For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Good morning everyone! Time to grab a cup of coffee and chat for a while on the peacefulness of my balcony. I need to take some pictures out there one of these days, though it may not be this week. Today is going to be our last nice day this week, at least for sitting outside. Unless you enjoy sitting outside on a cold, rainy day.
I am not a fan of such things, but if you like that sort of thing, that’s great. Heavy rain is expected over the next couple of days with temperatures dropping a lot down to only 41F (5C), with a strong north wind included. We could even get a bit of snow one night as the temperature drops even lower. But on Sunday it was beautiful out there.

Always so nice to see new leaves coming out in the spring.
In the afternoon, with the sun shining, Muffin and I headed out onto the deck. She likes it out there and will even sit close to the edge now. However, there was one spot where she could get past the partial wall dividing the balcony in two. So, I fixed that Sunday afternoon and it worked out perfectly. Muffin checked it out and was unable to get past. Now, for some reason I noticed something I had not noticed before.
This partial wall is about 6 inches (15cm) off the deck. So Muffin could easily crawl underneath. So, I decided to fix that real quick before she discovers that possibility. She had curled up in a patch of sunshine, enjoying a nap while I fixed this problem. Oh, I also keep the door open while out there because Muffin likes to go in and out on her own. However, once the bees and flies come out, I will not be able to do that.

Some are green, but some are red, like this maple tree.
But I could that day. Finally I had it nicely closed off and I looked over at Muffin to see if she would inspect my work. But she had gone. Probably looking for food, so I went inside to check. She was not in the living room or the kitchen. I then checked her litter box, then the bedroom, calling for her. She was nowhere around.
I went back into the living room and called and thought I heard a faint meow. I went back on the balcony and called. Sure enough, she meowed again. It can’t be. I tried peeking around to the other side of the balcony. Yep, that is where she was, looking up at me. Sigh. I do not know how she managed to get past me while I was closing off that space. But she did it.

Looking across the river.
So, I had to open it up again and she came back to our side, then I closed it off again. I made sure she was on our side this time. Sigh. I am sure she was laughing at me. Oh well. It was supposed to be sunny today. It was sunny at 6am. By 8am it was cloudy, and it still is. Well, thank you for joining me for coffee, have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Raymundo had called for Carlos and Luis to come and get Felipe, his right hand man, and take him downstairs to get information from him. I had already revealed to Raymundo that Felipe was a traitor working for the Arrow Group, a competitor from the other side of the city we would soon find out. “You have some serious problems with your organization, Raymundo,” I said, “Felipe working for the Arrow Group and Diego working for Mike.
Just how many men do you have that you can fully trust? Let us see who these two are working for, shall we?” I told them to roll up their sleeves, but they had no tattoo, so I let them take Felipe with them. “I would suggest checking all of your men for that arrow tattoo Raymundo,” I said. Right then two of my girls dragged one of the bartenders out for us to see. “He has an arrow tattoo as well,” said Crystal.
“He is still alive Raymundo,” I said, “I only used a sleeping dart on him, he should wake up in an hour or so. And how many work for Mike? She does not use tattoos, so I will help you. There is a guard in the next room with white and black hair that works for Mike. If you are wondering how I know, I did manage to capture Mike’s lieutenant that she had sent ahead with some men, and women, to scout around.
This woman provided us with some interesting information.” “If she really was Mike’s lieutenant, as you suggest,” said Raymundo, “she would not so easily give out information.” “As you have likely noticed, and I am sure Mandar has told you,” I began, “my Wildcats are women, very specialized women in different things. One specialty is getting information from people and they really are very good at it. Everyone has a weak point, it just takes finding it, then using it to great effect. Right Mandar?”
“He did manage to get information from one of my battle hardened soldiers,” replied Mandar, “I never thought it would be possible, but he did it.” “Now, I would like to propose something that you both might find a bit odd,” I said, “but it is something that would benefit all 3 of us.” “And what might that be?” asked Mandar casually. “I suggest that we work together, temporarily, to defeat Mike as soon as she arrives.
Otherwise she will be a big problem for all of us and might eventually get big enough here in Europe to destroy all 3 of us. She has 11 people here already and she is coming with 75 more people. Can either of you match that on your own? Think about it and let me know tomorrow. Now, about the Arrow Group, where might I find them?”
“They are on the other side of the city,” said Raymundo, “they have 3 nightclubs, each called the Arrow Club, but here (he pointed on a small map he had drawn for me) is where you will find Marcello, the leader of the group. He lives there, and seldom leaves the place. His flat takes up the top 2 floors of that 6 story building. But it seems that Mike would be more important right now.”
“This Marcello killed two of my Wildcats,” I said, “he needs to find out that was a bad idea. I will be waiting to hear from you tomorrow gentlemen.” Then off we went, heading across the city to visit this Marcello, leader of the Arrow Group. However, we only got about half way and I began to slow down, then I pulled over and stopped completely. “What is wrong Steve?” asked Jennifer, “I could sense it as we were riding and was about to tell you to stop, but you did it on your own.”
“I do not know what it is,” I told her, “but you better take over and we will head back to the hotel instead.” So, that is what we did and once back we told the rest of the girls what happened. We got back to our room where Aletia, Beryan and Kat were waiting for us. But by this time I was feeling fine again. I asked Dawn to bring Melanie to our room, so she went and brought her back.
As Melanie came into the room Kat asked me if it felt like the Nowhere drug was affecting me again. But I said it felt different than that. “Did someone drug you Steve?” asked Melanie. “No, it was something that happened a long time ago,” I said, “one of my enemies gave me a drug that we just named the “Nowhere” drug since it made me lose my memory completely. But, we thought we had taken care of that problem. Now, however, something is happening that could almost be that drug, and yet is different.”
“Too bad my best friend, Melissa, isn’t here,” said Melanie, “she could help with that. She knows every drug or combination of drugs that ever existed, what they are used for and how to deal with them.” “Where can we find Melissa?” asked Kat. “She will be arriving with Mike,” said Melanie, “sadly I was supposed to wait for her so we could run away from Mike together, but I just could not wait any longer.” She looked around the room.
“Yes, I know, that makes me…terrible,” she added. “No, not really,” said Jennifer softly, putting her arm around Melanie, “do you think we could get your friend away from Mike?” “I’m sure it would be easy,” she answered, “I have a way to call her so no one else will know about it. The hard part will be getting her quickly enough before Mike can stop her.” “Maybe not, we just need to know where she will be,” I said, “and she will need to move quickly, since there will not be much time or room for error.”
The day arrived with Mike and her gang arriving around noon. But she surprised us by arriving at 5am instead. Melissa had told us where Mike would be and that part had not changed at least. Knowing that Raymundo’s day does not begin until noon, she wanted to be here early for a nice surprise attack. But the biggest surprise attack will be ours.
So far Mike had not suspected Melissa even though she was good friends with Melanie. We began our attack at precisely 6am with a helicopter attacking Mike’s hideout, an old stone building outside of town, with it’s machine gun firing at the walls of the building. Melissa then tossed a rock out the window with white cloth wrapped around it, then she fled out the window herself with the chopper still shooting, but carefully away from Melissa.
Then Kat and some of the girls went riding in on their bikes just as Melissa made it to the road. The bikes quickly turned and Melissa jumped onto the bike with Kat and everyone was off down the road with the helicopter still firing for a few more seconds, then it too disappeared. Mike was completely enraged by what we had done…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.