Carine waited for a while after calling us, but watching Benson lying there on the ground she finally could not stay hidden any longer and there had not been any more shooting, so she felt safe. She then rushed to be with Benson just as Kat and her team came out the back door of the hotel. They were just in time to see Carine get shot too.

Both Astrid and Aoife were in position amazingly fast, but too late. They just saw a glimpse of Crook going over the hill. “We missed him,” said Astrid. “Maybe not,” said Kat, “back to the car and we will see if we can catch him. Mac said he would stay behind until ambulances arrived, as well as the rest of us. I came running out the back door and over to Carine.

“She will be okay Steve,” said Mac, “but Benson is dead. Now Crook will be on his way to meet with Craig to get the rest of his pay.” “Then we need to be there when he does,” I said, “but which restaurant will he be at?” “The other one,” said Mac. I knew what he meant, he was at one restaurant earlier, now he will be at the other one. He figures it will be safer that way, but not this time Craig.

The ambulances arrived just then and the rest of us went off to the restaurants quickly. Kat and the girls joined us since they did not find Crook anywhere. We split up, some at each restaurant, just in case. “That is him,” said Mac. I was not going to question Mac on this one, so we waited for him to go inside. “I wonder if Craig will be there in person,” I said, “perhaps Williams will pay him.”

“Not for this one,” said Mac, “this is too important and is likely costing him a lot of money.” We waited for a couple of minutes and then we proceeded to go inside. But before we got to the door one of Craig’s men spotted us through the window. “Here they come,” he said to Craig. Both Craig and Crook went underground right away. Williams and a couple of others stayed behind, after all, they had nothing to worry about.

We came rushing in. “Looking for someone?” asked Williams casually. “The basement,” I said. Mac, Rock, Andrej, Kat, Astrid and Catalina went down right away, as did I. We looked around but no one was there. Meow!=Hidden door here! Rock quickly smashed it open, but we were much too late. Nonetheless the guys followed the tunnel which led to an office building across the street.

But Craig and Crook were heading down the lane in their car. Suddenly Kat came out, standing in front of them and began shooting. They had bullet proof glass in that car, so she aimed for the engine, but the car kept going a short distance, right over Kat! They stopped and jumped out, stealing a car from a young man who had just parked his car. They knocked him out, took his keys and off they went, with Kat shooting at them again.

“How can she still be alive?” asked Butch, “I ran her down, a solid hit!” “Forget her and keep driving!” he yelled out. However, even Craig was wondering how she could have survived that since she would have been hit rather hard by their car. “I need that Kat woman working for me,” he said quietly. “What was that boss?” asked Butch.

“Never mind, just keep this car moving!” Craig yelled again. “Need more proof that I was successful?” asked Crook. “No, here is the rest of your pay,” he said, “but I want you to stick around for a couple of days, I may need your services again if that woman does not surrender right away.” “You are paying,” he said, “so I will stay 2 extra days. No more work by then and I am gone.”

“Fine, I will get you a room at a hotel,” said Craig. “Nope, I get my own place,” he said, “I do not like people knowing where to find me.” “Okay, here is some money,” said Craig, “go where you want.” They let him off a few streets away, then they went off to their hotel. Both Mac and Miles were confident that Crook would stick around for a while, just in case Craig needed him again.

“Let Miles and me look for him,” asked Mac, “we know where to look for a guy like that.” I thought about it for a moment, then said they could go. “How did you manage to survive that car?” I asked Kat. “I just moved out of the way,” she said casually. “It did not look like that to me,” I said, looking right at her.

“Well, that is my story and I am staying with it,” she said smiling. Sky, Kat and myself, along with Snow, went to see Carine at the clinic. Galyna was there too, I had asked her to tell Carine about Benson. Meanwhile, there was a knock at the door. Crook opened it. “Remember me Crook?”…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.