For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Good morning everyone! Another Sunday has arrived so it is time for more of that amazing art found in nature. And there is just so much around to choose from, tiny things and large things, colorful and not so colorful, but all of it is amazing in one way or another. I enjoy looking for the many different things in nature that are true art.

And how many times do you find heart shaped leaves, like the one above? So I picked that one for today. This one shrub had quite a few of these heart shaped leaves on it, not just one, which I thought was quite interesting. No, that is not the normal shape for these leaves, but they were fun to find. Have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2023 Steve McLeod.
By the time they arrived in Germany Miles had heard from his source concerning the whereabouts of Scorpion and his operation. Apparently he owns a big gambling joint and in the basement is his other ‘business’. That will make it a little hard for the team to sneak in quietly, so they decided to make a lot of noise instead.
Rock loves making noise anyway, going in quietly would be hard for him to do. They were met at the main door by two armed guards but Rock just grabbed both of them and used them to smash through the doors, then he tossed them aside. “Where is Scorpion?” he bellowed in that deep, loud voice he has, “I want to talk with him! And if you call the cops, we will destroy this place and everyone in it!”
John led more of the team in the back way, with the help of Catalina and her ‘fireworks’. The door flew off it’s hinges just as some men were coming up the stairs from the basement, with guns in hand. John and crew quickly subdued them and continued into the main gambling room. Amazingly Scorpion had appeared to talk with Rock, and he brought more guns with him.
“That man has a gun aimed at your head big man,” said Scorpion, “so I would suggest you leave while you live.” “I have a gun aimed at your head,” said Kat, “so I guess we are even. Now you can talk.” “Look lady,” he said, “that guy can cut you both down before you can pull that trigger, so leave, now.” “Sorry Scorpion,” she said, “but your man cannot kill me, not now, not ever.”
“Oh yeah?” said Scorpion, “hit her!” There was silence. “What are you waiting for?” Scorpion demanded. “My gun does not work Scorpion,” he said, then he shot it at the wall, “oh, there it goes.” He then tried it at Kat again, but nothing happened. “This is crazy,” he said. “I told you,” said Kat, “you cannot kill me because I am already dead and you cannot kill a dead person.”
That is when John showed himself behind Scorpion and put a gun to his head. “This one works Scorpion,” said John, “so call off your vipers or there will be none of you left.” Then Sigurbjorn blew a whistle and the two security teams came running inside, very well armed. “You are cops!” said Scorpion. Rock just laughed.
“No way Scorpion,” he said, “we come looking for someone you have and that I want. A woman named Karalyn that you bought from the Butcher. He changed his mind about selling her.” Now Scorpion laughed. “I will sell her back for $500,000,” he said, “that is what she is worth to me.” Now Rock moved closer and looked down at Scorpion.
“Tell your men to drop their guns on the floor now,” he said, “or we take this place apart, including all your customers, if they decide to stay.” He then yelled out for everyone to leave or die. Sigurbjorn translated the message to make sure everyone understood. There was a stampede for the door, not one person stayed behind.
“Now, you will be the first to die,” said Rock, “I do not have much patience, your life is what we pay for the girl, that should be worth more than what you just quoted, at least for you. Far as I am concerned, you are worth nothing. Now, tell your men to drop their weapons.” Scorpion was furious now, but he realized that he could do nothing at the moment so he told his men to put their guns down.
Then he took Rock, Miles, Kate, Aasta, Crystal and Galyna down to the basement to get Karalyn. Rock could barely contain himself when he saw things in the basement, but Kat touched his arm. She saw the look on his face. Then she spotted Karalyn at the back of a large room and went over to get her. She was heavily drugged and did not know what was going on.
But Kat spoke softly to her and led her out. There were 3 other young women there as well, so they took them as well. Once back upstairs Rock could no longer contain himself and began destroying the gambling room. The men from Team 5 joined in and they soon had the place thoroughly destroyed. As they left, Rock turned and bellowed, “you can thank the Butcher for the fun tonight!”
Then everyone left and drove back to the airport quickly before the shock wore off Scorpion. “We gonna let that Butcher get away with this Scorpion?” asked one of his men. Scorpion just looked at him and said, “Butcher is dead.”
Knowing that there were no others left behind in the basement, Catalina left a few explosive gifts behind and while they were driving away she pressed a button and soon that whole building was burning. “He will not be needing it anyway,” said Catalina. Everyone agreed with her. However, this is not the end of things…
To Be Continued.
©2023 Steve McLeod.