Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Carole Ann’s Return. Chapter 4. Someone.
The next morning at our new hideaway was beautiful as the sun rose above the treetops. After breakfast we walked around the yard and into the trees a bit to see if we could see any signs of human activity around. But, if any people had been around the place it must have been a long time ago. The last time Mandar was out here was 20 months ago, but he has caretakers who look after the place, however, they will not come out while we are here.
They come in from one of his companies and are thoroughly checked for security reasons before letting them work in one of his hideaway locations. Mandar keeps a close watch on his security details, so that made me feel good about coming here. He also said there was a way to contact him in case of emergency, but he forgot to tell me how to do that.
We will just be careful that no one gets hurt badly and needs hospital care. I should have brought one of our nurses along I guess. Too late now. Well, it is now day 3 and nothing exciting happening our way. I wonder how our team is doing? Mandar and Aari are looking after the details on their end, I just hope it does not take them long to get things done.
Sitting out here not knowing what is happening, that is not easy. Plus there is not much to do out here, though I am mowing the lawn, it certainly needed it. Dawn and Ginnifer helped out with that too, it is a sizable lawn. There are garden areas for flowers, but no flowers have been planted for a long time it seems, guess that is not a priority for this place.
Meanwhile, back with Carole Ann. “There is one of the girls heading off in a helicopter,” said Jeremy. “Is she one that we want?” asked Carole Ann. “Nope, but she is nice looking though,” he answered. “If she is not one we want, then do not tell me about it!” she yelled, “And I am not interested in one that is ‘nice looking’!” “Okay, just sayin’,” he mumbled, “I still think any of those dames would be good to get, certainly better than the ones you got right now.”
“Shut up and just do your job!” she growled. “Have not seen Sky or that Aasta gal since the first day we began watching,” said Freddy. “They must be keeping them indoors,” grumbled Carole Ann, “and there is no way to get into that fortress of theirs.” “Every fortress has a weak spot,” said Jud, “I just need to find it.” “Well, you are certainly taking your time!” she complained, “We are not on vacation.”
“It takes time to do things right,” he answered, “and when I find that weak spot, it will make our job much easier.” “He knows what he is doing,” remarked Jacob, “he will find it.” “How come all you brothers have names starting with J?” asked Carole Ann. “Pa said it was what ma wanted,” he answered, “and pa hated thinking of names so he stayed out of it.” Carole Ann shook her head and left the room.
She went down to the hotel lobby to get some coffee and snacks. While there she overheard a phone call with the manager and someone named Steve. He was coming with his wife Sky and two other girls named Aasta and Amber who would need a different room. She quickly returned to her room. “I just heard Steve making a reservation for tomorrow night,” she said excitedly, “for himself, Sky, Aasta and another girl named Amber. They will have 2 separate rooms.”
“Wow, talk about it being easy pickings,” said Jon, “we just need to find out which rooms.” “I will get that information myself,” said Carole Ann. “Why bother?” said Jud, “I will just check things out here. There it is, ninth floor, rooms 907 and 909. They are arriving at 7pm.” “And we will visit them right after they get settled in,” she said, “one of you can watch the door and let us know exactly when they arrive. I doubt they will arrive promptly, that would be too obvious.”
Day 5 arrives, Jud is in the lobby waiting to see us come in, but he saw no one, so he went to the man behind the desk and asked about us saying he was a good friend. The man said we were there already, we had come in the back door, something Carole Ann had not thought of oddly enough. She was furious and sent her men to the rooms to get us.
They burst their way in, smashing the door, but Rock and Astrid were waiting inside. Rock had a great time tossing those guys around, finally smashing their heads on the corner of the big wood desk in the room. In the other room Engla and Cinnamon were waiting and they took no chances, just shooting the two that came into their room.
Then Rock and his team left and on the way out telling the manager there were too many bodies in those rooms. The police showed up and then went to see Carole Ann since it was known they worked for her. She was furious again at being outsmarted! Day 5 was nice and sunny so we just sat outside in the afternoon enjoying the beauty of the area. Then Jennifer got up, came to me and said that someone was nearby…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
The Investigators, Inc. The Case of Carole Ann’s Return. Chapter 3. The Hideaway.
