Well, we got Acadia and off we went with her to our departure point, which is the same as our entrance point. Down the stairs we went after I told Jennifer and Kat to watch over Acadia and Sabina since they are our guests on this case. I did not want anything to happen to them. I would stay close to Bear and Burk for protection. Unfortunately, in the dark things don’t always happen the way we would like. As we came to the hallway, there were other stairs that went down to the next level and with everyone in a rush no one noticed that I fell down those other stairs, lying silent at the bottom.

In that office we came through Kat went down the rope ladder first, for protection of our guests, then Acadia went down. “Steve, you go right after Sabina,” said Jennifer. But there was no answer. “Steve, where are you?” she asked again, and Bear was looking all around him. “He was right beside me,” he said, “I don’t know what happened.” “Bear, you were responsible for him,” said Jennifer worriedly, “I must go find him.” “I will need to come with you,” said Sabina, “or you will get lost for sure.” “I am coming too,” said Bear, “you might need some strength, and it’s my fault anyway.”

“We are coming too,” said Dawn, Cynthia, Melanie and Aasta. “No time to argue, let’s go,” said Jennifer. Jewel, Midnight, Rascal, Storm and Rusty also went along. Jennifer sent a message to Kat who nearly flew back up that ladder, passing three others along the way. Some of the team had stayed behind on the ground, just in case added protection was needed on the way out, or while we were inside. They noticed that something was wrong when the others were not coming down in the right order, and then Kat going back inside. “Matt,” said Burk, “problem, can you keep that attack going?”

“Yeah Burk,” he said, “what’s up?” “They have Steve,” he said, “some of the girls, and Bear, are off looking for Steve now.” “Okay,” said Matt, “make sure everyone else gets out safely.” “Doing that now,” he said. Once out, most of the girls took Acadia back to the hotel, and safety. Once there, they contacted Mandar to let him know what had happened. “Oh my, that is indeed distressing news,” he said, “time for a very quick plan B to be put in motion.” He then made some quick phone calls. Matt and his Knight Riders stayed another hour or so and then had to pull back because they were nearly out of ammunition.

Meanwhile, Jennifer, Kat and the others were still looking for me. They turned into another hallway and two men met them, but Kat and Jennifer took care of them quickly. The halls in this place were not all straight, they went in every direction possible. “This place is built like a maze,” said Sabina, “it will take a long time to find Steve, unless they took him to the basement. But maybe after falling he just wandered off and he hasn’t yet been found by Trapper.” “That is possible,” said Kat, “if Steve hit his head, he might not know what he is doing.”

Just then Rascal said he found my scent so everyone followed him down a hallway, then turned down another, then another, then to a door. It was locked so Bear smashed it open! There was some brief gunfire and two of Trapper’s men lay dead. I was lying, unconscious, on a bed. “I’ll carry him,” said Bear, “let’s get going fast.” Sabina led the way, she knew where we were now and could get us out quickly. That is, providing Trapper and his men don’t spot us trying to get away.

Jennifer held on to Bear so she could make us all invisible, that way if we did meet Trapper or his men, they would not see me with them and therefore would not know I had been rescued. Kat went ahead to help protect us all from that direction and the cats were behind us to give an early warning of anyone sneaking up from that direction. However, Trapper must be running out of men by now, unless he had more than we thought. Matt and his Riders had gone by this time so Trapper would come to check on me soon. That did not give us much time to escape.

We got to the office and Kat climbed down the rope ladder first, followed by Bear carrying me. Then the other girls, carrying the cats and finally Jennifer with Jewel. Catalina and Cathy were still waiting for us to come out, all the other girls had gone ahead. “Did you plant my gift box?” asked Catalina. “Sure did,” smiled Aasta. Catalina pressed a button and that office lit up with flames! Everyone ran and made it back to the hotel. At that point Kat noticed that Bear had been shot. “Just a scratch,” he said. “That is not a scratch,” said Samantha and she quickly removed the bullet.

Kat then did her part in helping to speed the healing of his wound. Kat then took him back to his hotel where he was met by Mac, so Kat then left. When Mandar came down for breakfast, Trapper was already there with some of his men. Mandar sat down with his two usual, and very pretty, bodyguards. “Were are your other Wildcats old man?” asked Trapper. “Likely still in bed,” he sighed, “they are very aptly named. However, they can be relied on when necessary.” Trapper came over and sat down with him. “How much do you know about this Matt and his Knight Riders?” he asked.

“They are a rather large gang that generally stay in Europe,” said Mandar, “but if the money is right they will travel to other places. They are tough and ruthless. Matt has around 50 men at his disposal, though he mainly travels around with 15 men. Word is that Matt is here to take something that you have and return it to its original owner.” “And where did you hear this ‘word’?” asked Trapper. “It could have been a man named Carlos,” said Mandar. Carlos, we discovered, was the man that came to visit with Timothy every two weeks.

Apparently he is quite close to Timothy and is quite willing to do favors for him. “I should have realized Carlos was involved in this,” said Trapper, “Timothy uses him a lot when looking to hire outside help. Carlos will regret helping Timothy this time.” Just then Kat and her Wildcats came bouncing in to the restaurant, jumping, twirling and flipping right over top of the tables! “Good morning Daddy,” said Kat, giving Mandar a kiss on his cheek.

“Must you always make such a dramatic entrance my dear?” he asked. “Well, hey, we have lots of energy after all that sleeping Daddy,” she said, and the girls all sat down at tables. “Think you could take those Knight Riders?” asked Trapper. “If I had a reason to do so,” replied Mandar. “Maybe I can give you a reason,” said Trapper…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.