For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The next morning as we were eating breakfast, Bjorn came in with 2 of his new men. “Meinhard will be coming back this morning with my 2 nephews,” he said, “so please stay out of our way.” “We will gladly do that Bjorn,” I said, “I am after Gabby right now for killing one of my girls. However, you tell your friend Meinhard that if he or any of his men kill or hurt any of my girls, then I will destroy him and his business. So make sure he stays out of our way and we will stay out of his. That should be fair enough.”
“I’m fine with that,” said Bjorn, “but you better be careful about running around in those tunnels and rooms down below. It is a good way to get lost, hurt or killed. There are a lot of old traps down there, I lost 3 men in one day walking around those tunnels just shortly after buying this place 2 years ago. So I decided to stay away from them after that.” “Why go checking around down there in the first place?” asked Kat. “Curiosity I guess,” he answered, “sometimes people find treasure under these old castles. But it’s hardly worthwhile if you get killed looking for it.”
Meanwhile, back in the town where the Knight Riders were staying. “Okay boys,” said Matt, “time to ride for a bit, we want to meet our guests outside of town where it won’t cause too many problems with the local police.” So, off they rode to a place Aari and Harvey had picked out the evening before. Aari, Miles, John, Clarence, Mac, Harvey had stayed behind in town to wait for Meinhard and his friends to show up. They would then notify Matt and follow discreetly behind Meinhard so they would be effectively surrounded.
The SUV soon showed up driving through town and Miles pulled in behind them. “Motorcycle behind us boss,” said Carl. “It’s only one so don’t worry,” said Meinhard. “Second one boss,” said Carl. By the time they were leaving town Aari and his 5 Riders were behind the SUV. “They are making me nervous boss,” said Carl. Meinhard pushed a button and smoke poured out from the back of the SUV so that Aari and team had to pull back since they could see nothing.
“That should do it,” said Meinhard, “now, get this thing moving!” Carl did so right away but as they came around a curve in the highway Matt and the other Riders suddenly pulled out in front of them causing Carl to come to a screeching stop. “Don’t worry, we have bullet proof windows on this thing,” said Meinhard. “I think it might be better to talk with these guys and see what they want,” said Felix, “these guys don’t fool around.” “Okay, fine, we talk,” said Meinhard, “turn on the speakers. What do you guys want with us?”
“First, pull into that spot so you don’t block traffic Meinhard,” said Matt, “and don’t try to pull tough guy with me.” So they parked off the highway just as the rest of the Knight Riders showed up. “Who are the kids for?” asked Matt, “and don’t try to act innocent like, I know what kind of business you’re in.” “On their way to a customer that lives in an old castle not far from here,” said Meinhard, “why do you want to know?” “This is my territory now Meinhard,” he replied, “if you want to do business around here, then you tell me first what you want to do.
My share is 15%, or 30% if you want protector insurance which I suggest you might want to consider if you want to do business with Bjorn or Gabby. Actually, if you want to do business with Gabby it will be 40%, I don’t trust her and I rather think that things will start to happen to her soon. Very risky doing business with her, I strongly suggest cancelling any thoughts of working with her.” “I will keep that in mind,” said Meinhard, “but I think you will find that Bjorn owns this territory and I doubt he will just let you have it.” “You can tell Bjorn that I will be around to talk with him about that this afternoon,” said Matt, “I think he will see things my way. Now, about my 30% for those 2 boys.”
“I don’t know what Bjorn will pay yet,” he said. “You know exactly what Bjorn will pay,” said Matt, “you agreed on a rather cheap price of $1,000, which leaves $300 for me.” “Only if I want your protector insurance, which I don’t,” said Meinhard, “I have my own insurance.” “Never know when you might need extra insurance,” said Matt, “you could get a flat tire far from town.” John then shot the front left tire and it went flat immediately. “See what I mean?” asked Matt, “now, about my $350.” “Hey, you said $300!” exclaimed Meinhard.
