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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Tony was brought back by Kat and her girls, slightly unconscious. Now, by this I mean he was totally unconscious, but I was hoping he would be awake so I could ask him questions. So, saying slightly unconscious, I was being a bit sarcastic. I actually read that phrase in a mystery book one time. Anyway, Samantha gave him a needle which woke him up quickly enough. “Now, Tony, we need some information,” I said, “if you help us right now, you will be free to go.”
“Right, and Kendra will kill me if I go back to her because she will know I talked,” he said frowning. “Well, going back to Kendra would not be the smartest idea,” I said, “I meant to leave and get out of here before she has a chance to catch you.” “And how will I do that?” he asked, “I left all my stuff behind since I wasn’t planning on going anywhere and the only money I have is what’s in my wallet. And that ain’t much.”
“Hmm, yes, so I see,” I said, “Dawn, get $20,000 for Tony. That and your life should be enough I think.” “What do you want to know?” he asked. “Where would TJ be kept at night?” I asked. “Same room as Jimmy,” he said, “top floor, in what is called the Green Room.” I then asked some more questions, such as how many men Kendra has at the house. “There are a dozen men without me,” he said, “plus Jimmy and Kendra.
Both of them are fast and accurate with a gun. Jimmy has one gun in his shoulder holster and another behind his back, under his jacket that he always wears. He will kill TJ right away if he hears trouble and blame Kendra.” “Kat, that means you and Jennifer will have to get TJ first before the others go in,” I said, “we don’t want to take a chance with her life.” “TJ is a good kid, really,” said Tony, “she didn’t want to get mixed up in this, but Jimmy said he would kill her if she didn’t come along.
He hates TJ and only wants her for extra leverage to get more money. Jimmy killed his mother and laughed when he did it, he is just total evil that kid. He and Kendra make a good pair. If you want to keep TJ alive, then don’t trust Jimmy.” “Why does he hate TJ so much?” I asked. “Because she’s a girl,” he replied, “Jimmy hates the fact that he got stuck with a girl twin. All his friends would ridicule him because of it. Plus she was born first, which just made matters worse, far as he was concerned.
Apparently they were close when young, but once they hit their teens, that was it, from then on it was hatred. Plus TJ is very pretty and Jimmy is not exactly a handsome guy, and he is very short, only 5 feet tall, same as TJ. But I guess their mother was short too.” “Are they working on their own with this caper, or do they work for someone else?” I queried. “Kendra is working for someone, but I have no idea who, and that’s the truth,” he answered, “I learned quick you don’t ask Kendra any questions, it’s a good way to die.
They plan on splitting the money evenly and Jimmy has a bunch of guys that are much like him, waiting for him to get the money. Then Jimmy said they will produce the biggest organization in the USA and take over the drug trade totally, then go for other things afterward.” “And he figures all the other gangs will just give up their slice of the action without a fight,” I said, “he has some things to learn about the real world of criminals.” “Yep, but you can’t tell him that,” said Tony.
Then I asked Tony about alarms, locks, the best way of getting into the place, the usual things. After that Matt called to say he and his Knight Riders were in town and ready to go. So, I filled him in on the details so he would know what to expect. “First we need to get TJ out of harm’s way,” I said, “then it will be your turn to turn on some heat. The Wildcats will come in the back way, you will have the front and sides to play with.
There are just 12 men, plus Kendra and Jimmy. I would like those two alive, if possible, so they can spend time in prison for what they did. But, the main thing is this, do not let them get away. I don’t care about the other men, but Kendra and Jimmy must not get away or they will just cause us grief down the road, and it will be dangerous for TJ if those two escape.”
“Right Steve,” said Matt, “message received, we will make sure that no one leaves that house alive.” Matt and his Riders then went off to get themselves in position and wait for the signal from Kat. “Okay, Kat, you and Jennifer go together and make sure that TJ is safe in your hands, then give Matt his signal,” I said, “your Wildcats can come in at the same time. Jennifer, I want you to bring TJ back here right away. Once the fighting starts, then we will let Tony leave so he has lots of time to get away.”
