Tamara told us that she borrowed money from the wrong place, several times, adding up to $25,000. That was for protection in prison. When she got out she discovered that with interest it would cost her double that to pay it off. Brandish came along and paid it for her, took her back to his place and branded her. He told her he always does that to his property, then he can always find her if she decided to run away.

Then he tossed her in a place he called the “chamber” for a couple weeks to teach her it does not pay to run away or cheat on him. “Now I will always have this as a reminder,” she said of the brand. “No,” said Bridgette, “we can get rid of that back at our hospital.” “Really?” she asked, “you will do that?” “Sure, we have the best doctors around,” she said. “Why does Brandish use that other dock instead of this one?” I asked.

“Water is too shallow here for that big yacht of his,” she said, “it is much deeper at the other dock.” “Good, now, what about cover around there?” I asked again. “There is a lot more cover there with trees and bushes, plus some old shacks too,” she said, “not like around here where it has been cleared out so much.” Sky went over to the door and called the cats over to her. She then took them out into the hall.

“Okay you two,” she said, “go find Carrie and see if you can get more information from her. I do not trust this Brandish guy. He may have given Tamara wrong information deliberately to catch us off guard, especially if he suspects her at all.” The cats ears went straight up when she said that. Then off they went in a flash looking around for Carrie. The front door opens automatically which is helpful for the cats.

They found Carrie sitting on a beach chair getting some sun. They went running over to her and jumped up onto the chair with her purring away. She was quite happy to see them again. “Hey guys,” she said, “I have not seen you in a while.” Then the manager showed up too. “Relaxing again I see,” he said. “Well, it is my lunch break,” she reminded him. “Yeah, okay,” he said, “but make sure you are busy when Brandish shows up this afternoon.”

“Well, that is not until 5pm,” she said. “That is what he told Tamara,” he said, “but he does not trust her anymore, figures she is making a deal with those private investigators to get away from here.” He kept talking and the cats kept listening while purring and cuddling with Carrie. “I do not understand why you like those stupid animals,” he said, shaking his head as he walked back to the hotel. “I think you guys are smarter than he is,” Carrie said to the cats. She was right about that too.

She got up and went back to the hotel with the cats and up they went to our room. Scratch, scratch. Sky let them back inside and they jumped onto the bed. Meow,meow.=Got big news from human manager and human Carrie. Meow.=Yep, human bad guy not trust Tamara anymore, so he tell her wrong things to tell us. Meow,meow.=Yep, he not come at 5, he think we set ambush earlier, so he come earlier and set ambush for us.

Meow.=Yep, they come at 3, wait outside big door of hotel and cut us down when we come out. Meow,meow.=Yep, and he come with more men, there be 30 men plus bad guy. Meow.=Yep, then they take Tamara to place called chamber and leave her there for very long time till she look like old lady. “That rat!” exclaimed Crystal, “he will regret trying to fool us!” “Does Brandish have 30 men to use?” I asked Tamara.

“Yeah, easy,” she said puzzled, “he once told me he could get 50 men at an hours notice if he needed them. Um, what is going on?” “Brandish no longer trusts you,” I said, “so he gave you some wrong information. He figured you had made a deal with us to get you off the island and away from him. So figuring that we would go early to set up an ambush, he decided to come at 3 and set up an ambush for us instead. And he is bringing 30 men with him.”

“Well, he will not have those cops to help him,” said John. “Yeah, uh, they went swimming,” added Mac. “Good, that means 4 less men for him,” I said, “but that still means 26 men, plus Brandish. We will have to play this one very carefully so none of us get killed.” “Uh, can I ask a question?” asked Tamara. “Yes, sure,” said Sky. “How do you know all of this suddenly?” she asked, “you listened to those cats like they were actually talking to you and then you know all of this. That does not make sense.”

Sky giggled. “I know it sounds strange,” she explained, “but the cats did tell us the information. They got it from the manager talking with Carrie. They have made friends with Carrie and get lots of information from her.” “But…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.