We found out later that Mandar had recovered, at least mostly and when Richard had told him what had been happening out here, he contacted the police and sent the 4 helicopters right away. I would have contacted the police before now, but Rossana is away on her vacation and I wasn’t sure about talking with her new chief, since we haven’t even met yet. Mandar can pull strings quite easily sometimes and he did so today, thankfully. Otherwise things would have been much worse for us.

As it was, we had 8 wounded on our side, that included Sky who is home now and still recovering. Then there was Samantha, Kristy and Candace who were not wounded too bad. Then there was Harvey and Burk who are in serious condition, plus Victoria and Cathy who were also in serious condition. The Wildcats and Knight Riders don’t wear vests since they are supposed to be tough gangs, and since we were on vacation in a secret location we did not have our vests either. We will be changing that last one however.

Before this fight took place I told Rascal A1, something that Sigrid didn’t understand, but Rascal did. Simply put, it means he will fight to the death to protect her. I had to stay in bed because of my back while this last part was happening. After those 4 men had come into my bedroom, shooting as they entered, one of them hit me on the head with his gun, knocking me out. When Jennifer had seen me being dragged by the men through the garden, she jumped out the window, landed on her feet and ran after us.

That is a 35 foot jump and it did not bother her at all. Our “ghosts” keep showing us more of their talents all the time. She told me later that was just a minor jump and she landed very softly. Anyway, being hit on the head seemed to affect my memory, hopefully that was it anyway and not the return of the Nowhere problem. Some of the cats had been hiding out in the back garden just in case some of Montana’s men tried to come at us from that direction.

That way we would not have to watch out back ourselves. Those cats are the ones who killed the men that had captured me. We had Harder and the police chief who Harder had been using as his number 1 killer. He had killed Sigrid’s family, except her 2 youngest siblings, Harder killed them for some reason. We will probably never know why. They were handed over to the real police that had shown up. But as those two were being transported to their preliminary trial hearing, they somehow managed to escape.

They must have had some inside help for that one. It is unlikely that Harder will go back to Montana though, since she had traded him to us for Sigrid. The body of the police chief was found the next day in a hotel room, but Harder must have gotten away. He likely killed the police chief so he could hide more easily. Montana has disappeared completely, which does not surprise me. I really think she was gone before the fighting had even started.

That’s why she had the helicopter ready to pick me up and take me to where she was, or where she was going to be. Fortunately her plans were thwarted by our friendly “ghosts”. We are all back home now, though some of our wounded are still in the clinic. We are making a few changes to our teams since we have some new members. Shimeka (now named Annika) from the castle case is now on Kristina’s team, as is Acadia.

Sabina is on my team and Sigrid will be with the Wildcats once she passes all her tests. Penny and Brook will be joining the Knight Riders. Brook is married to Miles so it makes sense for her to join them. A woman on the team will be good for certain cases. Also, Penny will be joining them. She finally got Matt’s attention and they will be married soon. “Hey Steve,” said Sigrid one day, “you never told me that some of the cats can talk. That is so cool!

Also, I found out what A1 means from the handbook. I was horrified to learn it means Rascal would fight to the death to protect me!” “That is what happens for any of us when we are tasked to protect someone, whoever it might be,” I explained, “it isn’t something just for the cats.” She then comes over and sits on my lap and gives me a kiss. “Hey now, be careful girl,” said Sky who was sitting beside me. “I’m just practicing to be a Wildcat,” she said, with a rather worried look. “Okay,” said Sky, “you do need to be a little crazy for that team.”

“I can’t find my kitten anywhere,” Sigrid added. “Muffin, bring the kitten here please,” I said. “You think she will hear that?” asked Sigrid. Suddenly Muffin and the kitten came sliding into the library bumping into me and Sigrid. They both giggled. “I have been looking all over for you little one,” said Sigrid smiling, “I need to give you a proper name too.” “Muffin has kind of adopted your kitten,” I said. “Aww, that’s so cute!” said Sigrid, “Where is Jennifer? I thought she was supposed to be with you all the time.” “She had something else to do for a little while,” I said.

“So, where are your other bodyguards?” asked Sky. “Well, Melanie, Kitty and Dawn are here,” I said, just as Angel came walking in, “oh, and Angel is here too.” “Actually Steve, I was just going…” was as far as she got. “To sit down with us and stay for a while,” I said, “perfect timing.” It was nice being back home where we could rest up from our vacation. I think from now on our vacations will be right here, forget about going away somewhere.

We completed our case which was keeping Sigrid safe and getting her away. It was too bad that Montana and Harder got away, but I doubt Harder will live long anyway. I am sure we will meet Montana again but hopefully not too soon. Meanwhile, Jennifer informed me that there is something wrong with Cinnamon, but she didn’t know what it was. Guess that means I need to check it out…

The End. But a new story begins soon, “The Stone House Mystery.”

©2024 Steve McLeod.