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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
When Angel returned the second time, to stay with me, she brought Storm and Midnight with her too. So, now we have 3 cats here with us, though I’m not really sure why at the moment. Then, while looking at Sky and Angel an idea hit me. “Is Crystal here now as well?” I asked Angel. “Yes, she is, but I imagine she will be leaving with Kristina when her team goes to help with this job,” she said. “Can you communicate with Jennifer from here?” I asked.
She tried and had no problem doing so, which means the problem is with me, not with the system of communication we have. And Sky does not have this ability yet since it is something that Kat invented. Anyway, I asked Angel to tell Jennifer to keep Crystal here and check to see if there are identical clothes among all the girls that our three “triplets” could wear. “Tell Steve I’m ahead of him on this one,” said Jennifer, “I had Crystal bring matching outfits for the 3 of you, just in case.”
Sky giggled when she heard that. Then she went back upstairs to get the clothes for her and Angel. Jennifer chose Angel to come and stay with me since she too, is a ghost and can help to look after me. Whereas if one of the other girls came, then it would put more pressure on Sky to look after 2 of us. Plus, now we have 3 cats, equipped with their backpacks, so they too can help protect me when both Sky and Angel are away trying to scare Granger, if that is even possible.
“I would have brought Hannah’s two caracals,” said Angel, “but they are a bit big to sit on my shoulders. Those two cats are learning fast and are great at finding things. I think it helps that they have their real owner with them, that way there is no adjustment period.” “Yes, that likely does help,” I agreed, “hmm, maybe tell Jennifer to keep Hannah hidden or disguised well, just in case Granger knows her from her past life.”
Angel told that to Jennifer and she said that Hannah does know Granger, so Hannah is wearing a dark wig instead of her normal light brown hair. Kristina and her team have now gone, along with Mac and Aari. They will meet up with Matt and his Knight Riders to break these 3 friends of Granger’s out of prison, which happens to be in Hungary. Oh well, at least our teams won’t be bored with an easy job. Sigh. Granger did get word to them that we would be getting them out of there the day after tomorrow.
Since Kristina was short 3 girls, Chantelle ( a nurse from my team), Catalina and Kristy (both from the Wildcats), went along to help. They would be flying a helicopter in to pick up the men from the outside exercise area. Ladders would be lowered to them and the helicopter would take off once the men were on the ladders. And hopefully they won’t get shot down in the process. There will be three helicopters ready to use, but hopefully only one will be necessary.
Precise timing will be necessary in this rescue attempt because we will only get one chance, after that the prison will be on high alert. Meanwhile, back to us. We will now have 3 identical “ghosts” to have some fun with Granger. I also asked Angel and Sky to check the office when everyone is asleep to see if there is any mention of another way out of here. There must be, since I have seen Granger’s men walk past here carrying food which obviously came from the hotel kitchen.
And they did not use the restaurant door. So I figure there is another entrance/exit that comes out somewhere on the other side of that fenced off area. The cats are over there now looking all around to see if they can find something. Although finding another door doesn’t mean we will be able to open it. “Hey, that’s it,” I said, “it might be a way to open that restaurant door.” “I have already tried several times Steve,” said Sky, “I just can’t open that lock.”
“That’s because you are trying to open that lock,” I said with a smile. I was looking at her. She looked back at me. “How would you like a nice big slap?” she asked, “I can still slap just as hard as before.” My smile disappeared. “Well, I was thinking…” I began. “NO!” they both said together. “That wasn’t nice,” I said, “I didn’t even tell you my idea.” “You were thinking,” said Sky, “every time you think it means trouble.” Sigh. “Jennifer says that too,” I said, “and actually, you used to say that before as well.”
“There was a reason I said it before,” she replied, sighing. A little later Crystal went to the owner of the castle hotel, pretending to be the castle ghost and told him he had to leave. He quickly called down to Granger and told him about the ghost. Right then Sky appeared in Granger’s office. “There, she’s down here now so you don’t need to worry,” said Granger. “She’s still here, staring at me,” said Emerick, “and she’s making me very nervous.” “Show me a picture of her,” said Granger. A picture showed up on the computer.
