We had to take off our vests a couple days ago, it was just too hot. Better to take chances with the bullets, then to collapse in the heat and have them capture us. But with all the soldiers now, it would be nice to have them again. I heard someone yell before but could not make out who was yelling or who they were yelling at. Just then another large truck of soldiers came driving along the fence.

This time Catalina threw the explosives she had before the men got off the truck. It was a direct hit and made a huge explosion once again! That girl has an amazing throwing arm. But right then one of the soldiers stood up and shot twice. Catalina went down, bleeding in two places. I shot that man and then started shooting everywhere I could see any glimpse of a soldier.

“Slow down Steve,” said Kat, “make those shots count.” Then she saw Catalina and understood why I was so angry. But I ran out of ammunition and so did Kat. We still had our handguns, but they will not help much against this group. I raised my hands and tossed away my gun. A major came out from behind a rock and many other men came out as well.

“You know what to do Kat,” I said. She did not like the idea, but she knew that is what we had all agreed on. The major yelled to Kat telling her to drop her gun. She was looking at me. Then that yelling again, but it was close this time and I could tell who it was.

“Kat, NO!” yelled Sky. Then a machine gun began firing at our enemies while Kat and I laid on the ground to stay out of the way. Aari and his team arrived at just the right time! He had figured that since we had been given the wrong route that we would have tried going back to route 2 instead. “How did you find out route 3 was wrong?” I asked him.

“We found out who betrayed us from the government side,” he responded, “it was the Minister of External Affairs. We found out from the man he had sent his information to on this side, a certain Colonel that we helped to escape from this country with his daughter. He helped us a lot and was only wanting to send his daughter out, but she did not want to leave him.

So he gladly came along too. He has helped us a lot with other information as well.” “Sounds great,” I said, “I wonder if he would like a slightly different job on our side?” “Rock and Nelson have been thinking about that too,” said Sky, “by the way, do you always dress like that?” “I had no choice,” I explained, “Catalina threatened to assault me if I did not allow this.”

“Actually, she said something about slapping Steve, if he argued,” added Kat. “Good for her,” said Sky. Sigh. “Why is Muffin sleeping through all this excitement?” asked Aasta. “It is her heart again,” I said, “so she has just been sleeping.” Bridgette came over when I said that. We relieved the remaining soldiers of their guns and other weapons, plus their means of communication and their boots.

Then we told them to leave. They began walking slowly back to their base. Miles blew a hole through the fence for us. They had dug their way under the fence a long ways back, but this was quicker and easier. Soon we were on our plane heading back home and Li Jing was ready for us when we got home.

My eyesight was back to normal by the time we arrived home and that was a relief. Rock was able to see normally too. But I wonder who managed to get hold of that laser device? Catalina will be fine, though she will be off duty for a time. Muffin will also be fine, she just needs some rest.

And Storm is making sure she gets it. Even Rusty and the kittens are helping out looking after Muffin. Everyone that was part of this mission will be able to take some time to relax. We all need it. I think this one will be called a mission, rather than a case, it was certainly different. I wonder what the next case will be like? We probably will not have long to wait.

The End. A new story will begin soon.

©2023 Steve McLeod.