After looking all around the mansion on the outside and peering in the windows, they decided to enter. Miles had checked first to see if there was an alarm system in place, but surprisingly there was none. That was kind of odd, a mansion that size would always have an alarm system, and be completely locked, even if it was empty. But, the front door was not locked, so in they went, but carefully, just in case there were men hiding in there waiting to attack them.

However, there were no people, or animals, around that huge place. In fact, there was nothing in that mansion, not even one item of furniture. That just made no sense whatsoever. That would seem to indicate that someone sent us out there just for some fun. Or perhaps they wanted to see how we would mount a rescue attempt of a kidnap victim, such as Mandar.

However, even though the house had nothing interesting in it, what John and Clarence found in the garage was totally terrifying! In that garage was a large dog cage, with a young girl inside! She had been left there 2 days ago by some men and a woman, with a bowl of water and a bowl of dry dog food. Apparently that made the woman laugh loudly. The poor girl was crying and scared, which is to be expected. John was going to break the padlock off the cage door but the girl screamed at him not to do it because of a bomb.

Clarence checked and sure enough, there was a bomb wired to the cage and lock. If they tried to move that cage or break the lock, it would set off that bomb, and it looked to be quite large. John had some knowledge of that type of bomb, but there was something about it that looked strange, so he didn’t want to touch it. Aari called me right away to let me know what they had found. I told Jennifer and she contacted Kat immediately while I continued talking with Aari.

Kat had Catalina with her and she is our explosives expert, so the girls drove out to the mansion quickly. Once they arrived Kat told everyone to go over behind the mansion to the vans while her, Angel, Catalina and John stayed behind to work on that bomb. That strange part that John had noticed was actually a timer of some kind, though not a normal one. After a short time Catalina said there was no simple way to deactivate that bomb.

If she started to touch anything the timer would be turned on and it would give them just 10 seconds to leave and get safely away. And that just would not be enough time to get away with the girl, due to the size of the bomb. Kat communicated this to Jennifer and I, so I asked if there was anything they could safely do for the child. She told us that her and Angel were going to try something that would hopefully work. Kat also told us the girl is not the daughter of any criminal.

She was an orphan and her foster parents had been paid $10,000 for the girl 4 days ago. After 2 days the foster parents could call the police and say the girl had just run away that day. The foster parents were quite happy to get the money, so they did what they were told. This gave the “kidnappers” lots of time to get away. This news made the case much more serious. The people we are dealing with don’t care about anyone or anything, not even a child that they left on her own for 2 days in that cage, attached to a bomb.

It also tells us these people have lots of money to work with, so quite likely they are a criminal organization themselves. But, we are going to find the people responsible for doing this to the little girl. After everyone was safely away from the garage, Kat and Angel went to work. “Okay Charlette,” said Kat, “can you trust me and my friend Angel?” “Yes, I can do that,” she replied through tears, “just talking to you makes me feel better and I can tell you are both very nice.”

She managed to give them a weak smile. “Okay then Charlette,” said Kat, “just relax and we will soon have you out of here.” Kat had been stroking the girls’ hair and then put her hand on Charlette’s neck and she fell asleep right away. Burk, who is the largest man on the team this time, was waiting by the mansion and suddenly Kat and Angel appeared next to him, with Angel holding Charlette in her arms.

Burk nearly jumped 3 feet in the air when the girls appeared next to him, but he quickly settled down and took the girl from Angel and they all ran around to the front of the mansion where the vans were parked. They quickly got in and off they went…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.