Finally back at the van, they had brought the one with a bed for me and Beryan began to massage my back right away. ”You are not allowed to visit the clinic tonight,” said Beryan, “Sky said she wants to sleep, so you have to stay home. She ordered me to stay with you and massage your back all night if necessary. And I plan to obey that order, so no arguing.” 

She had a very scolding sound to her voice. ”Hmm, talking like that to your leader, especially in front of other team members,” I began, “could lead to one month of inactive duty.” ”But, but, I am under orders from Sky,” she pleaded. ”But Steve is the senior leader,” said Kat, “so that makes things worse.” ”Yeah, like yelling at Steve,” said Dawn, “although that would be even longer inactive duty.” 

“Well, which of us girls would be stupid enough to yell at Steve?” asked Beryan. ”I am sure it could happen,” said Mac, “what do you think Aasta?” ”Um, yeah, I guess it could happen,” she said quietly with her head down. ”What is wrong Aasta?” asked Beryan. ”Oh, um, guess I am just a bit tired,” she said, still quietly. 

“That makes sense,” I said, “it was not an easy couple of days. Aasta and Kat had to literally carry me much of that time, and with no food and little sleep, that can take a lot out of a person.” ”Yeah, it can,” said Aasta, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Kat wiped them away for her. ”We all feel tired Aasta,” she said. ”You sure do not look tired Kat,” said Dawn. ”I just do not show it easily,” she said, “I have been at this a lot longer than the rest of you.” ”True,” replied Dawn. 

Meanwhile, back at the cabin. ”Hey, maybe there is another entrance up in that room on the third floor,” said Astrid. So the guys went up with the cats to look around. Astrid was right, there had to be a way to get in and out of there without being seen, they just needed to find out how. After an hour 3 of the girls went up to help as well. 

Ginger was with Roxette in one corner of the room and Ginger began sniffing around an old trunk that was sitting right in the corner. Roxette tried to move it but was unable to, so she called John over to help. John was going to show off his strength to Roxette, but he too was unable to move the trunk. Miles then came over to help, but even with the two of them that trunk would not move even a tiny bit. 

Storm then came over to unlock it so they could empty the trunk, but he saw that the inside of the lock was filled with something hard, making it impossible to unlock. Meowsy.=Me see button by door frame. Roxette pushed it and the front of the trunk opened. There was a ladder going down a narrow passageway. 

“They have likely been alerted to the fact the door has been opened,” said Alfred, “it would be too dangerous to go down there now.” Roxette pushed the button again and the front of the trunk closed again. Well, they found the other entrance, but what good does it do them? Going down there they would be killed easily, one by one, so that is not an option. 

There were some heavy boxes of books, so the guys put those in front of the trunk. ”That should make it harder for them,” said Rock. ”Yeah, but it still does not help us,” said John. ”Maybe it does,” said Rock, “go back down to that safe and keep looking around. We know there is something in there that is valuable, we just need to fight out what it is. 

There is not enough gold and silver for Lauren to worry much about, she likely has a lot more than that at her disposal elsewhere.” So they went back down to the safe to keep looking and the cats went with them. Storm then alerted them to something else. He found a hidden door in the wall next to the cabin wall. ”Look at that,” said Alfred, “how did we miss that before.” 

It was all log walls down there and a definite shape of a door in those logs, but no way to open it. ”We were too busy with the excitement of finding this safe,” said Miles, “so we did not notice anything else. Now we just have to find out how to open it.” Meowr.=Maybe get human Roxette to help. Meowsy.=Hey, me that find button for door. Then she flapped her tail across Storm’s face. The guys laughed. 

“Did someone mention my name down here?” asked Roxette. Meowsy.=They need me and you to find way of open new door. ”Oh good,” said Roxette, “we make a good team, and these guys need all the help they can get.” ”Fine, we will go get some coffee while you look for a while,” said John. Then the guys came upstairs. 

Alfred got his coffee and went back downstairs right away with Storm. Meow!!=Danger downstairs!! John, Miles and Rock went almost jumping down that ladder. John grabbed one man while Miles grabbed another. Rock grabbed a third, smashing his head against the log wall. ”Thwock!” and Storm had another man down in the safe. He had dragged Roxette in there after stabbing her and Ginger…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.