“Thanks Steve,” said Tony, “much appreciated.” “Don’t bother thanking me,” I said, “I would like to see you in jail too, but you helped us, and I keep my word. Now, please stay out of trouble, next time I might not be so generous.” I smiled when I said that though. Muffin believed that Tony was telling the truth, so did Jennifer. I will trust those two. Everyone is now gone to get into position and once it is completely dark, they will move in.
After they were gone for a while I started to get a headache again and it quickly got worse. Samantha gave me a good shot of painkiller, but it didn’t seem to help much. I felt like I was burning up and things began to look strange. That “nowhere drug” was at it again, worse than ever. Finally I could not take it any longer and I pulled my gun out. “No one move, I, I’m leaving,” I said, “I can’t take anymore, I have to get out of here!”
“Steve, don’t do that,” said Dawn, “it’s that nowhere drug, now put down the gun and let Samantha help you. I will call Beryan to come in and massage you, that will help you relax.” She started to walk toward me, but I shot, narrowly missing her foot. I had my silencer on so it would not attract attention. Just then Milena came in the door. I turned quickly. “Get away from the door Milena,” I yelled, “I will kill you if you don’t get away from that door!” She just stood there looking at me.
“Then kill me Steve,” she said calmly, “because I am not moving and you are not going anywhere.” “Look Milena, I mean it!” I yelled, and shot, just missing her head. She just stood there, calm and cool. “I am not moving, so shoot me Steve,” she said again, “or give me your gun, it’s your choice.” She held out her hand. I had the gun aimed at her head this time. The fever was bad now, I was sweating and looking at her angrily.
Then tears started rolling down my cheeks and I flipped the gun around so she could take it from me. She did so, carefully, then tossed it to Dawn. I began shaking and crying. Milena came over and hugged me and asked me to sit down, but I said no. So she suggested lying down on the bed and she led me to the bed. “Please, don’t leave me Milena,” I said, trembling. “I won’t Steve,” she said, “I will lie down beside you until Jennifer comes back, is that okay?” She was talking so softly and kindly. I agreed and was soon asleep…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Kendra was still curious about us, more so because no one used my name, though I did introduce Jennifer. We don’t have Jennifer, Kat or Angel on our official PI website anymore, since they are supposed to be dead. Kendra decided to call the police and put them onto Kat and her Wildcats, mainly to see if she can find out more information about me and the girls, and hopefully Matt, since I obviously knew him. So, the police showed up while Kat and her Wildcats were still eating breakfast.
All of them were there now since the restaurant was nearly empty at this time. “Daddy,” said Kat phoning me, “some policeman is here asking me lots of questions and I’m getting all confused.” “Tell the nice policeman I will be right down,” I said. “Okay Daddy, thank you!” she said excitedly. I came down right away and asked to talk with the captain away from the girls. I explained things to him and he understood and he thought I was so nice in taking such a large group of such girls on a major vacation like this.
I told him they are generally very good and obey me well. He asked about Matt so I told him what I knew. The captain called Kendra and told her there was no way those girls could have killed Eddie and his friends. They were all big men and each had broken necks and brain hemorrhaging. He told her about Matt Knight but said no one like him was in town right now, but if they did the killing then they likely left in a hurry afterward. Tony, Kendra’s main man, looked up the Knight Riders right away.
“Whoa, look at those guys,” he said, “those are big boys, tough characters, all have spent time in prison. I wouldn’t want to meet up with those guys, even with a gun.” “They could easily have killed Eddie and his friends,” added Kendra, “but I think they are still around the area!. They would be just the type Mandar would hire to get his kids back. Men like that certainly wouldn’t be scared to do any job.” “Yeah, that’s for sure,” said Tony, “he probably just had those girls look around for Eddie so he and his men would not be noticed ahead of time.”
“Now that makes more sense,” said Kendra. Just then Jimmy and TJ came into the living room. “What are you two doing out here?” screamed Kendra, and she quickly closed the drapes, “Don’t you realize that someone could be watching this house? And it wouldn’t look good to see you two walking around freely! That might get them suspicious!” “I doubt they are watching the house,” said Jimmy, “and I don’t care if they are, it won’t change anything.”