“The $50 is interest for late payment,” said Matt, now looking very stern and cold. “I don’t carry much money with me,” said Meinhard. “I’m sure you have $400 that you owe me,” said Matt. Meinhard realized this was not going well and decided to pay so he told Felix to get out there with the money. Felix stepped out of the SUV and took out his wallet and handed $400 to Matt. “Where is the rest?” asked Matt, “there are two kids, that makes $800.” Rock then came over and stood beside Felix.
Now Felix was not a big man and that made Rock look even bigger, so he took out another 400 and handed it to Matt. “Remember Meinhard,” said Matt, “if you want to do business with Bjorn or Gabby, you make sure to tell me first. Or you just might not live long enough to worry about the cost.” Matt and his Riders then got on their bikes and went back to town. Meinhard was furious that Matt knew it was $1,000 per boy, costing him $800. “Bjorn will pay that back to me!” he yelled, “and prices will be higher from now on. And nothing for Gabby!”
“She won’t like that boss,” said Felix, “she can get awful angry.” “So can I,” said Meinhard, “and I have a larger organization than she does now, so I am not afraid of her! Now, get out there and change that tire!” Meanwhile, at the castle, a helicopter landed on the lawn, but stayed longer this time. Cinnamon, Alizea, Kari and Kitty got off and they tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade me to go home where I could relax. “When I need to, then I will,” I said, “Samantha has not told me I have to go home, if she does, then I will.”
Samantha looked at me. “Uh huh, I would like to see that,” she said, with a tiny smile, “but so far he is okay. I would like Aasta to go back and rest a while, even though her wound has healed remarkably.” Kat had previously found and brought the two girls from their locked bedroom and they were with Jennifer and I. Jennifer then took them aboard the helicopter, invisible, then she came off and Aasta went on. The helicopter was just leaving as Meinhard drove up. We went back inside and up to our room. Kat and Angel were each leading teams through the passages beneath the castle, trying to find Gabby and her crew. This is where things start to get interesting…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Angel had alerted us to the fact someone had come to visit Bjorn. She heard them talking and told me what it was about. We have learned that a couple of Angel’s unique abilities are her amazing eyesight and her hearing. These are definitely two things that are very useful for us. She claims that she had these abilities before, which is true, but they appear to be amplified to a greater degree now. Anyway, I decided it would be wise to go and check on these people who have come to visit with Bjorn. Jennifer, Aasta, Dawn, Cynthia and I went downstairs while Angel stayed upstairs to listen and keep an eye on things for us.
Jewel, Ginger, Rascal and Midnight came downstairs with us too, but they stayed out of sight, except for Rascal, he stayed with Aasta. He is just a little big to try and hide effectively indoors. Kat and her team stayed upstairs as well, but ready to come and help us if needed. We found that 5 men had arrived in a dark blue SUV, 3 men had come inside with 2 young girls for Bjorn. The other two men were waiting outside with rather large guns. We came along just as the one man told Bjorn that he would be back with 2 boys for him tomorrow.
“Who are the two young girls?” I asked Bjorn. “None of your business!” growled the man who brought the girls, “This does not concern you, so go back to where you came from before you get hurt!” I wonder why people always want to threaten us? Guess they just don’t take us seriously for some reason. Jennifer then asked the girls their names and where they were from, but they didn’t answer. “I told you to leave PI,” said the man again, “and if you don’t we can make you and your little girls leave.”
He began to get up out of his chair, but I had my gun out quickly and pointed right at him. “Just sit down,” I said, “enjoy yourself, but stay out of our way. We were hired by Bjorn to find his wife and we are staying until we do, so no more threats from you.” Aasta then spoke to the girls in Romanian, since we are in Romania right now. The one little girl began talking right away, telling Aasta that both of them were orphans and had been living in an orphanage in Germany operated by the man who growled at us. The other little girl was from Sweden originally.
It was at that point the man, whose name is Meinhard, reached over and smacked the girl on the head with his hand. By this time Kat had joined us and was standing beside me. Kat then walked over to him and gave him a hard backhanded slap, which knocked him back onto his chair. That caused one of his men to quickly pull out his gun and he shot Aasta as she kept talking to the girls through all of this. Dawn quickly shot the man in the arm, causing him to drop his gun. Now the other man pulled out his gun and was going to shoot Dawn, but Kat turned, pointed her finger at him and said, “Now you die!”
