Mandar had his mouth open, not knowing what to say. “And why have you abandoned your daughters?” asked John, “you adopted them and now you left them to the wolves to eat!” “Yes,” added Frank, “what about your special daughter Kristina? Where is the love you had for her? Now she walks around drugged, acting like a robot!” Mandar put his head in his hands.

“I did not know this was not the real Steve,” he said quietly, “do you really think I would just sit by if I knew that?” “How are we supposed to know what to think when you will not even talk to us?” asked Crystal, “now talk!” “Okay,” he said, “I was just leaving the chateau when Steve and Sky came up. They said Steve was not well so they came back from their vacation right away.

So the girls took them inside and I left. Then the guards were all dismissed, the ones I had sent to help guard the chateau.” Then Mandar began to sweat and shake. “I, I need my pills, in the desk,” he said with his voice shaking. “I will get them for you,” said Crystal, “are these the ones?” “Yes, the doctor said I must take them…every 6 hours,” he said, his voice still shaking.

“How come the name of your doctor is not on here?” asked Crystal. “It should be,” said Roger, “it always is there.” Crystal showed him the bottle. “This is very strange,” said Roger, “I will call his doctor.” “I, I need those, pills now!” exclaimed Mandar loudly. He was shaking terribly now. “He is going into withdrawal,” said Crystal, “I know drugs, and this is not good.”

“Mandar’s doctor is coming up right away,” said Roger, “he has his clinic on the second floor. And he said not to give those pills to Mandar.” “No, I, I need them!” he said again and stood up, but fell to the floor. Rock had arrived now too and he picked up Mandar and put him back on the chair. His doctor came in right then and looked at the pills. He then went right to Mandar and gave him a needle.

“This should help him a bit for now,” he said, “if he had kept taking those pills, he would have been dead before finishing that bottle.” “That is what I thought,” said Crystal. “I did not know you knew so much about drugs Crystal,” said John. “Well, that was a long time ago,” she said, “in another life.” She then smiled. “Sorry, it is a secret,” she added.

In a few minutes Mandar began talking again, though it was hard to tell if what he said was true or not, he kind of stared off in space while he talked. “They had to ID Baldwin through dental records. When Steve called me I thought it was the Steve from the chateau. I figured he was trying to trap me to kill me too. I admit, I was afraid. You may use my two jets, if it will help you. Roger, you handle that for me.”

“Okay Mandar, I will get it done quickly,” said Roger. “Fingerprints, Steve has his fingerprints on file for the will,” said Mandar quietly, “maybe DNA too.” “Hey, that would help,” said Major, “the fake Steve will not have the same fingerprints that are with the will. That will at least slow down the process. And if there is DNA too, then Steve can quickly get things done before that fake Steve tries anything.”

“Good idea,” said John, “but we will have to move fast, that other Steve will likely move fast now too.” Crystal quickly called me and told me the news. “Of course, I forgot all about that,” I said, “my DNA is there and my fingerprints. We can get this done quickly, the lawyer is in London. Have Mandar call him, or Rock, and get things set up. Let him know about the fake Steve too.”

Rock called and got an appointment set up that afternoon. The lawyer knew me well since he also handles things for The Investigators too. He was shocked to learn of the elaborate plan by the fake Steve and agreed it was necessary to get things done quickly. After our appointment I told him to call the other Steve to come right away to get this settled. He did so.

“Well, here I go,” said Steve, “and when I come back we celebrate!” “Remember to bring the DNA sample,” said Sky. “No need,” said Steve, “the lawyer said he knew me so well that we can forget about that.” He laughed as he went out and got in his car and drove away to the airport. He took 4 of his soldiers for bodyguards, though they were dressed in civilian clothes now.

While I was at the lawyers, Kat, Rock, John, Aasta, Frank and the Major were flying back to the chateau to meet up with the other girls, and the cats, who were already there watching things. Plus Major’s men joined them as well. Once they met up with the girls and the fake Steve was out of the way, they began their operation to free the girls…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.