It was a nice trip home, nothing happened for a change. That is, until we landed. “I sense trouble Steve,” said Jennifer, “and it is close by too.” “High alert everyone,” I said, then I called Kat and Matt to let them know to be careful when they have landed. Mandar was heading home but I asked Kat to call him anyway so he will be extra careful as well. “Hi Daddy!” she said cheerfully. “My dear Kat, must you keep this up now?” he asked.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know to be careful when you land,” she said with a bit of a whine in her voice, “there are bad men around here and I don’t want you getting hurt when I’m not around.” “I’m sorry my dear,” he said, “I wasn’t thinking, just what is the trouble?” So she told him that bad men were watching that cute little PI man and she didn’t like that. “Well, well, the case continues,” he said, “please be careful my dear Kat, and if you can help anyone, please do so.” “Oh thank you Daddy!” she said, bubbling with excitement now, “it has been so long since we had something to do.”

I was going to call Baldwin but then I remembered he was on a much needed vacation. Rock and Annelie should be home in a few days and that will be nice. Sky and the children, plus the girls that went with them, will stay away a bit longer now since trouble has followed us home. “Steve, look,” said Jennifer, “it’s those 4 men that kept watching us at the hotel. Now I sense danger from them, and they are talking with 2 other men. I wonder who they work for?” We climbed into our vans and as we began our journey home I got a call from Rossana.

“Nice to hear from you Rossana,” I said, “but something tells me this is not a nice social call.” “Sorry Steve,” she said, “but there are things you need to know about. Timothy is out of jail, apparently something was done wrong during his trial and so he is off, free, and now waiting to get his hands on Acadia. He and Lena are very upset that Acadia did not tell them where she hid their stolen goods and they want “their” property and Acadia. If they get her Steve, she will die an unpleasant death.” “Well, they have to get her away from us first and that will not be easy,” I said.

“And then there is another woman in the mix,” she added. “Yes, a woman named Montana,” I said, “either Trapper works for her or she works for Trapper, not sure which way it is yet.” “I can straighten that out,” said Rossana, “Trapper works for Montana, she is a very wealthy crime boss. But the police have not been able to charge her with anything yet, she seems to keep herself clean, yet she runs a large organization in the US and Australia.” “Well now, that is interesting,” I said, “but why does she want to get involved in this little caper?”

“Well, her and Lena were best friends, until Lena ran off with Montana’s boyfriend, Timothy,” she said, “now Montana would like to hurt them anyway she can. So she wants the stolen goods and Acadia and hopefully kill Timothy too. One more thing Steve, do not call me at the office anymore and don’t use my old phone number, use this one. I have a new boss and he does not like the fact we have been helping you because of all the ex-criminals on your team. He thinks you are a criminal organization too and you just help us now and then so we won’t bother you.”

“Oh, oh, this is not good,” I said, “you will need to be very careful since he is likely going to watch you closely too.” “Yes, that is true,” she said, “which is why I got this new phone. I will still try to help you out when I can, but that won’t be much anymore unfortunately. And don’t use those badges you have, my boss is working to have those revoked.” “Hmm, sounds to me like he is working for one of our enemies and not for the police,” I said, “keep an eye on him but most of all, stay low. I wonder how he knew of our ex-criminals? It is not something that we advertise. What is his name?”

“I’m not sure how he found out, we don’t keep that information on our records,” she said, “his name is Chief David Bergstrom, he is 35, divorced, with 4 children. He is quite proud of the fact that he is the youngest man to be put in this position. He knows you are on this case since it is in our files and he expects results, or else. He can give you a lot of grief Steve.” “If he tries, he better have some good lawyers,” I said, “because we do. We will be careful, but I refuse to let any of my team be killed for a bit of gold.” “Oh, I finally got some numbers on that,” she said, “it is $20 million in gold and another $10 million in cash.”

“Hmm, not bad,” I said, “I will let you go, and I will be careful, that’s a promise.” After we hung up I heard some mumbling in the van. “Did you say something Samantha?” I asked. “I was just saying that I hope your promises to Rossana are better than your promises to me,” she said, looking right at me. “Hey, I always keep my promises to you Samantha,” I said. “Uh huh, I sure would like to see one of them,” she said, looking at me sternly. “Is it really that bad Jennifer?” I asked. “In a word, yes,” she said, but she smiled and gave me a kiss anyway. Then suddenly bullets were hitting the van and bouncing off the windows!

Dawn hit the Red Alert right away. The Red Alert sounded at the chateau so Kristina sent Team 5 out to meet us. The Knight Riders and the Wildcats had taken a different highway back and they were close to a side road that our attackers also used, so the Riders went down the road until they could see where the attack was taking place. We had been stopped by three explosions that ripped up the highway in front of us so we could not continue. I told everyone to hang on in case we were hit with explosives too.

But Matt and his men began their attack and when that happened I told the girls to get outside and attack from our side, which they did. At about that time Team 5 arrived to help as well. Once it was all over every attacker was dead. But who did they work for? I called our local police and they came along to clean up things and get some equipment out to fix the highway temporarily before someone drives into that gaping hole. “Someone doesn’t like you Steve,” said the Lieutenant. “Yes, and I wish I knew who it was,” I said, “that was a well planned attack.” “Yes, it sure was,” he admitted.

Then one of his men came over with a handgun and showed it to him. He looked a bit troubled by this gun. “Is there a problem with the gun?” I asked. He then showed it to me. I can see why he was troubled by this gun, now I am too. He asked me if we were on a case right now. I said yes and told him we were trying to recover the stolen gold and money from the heist last year. He thought for a few moments. “I think you better abandon that idea Steve,” he said, “someone wants to pin that crime on you and if you go and find it, that will prove you were in on the heist and perhaps planned the whole thing. Please Steve, take my advice and stay away from that, or you will end up in prison…”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.