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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Friskie had just gone up, though not quite as high this time, to hopefully see if help was coming. Also she hoped to communicate with Kat again. “Well, did you see anything?” asked Sky. “Did you communicate with Kat as well?” asked Kitty. “No to you Sky,” she answered, “and yes to you Kitty.” “Um, you don’t seem to be too happy though,” said Sky, “what’s the problem?” “They had hired a large helicopter to come and get us,” Friskie began, “but they started having some problems with it so they had to turn around and go back.
However, they have secured a large military helicopter and they will be heading out soon with that. It’s not as fast as the other one though, so they might not arrive until close to sunset. She wanted me to communicate with her again in about 3 hours, to make sure they find us okay.” “No problem, we can do that,” said Sky smiling. Kitty was also smiling. “Uh, how come you’re not smiling Friskie?” asked Kitty. “I’m just worried about Steve and Misty,” she said, “they are both in rough shape. Will they even live long enough to be rescued?”
“Hey, don’t talk like that!” exclaimed Sky, “We are all going to survive and be rescued.” “Yes, we have to stay positive for the others,” said Kitty. “I was so worried that Steffie would die out here since she is so young and too energetic,” said Friskie, “then Steve gives his water ration to her so she will live and now he might die. I mean, just look at him in the cave, he looks like he’s dead already.” Friskie then began to cry. “Steve loves Steffie like she was his real daughter,” said Sky, “so it was natural for him to do that.” “But…you don’t understand,” Friskie said through tears.
Sky and Kitty looked at each other, then sat down on each side of Friskie with their arms around her. Just then Jennifer came out and Sky told her the news that their rescue has been delayed for a while. “Don’t worry Friskie,” said Jennifer, “we all came out here alive and we will all leave here alive.” It was another incredibly hot day but fortunately it stayed nice and cool here in our bubble in the cave. The cave was cool enough at the beginning, but it seemed to get warmer as the days wore on. This is day 5 for us now and we only had very limited water for the first two days.
It was meant as an emergency supply for 5 people in a normal setting, not in a hot desert. And there are 11 of us, plus the ghosts. Fortunately our ghosts don’t need water, or food, to survive, but the rest of us do. We have water now, but we are in such a state that we can only drink very small amounts at a time. Misty and I are having trouble drinking any amount. Steffie seems to be doing the best right now, but I gave her my ration of water at the beginning to hopefully make sure she would live.
Jennifer came back into the cave and told everyone that Kat and her team were on their way, but they had been delayed a bit getting a large enough helicopter to get us out of here. However, they should be arriving by midnight, or perhaps a little earlier. She wanted to say it that way to give them lots of time to get here without everyone wondering why they hadn’t arrived yet. Now if they get here early, everyone will be very happy.
Meanwhile, back with the Black Wolves. “Well, I would think you could at least keep me in a hotel, even a cheap one,” said Wendy, “rather than this old tin shed. After all, I am rather important.” “This is much better than what you deserve Miss Wilder,” said Aari casually, “at least you’re not in a hot desert dying of thirst. Here it is nice and cool and you have plenty of food and water.” “One slice of bread and a glass of warm water,” she complained, “my people left Steve and his friends with plenty of good food.”
“Yes, very salty food,” said Carine, “to make them even more thirsty in that hot and dry desert. As far as I’m concerned we are giving you more than you deserve.” “And where is my bed?” asked Wendy, “We did provide them with air mattresses.” “And we will do the same for you Miss Wilder,” said Aari. Yves came along at that point and dropped an air mattress in front of Wendy. “How am I supposed to inflate this thing?” she growled. “You blow into that spot right there,” said Carine and then she laughed. “Okay, look, how much money do you want for my release?” she asked, “After all, everyone has a price, right?”
“Wrong, Miss Wilder,” said Aari, “I don’t need the money and I already told you why we are here. You made a big mistake and you better hope that my brother-in-law is still alive.” Aari then went out of the building leaving Carine to guard Wendy. After a few minutes Carine spoke to Wendy. “How much money are you willing to pay for your freedom?” asked Carine. “Name your price,” she said. “Well, you have to remember that there will be four other guards watching you tonight besides me,” said Carine, “so they will need money too. I figure a woman like you must be able to pay about $2,000,000.”
“I will need a phone to call my people,” she said, “and I will need to know where to bring it.” Carine gave her a phone to use and told her where they are to bring the money. Wendy spoke quietly, but Carine has good hearing and had no trouble figuring out what she was planning. However, Carine didn’t give them the right location, she sent them to a different place where the rest of the Wolves were waiting. Only Carine and Bear were here guarding Wendy, though Wendy didn’t know it.
Soon there was the sound of vehicles outside and Carine went to look and came back inside with a case filled with money. “Your people came through quite nicely Wendy,” said Carine laughing. The look on Wendy’s face was priceless. Although Wendy had told her men to bring the money, she had also told them, in code, to bring enough men to overpower the guards once they handed the money to Carine. But things didn’t quite work out for Wendy the way she had planned…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Even though we now had some water, it still wasn’t much and most of us were so dehydrated that we just couldn’t handle drinking much water. Jennifer used a spoon to give me water and even then I had trouble swallowing it. It’s too bad we didn’t think of this sooner, but, it’s not as easy at it sounds to find solutions to problems when we have not encountered the problem before. We have been in the desert before, but we had out jet with us and an ample supply of water. However, we didn’t have any of our ghosts around at that time either. Oh well, at least this will help us out until help arrives, hopefully.
