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For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
As Dawn, Misty and their teams were getting close to landing in the city, they received the news about the four girls being wounded and Muffin being killed. Poor Storm was overcome with grief at the news of losing his beloved partner and he just lay on the floor of the plane and would not move or say a word. Now and then he would Meowr.= “My poor Muffin. Cruel people kill my poor Muffin.” Misty, the other girls and the other cats with them all tried to comfort little Storm.
He felt so low because he wasn’t with Muffin to help protect her. The others tried to let him know that he wouldn’t have been able to help this time since it was bullets that took her life. But he still thought he might have helped by standing in the way to protect her. Misty and the others vowed they would make these people regret what they have done! Then news came to all the team that Fridr had died from her wounds and Ginnifer was not doing well either. About an hour later news came that Ginnifer had also died.
Meanwhile, Jennifer and Kat now had the information they needed to hopefully defeat Phoenix, but there is a problem. That is, they first need to find Phoenix, and that may not be easy. They do know where she lives, or rather, lived, in the city, but now that I have been rescued, she will likely move somewhere else. She may have other houses in the city that she owns under different names. Her real name is Rose Colman, but Jazzy told Hannah that she also uses Rickie Felman, Roxie Forman, Rosette Freeman and Carrie Stillman.
She might even use other names as well or she might use houses owned by some of her men as a brief hideout for herself. So, tracking her down will not be so easy, unless… “Hey, I have an idea,” said Carine, “they know we have Steve now and they will soon attempt to get him back. They will likely think we have him here at the hotel where we can watch him.” “Right, so we lay a trap for them here!” exclaimed Jennifer. Carine just stared at her and sighed.
“We don’t lay a trap for them here?” asked Jennifer. “No, they will likely come and look for Steve here, and we let them,” she continued, “but when they don’t find Steve, then they will figure we have hidden him somewhere else, naturally, so that is when we lay the trap. We pretend to have Steve in some secret location and allow them to find out. But, we have to do that in a way that they will believe. Then, when they go to that place they will find it guarded by only a few of our girls.
They will think we did that because we had such a secret place there would be no need for a lot of guards. They will move in and that’s when we spring the trap! You ghost triplets will go after Phoenix while another ghost goes after her boot. Have you picked your ghost triplet yet?” Sky suddenly appears in front of Kat and Jennifer, saluting. “Reporting for duty, leaders Kat and Jennifer,” said Sky. Both Kat and Jennifer sighed at the same time.
“Sky,” said Jennifer. “Yes Jennifer?” asked Sky. “You’re saluting just like Misty,” she said quietly. “Oh, I saw Misty doing it so I thought that’s what we are supposed to do when you two are the leaders,” said Sky, and she put her hand down. Kat and Jennifer sighed again. “No saluting,” said Jennifer, “and we already picked our triplet, sorry.” Sky slouched over and shuffled away just like Misty does. Kat and Jennifer sighed again.
“We decided on Kitty to be our triplet since she already looks so much like us anyway,” said Kat, “with dying her hair and a few minor cosmetic changes, she will easily pass for being our triplet.” “Now, we need another helper for this,” said Jennifer. Sky came back so fast that she ran right into Jennifer and they both ended up on the floor. “Oops, sorry leader Jennifer,” said Sky, “I just want a chance to help after losing that fight with Phoenix.”
“You shouldn’t be worried about that fight Sky,” said Jennifer, “none of us would have done any better fighting Phoenix, including me.” “Thanks leader Jennifer,” said Sky with a small smile, “but we all know that you and Kat are the strongest of us ghosts, you would have done better.” “Not necessarily Sky,” said Kat, “now, maybe you two should get up.” “Oops, sorry leader Jennifer,” said Sky and they both got up off the floor. “Sky,” said Jennifer. “Yes leader Jennifer,” said Sky. “Don’t call me leader Jennifer please,” she said, “just Jennifer will do.” “Okay leader Jennifer,” said Sky, “I will remember that.” Jennifer and Kat sighed at the same time again.
Meanwhile, the Black Wolves began their part and came roaring along the street to Phoenix’s house. They figured she would likely be gone by now, but they would destroy the house anyway. Half of the Black Wolves came roaring up the lane and stopped at the back of the house. “Hey, looks like a motorcycle gang has stopped out front,” said Brian. “They’re out back too!” yelled Brent. “It says, The Black Wolves on their jackets,” said Henry. “I wonder what they want?” asked Colin, “might be looking for Phoenix, good thing she left already. Yell at them to leave!”
“We’re in place,” said Doc. “Okay everyone, hit them!” exclaimed Aari. The guys took out their launchers which shot Catalina’s surprise fire bombs through the windows downstairs and upstairs too. Men began to run out of the house, both front and back to get away from the flames which quickly engulfed the house! But they came out shooting, however, the Black Wolves were also shooting as the men came out. Most of the men from the house died, but Colin and a couple other men surrendered to the Black Wolves…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Sky had enough strength to return to the haunted house where she lay on the floor, motionless. “Angel, give her strength, fast!” exclaimed Kat. Angel was beside Sky immediately and shared her strength with Sky. Sky then quickly revived and sat up, but she was angry now and told everyone about the fight. “She has some kind of electric shield around her entire body,” said Carine, “that is why your electricity returned to you. Kat, Sky needs a shield too so this can never happen again.”
“Yes, I can see that,” she admitted, “we will work on it when we get home, unfortunately we can’t do it here so you will have to be careful Sky. And Angel must be with you always from now on. Go back and get Steve, bring him directly to the hotel, then off to the clinic if we need to. Take Angel and Kitty with you, they can keep Phoenix busy while you get Steve. Better yet, stay invisible, all of you, and only fight if there is a problem taking Steve out of there, now get going before they move him.”
