Well, Rock and his team kept going and trashed the other two places as well, sending the same message to whoever owned the places. These were just small gambling spots, not fancy places at all, but we wanted to start small anyway. We were still looking around the house but not finding anything which was rather curious. 

That outfit must want this house for some important reason and not just as an extra photo studio, it would certainly not be worth murdering four people for it. I keep thinking that Amber’s dad must have been mixed up with this gang somehow, but got himself in trouble with the boss. Aari and Mac were checking the master bedroom. ”The ceiling in here is different than the other rooms,” said Mac, “kind of odd.” 

Aari agreed and looked in the closet, finding a button above the doors. He pushed it and part of the ceiling slid back over the closet and metal steps came down to the floor. Mac called us and we came running to see what was found. Mac went up first with Tiger and Rusty, then called us to come up. ”You better stay down,” I said to Amber. 

“And who owns this house Steve?” she asked. ”Okay, after me though,” I said, “I do not want my girlfriend getting hurt.” She just smiled. Definitely a distribution place for drugs, and it was here right from the start, so Amber’s parents knew about it. Amber looked around a bit with us, then she began to cry and came over and hugged me. 

“My parents…they knew about this,” she said with tears, “they were…involved in this mess…that…is why my family was killed.” I then took her outside and sat on the steps with her while she put her head on my shoulder and cried. Not an easy thing to find out. Kat and Dawn were outside guarding us. ”Hey Honey, look at me,” I said to Amber, and she did. 

The girls smiled. ”Another one?” asked Amber. ”Sure,” I said. There was a lot of drugs in that attic room, plus money and guns. We took everything we could find, loaded it into our vans and off we went. We talked a bit after dinner, then we all went to our rooms. 

Sky, Dawn, Kera and Kat were in one room, Amber and I were right across the hall, but Kat and Kera came with Rusty to check out our room first, just in case there were any surprises. John and Mac were already standing guard in the hall. After we were settled in Annelie called me with news. ”I found where Adoncia is being held,” she said. 

Fortunately Amber was already sleeping, or this would probably keep her up all night. ”Where?” I asked. She gave me the name of a photo studio downtown but told me to be careful, they might be using this as a trap for us. That is a good thought. She also found out who was in charge of this organization which included drugs, extortion, ‘protection’, gambling, porn, money laundering, basically anything where they could make money. 

Amber’s dad was in charge of drugs, but then the organization wanted his daughters and he said no, so he and his wife were killed, plus two other girls. The woman in charge is Georgia, plus her husband who pretends to be the man in charge. ”If you guess wrong about who this woman is, you are fired,” said Annelie, “um, those were Mr. B’s words.” 

“Another sister of Toledo?” I asked. ”Right,” she said, “and apparently he still has two other sisters around somewhere.” Nice to know. I called Rock and told him I want Bouncer back here at 8 sharp, I am going to need some extra muscle for this. Plus I wanted him and his team close by, just in case. ”What is going on?” asked Amber, “I heard you talking.” 

“Sorry to wake you,” I said, “guess I did get a little loud at one point.” ”That did not answer my question,” she reminded me. Guess she is more awake than I thought. ”You were tired,” I said, “you should be sleeping, not worrying about other things. That is my job.” She got up and sat beside me on my bed. 

“Steve, you are my boyfriend,” she reminded me, “so I should help with the worrying. Besides, this involves me and my family so you should not be holding things from me.” So, I told her what was happening and also explained to her not to expect too much. Meowy?=Where human Amber go? Me cold. ”Coming Snow,” chuckled Amber. There is danger ahead for us, I can feel it…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.