When I told the girls about that big wood box being full of gold bars, Angel and Misty sighed with the loudest sigh I ever heard from them. Kind of strange really, I thought they would be very happy to know I found the gold. “Actually, we found the gold,” said Misty. “Then why didn’t you tell me the gold was in that box?” I asked. “Because we didn’t know it was full of gold,” said Misty. Then she put her face in her hands when she realized what she had just said.

“Why did you have to tell Steve about the gold?” Misty asked Angel. “I didn’t,” she said, “I told him about a heavy wood box that we couldn’t move.” “We could have reported that gold to the police and collected the reward,” said Misty, “we would have been rich!” “The reward is only 1 million euros,” said Angel, “barely enough to buy a nice house, how does that make us rich?” “Never mind,” said Misty, “we don’t have the reward money anyway.” “I didn’t know there was a reward,” I said.

“Cristy told me,” said Misty, “I was going to tell you this morning but everything got mixed up last night when Ms. Super Sneak abducted me and took me to Mary’s basement in my pyjamas.” “Hey, another member for the Sneakers Club,” I said. “What? A new club?” asked Angel and Dawn, “How come we didn’t know about that?” Misty sighed with the loudest sigh ever.

Meanwhile, Kat was at the hospital helping the worst wounded girls, trying to keep them alive. While she was helping Delphine, a rather large nurse came in and told her she needed to leave while she gave Delphine her needles and medicine. Kat told her that she would stay out of her way, but she wasn’t leaving. “Look hon,” said the nurse, “in this place I’m the boss, you leave or I throw you out.” Kat just looked at her. “And what is in those needles?” asked Kat as she reached over to look. The nurse grabbed Kat’s arm. “Don’t touch hon,” she said, “I can easily break every bone in that thin body of yours.”

Kat started to laugh and pulled her arm away from the nurse. That surprised the nurse since it seemed like Kat just pulled her arm right through the nurse’s hand. “You’re no nurse, hon,” said Kat frowning and she grabbed one of the needles, “now, let’s see what this does to you.” “NO, you get away from me with that thing!” she yelled, “That will kill me!” Her yell brought the police into the room, but they were no match for this large woman.

She grabbed the male officer and smashed his head against the metal bed frame. Then she picked up the female officer and threw her onto the floor. So, Kat had to stop her work and she kicked the woman very hard, knocking her against the other wall where she fell to the floor.

Meanwhile… “Have you heard from Margot?” asked Francois. “Yeah, she was killed by one of those Investigator women before she had a chance to kill any of the wounded ones,” said Percival. “What?” exclaimed Francois, “That did it, no more being nice to those Investigators! Now we will start getting tough with them.” “Oh, I came in to tell you that Koffman is here,” said Percival, “he arrived 2 hours early.”

“Naturally he did,” said an angry Francois, “he was trying to catch us off guard so he would have something more to complain about. Oh well, I will only have to put up with him tonight, then his empire will be my empire.” They both laughed at the thought. Then Francois went out to join Koffman for what was planned as Koffman’s last meal. “Mary knows where that gold is hidden,” said Francois, “but I can’t get it out of her.” “What about Bernadette?” asked Koffman, “Did she try?”

“Yeah, but she got nowhere with Mary either,” growled Francois. “Where is Bernadette now?” asked Koffman. “With those Investigators,” he replied, “they captured her yesterday, or the day before.” “Then why did I see her and some men over at Mary’s house,” said Koffman, “we drove past Mary’s place and she was there with a large truck backed up to the door.” Francois and Percival just sat there staring. “I figured you must have sent her over there for some reason,” Koffman continued, “but if not, perhaps you should check it out.”

“Percy, get over there and find out what is going on,” said Francois. But before Percival could get to his feet, we came walking in. “Oh, oh, look who’s here,” said Percival. “Well, look at this,” I said, “such a cozy family picture. Francois, you made a very big mistake today, disturbing our breakfast and sending several of my girls to hospital. And then trying to finish them off in the hospital, very bad planning on your part. Did you really think that would make us go away?

That just made us more determined to stay. Then Bernadette decided to help us out in order to gain her freedom, which was fine with me, I didn’t like having her around anyway. Now, first of all, where is Beau?” “I have no idea, really,” he said arrogantly. “You are a man who loves playing games,” I said, “even when your life is involved.” “You better tell him Francois,” said Koffman, “I think he means it.” “I think he said something about killing his sister,” said Francois, still arrogantly, “but he’s probably done that by now.”

“If he had tried,” I said, “I would have heard about his death.” I then alerted Jennifer to be ready for Beau and friends. “You know, I would have liked to be at Mary’s when Bernadette discovered the gold was gone already,” I told them. “I already knew the gold was not in the safe,” said Francois with a smile. “Naturally,” I said, “since it’s sitting in your big safe in this basement now.” Then I called for the girls to come in. The ghosts, Sky, Angel, Kristina and Kitty came in first, then Dawn’s team, then Misty’s team.

“Kill them!!” yelled Francois and his men took out their guns all over the club. People ran around screaming and ducking under tables or lying flat on the floor! The girls ran upstairs to the second and third floors rescuing any women or girls that wanted to get out of here. Misty and some of the girls, including Kristina and Kitty, went down to the basement. Sky and Angel stayed with me. “You’re a brave man,” said Francois, “staying here with no weapons and only two of your little girls.”

“Did he just call us little girls?” Angel asked Sky. “Yep, he did,” she replied. They both looked at me. “Not yet,” I said, “remember, Francois is not very smart.” “You think not?” asked Francois, then he, Percival and a couple other men pulled out their guns. “Those are the new guns that don’t get hot,” said Sky. “Hmm, we must remember to bring one home for a souvenir,” I said. “Take this for a souvenir,” yelled Percival and he shot Sky and she fell to the floor…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.