Finally Sky came back to the bedroom. ”Oh my,” she said, “was I gone that long?” ”What? No, wait Sky,” said Aasta nervously, “I can explain this, really.” ”Good, I am listening,” said Sky. ”Steve was in shock,” she explained, “and this is what Dr. Kerstina told us to do when that happens. It, it is part of our first aid course. Honest. Please.” 

“That is true Sky,” I said. Sky just smiled. ”Don’t look so worried Aasta,” said Sky, “am I really such a tyrant that you are so afraid of me?” ”NO, I mean, no, definitely not a tyrant,” she said, still wide-eyed, “you are too nice for that.” ”Flattery does not work on me,” said Sky. ”No, this is not flattery,” said poor Aasta, nearly in tears, “I was just telling the truth.” 

“Come here Aasta,” said Sky and Aasta was standing in front of her amazingly fast. Then Sky hugged her and thanked her for helping me. ”I did tell you to look after Steve,” she said, “and I meant that, if you had not done that I would stand on you and flatten you like a mushroom.” Aasta was so relieved. But when Sky mentioned mushrooms and standing on them, it finally hit me, I knew who did the switch. 

There is only one person on our team that knows mushrooms better than anyone else here, and that person has access to our food supply. I told Sky and Aasta what I thought. Sky was in a rage right away. ”Hold it Sky,” I said, “I want to find out if this is a one person operation, or if others are involved. Our enemy, whoever it is, has been very patient and planted someone in our team, but maybe there are others. 

We have to find out. Aasta…” ”What? Me?” she gasped, “I would never turn against you, never. I already told you that.” ”It is okay Aasta,” I said, “I was not thinking of you, I know you are loyal. But, you and the girls talk a lot together, have you noticed anything different in any of the girls, no matter who it is?” ”We do talk a lot Steve,” she said, “but I think all of the girls are loyal, no one has ever done or said anything to make me suspicious. I would have told Sky or you if I had noticed.” 

“Sky, is Mac still here?” I asked. ”Yes, he is,” she said, “do you want me to get him?” ”Yes, please,” I said. She was back quickly with Mac. ”Mac, have you noticed anything different with any of the guys lately?” I asked. ”Um, yeah, but you will not like the answer Steve,” he said. ”I probably will not, but tell me anyway,” I told him. The first man he mentioned was the same man I had been thinking of, but the second man was definitely a shock. 

I did not know what to think now, this could really cause some big problems. But, I need to deal with it quickly before the problem gets any worse. I know how Baldwin felt when he found out what was happening in his organization. Being the leader is not always an easy job. Mac also said the second shot came from beside him. That is all I needed to hear. 

I asked Mac to get Matt and Rock. He went immediately to do so. Then I told Sky to get Kristina, Kat, Crystal, Dawn, Amber and Kera. They all assembled in our bedroom and I told them what was going on. Poor Rock, for a big tough man, he can be gentle, sensitive and caring too. This really bothered him a lot. 

We all went downstairs, Dawn and Aasta would be my bodyguards this time, Crystal would look after Sky if necessary. I called everyone together for a meeting. ”Steve,” said Baldwin, “the guys and I were just about to head home.” ”You can sleep later,” I said, “this is more important.” Meow?=What is more important than sleeping? Meowr.=Me say so too. Muffin told them both to hush. 

I had to laugh when she did that. But, back to our plan to catch traitors. ”Did you find anything yet on our security films?” I asked Matt. ”No, but several portions were missing, which is kind of odd,” he said, “it was a seamless change though, very well done, only thing that alerted me was the change in sunlight through the windows, it was just a bit off suddenly. Someone knew what they were doing.” 

“Too bad, that means we are sunk,” I said. ”Not really Steve,” said Annelie, “I was able to retrieve the missing portions.” ”Good, I will get back to you in a moment,” I told her, “Sten, check out these mushrooms and let me know if they are okay.” I handed them to Kera to show him, but before she got to him replied. ”Those are the poisonous mushrooms,” he said confidently. 

“Good eyes,” I said, “and you know that because you removed all the good mushrooms and only left the poison ones.” The look on his face when I said that, we got him. He pulled his gun but Sky beat him to it and shot. She got him in the heart and he fell, dead… 

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.