The girls had the door closed quickly and had brought Kari inside. The bullet had gone through her arm but had not touched the bone, remarkably. She still requested to talk with me before going to the clinic. I came out and told Crystal to get some of Team 7 ready to take Kari to the clinic after we talk. ”Providing we can slow down that bleeding,” I said. 

“No, no, please do not send me with Team 7 girls, please!” she pleaded through tears. ”Why, what is wrong?” I asked. ”Can we talk alone, please,” she said. ”Okay, but Sky comes too,” I said. She said that would be okay. So we went to one of the empty main floor rooms to talk. ”I want out of Team 7,” said Kari, “please, help me get out. I know you helped Candace, please help me too. 

If I go back now, well, oh, you do not know what will happen to me.” Then she began telling us things and what she would have to go through for punishment because she talked with me. She also mentioned that Pamela owned the modeling agency that Candace had applied through for a job, modeling clothes. But when Pamela found out, she was sent to the porn section to “model” there instead. 

“Candace is very pretty, and, well, you know,” she continued, “and this is what Pamela had in store for Candace when she ran away after finding out what she had to do. But then the call came to come over here, so she had a little extra time. That is why she was so upset and angry with you that morning, it was not you, it was Pamela and what she knew was going to happen to her.” 

She kept telling us different things and I looked at Sky, she was ready to explode and kill Pamela herself. ”Do you know Pamela’s last name?” I asked Kari. ”Well, Pamela is her middle name, her last name is Winters. Her first name is sort of odd and she said she always hated it, especially after finding out her dad had named her. She hates her dad terribly. Anyway, her first name is Lorenda.” 

That was too much for Sky. ”I will kill her!!” she yelled, “And I do not need a gun to do it either!” She got up to go, but I grabbed her arm. ”Hold it, please,” I said, “I want more information if possible, I do not believe Lorenda is working alone. I want to find out who is with her in this.” ”You know her?” asked Kari. ”Yes, I knew her 12 years ago,” I said, “she was 12 at the time.” 

“Yeah, that was when her dad abused her,” said Kari, “and she has been angry with men ever since. And she teaches us to hate men also and never to trust men.” Then she told us some of the things they need to say every morning during their exercise time, and if they do not, they are punished severely. Candace told us some ways she was punished too. Lorenda is an evil woman. 

Kari said there was another woman that worked with Lorenda at her modeling agency. We will have to visit that place and close it down, permanently. She did say there was one other girl that wanted out of Team 7 as well, but she was too scared to come to the house. Kari said her name was Amandine. We will get her out, right away. I told Sky to get some girls and go get Amandine. She left right away. 

Kari told her what she looked like, in case she was afraid to admit who she was. Sky was smart though and went in telling Amandine that Pamela wanted to see her, so she got up right away and came along. Once outside away from the other girls Sky told her why she came to get her. We put her in the room with Kari and I sent Kristina, Astrid and Kera to guard them. 

Then we went into the library where Lorenda was already telling Baldwin and Mandar all about me. The rest of my team came along to the library as well, I had requested that they be present for this. ”Hi Lorenda,” I said calmly. She turned to me and screamed not to ever call her that horrible name. 

Then she continued screaming at me with accusations which were not true and I just told her plainly she was lying and she knew that. Finally she screamed loudly that she hated me for refusing to do what she wanted me to do And she yelled that even though what she claimed happened was actually a lie, that it would still destroy me and The Investigators. Then we all heard a shot…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.