Back here at home things seemed to be quite normal again now that we had stopped Gibson, and apparently Angelica has not found out about that yet. I am sure she will just hire someone else to come after us, but that might take a while. Hopefully anyway. We still have to deal with Reggie, but he seems to have stopped for a while too.

Perhaps Gibson was really pretending to be Reggie after all, even though he denied it. I did not know it right then, but, I soon found out that Reggie was still alive and well. And dangerous. With all that was going on here lately, and the case in Sweden with Astrid and her family, I completely forgot that Reggie had mentioned killing Sky next.

Actually, none of us remembered that, except Muffin. Kat and Rusty were finished with Charly, so now it was time to introduce Sky and myself, with Muffin, to her. Kat had gone in to see Charly first to let her know we were coming and Charly asked Kat if someone could put some lotion on her back. Kat said she would do so after we had met with her.

But she then asked why she needed it. Charly pulled up her top to show Kat her back. The wounds were still not quite healed. “This is what Angelica does to her workers,” said Charly, “if they do not follow orders perfectly.” Kat was angry and sad at the same time. Sky and myself came in shortly after and Charly showed us too.

“You will never get that kind of treatment here,” I said, “we treat each other with respect.” I also told her that we would gladly have her join our team, with a new identity, or we would give her a new identity, money to get her started and take her to any country she wanted to go. She wanted to stay with us. “Here we are a family,” said Sky, “you live in the house with us, everything you need is provided for you, including clothes and whatever else you need.”

“We also train you to be an effective part of our team,” I said, “and we try to protect each other as best we can, but it can be dangerous at times.” “Danger does not bother me,” she said, “it was dangerous with Angelica too. I am kind of young though, will that bother you or anyone else on your team?” “No, that is not important,” said Sky, “I am just 23, Aasta is the youngest member, she is just 18.

So, at 20, you would be the second youngest.” Sky smiled at her. “Thank you all so much,” she said. We talked a bit more, then Bridgette came to get Charly to take a look at her back. She will be staying with Kat for a while until she settles in here with us. The next day Sky, Crystal, Kat and Catalina were outside practicing their fighting techniques.

I had been watching but came back inside, just in time for fresh donuts. Baldwin and Mandar were already eating some, naturally. Charly was helping Annelie making them. I sat down with some fresh coffee and a donut when Muffin came into the kitchen too. Meow,meow?=Where is human Sky? “She is outside practicing,” I told her.

Meow,meow!=EEEK! You not remember bad man say he kill human Sky next?! I was outside so fast…but not quite fast enough. Sky was on the ground, Crystal and Catalina crouched with guns ready and Kat walking toward the fence. I pressed my alarm, Code Red A2, it blared throughout the house. “What does that mean?” asked Charly. “It means that Sky is down,” said Annelie, “she has been shot.”

Everyone was rushing outside with guns. “Should I go too?” Charly asked again. “Not this time, young lady,” said Mandar kindly, “this is for the others to resolve.” Kat kept walking and Reggie kept trying to shoot her, without success, his gun just would not work against her.

The cats had scattered outside and suddenly Rusty and Ginger jumped on Reggie’s back, causing him to stand up screaming. By this time Kat was over the fence and kicked him hard in the stomach. He fell over and the cats jumped off.

Kat wanted to finish him off right there, but she knew it would be better to keep him alive, for now. Mac and Malcolm arrived and brought him inside. I had already carried Sky to the car and Crystal, Galyna and Bridgette drove us to the clinic. I already knew what Li Jing was going to say…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.