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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Jennifer and I were in our bedroom talking about different things while waiting for the dinner bell to sound. “It is terrible we had to give Sebastien back to that gang,” said Jennifer, “couldn’t we have given him to the police or something?” “We had to keep our word,” I said, “or news would quickly get around not to trust what we say. And we might need to make a trade again in the future.” “Hmm, I guess you are right,” she sighed, “and they are not really part of our case, as such, only the 9 people over here.”
“Wrong, my beautiful wife,” I said, “they have attacked us, kidnapped some of our members, killed one and tried to kill our cats. Plus don’t forget their plan to kill Mandar and Baldwin. And, they brutally killed Cricket’s friend and want to do worse to Cricket.” “Something tells me I’m going to suggest we go after them with a big surprise attack,” said Jennifer, “before they come after us again.”
“A very good idea Jennifer!” I said emphatically, “I agree with you totally on that one. I knew you would come up with a good plan quickly!” “Thank you so much, my dearest husband!” she said, “When am I going to tell the others about my brilliant idea?” “Why not at dinner?” I asked, “Everyone is around then. Well, mostly anyway. And Aari is already over there with his team, so I know you will want to keep them there rather then bring them back here and then send them right back over there again.”
“Um, and what about Cricket?” she asked, “What am I doing with her while they wait for us to get there? Just leave her with all those rough and tough Knight Riders?” “Oh, there’s the dinner bell,” I said, “I’m sure you’ll think of something by the time we sit down to eat.” “If we left right now, what time would we arrive over there?” she asked. “Um, about 2am,” I said, “but…”
“Good, tell Kat to get her Wildcats ready, and get some of the other girls to pack some food for us so we can eat on the way,” said Jennifer, “and make sure the other plane is ready with the motorcycles and other gear we will need, so they can leave with us. And tell Aari how many rooms we will need and Cricket will be in our room.” “With us?” I questioned. “Yes, with us,” she said, “now go!” It’s amazing how quickly we can get things done when necessary.
Kristina and her team, which includes Angel, will be staying behind for now. Tracy, who is a Wildcat, will also stay behind to look after the computer. Cynthia will stay with her. Most of my team will also stay behind, but 4 will come with us. Vlora and her Angels will be joining us on this trip as well. Kat and Jennifer would like to involve them more on cases from now on, instead of just leaving them on guard duty all the time. Mandar is sending Team 6 over to help guard the chateau while we are away.
We are hoping that if we attack this gang at home, then Liana and her group will leave the castle and come to help. If we try to attack them in the castle they would certainly have the advantage over us. Even with larger numbers and a map of the tunnels, they would know the tunnels better and could have traps set throughout those tunnels as well. We would likely lose too many people with such an attack.
There is another way to get them out though, but no guarantee that we would catch them. Liana would be smart to leave and hide somewhere until we are finished with our attack of the main gang, then she could head home and start over. We are hoping she won’t be that smart. We arrived close to 2am and Aari met us with some of his team. They took us directly to the hotel and Cricket was still awake, nervously waiting for us to arrive.
Aari called her to let her know we were just outside her door. Aari opened the door and in we went. He introduced us to Cricket, but only stayed a few minutes. “It is so nice to meet you Cricket,” said Jennifer, “you don’t need to be nervous anymore, we’re here to be your friends and to make sure this gang can’t hurt you. Steve only looks scary, but really, he’s very nice.”
“Very funny,” I said, “thank you so much for helping us Cricket and I hope you will enjoy living with our rather large family.” “Hey, I’m sure I will sir,” she said excitedly, “Aari has told me a lot about your amazing team and huge chateau and all the girls and everything!” “Ooo, she called you sir,” said Jennifer, “she must think you are important.”
“Um, yes, well, in our team we use first names with everyone, even with leaders like my wife Jennifer,” I said, “her and !her twin sister Kat are the leaders of The Investigators. I am just a has been leader, so please, no more sir, okay?” “Oops, sorry sir, I mean, Steve,” she said smiling, “I hear you have 5 daughters, is that for real?” “Yes, it is,” said Jennifer, “but all have been adopted. I’m not able to have children.”
