Both the Sheriff and Tucker were shocked when I mentioned the names of the General and Anne. They were definitely not expecting that, or the fact that I knew they had been talking with the General the previous day. The Sheriff is now out supposedly looking for the General, though I doubt he will be putting much effort into that venture. I imagine he will warn General Bess that we are looking for her. She already knows we are in town since the owner of the restaurant phoned her to let her know that little fact. But that is okay, now she will either try to run away and hide, or she will attempt to come after us and fight.

However, we were not expecting certain things to happen as they did that morning. We took Tucker back to his bar for a talk. “Look, I really cannot help you,” he said, “I have no idea who kidnapped those people. It could have been Mitch and Anne, which would be my guess, but I have not been able to find them. Neither of them have been home since the Wildcats had them for questioning.” “How do people get in and out of that house without being seen?” I asked him, hoping to catch him off guard so he would say something without thinking. But, unfortunately, it did not work.

“I have men watching that house, and the houses on either side,” he said, “those Wildcats that disappeared never came out of those houses.” Meanwhile, “So Steve has finally decided to show up,” said General Bess, “now I have him!” “What should I do with those Wildcats?” the man asked. “Kill them or let them go,” said General Bess, “I really do not care. No, wait, you said one of them was his sister. Bring them all to me, they will be the final bait to catch Steve without a fight. His sister may have gone bad, but he will give himself to me to get her and her friends free.”

“Okay, I will bring them right over,” he said, “but I will need some help again.” “Brad, take some men and go with Danny and bring those girls back to me,” said General Bess. “On our way General,” he said, and off they went. Meanwhile, the Wildcats were checking around that old couples house, but finding nothing. Even with all their cats they were not getting anywhere. Meowr.=Should need to have Muffin, she can find hidden door better than all us cats. Kat smiled at Storm. He is probably right, she thought to herself, but after what Muffin has been through, it was best for her to be left at home.

Then Kat began thinking about the men across the street, and the men in the house across the lane. They would need at least 3 men in each house to watch this house 24/7, unless they had long shifts. But can Tucker really trust all of them? While she was thinking, Rusty had some thoughts of his own, so he told Storm and the two of them went next door. They saw that the woman was outside with her 3 kids, so they crawled under the fence and went over to the woman while her kids played in the big litter box, um, sandbox.

“Why hello little cats,” she said, “I was wondering if you would come to visit sometime.” She looked very tired. “I wish I could talk with your owners and tell them where to find their friends,” she said. The cats ears went straight up. “But if I talked with them, the men in the house across the lane would find out and my husband would kill me,” she said, “then what would happen to my beautiful children? Maybe I can tell you and you can tell your owners. I just wish you could understand me. Your friends are in our basement, locked up, except for Sunrise.

But she won’t run away since she is my husband’s girlfriend. My husband Danny works for that terrible General Bess Henderson. This used to be such a nice town until she came here.” She told the cats a few more things and then said she had to bring the children inside for lunch. “It was nice talking with you cats,” she said, “thank you for coming over.” She then called the kids and the cats ran quickly back under the fence and over to the back door of the house and scratched. Amber opened the door for them. “Hey, you two, if you keep scratching like that…”, but the cats were gone, “where did you two go now?”

They found Kat in the living room and they came in bouncing and meowing. “Okay, you two, what is all the excitement?” she asked. Meow!=Have big news to tell! Meowr!=Yep, very big news from human lady next door! Meow!=Yep, human lady with kids and big litter box! “Oh no! You haven’t been using that sandbox, have you?” she moaned. Meow.=Human kids not mind to share, but that not big news. So Kat sat down and let them tell her what they heard. She then immediately called me while I was still with Tucker.

Weller had joined us by this time as well. “Tucker, how well do you trust the men watching that old house?” I asked. “Jim, the main man over there I trust completely,” he said, “the others are generally trustworthy enough.” “And since all of you work for General Bess, then you all work together,” I said, “except that some of those men are working against you. Or you are an excellent liar. Your men in that house across the lane know exactly where Sunrise and those Wildcats, including my sister, are located because they helped capture them in the first place.”

Tucker had his mouth wide open again. “How do you know all of this?” he demanded. “It is my job to find out things,” I said, “I am an investigator, both privately and for the police. General Bess has betrayed you Tucker, and the Sheriff too. For some reason she has an interest in me, though I don’t know why.” Meanwhile, Kat sent some of her Wildcats out on an errand and they doubled back, blasting their way into the house across the lane, front and back, getting into a gunfight with the 3 men inside which were all killed by the Wildcats.

Kat had phoned the lady next door to warn her they were coming over, so the kids would not be scared. The lady left the back door open so Kat and the others could come in, and she kept the kids in a bedroom. Soon the whole team was reunited again and a surprise was waiting for the lady’s husband. He and the 4 men with him were locked in the basement room where the girls had been kept. The old couple were also released and returned home and several Wildcats stayed with them until we could get everything taken care of completely.

General Bess called Danny to see what was taking so long. “Hello General,” said Kat, “my name is Kat, leader of the Wildcats. Your men will not be returning, the ones still alive will be spending a lot of time in prison. Which is where you will be going too. Have a nice day!” “Things are turning against us!” she called to her men, “get the jeeps, we are leaving now!” But when she got outside and began approaching the jeeps, she noticed the drivers were all missing. She still had 10 men with her, but as they turned to run back inside they suddenly stopped. “You! How did you find me?” questioned General Bess…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.