Miles and John searched Dolph for weapons and he had a small gun, plus two knives which they took from him. “Now Dolph,” said Aari, “where can we find your brother Cenn?” “I do not know,” he grumbled, “and I do not care about that garbage.” Miles, who was sitting on one side of Dolph, punched him hard in the stomach. “You answer Mr. Holmstrom nice like,” said Miles.

John was on the other side of Dolph, Rock was sitting next to Aari right across from Dolph. “You will need to learn some manners Dolph,” said John, “or this will be a very long night for you.” He then told them where to look for Cenn. They went over there and parked. It was a more likely place to find someone like Cenn. Aasta and Sapphire stayed in the car to watch Dolph while the others went inside looking for Cenn.

It was not hard to find him sitting at a table with 4 other men. They went over to the table and stood watching for a bit. Then a man came over with two others. “Is there a problem?” he asked Aari. “I am taking Cenn off your hands for a while,” he said, and then he told Cenn to stand up and come with them. The man grabbed Aari by the arm.

“I think you and your friends better leave, now.” he said. “When I am ready,” said Aari. Right then Rock picked up the two guards, banged their heads together and tossed them aside. The other brought out guns and watched the room carefully. “Now,” said Aari to Cenn, “I do not like to wait and you would not like it either.” So Cenn got up and went with them.

They also took the ‘manager’ along out to the car, then told him to get back inside so he did not get hurt. He left in a hurry and made a phone call. “I do not know who they are Sir,” he said, “but the head guy is a Mr. Holmstrom.” “Get back to work,” said Sir, “I will deal with them.” He then hung up and slammed his fist on the desk. “Find out who this Mr. Holmstrom is,” he shouted, and Alexander, get over and take Dolph’s place, permanently.

And if he comes back, deal with him, permanently, but do not tell me how you did it.” “Right, Sir,” he said and off he went. Meanwhile, back to us at home. Kat had brought picture in with her and then left again. Meow.=That human Kat, she is ghost, no one can kill her, lots tried but not work. “She is a ghost?” asked Charly, “but I do not believe in ghosts.”

Meow?=She is ghost for sure, why else guns not work when pointed at her? “I, I still do not believe in ghosts,” she said rather hesitatingly. Meow.=You not believe in talking cats too, but you here talking with me. Please talk with human Kat ghost. She say same thing, we protect you, and parents too, you see. He kept purring and curled up on her lap. That is when Kat came in again.

“Now Charly, this Angelica must have something over you to make you work for her,” said Kat, “am I right?” “Yes,” answered Charly with her head down, “but…I cannot tell you more.” “I could ask Rusty,” she said, “as a member of our team, he has to answer questions too.” Meow.=Yep, that true, or I get kick off from team and go to live in alleys. Not like to be alley cat. Charly looked down at Rusty.

“I would not like you to be an alley cat either Rusty,” she said sighing, “okay, Rusty said you would help me. Angelica said she would kill my parents if I did not obey her. I love my parents, I really do, and I do not want to hurt them, or let Angelica hurt them.” “This is going to be hard for you,” said Kat softly, “but I need you to look at these pictures and see if you know these people.”

She then showed the pics of a man and woman to Charly. That was too much for Charly and she broke down sobbing and crying so loudly she could be heard down the hall. “Th, those are my…parents,” she finally said, “I know those are morgue photos, that means they are dead.” She looked up at Kat. “Do you know when they died?” she asked.

“Fourteen months ago,” said Kat, “they were both found at home and both were shot in the head.” “All this time,” said Charly, “all this time. I could only communicate by email and dad always answered, but it was not him at all. Please help me Kat, please help me. I want out from under Angelica, I really do!” Then she continued crying.

Meow.=Me want to hurt Angelica person, permamently like. “Now Rusty, careful what you say,” said Kat, “but I feel the same way.” Then she turned to Charly, “If you honestly want help, then we are very willing to help you. We will keep you here with us for now, and if you want to join us, we might be able to do that too.”

“Angelica will find me and kill me,” said Charly sighing, “I, I…” “Forget about Angelica,” said Kat, “we will deal with her. Now, who works for her besides Gibson?” “He is the only outsider working for her right now,” she said, “all others are women, she hates men terribly. I am not sure why she hates your Steve though, but she talks like she knows him.”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.