Suddenly there is a knock at the door. We were not expecting anyone, so I pulled my gun out and Jennifer answered the door. It was Aasta. “Hi, I need a room, the others are full,” she smiled. “Come in Aasta and meet Cricket,” said Jennifer. They began chatting right away. “Um, it might be nice to get some sleep,” I suggested, “you can continue talking in the morning.” “Um, I don’t have anything to wear, at night like,” said Cricket.
“That’s okay,” said Aasta, “I brought extra pyjamas for you. Daddy said you and I were about the same size, so I brought extra clothes too.” “Fantastic!” said Cricket, “I was a little nervous about tonight with Steve in the room, now I won’t be.” The two girls giggled. Somehow I don’t think there will be much sleeping tonight. “Can I ask a question?” asked Cricket. “You just did,” I answered. “Very funny,” she said, giggling again. “Go ahead,” said Jennifer.
“Um, why did you answer the door without a gun and your husband stood back here with a gun?” she asked. “Well, you wouldn’t want me to answer the door and stick a gun in Aasta’s face, would you?” I asked in return, “That might have scared Aasta.” “Oh, I guess,” she said, rather puzzled. “You will find out in time,” said Jennifer, “but right now it’s a secret, is that okay?” “Oh, yeah, for sure,” she said smiling. Just as I opened my backpack a little gray head poked out.
“Muffin, you were supposed to stay home,” I said. Meow,meow.= Me want to see female cricket, not know there is difference looking between male and female. We all laughed, except Cricket, who didn’t know what was going on. But she did get excited about seeing Muffin. “Oh, a pretty kitty!” she said excitedly and Muffin went over to her. “Muffin, this is Cricket,” said Aasta, “you were thinking of the wrong kind of cricket.”
Meow,meow.= Oops, me think it bug cricket, not know there are human crickets too. “No, silly, her name is Cricket,” said Aasta, “just like my name is Aasta and your name is Muffin. “Um, I seem to be missing something here,” said Cricket, “you’re talking like you can understand her and she can understand you.”
Meow,meow?= Why that is strange? So, I explained that Muffin is a special cat and can communicate with people and can understand us too. “Super wild!” said Cricket. It took an hour, but I finally convinced everyone it was time to sleep…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
I did not like what was happening to our cats. Storm, Snow, Rascal, Krystal, Jasmine and Chipper were now sick and Bridgette could not figure out what exactly it was. It seemed to be a flu-like virus of some kind but her medicine was not working and the cats were getting worse. When Melissa heard of the symptoms, she ran to our lab and after about an hour she came out smiling and asking for permission to use it on the cats.
Jennifer said it was okay and Melissa was soon off to the clinic with Annika, Sabina and Monika. We have a rule that there must be at least 4 team members together at all times when they leave the chateau. Bridgette checked the medicine that Melissa brought and decided there was nothing in it that would hurt the cats, so, injections began. The cats were starting to feel better within the hour.
Apparently Melissa owned a cat one time that had the same problem, or similar at least. She read about this remedy and it worked on her cat. Sebastien, however, killed her cat by shooting it about a year later. He hates cats. He was likely responsible for her cats sickness before. Melissa was fighting tears as she told us this and asked to be excused right away.
After she left, I told Jennifer that we need to find her a cat. “I was hoping you would say that Steve,” she said, smiling, “perhaps Liana and her group infected our cats while at the castle.” “Yes, I agree,” I said, “it is too much of a coincidence that they were sick with the same virus as Melissa’s previous cat.” “Yes, attacking our cats is a low blow,” said Jennifer angrily, “they will regret that one! Isn’t that right Jewel?”
Meowy,meow!= Yep, we get’em good! After Aari called I told him to go quickly to the hideout we had chosen. It was just a small hotel in a town not far from Toronto, the capital city of Ontario, next to the province of Quebec. Hopefully we won’t need to keep Sebastien too long, although we need to make sure it is our Matt that we get back before we can let him go.
