It was decided that Matt and his Knight Riders would be the first to visit Adamson. He will be playing Cynthia’s long lost uncle, due to the fact he has been in prison for 5 years. When he got out, he decided to look for Cynthia and try to regain that family bond. His time in prison is well recorded, he was in a tough prison in China, so that should make it harder for Adamson to talk with anyone.

And the family connection is easy to find, but not too easy. We want Adamson to work a little to get his information. Annelie has set everything up very nicely, like she always does. Cynthia even helped her with putting the family ties together, and which agencies to use for this cover story. Cynthia was the one that hacked into the Chinese prison records, something Annelie wasn’t able to do. Annelie was very impressed with how Cynthia handled things and how easily she managed to hack into that prison.

Those two need to work together more often, especially now that Sky is dead. Annelie had trained Sky well to take her place if it was ever necessary. Strange how things work sometimes. Just thinking about that made me break down again, so Jennifer took me to my room for a while. “Sorry for taking you away from the planning session,” I said, trembling a bit as I spoke, “I know you would rather be with the others on this case.”

“But I am helping on this case,” she said, “guarding you, Cynthia and Erika is a very important part of the case, to my way of thinking anyway.” “I’m sure glad you are here,” I said, “I would never be able to hold up otherwise. You give me strength, and… well… I just feel so much better when you are close by.” “That is good to know,” she said, “but you need to think that Sky just might come back yet. Remember, I was dead too, and I am here. Same thing with Kat and Angel.”

“Yes, I know,” I said, “but there is one major difference. Sky was shot in the heart which damaged her heart badly.” “Yes, I was thinking about that too,” she said. We stayed there, lying on the bed and talking about different things for over an hour. Then we went back downstairs. It was time for lunch anyway, not that I felt like eating, however, Erika said she wouldn’t eat unless I did. Sigh, now I had no choice. Matt and his team were already on their way to the city so they can be ready for tomorrow.

For some reason I had a bad feeling about this and yet it seemed like the best way to get things started. It is probably just because I’m upset right now and having trouble thinking. I guess it is a good thing I am not in charge right now. Speaking of charge, right after lunch Baldwin’s limousine pulled up in front of the chateau. Kat and Angel were quick to run out and meet him before he got out of his car. They brought him inside and in his usual boisterous way he was yelling about why he hadn’t been contacted sooner about all the problems going on here.

He settled down rather quickly when Sherry and Pacca brought him coffee and donuts. Kat then explained everything to him, including the part about Sky being dead. Baldwin stopped eating when he heard about Sky. He got up and came over to me and sat beside me and put his arm around me. “I am so sorry to hear this Steve,” he said with tears falling down his cheeks, “you may not be able to get out and get this Adamson, but we will get him, I promise that.”

This was so unusual for Baldwin that I didn’t know what to say in return. “Thank you Mr. B.”, I said quietly. Mandar arrived shortly after this and told his idea next. I did not like him to be involved in this one. “It is too dangerous this time,” I told him, “but I have an idea that might be safer, if I can get him to help us. If not, then you can do your part. Does that meet with everyone’s approval?” They all said yes and I was on the phone to Rossana right away. I will need her help with this idea, or really, the help of her boss.

Hopefully he will go along with it since I need to get someone out of prison to help us with this. And, of course, it will depend on whether or not he will accept the proposal to help us. As it turned out, he accepted without even thinking about it. He claims to be innocent and can prove it, but his evidence was not allowed at his trial. So, he ended up in prison with a 20 year sentence. I told him we would have our lawyers work on his behalf.

Helping me will cut his sentence in half anyway and if he really does have evidence, we will get the whole thing thrown out. I know he is guilty of other things, but that is for the police to prove in court. I would actually like this man to join our team, maybe after helping us he will be more open to the idea. This man is Mr. B., not ours, but the other one who has helped us before. He was out that same day and quickly put on our jet and is now flying over here.

I told him to take advantage of the nice bed on board, in his own private bedroom. Some of our girls will be there to help protect him and make sure he gets here in one piece. He did not know of Peter Adamson, but when he heard that he killed Sky, he was more than ready to help us. Jacquelyn (formerly TJ) came in to the library later that day and over to me. She sat down and looked at me. “I just found out that you’re after a man named Peter Adamson,” she said.

“Yes, that is true,” I replied, “because you are not a Team member yet I did not want you involved in things. Sometimes it is better to know nothing, for your own safety.” “I understand,” she said, “but I have some news for you about him. He is a very evil man. He wanted mom to be part of his, um, pets, as he called them. He wanted me too, because I looked so young, I was just 17 then and he figured I could pass for 13 easily.

Anyway, he found out about us from Danielle and she is married to Adamson. He is a billionaire, several times over, which is why Danielle married him. They make a super evil combination Steve, don’t trust anything he says. He will say anything, if he figures it will help him in some way. Please tell your team to be careful, very careful…”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.