The guys returned after putting Finkle on the bus bound for London. “He sure was a nervous fella,” said Miles, “he kept pleading with us not to kill him.” “Must admit, it was hard not to kill him,” said John, “I do not trust him at all.” “Neither do I,” I admitted, “but he is not really much of a threat to us anyway.” “Especially now,” said Mac, “we let him go rather quickly, that Ronja woman will think he talked to save his life. He will not last long.”

“True,” added Hawk, “that is how it works in those organizations. They do not like it when someone talks.” “Well, he did not help us much,” I said, “we know the leader is a woman named Ronja Erikson.” Right then Engla returned with something she had written down and she handed it to me. “Does any of that make sense?” she asked me.

“No, not at all,” I said, “unless…Aari, come here and take a look at this.” He arrived shortly, he had been in his room with Aasta. “Look at this Aari,” I said, “does this make sense to you?” He took the paper and looked at it briefly. “It would if it was all here,” he replied, “this is written in a type of code that criminal organizations often use, even in our tech world.”

“I know more of it,” said Engla, “it would just take me a while to write it all down. Before my family died in the house fire, my father gave me a small book and told me to memorize it. I have always been good at memorizing, so I did it in 3 days.

Then my dad took it and hid it somewhere where he said it would be safe, along with something else, but he never told me what else was hidden with the book. He did tell me that one day that book could save my life and help me in other ways too.” “What do you think Aari, worthwhile to find out more?” I asked him. “Most definitely,” he replied, “write down as much as you can remember Engla.”

“Tracy, Aasta and Kristina, stay with her,” I said, “you are now her bodyguards until she is finished.” Off they went and Engla began writing quickly, stopping briefly whenever she got stuck on something. “Seems to me all that information would be obsolete by now,” said Rock, “and it would be worthless. Would they not just change everything right away when that book disappeared?”

“Some of it may be no good,” said Aari, “some will still be important to them, otherwise they would not still be looking for it. It is a lot of work to change everything, and since it was one of their own people that stole it, and not the police, then they would not be so quick to change things.” “I hope Engla can remember a lot,” said Mac, “it will help us.”

“Definitely,” I said, “but the most important thing might be whatever else he hid with that book. Hopefully we can find it before that organization does. Now, please excuse me everyone, I am in a lot of pain and must lie down.” Kat and Dawn took me to my bedroom. “I do not like that,” said Mandar, “Steve has not mentioned being in such pain before now.”

“True,” said Galyna, “I will call Li Jing and let her know.” Meanwhile, back to me. “Kat, call Beryan to come and massage my back please,” I said. Then I began groaning in pain. Beryan arrived very quickly and began with my massage right away. Then Galyna showed up. “Steve, Li Jing said she told you to spend just short periods in the wheelchair and lie down in between,” she said scolding me.

Kat knelt down beside the bed. “Is that true Steve?” she asked, “Why did you not tell us?” “I am already a big burden on everyone,” I said, “constantly taking me back and forth, in and out of the wheelchair, getting me comfortable lying down, which I know is not easy for you both. And you do so much more besides.” “Did you ever hear us complain Steve?” asked Dawn, “We have a big team, we could always take turns if it was a problem, but it is not a problem.”

“I agree with Dawn,” said Kat, “you need to be careful so you can heal properly and return to the active list soon.” Meow,meow.=Yes, you listen to human ghost Kat, me agree with her too and me agree with human Dawn too. I stay with you until you get better again, I put myself on inactive list until you better again.

“You cannot do that Muffin,” I said, “only Nelson and Rock can put you on the inactive list.” Meow,meow.=They do that already, I tell them it necessary so I can help you get better faster. She then began to purr next to me. Meanwhile… “Ronja, Finkle has returned,” said Wayne. “They let him go?” she asked, “He must have talked. You know what to do…”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.