The operation to free Melissa took about 10 minutes and then they were off back to our hotel. Melanie and Melissa had a great reunion, quite tearful in fact, with Melanie apologizing to Melissa for not waiting as they had planned. But the final thing for Melanie was Mike ordering her to kill one of Albano and Eina’s kids right in front of Eina. She just could not do it, and her only recourse was to run away.

Melanie had killed before, but never children and she just could not do it. While they were getting excited about being back together again, Jennifer suddenly said, “Trouble Steve, and close.” Just then I began to stare, then fell, but once again Jennifer and Dawn caught me. “Code Red Wildcats, check the lobby and outside, but be careful,” said Kat. The girls put me down on the bed. Melissa turned to Melanie, “Does this happen to him frequently?”

“I do not really know,” she replied, “but it has happened twice before since they have been here. He was given a drug some time ago and they have been wondering if this is still an effect of that drug. Apparently it was a homemade drug by one of Steve’s enemies which makes him forget everything.” “Hmm, I wonder if they have any of that drug around,” said Melissa, “maybe I could help.”

“If you could help,” said Kat, “we would gladly pay you.” “Forget the money,” she said, “you just saved my life, seems to me that I owe you big time for that.” “You owe us nothing,” I said, sitting up, “I am not even sure this is part of that drug anyway. But we need to get moving so we can surprise Mike.” “You need to stay behind where it is safe Steve,” said Jennifer, “and remember, as your wife, I can order you to stay behind.”

“You would not dare do that,” I said, “would you?” “I might,” she said frowning at me, “the cats and I can stay with you for protection.” “Please,” I said, “this is important, if it happens while we are out, then you can bring me back.” “That would make things harder,” she reminded me, “but I guess we can try that.” I called Mandar and Raymundo and told them that Mike had come earlier and was planning an early attack on Raymundo at 8am, so we need to attack her first.

I told them where she would be and where to hide, but to wait for word from me before they move in. I want to try and eliminate Mike first before our attack begins. Well, not just Mike, but her new boyfriend, Jonny, and her 2 new top lieutenants, a woman named Abby and a man named Jacques. She also has a killer named ‘Cowboy’ that we will also try to eliminate. We will have to work fast though, or we will not get all of them.

Astrid and Aoife are our two snipers right now, and they will be positioned far enough away so they will not be seen, but close enough that they will not miss. After their part is over, then I will give the signal for the others to move in. That will get the attention of Mike’s gang and then we can move in from the other direction and have them surrounded. At least, that is the idea anyway.

But, idea’s do not always work the way we want them to work. We will soon see how this idea works. “Just show us who is who,” said Astrid, “and we will take care of them.” Melanie and Melissa were with the girls and were using binoculars to find the right people. But, for some reason, Mike was not showing herself. Could it be that she had already gone ahead to Raymundo’s house to check on things there? Or was she just waiting until the last minute to come out? Either way, this is throwing off our timing.

“Everyone else is out in the open Steve,” said Aoife, “do we wait, or take these down?” “Wait just a bit longer,” I said, “after what we did rescuing Melissa, she might be playing it cautious, just in case.” But finally we could not wait any longer as everyone else was starting to move towards their vehicles. “Okay girls,” I said, “take them.” The girls got several shots taking down Jonny and Abby and a couple of other people that Melanie had pointed out who were important.

But Jacques had disappeared and Mike never did appear. I called Raymundo and he started to move in. Then from my higher vantage point I noticed something interesting. It was a long line of police vehicles. So, that is what Mike was doing, calling in some extra help. A rather tricky thing to do and something I never thought she would do.

Even Melanie and Melissa were surprised she would call the police for help. Our two snipers kept shooting until I called them and said to head back to the hotel. I had also called Mandar and Raymundo to warn them and they also left in a hurry. We were able to settle into our rooms nicely before the police came along to check on us. The hotel owner told them we had not left the hotel since returning last evening.

They came up to question me anyway to find out why we were in town. We had been seen at Raymundo’s nightclub by a few people. I told them we were on vacation and he had good food at his club. I told them we lived in Switzerland and they could call the police there for more information about us. I did tell them we were a private investigator organization and often use different names so we can travel around freely.

They tried to look around our room but I said no, since they did not have a search warrant. I then told them about Mike and her gang that they were a notorious drug outfit, plus being involved in porn, sex trafficking and murder, all of which I can prove. It would be very humiliating for them if it was discovered they were helping such a gang and it could land them in jail. They left very quickly after that.

Unfortunately Mike, Jacques and most of her gang have now gotten away from us. That puts us in danger. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city. “Well, well,” said one woman, “now this is certainly an interesting development.” “Yes, it sure is,” said another. After about an hour two women and a man came out of the Arrow Club, laughing together, got into a limousine and drove away.

“It was Mike, Jacques and Eina,” Aasta told me. I had sent her, Amber, Tracy and Candace, with a couple of the cats, to keep an eye on that particular Arrow Club, since that is where Marcelo lived. I was certainly surprised to hear that Eina was with them, obviously on friendly terms. That part just did not make sense. Mike had wanted Melanie to kill one of the kids, in front of Eina. Something is just not right…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.