We had come into the nightclub right after Koffman came in to meet with Francois. The conversation didn’t go too well and it ended with Percival shooting Sky and she fell to the floor bleeding. That was something I didn’t quite expect. She just lay on the floor, not moving. Angel and I looked at her, then at each other. Francois and his men were laughing. “Hey Koffman,” said Francois, “why aren’t you laughing? This is great fun.” “Francois,” he replied, “you are a bigger fool than I thought. Just what do you hope to accomplish with this?”

“I’m showing them who is boss, Koffman,” he said, “you must be getting too old for this business, maybe it’s time for you to retire and let someone younger take over.” “Someone like yourself perhaps?” asked Koffman. “Yeah, now that you mention it,” he said, “that would be a good idea.” Suddenly there were several shots from Koffman’s 2 men. Francois and Percy did have big smiles on their faces, smiles that were now gone. Koffman’s men had their guns out, but under the table, unknown to Francois and his men.

Francois thought he had the upper hand, but now he was alone, as Percival and the two other men were now dead. “Now,” said Angel, “about calling us little girls. I will show you what us little girls can do!” She then roared like a lion, picked up the table and tossed it aside. Then she went over to Francois, picked him up and threw him against the wall. That must have hurt. “That will teach you for shooting my twin sister!” yelled Angel. “You can get up now Sky,” I said. But she didn’t move. Angel looked at her, then took a glass of water off another table and threw it in Sky’s face.

“That wasn’t nice,” said Sky, as Angel tossed the glass to me. “Who did that?” she asked, then noticed me holding the empty water glass. She stood up, took a water glass off that other table and threw the water in my face. “Um, Angel did it, not me,” I said, “then she tossed me the glass.” “Uh huh,” she replied, shaking her head. Francois was now getting up off the floor and staggered a bit as he tried to stand. He then stared at Sky with his mouth open. “No one could survive that gunshot,” he said quietly. “Obviously I did,” said Sky with a smile, “perhaps your man missed me.” Then her and Angel started to laugh.

“Perhaps you and I should discuss your plans to take over my empire, as you like to call it,” said Koffman, then he turned to me, “do you mind if we leave?” “Not at all,” I said, “we are finished here anyway. My team is just collecting the money being donated to our orphan fund, then we will be on our way.” Koffman, his men and Francois then went down to the basement. The rest of Koffman’s men had already entered, once the little skirmish was over.

We had met Koffman outside the city and told him what was happening and what Francois had planned for him. He couldn’t understand why I was warning him though and I told him I wasn’t sure either. But I told him it was obvious that Francois was working alone on this and not following his orders. I also warned him that the police might be watching things while he is here, but he just shrugged and said the police are always watching him, but they have nothing serious they can pin on him, so he wasn’t worried. I think he needs to worry more, like me.

Well, maybe not quite as much as me. Everyone returned, along with a few women and young girls that wanted out of this nightmare. We will try to reunite them with their families and friends if possible. We were soon on our way and shortly after, the police arrived with a large number of officers. Interestingly, the Inspector walked into the basement room with that large safe just in time to see Koffman shoot Francois. I guess the police finally have something serious so they can arrest Koffman. That means he will be spending a long time in prison.

Bernadette had gone and retrieved Mary from Francois’ house and brought her back to her house and tried to persuade her to cooperate and tell her where the gold was hidden. Mary had just laughed at Bernadette which caused her to become quite angry with Mary, but just then Beau arrived at home and shot Bernadette. “That’s my boy,” said Mary, “now you and I will share all that gold.” “If we can find it,” he said. “It’s right in the basement,” she said, “in a large wood box.” “Thank you grandma,” he said and he then shot her too.

Down he went to the basement, excited at the prospect of all that gold, only to find that the big box was now empty! When he came back upstairs, the police were in the house waiting for him. He was arrested and taken away, being charged with the murder of Bernadette and Mary. He never did go after Soleil, not because he didn’t want to kill her, but he was more concerned with getting his hands on the gold. Because of Kat’s help, we were able to move all our wounded girls to our own clinic the next day.

Once back home I had a long talk with Misty and Cristy about perfection and while I like everyone to do their very best, it is also possible to go overboard which can hurt them and those around them. “None of us are perfect,” I said, “and Misty, you need to stop studying so much and take time to relax and recharge or you will likely collapse completely, and I don’t want that to happen. No one can learn everything there is to know about everything.” “Except you,” they said together, “you always know the best way to do things and how to look after everyone.”

“Thank you for the nice compliment,” I said, “I wish it was true, but I make a lot of mistakes and I really don’t know very much. That’s why I surround myself with people like you two, so we can work together. We all have our areas of expertise and putting that knowledge together is what we need to do.” Misty asked me to sit beside her on the bed. She is in the clinic right now too, she had a minor collapse and has to spend time in the clinic recovering.

I sat beside her and she hugged me tight. “As far as I’m concerned,” she said, “you’re the best leader we could possibly have.” Then Sky appeared with a plate of donuts for us. “Okay Ms. Super Sneak,” said Misty, “you’re allowed to join the Sneaker Club.” “YES!” she said. Misty’s team is now known as Misty’s Sneakers. Dawn is still working on a name for her team.

The two police officers attacked by the nurse will have to spend some time in the hospital recovering from their injuries, but they will be fine. Well, that case is over and it was a bit crazy, but perhaps I should have left that title for the next case instead. Oh well. Perhaps “frustrating” will be an even better title for it, but more on that later.

The End. Another case will begin soon. ©2025 Steve McLeod.