Tucker was just not having a good start to his day. Losing that $400,000 was bad enough, but now a mysterious phone call. Or is it mysterious? “Well General, we did have the money,” said Tucker, “but it was stolen from our safe last night and…” There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke. “Yes General,” said Tucker, “normally I would have put it in the bank, but we didn’t have time to get it there. However, I do know who stole the money, it was a motorcycle gang from Europe.”

There was another pause. “I don’t know how they knew about the money General,” he said, “but I am going to question the guards and Mitch. I really think it was Mitch who tipped off these guys. He had a large deposit in his account yesterday, that suggests a payoff.” There was another pause. “Yes General,” said Tucker, “I was also thinking it could be his girlfriend, so I will get rid of them both. Weller is on his way over as we speak, with a couple of the boys to talk with Mitch and his girlfriend.”

Weller gets up and leaves, taking a couple of the guys with him. “I also have some men out looking for that other gang right now,” said Tucker, “apparently they are quite dangerous so I wanted to find out how many of them are in town before doing anything.” He motioned to Joseph to get out looking for the Knight Riders. There is another pause on the phone. “Well General,” said Tucker, “there are at least a dozen of those Wildcats, and apparently each one is specially trained for different tasks.

They are probably friends of Sunrise and I don’t imagine they will stay around long now that her debt has been paid by them. They will figure everything is okay now, but since the money is gone, I will be pressing Sunrise to pay up once again.” There is another pause. “Yes General,” said Tucker, getting more nervous all the time, “I have men watching that house 24/7, so if anything happens over there I will know about it right away.” Something was said by the General, then he hung up.

Tucker was definitely not in a good mood now. He then called the men watching that old house. “No one left that house all night, Mr. Tucker,” said Jim, “but some of them, 8 actually, went out a short time ago. However, there was some action in the house around 2am, but I could not see what was going on, but they had lights on in the whole house for a while. The action started in the living room though. They were up for quite a while, but then the lights went out around 3am.

Sunrise always left the drapes open at night, but since these Wildcats showed up, the drapes are closed at night so I can’t see anything.” “Hmm, that is interesting though,” said Tucker, “make sure you watch that place closely now. I want to know everything that goes on, and I mean everything! Ever seen Mitch over there recently?” “Nope, he and Sunrise don’t exactly like each other,” said Jim, “but a few days ago Mitch told me he would like to own that house. Don’t know why though, I mean, it’s a nice house, but it’s too big. That appraiser said there was lots of problems with that place too.”

“Do you remember what appraiser it was?” asked Tucker. “Yeah, the guy from the next town,” said Jim, “from Rock Creek Real Estate. Mitch knows the guy.” “Now we are getting somewhere,” said Tucker, “that is why he found so many problems, Mitch is hoping Sunrise will sell it cheap so he can buy it. Now to find out why he wants it so bad.” Next he decided to call Weller and see what was happening. “It seems those Wildcats had the same idea for some reason,” said Weller, “they were already here when we arrived, so we are just waiting for them to leave before we go in.”

“Good thinking,” said Tucker, “stay out of the way of those Wildcats for now. I sent Joseph out with some men to try and find those Knight Riders. Once we know how many there are, perhaps we can get my money back. The General is rather upset about that loss, and so am I. Let me know quickly what you find out, if he doesn’t talk, bring him and Anne back here.” “Shall do, Mr. Tucker,” said Weller.

Meanwhile, back at the chateau. Jennifer was troubled again and decided to call Kat and see if anything was wrong. “Kat, what are you up too?” asked Jennifer. “Just a minute,” said Kat and she disappeared, literally, which shocked Mitch and Anne. “Okay Jennifer,” said Kat, “we can talk now.” “Are you all together?” asked Jennifer. “No, just 8 of us came to talk with Mitch and his girlfriend Anne,” said Kat, “why?” “I tried calling Tracy, then Aasta, then Cassie,” she said, “then I called you. I would have called you first, but I thought you might be busy with something.”

“The others should be at the house,” said Kat, “we will head back there right away.” Kat then reappeared. “Okay you 2,” she said, “we are going for a short ride. Then you will be answering more questions, and you better have good answers. Back to the house everyone, and Amber, try to get in touch with the others while we drive.” Everyone knew that meant trouble at the house. Amber tried but was unable to contact anyone, except the cats. Their van came to a screeching halt at the house and everyone went in quickly, practically dragging Mitch and Anne.

Meanwhile, Jim called Tucker right away. “Those Wildcats came back, fast and went into the house dragging Mitch and Anne with them. They also went in with their guns out,” said Jim. “Hmm, that is interesting,” said Tucker, “they were obviously expecting trouble, didn’t you see anything prior to this?” “Not a thing Mr. Tucker,” said Jim, “there have been no people show up front or back.” “Well, keep watching,” said Tucker, “there is trouble for sure, and we don’t need more problems right now.” “Okay Mitch,” said Kat angrily, “what happened to my friends and your sister?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, “I have not been over here for days.” Kat gave him a hard back handed slap, knocking him off his chair onto the floor. Amber called Annelie and told her what was happening. “We need some help,” she told Annelie, so then Annelie told this to Mr. B. Then he called Mandar. “Oh my, that is not good news,” said Mandar, “I will send Teams 2 and 3 over to help, they already have Wildcat uniforms to wear.” “Good, I have sent Jennifer, Cynthia and Aletia on their way as well,” said Baldwin, “wish I could send more, but we need the others right now.”

“Hold that jet a few minutes,” said Mandar, “and I will send Team 7 over to join Jennifer.” That is what they did and soon all of them were flying across the ocean. Meanwhile, Teams 2 and 3 were able to arrive much more quickly and they arrived in the same kind of van and wearing the same uniform as the other Wildcats. That gave Kat an extra 20 Wildcats, plus the 8 they still have.

Jennifer is bringing 12 plus herself, so that will give the Wildcats 41 altogether. “Mr. Tucker,” said Jim, “got some news, 20 more of those Wildcats just showed up at the house. And they still have Mitch and Anne.” “I wonder why they brought in more of them?” asked Tucker, “Something must have happened at the house, something serious.”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.