I liked the thought that Mac brought out, so I decided to follow up on that, but first Penny had something to say. “No one asked for your opinion,” retorted Penny, “you are just an observer, so keep your thoughts to yourself!” “Do not listen to her Mac,” I said, “I like your thoughts, speak up whenever you want. Now, how do you respond to that Penny?”

“What I do is none of your business,” she said angrily, “so I am staying.” “Well, I say you are going,” yelled Jinni, “and Steve can make you leave too, that is why I hired him.” “You know,” said Sky, “Barker had a girlfriend by the name of Penelope, or maybe, Penny. You knew that Toledo was dead, it has been quite a while now and Barker would have been informed, so you would know too.

I think you had a falling out with Barker and you needed some extra help, so you sent Jinni out to hire us to fight Barker and his men so you could take whatever it is he is doing up here.” “I like that thought too,” I said, “except I do not like being played for a fool. If you want to fight Barker, do it yourself, my team and I will leave first thing in the morning, you can stay if you want or come out with us. The choice is yours.” Oh my, did those two ladies look angry! They were absolutely red.

While we were talking, Aari had called Aasta to see how things were going. “Hi daddy,” said Aasta cheerfully, “how is the fishing?” “Not very good today, but great yesterday,” he answered, “but it is so peaceful here, I am glad I decided to come along.” “Wish I could say it was peaceful,” replied Aasta, “we have been attacked a couple of times already and Steve has been seriously hurt by some big ape and…”

She stopped, then yelled out, “Trouble Steve!” We all ran to the window and what we saw was not good. “What is wrong Aasta?” asked Aari, “speak, what is going on?” “Trouble daddy, about a hundred armed men coming out of the forest,” she said, “I am scared.” “Do not be scared darling, just listen to Steve and you will be okay,” he told her, “but keep your phone on so I can hear what is going on.”

“I will daddy, I will try,” she said, her voice shaking. “This is not good,” said Mac, “too many.” One of the men came forward and yelled that he wanted to talk with me. “You cannot go out there Steve,” said Sky, “you can barely walk, if something goes wrong, you will not make it back here.” “If I do not go out, we will all be slaughtered,” I said, and out I went.

He dropped his weapons, so did I, and went out to meet him. I stopped half way and he came to me. “You are hurt,” he said. “Yes, but not from your men,” I said, “what do you want?” “We want you all to leave, now,” he said firmly, “or we will attack and you will all die.” “Perhaps,” I said casually, “but a lot of your men will die too.” “We are willing to die for our land,” he said, “are you willing to die for lies?”

“No, and you are lying too,” I said, “you are not fighting for your land, you are fighting for your boss, a man named Barker. And he has something of great value beyond those trees. We will leave first thing in the morning.” “You will leave now, or you will die now,” he said, “that is your choices, which will it be?” Hmm, they outnumber us about 7 to 1, not good odds, and there may be more of them that we cannot see, like on the other side of our tower.

They could just wait and starve us out too if they wanted, but they do not seem like the patient type. I do not want any of my team killed over a dispute between two criminals. “Okay, we will pack up and leave right away,” I said, “but do not try anything. If you attack us, you might kill all of us, but more of my team will come, larger numbers than you have, just remember that. Leave us alone.”

“If you leave now, we will leave you alone,” he said, “but do not come back.” “We will not be back,” I said. I then went back to the team and told them to pack up, we were leaving right away. “But we will not get back before dark,” said Sky, “I do not like the idea of camping out again.” “We will keep walking at night until we get to the town,” I said, “no camping.”

“You will never make it,” said Mac. “I will have to make it,” I said. “We have a collapsible stretcher with us Steve,” said Bridgette, “I thought perhaps it might come in handy. Actually there are two.” “Good thinking Bridgette,” I said smiling weakly…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.