For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
“You are a good security man Bouncer,” I said, “I was glad to have you on our team, especially since you were Rock’s brother. You must have been paid a lot to betray your own brother like that, and us as well. You were on those missing portions, caught fooling with our security system, hoping that would lead to my death. It did not work though.”
He was planning to jump through the big window, forgetting that it is bullet proof glass, but Rock grabbed him and the fight was on. Bouncer is actually just a bit bigger than Rock even though he is younger, but I am sure that Rock is stronger. However, Bouncer was getting the best of Rock. I am sure Rock was not trying as hard as he could, it had to be difficult for him to fight his younger brother like that, knowing he had betrayed us.
Those two were quite close while they were growing up. It was hard for me to watch. Finally Bouncer smashed Rock’s head against Baldwin’s big oak desk, and Rock was down. ”Take him Kat,” I said. ”With pleasure Steve,” she said. I could tell she was burning with anger right now, I have seen that look in her before, years ago.
But the cats were afraid for their human ghost Kat, and they positioned themselves in different parts of the room, all 8 of them. Suddenly those slingshots were in motion, just as Bouncer was ready to grab Kat. One by one those steel balls hit his head, his legs crumpled and he fell to the floor, dead. Unfortunately Tandi is not as accurate as the other cats and her ball hit Bouncer’s shoulder and it ricocheted right at me.
The speed it was coming could still have killed me had it hit my head, but Aasta spotted it and jumped in the way just in time. Her lifeless body fell limp to the floor. Poor Sky, she screamed and bent over Aasta, crying hard. ”Please, don’t die Aasta,” she pleaded, “I need you, please fight, please!” I know why Sky was having such a particularly bad time with this. She is thinking about how badly she was teasing Aasta just a short time ago. I picked up Aasta and carried her out to a car which Mac had gotten ready.
He moves fast when he wants to. Kat and Dawn came along too. Amber, Galyna, Crystal, and Kristina took Sky in another car and followed us to the clinic. I did not hold out much hope for Aasta though, but I sure prayed she would live. It seemed to take hours to get to the clinic, even though it is only about 15 minutes and Mac told me after that he got us there in just 7 minutes. I did not know he could drive like that.
He was going to take Aasta from me, but I said no. The others surrounded me as I carried Aasta in to Dr. Kerstina and Li Jing. No one said anything except to tell the doctors what had happened. An emergency operation was in progress right away. Annelie had already called ahead so they had everything ready by the time we arrived. Sky and myself sat together in the waiting room, I am not sure which of us was crying the most.
I was already thinking to myself that if Aasta dies, I would shut down The Investigators. Then I would spend whatever time it took to track down this enemy of ours who had dared to come into our midst to cause death and misery to us all. Aari arrived in a few minutes with Alfred, John and Clarence. He had already lost his wife, a daughter and a son. He still has two sons who have followed a criminal path.
Aasta is his youngest child, just 18, and the only one of his children who wanted to stay on the right side of the law and join our team. Aari was so happy about that. He came over and sat beside me. ”No matter what happens Steve,” he said, “I am so glad she joined your team and that you were willing to help her like you did. She always looked up to you as her hero.” He then broke down crying.
I sure do not feel much like a hero right now. Her big hero forced her to give up her life, just so I could live a bit longer. Who came up with that stupidity? Me, that’s who. I owe Candace an apology. She was right. I am a stupid fool. Maybe I should have all the girls come up to me each day for a month and say “You are a stupid fool, Steve.”
Instead of saying “I love you Steve.” How can they love me when I use them to shield me? How can I say I love them when I do such things to them? Major will likely think… Major. That is it! That is who has the patience and money to infiltrate Baldwin Corp., and The Investigators, a plan that also requires intelligence and planning. I should have thought about that before…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
Good morning everyone! Well, here we are at the end of another year, almost anyway, still one more day to go. A lot of different things happened this year, some good, some not so good. It actually began with problems happening back in January and kept going right up to this month. There we have it, my year end report.
These are always tough to write. Well, let me see, back in January the government wanted some paperwork from me that I did not have, so, I had to contact another part of the government to get that paperwork. They had never heard of it. Naturally.

Some Red Pines covered in frost.
In the end I got what I wanted, after dictating to them what to say on the paperwork. Sigh. That took nearly 3 hours on the phone. Then I sent it in but somehow it got lost. That produced worse problems, but it did finally get sorted out. Sigh. Then my brother died, he and I were very close. That was back in April.
Then Muffin lost 2 friends that month also, Mila from Italy, my friend Rossana’s cat. Then Mr. Cat (MC in my mystery story series) died that month also. Writing his death into my mystery story was hard. Mr. Cat had been part of the story since near the beginning. Steve, Muffin and Mr. Cat were the main characters in that story for a long time before others began to be added.

Frosty trees against the blue sky.
Through much paperwork again I finally got my pension started in July. Then in August I found out that I would be moving. I only had 4 weeks to get things packed, which considering all the stuff I have, is just not enough time. Especially since a lot of my collections are quite fragile, so they need to be packed well. Still did not help one box where nearly everything ended up broken, including family heirlooms. Sigh.
I should not have put all those items in the same box. Lesson learned, but too late. I really like this new apartment though, however, it does have its drawbacks too. But that is normal. Unfortunately all of my hobbies stopped when I moved here, so that has been a bit of a challenge.

Frosty trees by the river.
Okay, a big challenge, since it makes it hard to find something to write about. Which is why I do not write as much as I used to do. But maybe that will change again in the New Year. Then the last brother died just before Christmas, which kind of put a damper on Christmas this year. Just one more day to go, then we begin 2024.

More frosty trees and grasses by the river.
I wonder what the year will bring us? Have to wait and see. I went out yesterday while the sun was shining and took some pictures of the beautiful frosty trees. Those days of ice fog really put a thick layer of frost on everything, including the grass. So I am sharing just a few of those pictures today. More will be coming. Have a great weekend everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.