For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, we had all the information we needed and now we had to wait until this evening when the nightclub opened. There were some problems ahead of us. For one thing some of us would be recognized by Carmen, I am quite sure she would have cameras watching the place, just in case. So I could not go in, neither could Mr. B, Rock, Mandar or Harvey.
Only men were allowed inside, which told me a lot about what would be going on in there tonight, and perhaps every night. Mr. B had men he could send in that Carmen would not know. I could send in Matt, Aari, John, Mac, Clarence, Alfred and Miles. We had the whole area surrounded with our team, Mr. B’s men and the police.
Fortunately Carmen is wanted on an international warrant, so Rossana was there with sufficient police to surround a large area. Although no women were allowed inside, I did have 2 women who could get in and hopefully get Sky back out again. Providing Sky wanted to come with them. Somehow I was not so sure she would come peacefully since she might be drugged.
Finally the time came and everyone was in place. That nightclub was full, it must be a special night, or is every night like this? I guess it would depend on what happens at this place. After a little while a man shows up on the stage and makes his announcement that Elizabeth would soon be coming out to dance for them. Sky then came out and everyone cheered and soon the music began.
But just as Sky began to dance she suddenly disappeared! “Sky, this is Kat, do you remember me?” she asked. “My name is Elizabeth,” answered Sky, “I do not know you. Now please, I need to dance or Cathy will be angry.” “Do you not remember Steve?” Kat asked again. Sky always did have quite the temper and it showed up now as well. She began yelling and swearing!
“I hate Steve!” she said angrily, “I hate Steve! He is an awful, horrible man and I hate him!” Fortunately Kat had a way of not only making Sky disappear with her, but also blocking her voice from being heard, which was certainly a good thing. Jennifer showed up then. “Sky, this is Jennifer,” she said, “do you remember me?”
“No I do not!” she said firmly, “Now leave me alone!” “Do you remember Muffin?” asked Jennifer. “Muff, Muffin?” she asked very quietly, “My little gray kitty cat?” “Yes, she is very worried about you,” said Jennifer, “would you like to see Muffin again? Then you can do your dance. The schedule has been changed and you are to dance later.” “Oh, then it is okay,” she said, “where is my little Muffin?”
“We will take you to her,” said Jennifer. They walked to the main entrance which had been locked, but Matt and John were there and smashed the doors open to let them out. Once out Matt yelled for everyone to get on the floor under the tables to stay safe, or they would be shot. They told them to stay there until the police came. Three men with guns showed up on the stage, but were quickly shot by Mr. B’s men, then they and my team left quickly.
“Trouble in the club Cathy,” said one man, “I think Elizabeth has been kidnapped, she just disappeared while on stage. Then several men got up and shot our boys and left right away.” “Steve is back!” said Cathy, “He has a way of making people disappear. That is how that Kat woman suddenly appeared and killed Boxer, she had been invisible. If only he would work with me! Come on, we have to get out of here through our secret tunnel.”
She grabbed her bag and looked up. “YOU!” she exclaimed, “you are working with that stupid PI, you traitor!” The two men with her pulled out guns, but the men with Mr. B shot first. “Now you are all alone, dear Carmen,” he said, “I may not be able to recover all that money you stole from me, but that does not really matter now.
You must be the most cruel, evil person alive on this planet, but soon that will change and grass will be growing on top of you. Although I would not be surprised if you killed that grass.” “Wait, I am unarmed,” she said, “you would be arrested for murder! Why not work together instead?” Mr. B pulled his gun out and shot, 10 times. “Go check her,” said Mr. B. One of his men did so. “I doubt there is anything left of her heart,” he said.
“I doubt she ever had one,” said Mr. B as they walked away, joining us a few minutes later. “How is your wife?” he asked me. I just shook my head. “When I go near her she screams and swears terribly, saying how much she hates me,” I said. “She is drugged, dearest Steve,” said Jennifer, “once that wears off she will be okay again. After all, she was fine when she had the bank employee contact you.”
“True,” I said, “I just need more of your patience.” “It will all work out,” said Mr. B, “and Carmen will never hurt anyone else again. Thank you for letting me join you.” “My pleasure Mr. B,” I said, “I was happy to have your help on this one.”
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Good morning everyone! It is a beautiful, sunny, spring morning here with a temperature of 32F (0C), which is nice for mid morning. I was planning on getting this post out nice and early this morning. I was here early. Sigh. But something happened. My D drive on my laptop was missing.
Gone. Disappeared. Nowhere to be found. That is the drive where I store all my photos. They were gone. Now, I do have them backed up, but I wanted to know what happened to my D drive. Aside from the fact it may have suddenly stopped working. There may have been some other reason for the disappearance. So, I tried to locate it.

Red-breasted Nuthatch on my hand.
Otherwise I would have to use my external drive all the time for my pictures. My C drive is much too small for all of my photos, which is why I have the D drive. My laptop kept saying there was no D drive. I will have to admit, sometimes our modern technology frustrates me. I can use it as long as everything works properly.

I am sure that I showed this one once before, but I love it, such a great pose. This is a female Common Redpoll.
But when it does not work, then I am totally lost. Which is when I get frustrated. I search everywhere for possible answers and get more confused. That does not really help the situation. Sigh. The good point is that everything was backed up. So I did not lose everything, or anything. Except perhaps my sanity. So, I ended up not being early again this morning.
Amazing how things like that happen. Anyway, after 3 tries with rebooting my D drive is back and working perfectly. Apparently there was an update that made it disappear. Sigh. Oh well, minor details. I’m thankful that everything was backed up though. I finally got myself a new mattress this week and I slept on it for the first time last night.

This is a Herring Gull that I named Sir George. He was always the first of my gulls to return in the spring.
I slept great, only woke up once. It is much more firm than my last one, which is what I wanted. I hope it stays that way for a long time. I have seen two gulls this morning, other than that, no other birds, which is kind of odd. I have not even heard the crows this morning and they are usually quite noisy. Oh well, perhaps a bit later.

This is Chuck the Crow, he would arrive before Sir George.
I know, crows are not very exciting, but around here they at least add some bird sounds to the landscape. I know, most people put gulls in that “not very exciting” category too. I’m different. I do enjoy the gulls. I came so close to having Sir Henry take food from my hand, but not quite. Oh well. They were fun anyway. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.