Back home with Matt, Mac and the girls, there had been a knock at the door. ”Now you 4 will get what is coming to you,” sneered Layne, “those are my friends out there.” ”You are a fool,” said Matt, then he opened the door, standing behind it. ”Say the wrong thing and I will shoot you through that fat neck of yours,” said Aoife to Layne. ”Come in,” said Cinnamon nicely. 

“What is this?” asked the man. Matt shut the door and Cinnamon put her gun to the man’s head. Then Mac searched him, relieving him of 2 guns and a knife. ”Who are you?” asked Matt. ”Who wants to know?” asked the man sarcastically. Mac punched him in the stomach, then Cinnamon kicked him on the side of his head, knocking the man against the wall. 

Mac picked him up and tossed him onto a chair. ”Wrong answer,” said Mac. ”We have a rather fun game going,” said Matt, “I ask questions, you men answer correctly, or you feel pain. And the pain keeps getting worse as we go along.” Then Cinnamon handed a note to Matt. ”So, it seems you have been trying to lie,” said Matt, “no one lies to Colonel Kuznetsova! Now, I want truth, or you all die!” 

Mac went over to Layne and tied him to his wood chair, then he pulled his head back and held his eyelids open. ”Is that brandy in that glass?” asked Matt. ”Yep, it sure is,” said Aoife. ”Good, it will sting the eyes for a bit,” he said, ”but I have heard it can also leave a man blind afterward. We shall see if that is true.” ”No, no!” yelled Layne, “I never lied about anything.” 

“Then why is there no little cabin when you said there is one?” asked Matt. ”That was Lance that told about the cabin, not me!” he pleaded. ”Oh, yes, that is true,” said Matt, “move over to Lance.” Mac went over and did the same thing to Lance. Cinnamon whispered in Lance’s ear, “do as you are told and I promise you will not get hurt.” 

“Look, I was never out there,” pleaded Lance, “Layne was there last year, he told me about that other cabin. And Lauren was there at that time too, I think Layne is just trying to save his skin and get me killed so I will be out of the way. He wants the inheritance all to himself.” ”Now we are to play your game, going back and forth?” asked Matt, “I am out of patience with you two. 

But wait, perhaps we should allow our new visitor to play our game too, maybe he will like to live by telling us true stories. Where is Lauren staying in Paris?” ”I have no idea,” he said, “I do not work for her, I work for these two. But Layne did mention a small cabin he was at last summer, I do not know where it is though. He said Lauren told him not to tell anyone or he would be killed. Lauren is a killer with no conscience.” 

“What part do you play with these two fools?” asked Matt. ”I am setting things up to attack those PI’s outside of town tonight,” he said, “they want their sister Macie who works with them, apparently she is worth a lot to Lauren.” ”This Macie must be very beautiful then,” said Matt, “or Lauren would not be interested.” ”Yeah, she sure is a beauty!” said the man. 

“If I tell you where to find Lauren,” said Lance, “will you let me go?” ”Yes,” replied Cinnamon, “I will promise you that.” So he gave the address, which was transmitted directly to Mandar who then took his Teams 3 and 4 to that address. Matt and his team left quickly, taking the other men’s phones and disconnecting the hotel phone so they could not call Lauren. 

They left but did not notice another car in the dark with 2 men in it. There was a shot inside, then Layne and the other man came out and went to the car. He borrowed one of their phones and called Lauren right away to warn her. ”So, these Russians killed your brother because he talked,” she said, “and they let you go because you did not talk, am I right?” 

“Yeah, right,” said Layne, “they never got a thing from me.” ”Let me talk with Viper,” she said, “Viper, kill them both.” There were two more shots, then the men in the car left. Meanwhile, Rock had called me to tell me more about Chantelle. 

“I was talking with Kerstina,” I said, “we need Chantelle to look after our injured girls, and I have had second thoughts, I cannot believe that she is betraying us, but someone is making it look like she is. Put her back on active duty, but watch her somewhat. 

Someone must be a traitor though, or the cats would have noticed an intruder.” Rock agreed, which meant watching everyone. Rock told me they had found no evidence of a cabin out back anywhere. I let him know the brothers had been dealt with, so Aari should be relieved with that news. 

What we did not know was that the coordinated attack against us would happen anyway. Lauren wants Aasta, she is worth millions to her, in more ways than one. I did take extra precautions though and took Muffin and Snow into the bedroom with Aasta and myself…

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.