“What do you know,” said Conrad, “she’s a twin.” “I am not, I am just me,” said Sky, “and I will say it again, this is my home and I want all of you out of here.” Suddenly Angel appeared next to Sky. “Another one,” said Conrad. “Is that other lady up there still?” asked Granger. “Yeah, she is still here, and she wants an answer,” said Emerick. “Okay lady, how did you do that?” asked Granger. “I don’t need to tell you anything,” said Angel. “Well, why is there now 3 of you ladies?” asked Granger.
“There is only one of me,” said Sky and Angel together, “when I’m upset, I make copies of myself. Now, if you don’t leave, then tomorrow I will start killing all of you, it is just too noisy around here now with so many people. It has been nice and quiet for the last 400 years and I like it quiet.” Then they both disappeared. “Is that lady still upstairs?” Granger asked again. “I must have fainted,” he said, “but she disappeared, or left, or something. She threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave by tomorrow.”
“Why is this happening now?” exclaimed Granger. “Maybe it’s like she said, all the people are too noisy, so it got her upset,” said Conrad. Granger looked over at him. “Don’t tell me you believe her,” he said. “Well, the fact she can suddenly appear and disappear and kill people with nothing, plus make copies of herself,” said Conrad, “kind of makes a person think that maybe she is a ghost. I mean, how else to explain it?” “Tricks,” said Granger, “it has to be with tricks, somehow, we just don’t know how.”
“But how does she kill people using, well, nothing?” asked Conrad. “How should I know!” yelled Granger. “Oh, I just got word, we lost all the drugs at the main distribution point,” said Conrad, “including the second shipment that was on the way. It was those Knight Riders again.” “How did they know about the drugs, and the timing of that next shipment?” asked Granger, “We have a leak somewhere, tell Brian to find that leak and plug it.”
“Shall do boss,” said Conrad, “and Jim found Armand in the tower, dead, he had been stabbed.” “How did anyone even know he was here?” asked Granger, “And how could anyone get close enough to him to stab him? There is a major leak in this organization and we need to stop it quick. Get me Dimitri…”
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
For some reason I am not able to communicate with Jennifer the “ghost” way, so it was good that she gave one of our regular communicators to Sky. I called Jennifer so she could contact Matt to begin attacking Granger’s businesses here in Europe, whether they were large or small. Hopefully that will be enough to scare customers and investors away. That will probably hurt Granger more than anything else, though it might take more time.
Granger is building his “empire” which he began, successfully, in the US, and now wants to expand it here in Europe. He definitely won’t want anyone, or anything, to get in his way, one thing I have learned about him, he does not like to lose, not even a little. Penny, Matt’s wife, is helping with the computer back home now that Annelie has been shot. Annelie trained Penny and Brook (Miles’ wife) to handle the computer for us in case anything happened to her, such as right now.
Some others have also been trained such as Tracy, Galyna, Cynthia, Melanie and Pacca. Penny and Brook have compiled a list of people and companies for Matt and the Knight Riders to visit. Between Matt and Aari they really know how to handle such things. At the first place they visited, the owner just bluntly told them to leave or he would call the police.
However, Baldwin has already called Rossana and the police in the various cities where the Knight Riders will be working, have been informed not to interfere with them. They were told it is an undercover operation, which in reality it is. Anyway, Matt just took his team around to the large warehouse of that first place, told all the workers to get out and then tossed some of Catalina’s fire bombs around. The warehouse was soon engulfed in flames, destroying everything inside.
They met the owner coming around to the warehouse and Aari told him that he should have bought their insurance package, then things like this would never happen. They went to 4 other places owned by Granger, with similar results. Then they contacted some of the biggest customers and investors for some other companies and warned them that it was dangerous dealing with Granger’s companies. They did not like to hear from people like Matt, so they decided to start pulling out of those companies.