We made a slight change with our little team, I took Ginnifer with us too, and Snow. Snow was worried about Muffin so wanted to come along too, Ginnifer will look after her. Kat had enough time to make some new backpacks for our 2 new cats coming with us, even though the one for Rascal had to be quite a bit larger, as was his slingshot.
Rascal and Jewel had little time to practice with them, however, but hopefully they will not need to use them anyway. With us safely out of the way, then Baldwin and Mandar began their plans. “Matt,” said Baldwin, “pick who you want to go with you. You can have 2 of the men and 2 of the girls.” “Okay,” he said, thinking things over, “I will take Mac, John, Galyna and Penny, if she is willing to play the part.” Penny smiled. “I will play my part,” she said, “quite happily.”
Apparently that made Matt blush and I am sorry to have missed that. Penny will be playing Matt’s wife on this case and Galyna will be his sister. I wonder if this means Penny has her eyes on Matt? Matt lost his wife in a vehicle accident 10 years ago where her body was burned beyond recognition. She was identified by the jewelry she was wearing.
He had been offered a job in a different part of his country and he declined because his wife did not want to move and uproot their daughter from all her friends. Three days later was when she died. He was then offered the job again and took it. That is where we met him 10 years later and he wanted something better for his daughter so asked us to take her out, but she would not go without him, knowing he would be in trouble if she left.
So, we took them both out and they both are valuable members of our team now, with new identities. Anyway, Matt and his team left to go their way on this case. Just to make sure Carole Ann thinks we are still at home, Crystal, who is a twin to Sky (actually they are cousins but look like twins), is pretending to be Sky right now. Amber looks a lot like Aasta, so she will take her place.
She did have to dye her hair though, since their hair color is much different. It should work unless Carole Ann sees her up close. She might take Amber anyway, however, since she is young and very beautiful too. They have been told how dangerous it is pretending to be Sky and Aasta, but they still volunteered. They only need to do this for a short time though, the longer we can keep her fooled, the harder it will be for her to find us.
Meanwhile, “Yeah, that Aasta dame was in town,” said Freddie, “along with that ghost dame and 4 others. No way I could get close to pick her up by myself.” “That is okay,” said Carole Ann, “she is still there, that is the main thing, and Jeff saw Sky at the house, wandering around by herself outside for a short time this morning. So they feel comfortable at home and figure they do not need bodyguards around. That is perfect! I hope we can pick up both of them at the same time.”
“Any of those gals would be good to have,” said Jeremy, “seems they are all pretty.” “Pretty is one thing,” said Carole Ann, “beauty is another. But we will pick up some others too if we can. Always good to have some extras around.” “Too bad you were not beautiful Carole Ann,” said Jon, “you would be at the top of the chart right away.”
She turned and looked at Jon with so much anger and hate, that if looks could kill, Jon would have died a hundred times over. But she needed him and the others right now so had to hold herself back for a while at least. “Do not press your luck Jon,” she said coldly. “I meant that as a compliment,” he said. “Well, stop complimenting then!” she yelled. She then told everyone to get ready and tomorrow they would strike.
Except when tomorrow came, it was raining and everyone stayed indoors. That infuriated Carole Ann! Then a second day of rain, or mostly anyway. Carole Ann was so angry over this that none of her men wanted to talk to her at all. Meanwhile, where we were the weather was fabulous. But where were we? I did not know, but it was an amazing round about way we took to get here.
And “here” was a beautiful, large log home in the middle of the wilderness. There were no roads into this place, we arrived by helicopter, 2 of them actually. They brought in supplies for us too and would bring more if we had to stay there longer than 2 weeks. Apparently the nearest village was about 300km away, quite a hike. We had no phones, we left them behind so Carole Ann could not use them to track us down.
If we need to communicate we will do so with the cats. Their collars cannot be tracked, though I always thought they were limited by range. But it seems Kat fixed that problem. I hope so anyway. We do need to use a certain satellite to help us which Kat had showed me before. It is quite easy to spot so I showed everyone our first night out there.
“What if it is cloudy?” asked Sky. I just looked at her. Sky likes to ask questions. “Then we wait for a clear night,” I said. “What if it is an emergency?” asked Aasta. She likes to ask questions too. “We will be fine out here anyway,” I said and went back inside. The others followed. Even with the excitement of the day and being in a new place without knowing where we are, we still slept very well…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 