I told Aari to make sure he protects Cricket as best he can. It isn’t easy not having any of the girls or cats along. We must remember that for next time. It’s good to at least have some cats, they are good for protection purposes. Penny and Brook can also go along since they are married to Knight Riders. Aari and some of the Riders had gone to get some take out food for everyone. He and four other Riders ate with Cricket in her room so she wouldn’t have to be alone so much.
Cricket was asking questions about our team and about me. So far the only organizations that Cricket knew about were criminal ones, so she was naturally a bit nervous. But she liked Aari and the other guys and was really impressed that Aari had a daughter who was also part of our team. “Matt, the man we are trying to free also has a daughter that is on our team,” said Aari. “Wow, that is so cool,” she said, smiling, “I can’t wait to go live over there and not have to be on the run every day. I have actually been able to sleep now which is soooo nice. Oh, um, sir, there is something else you need to know about this gang.”
“First of all, my name is Aari,” he said, “everyone uses first names in our organization, so please, no more ‘sir’, okay?” He said it very nicely and with a big smile. “Okay, I will remember that Aari,” she said excitedly, “now, this gang uses a combination of a drug and some kind of machine to brainwash people so they will do things for them. You need to be careful that they haven’t done that with your friend Matt, or those other friends of yours.
Although they likely didn’t have time to do anything with those other men. Apparently it does take a little time.” “How did you find out something like that?” asked Aari. “I had a good job before and had money in the bank,” she said, “so I would pay people for information, even people from that gang.” “And after your money ran out?” he asked. “Um, I always paid with money sir, I mean, Aari,” she said, looking down. Aari reached over and lifted her chin.
“Are you telling me the truth young lady?” he asked. “Um, mostly,” she said, as she fought back tears. “You know, a good cry can help sometimes,” said Aari, “I always tell that to Aasta.” He went and sat next to Cricket on the bed. “Aasta always says I have a good crying shoulder,” he said nicely. Cricket soon had her head on his shoulder, crying.
Meanwhile, Kat and her team were approaching the old castle. Once they arrived, they flew around, looking for any signs of life below, but no evidence of people was seen anywhere. “There are 3 helicopters circling the castle Liana,” said Gordon, “looks like the same kind that were here before.” “Are they so stupid to think they can try and rescue their man?” she asked, “We will just kill him if they try anything.” “Hey, they’re calling out to us,” said Gordon, “the lady is saying they have Sebastien.”
“Impossible!” yelled Liana, “I will prove it right now!” She then called Sebastien and John answered. “Greetings Liana,” he said. “Who are you?” she demanded. “I’m the man that has your husband,” he said, “but I am willing to trade him for Matt, providing he is alive and in good health.” “I don’t believe you have Sebastien,” she said, “prove it!” “I will let you talk with him,” said John, then he said to Sebastien, “be careful what you say though. I don’t need much of an excuse to kill you.”
“They have me Liana,” he said, “they caught me when we were getting our shipment of slaves. How they knew about that puzzles me, we kept it a perfect secret.” “It’s that little witch!” exclaimed Liana, “She seems to know everything we do lately. When I find her she will have a worse fate than her friend!” “Enough talking Liana,” said John, “do we make a trade or not?” “And how do we make the trade?” she asked.
“There are helicopters flying around that castle right now,” said John, “give Matt to them, once we are sure he is okay, we give you Sebastien. But don’t try anything again or we will destroy you, we are big enough to do that now. What is your answer?” “Your man will be in the courtyard shortly where he can be picked up,” she said, sounding quite subdued now.
“Fine, once our doctor has checked him out, then we will release Sebastien to you,” said John, “we will let you know exactly where to find him after we release him.” John then called Aari and Aari called me. Jennifer called Kat to let her know. Soon they spotted Matt walking around and they dropped down to pick him up and all three helicopters left the castle. Kat’s helicopter went directly to the clinic so Matt could have his checkup.
Galyna was there too as she was familiar with various brainwashing and hypnotizing methods. Melanie and Melissa were there too as they knew something about the method their gang had been working on, but had not perfected, while they were still with that gang. Matt was in good health otherwise, so I told Aari to release Sebastien, even though I really didn’t want to do that…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
