Roxette and Charly had gone outside to look for Mallory after she had tried to phone out. While they were standing outside talking with her, Mallory suddenly fell to the ground and she was bleeding from the left side of her head. Roxette immediately pressed her emergency button which went out to all the team through their phones. Code Red Attack, Code Red Attack!

Roxette, Charly and Rick dropped to their knees, guns ready, looking in the direction of the shot. Unfortunately they were looking towards the sun right then which made it impossible to see anything. The rest of Team 7 were now present and others came out of the chateau. Then suddenly a helicopter came up over the hill, surprising everyone.

The side door opened and a man with an assault rifle began shooting, very quickly. Then the chopper left back over the hill once more. There were bodies lying on the ground everywhere. “Sky, Sky, what is going on over there?” I yelled, then I repeated myself, but Sky did not answer. I then switched over to Tracy. “It is a slaughter out there Steve!” she exclaimed, “first Mallory was shot, then a helicopter showed up and the side door opened with a guy and an assault rifle.

Our Teams did not stand a chance Steve, that guy just cut them down like he was in one of those shooting galleries.” Then she added, “Sky was out there too. I, I am really sorry Steve.” She was fighting tears by that time. I was too numb for tears right now. Surely Sky did not get killed, I mean, she had just gotten out of the clinic, just to get killed? This cannot be happening.

And here I am on a jet flying over the ocean and will be for several hours yet. Wickers just made his second big mistake. Killing of those women in that little room was his first mistake, and now this. We will be back Wickers, and very soon! I had the phone hooked up to our jets intercom system, so everyone could hear. Jennifer came over and sat beside me.

“My shoulder is still good for crying on Steve,” she said, “but I have a feeling that Sky will still be alive.” “I certainly hope you are right Jennifer,” I said, “but standing in the open like that does not give much protection.” Anyway, we cannot do anything about the situation now so I need to relax and sleep if possible. I eventually fell asleep on the couch with my head on Jennifer’s lap. The time did go by much faster and we were soon landing at the airport.

There was a helicopter ready to take us back to the chateau. We actually landed at the clinic instead. That must mean that Sky is still alive! We were taken inside to meet the survivors of this horrific event and Sky was among them, but she was in a coma. I talked to her anyway, just in case she could hear me. Then we left to head home. I need a plan, a good plan, in order to catch Wickers.

By morning I had my plan, but it is dangerous. We had breakfast then discussed my idea, making a few changes here and there and finally adopting the plan. Then we headed back to the airport and our waiting jet. We were soon in the air, flying over the ocean. We seemed to get there rather fast, but that is a good thing, we need to get things moving quickly before anyone else gets killed or hurt.

We lost some good people yesterday and could lose some more yet. Fortunately Mandar is letting us use some of his teams to help out right now. He nearly lost all 10 people in Team 7 yesterday, only 2 survived and both were injured. None of our team were killed, but 6 were wounded, 3 seriously. Now, we need to put some fear into Wickers.

While flying back to the US, Annelie called to let me know she found Mandy’s grave. Everything fit, except her name is Mandy Anderson. Perhaps all the kids share that name of Anderson. Annelie is checking on that. Apparently Mandy died exactly one week ago, murdered. That is a strange murder indeed. There is something else on that grave marker, it said “my precious jewel”…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.