“Maybe Kendra is right Jimmy,” said TJ, sounding nervous, “let’s go back upstairs, okay?” “No, I am staying here,” he said firmly, “I feel claustrophobic in that little room upstairs, I need to breathe. I really want to go outside and walk around in the fresh air.” “No Jimmy, we can’t do that!” she exclaimed, “I just don’t like this whole thing, why did mom have to get killed anyway?” “It had to look realistic sis,” he said shaking his head, “you agreed to this whole thing.” “Not to having mom get killed!” she exclaimed again, “You never told me about that part.” She started to cry.
“Oh, not again,” said Jimmy, “all she does is cry, cry, cry. That’s another reason I needed to get out of that room!” “We should have left her behind,” said Kendra, “we likely didn’t need her anyway.” “Or you could have killed her too,” said Jimmy, “kill her now if you want, makes no difference to me, I never did like her anyway, she always wants to act like a girl.” “Well, what do you expect Jimmy,” she said, “I am a girl.” “We can’t kill her now,” said Kendra, “your dad is expecting both of you, if he doesn’t get both of you then we won’t live long enough to enjoy that money we get.
He will likely hire those Knight Riders to track us down and they won’t be too gentle when they catch up with us!” “Will you please stop calling Mandar ‘dad’,” said Jimmy, “I hate him almost as much as I hated mom. But at least Mandar had money. By they way, I think you should contact Mandar and tell him you decided to increase the ransom to one billion for each of us. He can certainly afford it, he wouldn’t even know it was missing.” “Hmm, I like that idea,” said Kendra, “okay Tony, get in touch with Mandar and let him know about the change, and tell him he only has four days left.”
“Right, I will head into town and get that done,” he said, and off he went. “Why can’t he do it from here?” asked Jimmy. “Mandar just might be able to track us down too easily that way,” she said, “this way he only knows the general area, especially now that Eddie is dead and his man didn’t pick up the photos, so we are still somewhat safe. But once we have that money, we are out of this place for good.” A little later. “A man named Tony should be arriving in town shortly Steve,” said Jennifer, “and this is what he looks like, and what he is driving.”
Two pictures show up on my phone. I show them to Kat. “Pick him up for me please,” I said, “and bring him to me, alive preferably. However, if he is resistant, then eliminate him.” “Right Daddy,” she said, smiling. We all laugh. “Dawn, you make sure Steve is safe,” said Kat, “he is your responsibility now.” “Got it Kat,” she said. Dawn, Aasta, Melanie, Melissa, Sabina and Cynthia were in the room with me, plus several cats. Jennifer arrived shortly anyway and came into the room.
“I have some interesting news, Steve,” she said, “this is not a kidnapping case at all, it is just a sham. Those two kids are in on it, actually, the boy, Jimmy, is the one who planned the whole thing, including the killing of their mother. Although it seems the girl wasn’t involved, she just kind of went along with things. I think she was too scared to say no or maybe she would end up dead too, and apparently, she would have been right about that. She’s just caught in a trap and she is scared, very scared.” “Hmm, I actually was thinking this might be possible,” I said, “the whole thing seemed too planned, from the inside.
I will have Kat protect TJ, and I do not want Kendra to escape, so we will make sure…” I got no further and Jennifer interrupted me. “What do you mean, ‘we’, Steve?” she asked, “We do not need to go along, Kat has enough girls to do the job and if she wants more help then that is why we have Matt and his Riders here, remember?” “Yes, I realize that,” I said, “but surely you don’t expect me to stay sitting here while the others go into the danger zone.”
She just looked at me. So did all the other girls. “Jennifer is right Steve,” said Dawn, “we have been doing our part, now it’s time for their part. Remember, you are still officially on Recovery.” “Okay, you girls win,” I said, “we stay behind and make sure no one goes out there to help them.” “That’s better,” said Dawn, “and I will sit on you, if I have to, so you don’t go anywhere.” She was smiling when she said it. Soon Kat returned with Tony, slightly unconscious…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 