The man immediately fell to the floor, dead. This caused quite astonished looks on the faces of Bjorn and Meinhard. Then Kat turned back to Meinhard. “Never get a ghost angry,” she said sternly, “we ghosts cannot be killed since we are already dead, but we can kill whenever we want and we do not need our weapons to do so. Now, if you touch these girls again, you will end up like your man over there.” Samantha had now arrived and was checking Aasta. “Take her upstairs,” I said, so a couple of the girls carried her up to her room, Samantha and Kat followed along.
“These are my nieces!” said Bjorn angrily. “Why didn’t you say so at the beginning?” I asked, “You could have prevented this misunderstanding.” I then said good bye and we all went back upstairs. “Keep listening,” I told Angel. After the men left Angel told me they asked Bjorn about us and if we would give them any more trouble. Bjorn had told them he could handle us and not to worry, their deal would still work. The men would be back again in the morning with two boys, the same age as the girls, for Bjorn. “It is not taking Bjorn very long to get back into business,” I said.
“We cannot let him use those children in such horrible ways,” said Jennifer, her eyes pleading with me. “Of course not,” I said, “although we have to be careful, we cannot start our own orphanage.” “I would have enjoyed living in an orphanage operated by someone like you Steve,” said Cynthia, “my life would have turned out a lot better than it did.” “Well, even though you went through some hard times,” I said, “you turned out very well, and a wonderful addition to our team.” “Thank you,” she said quietly and gave me a hug. “I just turn my head for a few seconds and already you are hugging another woman,” said Jennifer, shaking her head.
Meowr.=Scramble machine thing not working. The red light was indeed flashing which means it was malfunctioning, so I brought out a new one which worked fine. I then called Matt and told him what was going on and he said they would intercept the men in the morning and let them know that they should stay away from both Bjorn and Gabby. Meanwhile, somewhere under the castle. “I told you it was easy to get kids,” said Gabby, “and Meinhard will get kids for us too, as many as you want Wellington.”
“You might have to convince him to stay away from Bjorn though,” he said. “That part is easy,” said Gabby, “this beauty of mine comes in handy for many things.” Gabby was indeed a very beautiful woman and she used that to seduce men when she wanted favours from them. For us the evening was nice and quiet and soon Samantha came in to check on me. “Now, be honest with me Steve,” she said, “how do you feel? What about your headache? Any other symptoms show up?” “You ask a lot of questions,” I said, “just one at a time would be easier.”
“If I don’t ask questions you don’t tell me anything,” she said, as she checked a few things. “Before I forget, how is Aasta?” I asked. “She will be okay, but should be sent home,” she said, “I removed the bullet and Kat, well, when she was done the wound was nearly gone. How does she do that?” “Well, as she keeps saying, ghosts can do some interesting things,” I said, “I don’t know what else to say about that.” “I do not believe in ghosts,” said Samantha, looking at me, “do you?” I looked at Jennifer and smiled.
“I believe in some ghosts,” I said. Jennifer disappeared, then reappeared standing next to Samantha. “You don’t believe in me?” she asked gently. Poor Samantha jumped right off the floor I’m sure. “Disappearing like that does not make you a ghost,” she said, looking into Jennifer’s eyes. “How do you explain the fact they cannot be killed,” I asked Samantha, “or Kat’s healing ability?” “I’m not sure,” she said smiling as she was about to leave, “I hope you are not angry with me Jennifer.”
“Not at all,” she answered, also smiling. We said goodnight and Samantha left. About 2 minutes later she came stomping back into our room with Beryan. I was ready for my evening massage. “You are not doing that to me again Steve!” said Samantha sternly, “you will answer my questions because I am not leaving until you do!” Sigh, she caught me that time. The night passed quietly so we were all able to get some good sleep, which we needed…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.