As Sky and her team were driving along the detour, it was around midnight, and suddenly not far ahead of the first of the 3 cars, a large log was pulled out of the ditch and onto the road. They all came to a screeching stop! “Get ready everyone,” said Sky.

Several masked men came out of the darkness and up to the cars telling everyone to get out. They were all well armed, however, these cars were built by the Baldwin Corporation and were completely bullet proof, and small bomb proof too. The worst these men could do would be to shoot the tires, but that would be a slight problem since they were miles from any community.

Unfortunately Sky’s team was outnumbered by these masked men. They yelled again, motioning for Sky and team to get out of the cars. Just then two black vans, with lights off, came roaring up to the group, and they came to a sudden stop beside the cars. Several men then jumped out of the vans and a brief shoot out took place between them and the masked men, but those masked men quickly surrendered.

Sky had anticipated trouble, so she made sure that some security men from Baldwin Corporation had followed them, just a little behind. Good thing she thought ahead like that, or it might have ended much differently than it did.

They discovered these masked men had some rather large explosives hidden in the ditch, likely to be used against those cars if Sky and her team did not get out. The police were called, the masked men were chained together, the log removed and Sky and her team continued on their journey. But that journey was still long and anything could yet happen along the way.

Meanwhile, back to us in that secret room under the fountain. It did not take Mac and Muffin long to open that old safe, and inside, another book which said on the cover, “A Priceless Book”. Sigh. Is this another journal? “Do you mind if I put on my breathing device?” said the butler, “this damp, stale air is hard for me to breathe.”

“That is fine,” I said. He then put on a small device which obviously gave him some fresh oxygen to breathe. Then I noticed this was not a book at all, but a box with a lock. Everyone was looking at this book, anxiously waiting for me to open it, so none of us saw what was coming. The butler tossed a tube onto the floor, breaking it and releasing a cloud of gas making it impossible to see or breathe properly.

We were all coughing and wheezing while the butler grabbed the book and ran off down the tunnel to the other room. We had left one of our electric lanterns behind which lit up the room somewhat and when the butler arrived in the room he suddenly stopped and stared. Kat was standing over by the door which led upstairs, and Muffin was standing on the floor beside her.

“You!” gasped the butler, “that is impossible!” “Have you not heard that I am a ghost?” she asked him, “I can go wherever I want, as fast as I want.” “I do not believe in ghosts,” he growled, and he pointed his gun and tried to shoot. But nothing happened. He just stared again. “Guns are useless against a ghost,” she said casually. Muffin then rolled over and “Thwock!”

The butler fell to the floor. Kat went over and picked up the book. “I will take that book,” said ghost John. He was standing at the door pointing a gun at Kat, with his friend Herman beside him. “You do not learn,” said Kat, “guns are useless against a ghost, I am already dead.” “Yeah?” he said, “well I do not believe that, and I have a new gun this time.”

He then tried to shoot, but nothing happened. Kat pointed at ghost John. “Now it is your turn to die,” she said and briefly turned off the lantern and “Thwock!” She quickly turned it on again and ghost John was lying on the floor. “Is, is, he dead?” asked Herman, his voice shaking. Meow,meow.=He bad man, so he die.

“The, the, cat, talked!” said Herman, his whole body shaking now. “Naturally, what do you expect from a ghost cat?” asked Kat. That was too much for poor Herman and he fainted. Meow,meow.=Odd time for sleeping. Kat giggled. The rest of us finally made our way back to the main room where Kat and Muffin were waiting for us.

“It seems everyone wanted this book,” said Kat, “even the grandfather wanted that treasure more than his granddaughter. Greed, just greed. Oh, Muffin took care of the butler and ghost John, the other one is alive, he just fainted. Seeing a ghost and a ghost cat was just too much for him it seems.” “How did you get out here so fast?” asked Rock.

“Oh, we ghosts can do amazing things,” answered Kat. Muffin giggled. Rock just stared, as did the others. This is getting worse all the time to explain. I looked at the time, 1:30am, I should have heard from Sky…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.