We were riding in the back of a small delivery truck of some kind, there was one guard with us, I could not see anything up front in the cab of the truck. Oddly enough, we were not tied up at all, which turned out to be a good thing. Kat called the cats over, but silently so our guard would not hear. I am not quite sure how she does that, but right now I am not going to question her. 

Then she whispered to Aasta and I to hold onto her because the truck is going to have an accident. Suddenly the truck began weaving back and forth on the road, knocking our guard against the wall and he was out completely. Finally the truck rolled over and down a steep part of a hill. Fortunately the truck only rolled once, completely, then slid until hitting a large rock and coming to a stop. 

The big door on the back of the truck was smashed open and we decided to leave right away. Kat took the guard’s gun, then we took the guns from the other men as well, plus their money. It was dark, but we headed away from the road and into the forest and began climbing up the side of a mountain. 

We tried to move quickly since we knew they would come looking for that truck sooner or later and we wanted to be far away from there when they did return. We kept climbing upward and I was starting to have a hard time with that steady climbing. ”How are you doing Steve?” asked Kat. ”Fine, Kat,” I replied, “no need to worry about me.” Aasta heard a noise and turned to look. 

“Kat, stop!” she exclaimed, “Steve fell.” ”I tripped over a tree root,” I said. ”There is no tree root, or anything else sticking out of the ground,” said Aasta. ”We will stop here for a brief rest,” said Kat, “but we cannot stay long, we are not far enough away from that accident scene. They will check on it.” ”Yeah, I know,” I said, “how come we did not fly around the back of that truck like the guard did?” 

“Because you were holding onto me,” said Kat smiling. ”I realize that, but it does not answer my question,” I said, and how did you know we were going to have an accident?” ”Well, we were driving fast,” she said, “and on that winding, twisting road, I figured we might have an accident.” ”Right at that precise moment?” I asked, “You are not telling me everything Kat.” 

“Yeah, I would like to know about that too,” she said, “um, not that it’s really any of my business.” “Okay, we need to go now,” said Kat, “Aasta and I will hold onto you for a while.” So, I put my arms around them and off we went. Meanwhile, back at the cabin. ”How could they get at them to kidnap them?” asked Dawn, “by my count there were 17 of them, plus 3 cats, how did Lauren get past everyone?” 

“Mr. B figured that since Steve and Aasta were safely locked in his bedroom, with the 3 cats,” Rock began, “then he called everyone else into the library and he sealed it off to keep everyone safe. Then they could hit back at Lauren on their terms instead of her terms. But apparently the electronic lock on Steve’s door didn’t work.” 

“Then it should have triggered an alarm to let Steve know it was not working,” said Miles, “that would have given him lots of time to get into the safe room.” ”Yep, that is true,” said Rock, “but something happened, we just do not know what. Perhaps Lauren’s gang moved too quickly. But that alarm did not work either.” 

“Something wrong with all that,” said Miles, “I put that alarm in place myself, and I know it was working, I check it every other day.” ”Uh, maybe you guys could talk a bit more quietly,” said Chantelle, “Sky just might be able to hear you and that kind of news would not be helpful for her right now.” ”Oh, yeah, guess you are right,” said Rock, “I do have a loud voice.” 

Then they heard a shot from downstairs in the cabin. ”Clarence is still down there!” said John as he ran for the secret door, followed quickly by the others. While they were down with Clarence, the girls were standing looking at the fireplace with that door. ”Please do not move, or make a sound,” said a man’s voice…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.