Meanwhile, back at Phoenix’s house. “We have to move Steve to another location,” said Phoenix, “somehow they managed to find my house here in the city so we will move him to my country house, it should be safe there.” The girls were already in the room and heard this bit of information, but they remained invisible and Sky quickly grabbed my hand and off we went to the hotel. Phoenix was looking at the camera still where she had been talking with Colin. “Hey Phoenix, Steve disappeared!” he yelled. She turned toward the bed I had been lying on and screamed!
“I thought that detection system was supposed to tell us when someone came in here?!” she yelled, “Useless! USELESS!!” Then she began to feel all over the bed for me. She even ran around the room looking for me, feeling everywhere thinking that we must have some kind of cloaking ability, but not true invisibility. Angel and Kitty were still there, laughing at Phoenix running around. Then Sky arrived to see some of it too. “Find Steve!” she yelled to Colin, “they must have taken him back to the hotel, but they won’t be there yet so have men meet them when they return.”
“Right, we’re on it Phoenix,” said Colin. Sky then said she had an idea and she went outside, took a picture of the house, then went to the corner and got the name of the street, which she sent to Cristy. Then she returned to the girls back at the house. Angel had made herself visible to Colin, but not Phoenix. “Hey, Phoenix, there’s one of them now!” he exclaimed. “Where, where?? she asked looking around. “Over by the bed,” he said, “there’s a woman and a big jaguar.” “Where?! I don’t see anything you idiot!” she screamed.
Sky was now there too, but she remained totally invisible. “You just walked right through her Phoenix,” he said, “now they are in the middle of the room.” Now Phoenix could see them too, but they were still not fully visible, meaning, not solid. Phoenix went over there trying hard to kick the jaguar but her feet were just going right through it. She tried hitting Angel but was unable to do so, her arms swinging wildly and going through her. Then Sky took them away and back to the haunted house where they told the others what they did.
“Good for you three!” exclaimed Jennifer, “That will teach her a little lesson.” Kat then called Aari and gave him the address of Phoenix. “Destroy that house Aari,” said Kat, “and I mean, destroy it! But be careful, she has a detection system at the house and she may have other surprises too.” “We have some surprises of our own,” he said, “Catalina surprises.” Then Sky took Jennifer back to the hotel where Carine had been watching over me. “Take Steve back to the clinic now Sky,” said Jennifer, “he will be safe there. I will arrange for the team to watch over Steve. Tell Kristina to be extra watchful.”
Sky took me right away to our room at the clinic. Samantha was already there waiting for me. Sky quickly returned and Kat told her to take Melissa and Ivy back home too. “Ivy can help us more there by getting in touch with her contacts,” said Kat, “and Melissa can work with Carolyn to find out what drugs they used on Steve so we can come up with an antidote for that combination.” Off she went again, returning after a short time. “Whew, that’s a lot of traveling!” she said with a smile.
Meanwhile, back at the chateau Hannah had been trying to get hold of Jazzy to see what she could tell us about Phoenix since we had no information about a relative with that name. But, as usual, all she got was Jazzy’s answering service, so she left a message, again, and tried to make is sound like a top emergency call. Jazzy was on vacation right now and when she goes on vacation, she tells no one where she goes and she doesn’t answer her phone. She wants peace and quiet on her vacation.
And since she is not part of the Investigators, there is no reason for her to give us a way to contact her. But, while she was enjoying herself at a tropical resort, she just got this feeling that perhaps she should check her messages. She started with the most recent and immediately called Hannah to find out what was happening. Hannah told her about Phoenix and what she has done. “She is Toledo’s youngest sister,” said Jazzy, “you likely know her by her real name, which is Rose. She still uses the last name of her first husband, which is Colman.
She is one dangerous woman with a serious temper and she is out to avenge the death of Toledo. Watch her, she is crafty and cares about nothing, and no one, but herself. She has developed some kind of shield that she can put around herself, which she says makes her invincible and very strong.” Then Hannah told her about the fight that Sky had with her. “I believe it,” said Jazzy, “don’t take chances, not even your ghosts. Attack from behind, hit her back hard and repeatedly.
She has back problems and even with that shield, the constant jarring will hurt her. Also, hit her head, apparently that’s her weakest spot since she needs to breathe so the shield needs to be thinner. Let me check on something, I’ll call you back.” So Hannah waited and waited. She did call Kat and told her what she had learned. “That might be enough for us to win,” said Jennifer, “especially with your idea for triplets.” Finally Jazzy called Hannah with some new information about Phoenix. “YES!” said Hannah excitedly, “Thank you Jazzy!”
“Let me know how things work out,” said Jazzy, “I will pay attention to my phone now.” “Will do!” said Hannah. Then she called Jennifer to let her know how to defeat Phoenix. “To defeat Phoenix,” said Hannah, “you need de feet.” “What?” asked Jennifer, “To defeat I need to defeat? That makes no sense.” “No, no, to defeat, you need de feet,” she repeated. Jennifer sighed, very loud. Then Hannah explained.
“Those boots she wears are special, they produce the shield around her,” said Hannah, “but there is a button just above her heel inside her right boot that turns it on and off. Just press the button, which you can do from the outside of the boot, and it will turn the shield off. Then hit her fast before she turns it back on again. Apparently she has practiced and she can turn it back on super quick, so be careful.” It all seemed easy now, except for one thing…
To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 