While other things were going on at the chateau, Matt and his Knight Riders had gone and have now arrived at their destination in Switzerland. They began looking right away for the men who are working for the Fatman. Matt and Aari are especially good at spotting other criminal types quite easily. They stopped in a small restaurant in a nice little village and immediately saw some men that seemed to fit the description. The two of them sat down at a table and looked around casually.

As they did so a man came over to them and sat down at the table. “You from the Fatman?” he asked. “Yeah,” said Matt, “he said you might need a little help.” “Yep, but I need more than 2 men,” he said. “My boys are outside,” said Matt smiling. “Oh, that is better,” he said, “bring them in and they can have breakfast, Fatman is paying. By the way, my name is Dan.” “This is Aari, my right hand man,” said Matt, “and my name is Matt Knight.” Aari went outside and brought the others in.

“And these boys are the Knight Riders,” said Matt. “Whoa, you got some big boys there,” said Dan, “Fatman said he was sending some good help.” “Yeah,” answered Matt, “we have some good strong muscle in this group.” Then a tall beautiful woman came in behind the guys. “Hmm, now there is a beauty to behold,” said Dan, grinning from ear to ear. “That is Penny,” said Matt, “and she happens to be mine.” “I can certainly understand why,” said Dan. Penny and Aari came over to where Matt and Dan were sitting and joined them.

“How many men do you have Dan?” asked Matt. “Just those 5 over there,” he said, “some of my guys did not show for some reason.” “Well, there are 14 of us,” said Matt, “so that gives 20 in total, plus Penny here, she is marvelous with a gun. That should be enough for the job.” “Yeah,” replied Dan, “we also have a guard riding in each of the 4 trucks that are coming with all that nice gold.” “Good,” said Matt, “that will be a big help.”

“You got an explosives guy with you?” asked Dan. “Sure do, 2 of them in fact,” said Matt, “one is my main man, but if something should happen to him, I have another one ready to take his place. I like to be prepared on a job like this one. By the way, where are you planning to put all that gold once we relieve those delivery people of those shiny blocks.” “We have 4 trucks out front,” said Dan, “Jack said that would be plenty to haul that gold away.”

“Do you know the weight of gold?” asked Matt, “Those trucks won’t be able to carry half of it.” Dan just sat there staring at Matt. “You sure about that?” he asked. Matt called Rock over. “Rock used to work for that very same company,” said Matt, “Rock, will those 4 trucks out front be able to handle all that gold?” “The gold would break those trucks in half,” said Rock. “I thought Jack seemed a bit nervous this morning,” said Dan, “now I know why.”

Meanwhile Rossana had been listening to all of this through Penny’s phone and she called the police to stop the trucks and replace the guards. Then she called Penny to let her know. “Thanks for calling, Ross,” she said, “I will let the others know.” “What’s up Penny?” asked Matt. “Seems someone must have tipped the cops,” she said, “so they stopped those trucks and changed the guards with cops instead.” “That had to be Jack,” said Dan, “he is going to regret doing that to us.” He then called Louis over.

“Take Jack somewhere and lose him,” said Dan, “he betrayed us.” “With pleasure,” said Louis, looking over at Jack. But Jack noticed Louis looking over at him and he understood what that meant, so he tried to run. However, John stood up and blocked his way of escape. Louis then took Jack outside, went down the street with him, behind some sheds, and then Louis came back alone a short time later. After breakfast they all left and went to the spot where they would hijack the trucks.

There was a good spot to place some explosives on a hillside to send a bunch of rocks down onto the road, so the trucks would have to stop. “We can’t do it too soon though,” said Miles, “or some other vehicle will likely come along and report it. Then they would stop those trucks further back and send more cops out here.” “And we sure don’t need more cops to deal with,” said Dan, “I keep thinking that maybe there is still another rat to deal with.” “Perhaps someone closer to the Fatman,” said Penny.

“Has he been sharing his plans with others in his organization?” asked Matt. “The only other man would be Pickett,” he said, “he has been organizing this whole affair and… (he thought for a moment), maybe he did tip the cops, that is why they changed their route for this shipment.” He was on the phone quickly to the Fatman and told him what he thought. The Fatman was furious! “I will teach him to make a fool of me!” he shouted, “Now, how are the new men working out?” “Perfect,” said Dan, “great bunch of guys!”

“Let me speak to, oh, whatever his name is. Too many names to remember around here.” said Fatman. “It’s Matt, and here he is,” said Dan. Dan then walked over to the edge of the road, looking up at the hill. “Hi Fatman,” said Matt, “how are things these days?” “Very good, except for a few minor problems,” answered Fatman, “wait, did he call you Matt? As in Matt Knight?” “Yes, that’s me,” said Matt, “I heard you needed some help and we need some work.” Fatman laughed heartily.

“I would not have believed it, yet there you are,” he said, “are you not afraid of having the police see you?” “Well, the Knight Riders employ some old tried and true methods,” said Matt, “such as wearing a mask to hide our identity. I hope you don’t mind having us on board, but we do need to eat. And we have been having some problems lately, as you might know.” “Yes, I have heard about your troubles,” he said, “Angelica was the worst of my daughters.”

“I did not know you had more than one,” said Matt. “Oh yes, four of them actually, though 2 are now dead. Plus a few grandchildren and four sons with my first wife, though I have disowned them. Toledo was the only bad one of the bunch unfortunately.” They had to cut their call short since the trucks were coming. They had planned to take the trucks, then hide the gold at a certain spot picked out by Matt and his gang, then return to pick it up later that night after disposing of the stolen trucks further away.

The explosion was perfect, the trucks stopped and everyone got out to surrender. But instead they ended up in a gunfight. Dan and his men were quickly killed, the guards had been instructed not to kill Matt and his Riders. The Fatman will likely be quite furious over this, if he even finds out…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.