We had a team meeting about this new situation with Crook coming to kill one of us. “Craig wants you to work for him Kat,” I said, “so he is planning to kill one of us to force you into giving up to him. And he will likely keep killing until he wins.” “He will never win that way,” said Kat, “if he kills anyone, I will kill him.” “Just remember Kat,” I said, “we work together on this team, no loners here.”

She smiled. “No need to worry Steve,” she said, “I will not do anything without permission.” “Good,” I said, “now, all of us need to be very careful right now, this Crook guy is a good sniper, so he does not need to be close by to kill anyone.” “I am a good sniper too Steve,” said Astrid, “and with my gun I can likely shoot farther than he can.

I just need to know where to look, so if he shows up and shoots, I will have him. Unfortunately it might be too late though, but he will not get away.” “I hope we can stop him before he gets a chance to shoot first,” I said, “but that might be hard.” “Unless we can find out when he is arriving,” said Mac, “then we got him.”

“Yeah,” agreed Miles, “work on that Annelie, he will be coming in from the US. After he did his first job, that is where he went. That is how he works.” “Good to know that Miles,” she said, “I will check with my informants.” “Aoife (pronounced eefah),” I asked, “you are also a good sniper, correct?” “Yes,” she answered, “I have never missed a target yet.”

“Good to know that,” I said, “it is nice to have 2 of you on the team.” Aoife and Beryan are the two new girls from Mandar that want to join our team. Both are from Ireland. Beryan also has an amazing memory, knows 15 languages and can tell us most anything we want to know about nearly 100 countries. Aoife knows 8 languages and 40 different countries, all different from those known by Beryan.

Beryan also knows a great deal about wilderness survival. Both girls have other unique abilities as well, both are 25, Aoife has long red hair and Beryan has long blonde hair. Both have family in Ireland, though Beryan’s family will not speak to her due to something in her past. Annelie found out which plane Crook would be on and Mac went with Miles to meet it at the airport.

Unfortunately he was not on the plane, so they asked about him and showed a picture to the crew, but they said no one looking like that was on the plane. They were puzzled, but figured he made a change at the last minute just to be safe. Then they thought of something, an older man had been taken off the plane on a stretcher, apparently he had a heart attack just before landing.

They jumped in their car to try and follow the ambulance, which they found not far away with one attendant dead and the other two wounded. They called the police and left, but it was too late to try and find Crook. He was gone into the crowds of the city. They returned home and told us what happened. “Not good,” I said, “so we are on top alert for now everyone. We keep the cats inside for now too.”

Just then Aoife and Beryan arrived home too, they had visited one of Craig’s restaurants and planted a couple of listening devices. They were the best choice for that job since Craig would not know about them yet, so they would be safe. Hopefully it is the right restaurant. A couple of hours later the conversation came through. It was Craig and Crook.

“This is the lady we want you to hit,” said Craig, “she is close to Steve so it should work out nicely.” “Good as done,” said Crook. “Here is the first installment of your pay,” said Williams, “the rest will be here after the job is done.” “I will be back later,” he said. Then it was all quiet again. I was really hoping we would here the name, all we know is it’s one of the girls, so I told them all to stay inside. “He seemed quite confidant he could get the job done quickly,” said Sky, “but how could he think that?”

“Well, remember, he does not know that we know about the plans,” I said, “so we have an advantage for the moment.” “Unless…” began Galyna, “what if he is not after any of us?” “Uh, that makes no sense Galyna,” said Mac. “It might,” added John, “if he is after Carine.” “That is exactly what I was thinking,” said Galyna, “she is important to Steve, and right now, an easy target for Crook.”

I was on the phone right away calling Benson. “Hi Steve,” he said, anything new?” I then told him what we had been thinking and said he should make sure Carine stays inside for now. “She is out in the garden right now!” he exclaimed, “but I will get her inside right away!”

Out he went, running fast and without knowing what was about to happen, he stepped in front of Carine just as Crook shot and Benson fell to the ground. Carine dropped by his side and noticed he had been shot and she rolled behind a shrub and called me. “Stay put Carine, help is on the way!” I said. Aoife, Astrid, Mac and Miles were on the way, with Kat driving…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.