were moved outside to the parking lot and soon the nightclub was on fire. But one young woman was standing in the parking lot, shaking. “You best go home,” said Matt. “But, but, I live here sir,” she said still shaking, “Mr. Blacken owns me and he keeps me locked in the basement. I have nowhere else to go, I have no family.”
By now she was crying. “How old are you?” asked Matt. “I’m 20, sir,” she said quietly. “Kat, I need you to help a young woman,” he said and soon a van pulled up at the parking lot, “you will be safe with these girls.” Marlena and Amber spoke kindly to her and took her over to the van and off they went. Matt and his Knight Riders left in a hurry too as the police and fire department were getting close…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.