Then Brook discovered a small company that handled drugs for Granger and they had just recently a new shipment of drugs, plus another shipment was on the way, disguised in tins labeled as mixed nuts. The Knight Riders intercepted this shipment, plus they took the shipment that had already come in. Between the two, there was over 50 million euros worth. Then they set fire to the warehouse that was being used for these shipments. Granger was furious when he heard the news.
This was his major distribution center for drugs, which he would then ship to other areas. Combined with losses in customers and investors from other businesses, he would be losing a great deal of money, and that was just the beginning. Matt made sure that Granger knew it was his gang doing this. Matt and his Knight Riders had to cover a lot of ground in a short time, but it was paying off. Granger was angry, very angry, his plans seemed to be crumbling all around him.
But so far we still did not know why Granger wanted me, except he likely wants us to do something for him. All that my team could do for now was to wait, since there seemed to be no way to get down here except through that one door from the restaurant. But there was no way to get in or out using that door, without knowing how to unlock it. Hannah had arrived with Kristina’s team, along with her two caracal cats who then joined the other cats searching around outside for a way to get down to the dungeon.
They were able to get beyond the fence and search through other buildings for another entrance. Meanwhile, Penny contacted Jennifer about Nicole’s family, which consisted of her parents and 3 younger siblings, two boys and the youngest was a sister. The parents and her two brothers were found dead in their house due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Her younger sister had been at a sleepover with some friends, so she was still alive, but also still in danger if Granger was to find out. Baldwin talked with our police friends and let them know the danger the girl was in. We need to get Nicole away from the castle and reunited with her sister, then we could keep them safe at our chateau. So, Kristina picked 6 from her team to take Nicole back to safety. They left that night when no one would see them go, and by morning it would be too late.
The next day Granger came to my cell and let me know what he wanted. “Three of my friends are in prison,” he said, “and I want them out, within the next 3 days. I know your team has experience in doing such things.” “Nice of you to give us so much time to get this done Granger,” I said. “Don’t get smart with me PI,” he said, “I could kill you right now if I wanted.” “But you won’t,” I said, “because you need me alive, otherwise my team won’t help you.
Plus, they would destroy you if you killed me, and, by the way, they can easily destroy you.” Granger was angry when I said that so he nodded to one of his men. That man tried to hit me, but his arm went stiff so he was unable to move it. “Probably the dampness in here,” I said, “it’s just terrible.” “Shut up!” yelled Granger, “My patience is nearly gone!” “So is mine,” I said, “so why not let me go and I will forget all about this.”
“You seem to forget, I am the one in control around here,” he growled. Another man tried to hit me, but he screamed and died. “Sometimes I think this place is haunted,” I said. “I don’t believe in ghosts!” exclaimed Granger. “I certainly do,” I said, “a woman suddenly appeared in here and said this castle was her home and ordered me to leave. She has been living here for 400 years. I touched her and she felt real, but she disappeared before my eyes. Explain that one if there are no ghosts.”
I think Granger was about to explode, he had turned so red with anger. But he then calmed down and asked if I would do the job. “Well, first I will need to talk with my team,” I said, “they will want to make sure I am alive and in good health before agreeing to do anything for you.” “Yes, I thought you would want that,” he said, “so I will let one of them come down and talk with you, then that person can leave and talk it over with your team. How does that sound?”
“Fine with me,” I said. It didn’t take long and Angel came down, along with her cat Tracker, who was sitting, invisible, on her shoulder. She hugged me and Tracker came over onto my shoulder where he could remain invisible. Angel told Granger that one of our team would have to remain with me to massage my back since one of his men had hurt me.
Plus I would need better accommodations. He did give me a mattress and a better toilet with extra water for washing. Definitely an improvement. The team voted in favor of doing the job and Angel would be staying with me…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
