Well, everyone that was wounded is now safely in the clinic, the rest of us are having a meeting to plan our next move. Now we have Morgan and Craig to worry about. Or are they working together to try and split our resources and make it harder for us to fight back? Right now we need to find Craig and his men, they must be somewhere in the city, but that does not make things easier, it is a large city and he is not likely staying in an area where we can find him easily.

Annelie is checking with her “helpers” right now to see if they have heard anything. “Well Andrej,” I said, “are you thinking that perhaps you made the wrong choice in joining us?” “No, not at all,” he said, “yes, I would prefer that Sapphire was not in the hospital, but she is alive, and we both want to help get rid of people like this Craig.

They do so much damage to so many lives. We made the right choice and we will stay with you.” “Good, I am glad to hear that,” I said smiling, “now we need to give you a new identity like we did with your daughter.” “Yes, that is important,” said Aari, “that is what they did for me and my daughter too. It makes it harder for our former enemies to find us, and it will help you also.”

“Okay, I will go along with that,” he said. I told Annelie to start on that as soon as she could. First we need to find Craig, or Morgan, or perhaps both of them since they are likely in the same place. “Kat, that is simply amazing how you can just point at someone and kill them,” said Andrej, “how is that done? Or is it a complete secret?”

“There is no big mystery to it really,” she said, “but for now it is probably best kept a secret so there are no slips at the wrong time.” “Yes, I understand that,” he replied, “keeping the enemy on edge is a good weapon in itself and even a tiny slip can ruin that. I am familiar with that idea too.” Kat smiled, “thank you for understanding.

Things will be made more clear one day,” then she turned to me, “I want Craig for what he did to little Muffin.” “So do I Kat,” I said, “it might be a race between us.” She laughed, “then I would have to let you win. Not fair.” “Well, she is my cat,” I reminded her. “Ahem, she is my cat too!” said Sky frowning at me, “And she was Kat’s cat once too, remember?”

“Hmm, guess you have me on that one,” I said, “so we will have to work together.” “Aha! So this is the real Kat!” exclaimed Tracy, “You gave it away now.” “I have been saying that all along,” said Kat. “Yes, but now Sky and Steve admitted it too,” she said. “And we all know that Nelson is…” began Kristina. “Hungry for more donuts!” completed Nelson.

“Oops, sorry, I was just about to bring some in,” said Galyna and off she went with Kristina to get them, along with more coffee. “Now, that is better,” said Nelson, “it is hard to think properly on an empty stomach.” “I doubt that stomach of yours is ever empty,” said Mac, “that goes for Rock too.” “Yeah, save some for the rest of us,” said John.

“Not to worry boys,” said Galyna, “there are lots more, I will get them right away.” She and Kristina laughed as they went back to the kitchen. “Got it!” said Annelie, “I found out that Craig loves Chinese food.” “Great, do you know how many Chinese restaurants there are in the city?” asked John. “But Craig owns two of them,” she said, “so most likely he is at one of them.” “Good work Annelie,” I said.

“Car outside!” yelled Kristina, “oh, wait, it is leaving again, and in a hurry, but, they left us a present.” We looked out the window and saw a body on the driveway, so out we went to see who it was. “Morgan!” I said, “I guess Craig did not like what he did in attacking us.” “It would seem that Craig wants the pleasure of taking us himself,” said Rock, “and not with help from employees.”

“Precisely,” I said, “and that makes things more dangerous. Morgan was impulsive and would make mistakes, but not so with Craig. We will have to be more cautious dealing with him.” Now it was time for a donut break and relax for a while. “Cats, donut time,” I said. Snow and Tiia came sliding into the library, followed by Rusty and Storm pulling Muffin in her wagon.

Muffin managed to convince Li Jing to let her come home where she can relax better. And be treated like a queen. Crystal, Aubrey, Sapphire, Tiffany, Lars and Clarence were in the clinic with various gunshot wounds. While we were talking about things in general, I got a call from Bridgette at the clinic.

I went from laughing to serious very quickly. “What is wrong Steve?” asked Sky. I quickly called for some Baldwin security to go to a hospital in the city to guard Clarence. “He is in a bad way,” I said to the others, “Tiffany has died…”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.