I wonder when Kat and her team will arrive? Kat said she had our coordinates, but she didn’t have much time to get them properly so they may have to look around for a while. So our ghosts are constantly watching and listening and trying to communicate with Kat, but so far, nothing. Meanwhile, back with Kat and her team. “Sienna, can you make sure there is at least one large helicopter ready for us?” asked Kat, “I have a feeling we will need to get them out of there quickly.” “I will get it done Kat,” she said, “and get back to you.”
Later Sienna was having a little trouble convincing someone to lease a helicopter for their use on such short notice. She could get a small one or two, but that wasn’t good enough, so she turned to the military. Even there she was getting a hard time, so she flexed her muscle a bit with the government reminding them who makes much of their military equipment. The jet Kat was using is our largest and is also equipped with our best medical room. Plus she has Samantha along. Kat figured it would be good to have her if they were going to try getting those men out of prison.
After all, some of the team may have been wounded in that endeavor, so it made sense to have a doctor. That turned out to be a good decision since Samantha will be able to help us right away. Cindy, one of our nurses, is also along to help out. Now we go to the Black Wolves who are watching the most likely place to find Wendy Wilder, also known as Mr. Flynn. “Aari, she’s coming out of the building right now,” said Trapper. He was across the street in another building watching out a third floor window.
The Black Wolves came driving up very fast in their black vans, coming to a screeching stop in front of the building. They were jumping out of the vans before they even fully stopped and were immediately in a gun fight with Wendy’s bodyguards! All 6 guards were killed and Wendy tried to run back into the building, but Carine was standing in her way and kicked her once in the stomach. She then grabbed Wendy and nearly dragged her back to the van and pushed her inside and onto one of the seats. She then put one of our rubber handcuffs on her and sat beside her.
The van was already driving away while this was happening. “I don’t know who you people are,” said Wendy, “but you have just made a very big mistake!” “My name is Aari Jensen, Miss Wilder,” he said, “leader of the Black Wolves. And you are the one that has made a very big mistake. You kidnapped my brother-in-law, Miss Wilder, and although he and I are on opposite sides of the law, he is married to my sister. That means touching him is like touching my sister, since you hurt her by doing this. That meant it was necessary for me and my people to get involved.
You are wasting your time trying to scare us, by the way, we are not the type to be scared by anyone. I have more than 500 men working for me, plus we have alliances with other “organizations” around the world.” Aari then went on to tell her much about her own organization, just to let her know that they can find information about others, no matter how thoroughly they try to hide themselves. “So, what kind of game are we playing then?” she asked. “A game with very simple rules,” said Aari, “you hand over Steve and those that are with him, alive and unhurt, and we might decide to let you go, alive and unhurt. If Steve dies, then you die. As you can see, they are very simple rules.”
“Not as simple as you think,” she retorted, “I can’t just simply hand them over to you, as you would like, because I don’t have them.” “Perhaps not and yet you still do have them,” said Aari, “all you need to do is tell your people to get them from wherever you have hidden them and bring them back. What is so hard about that?” “Because they were dropped off in some desert in South America,” she said, “and most likely they are all dead by now. After all, that was my plan, to kill Steve, his daughter and as many of his team as possible.”
“You didn’t even kidnap any of Steve’s daughters,” said Carine, “for a woman who prides herself on getting things done right, you sure messed up with this one.” “I did not!” she said emphatically, “He only has one daughter and my men picked her up with the others!” “That’s where you’re wrong Miss Wilder,” said Aari, “someone gave you the wrong information.” “NO! That can’t be!” she yelled, “I am never wrong!” “Everyone makes mistakes Miss Wilder,” said Aari, “though sometimes those mistakes can have devastating consequences. Like this time, it means your life.”
Meanwhile, back to us. Storm had managed to find another lizard during the night for the cats. Jewel had also found a large spider in the back of the cave where only the cats can go, so she shared it with Ginger. Apparently it was quite big and juicy. Kind of interesting that they never spotted it before. The next day arrived and it was even hotter, or at least it felt that way. Even our cave was getting hot. “Jennifer,” said Angel, “can you make a bubble big enough to cover everyone?” “Sure, I can do that,” she replied.
“Would it hold in cool air?” Angel asked. “Hmm, it should,” she said, “let’s give it a try.” So, Jennifer made the bubble and Angel used her ability to cool the air in the bubble for us. “Hey, that really made a big difference,” said Jennifer. Fortunately since Steffie had the most water to drink, she is doing fairly well and can drink normally. However, they are still only allowing her to drink small amounts at a time, just to make sure it won’t bother her stomach. None of us have been eating, since the food was too salty and would just make us more thirsty.
However, with the lack of food and water everyone is very weak and no longer able to move around. Outside Friskie had just asked Sky to give her another boost, though not as much as the other night. She just wanted to get higher, in case she could see help coming, plus she would try to communicate with Kat again. Up she went and down she came, fast! This time Kitty was boosted to help bring Friskie down more slowly…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 