I was kneeling beside the bed next to Sky, looking at her. I knew I loved her, but I still did not know her. Then I thought I heard some groaning in the kitchen. I quickly reached for my gun and got up slowly, then turned quickly. But no one was there. I heard that groan again. I motioned to Kristina to follow me. She got up from her bed and grabbed her gun, walking behind me. When I got to the kitchen, I could not believe what I saw.

Sigurbjorn was lying on the floor with a knife in her! First thought was that someone had come in and stabbed her so I quickly went to the door and looked around outside. There were no footprints, other than ours in that snow. I frowned but came back inside quickly and went to Sigurbjorn. “I…fell…on…the…knife,” she said slowly, “it, is…too…late, forget…me.”

“Never too late,” I said to her, “I am just not sure what to do with this. I need to pull the knife out though, and hopefully I can stop the bleeding. This might hurt a bit.” I asked Kristina to hold Sigurbjorn still and I got the board and blanket ready again. We carefully put Sigurbjorn on it, then I quickly got things ready. Can I do this? That same picture of Kat came to mind, ‘you can do it Steve, I trust you completely.’

“You can do it Steve,” said Kristina, “I trust you with this one and I know Sigurbjorn does too.” I slowly pulled the knife out, but I could not tell if it hit any internal organs or not. It seemed like an hour, though it was not even close, but finally it was done and Sigurbjorn was lying there breathing quite normally. That was good, but are there any problems inside that I could not see? Guess we will find out.

Kristina and I carried her to the bed and slid her off the board gently. My head was pounding, just too much stress in a short period of time. The headache was getting to be unbearable. I told Kristina and went outside for some fresh air, hoping that might help. Kristina came out with me. “It is okay Steve,” she said, “you know, sometimes a good cry can really help.”

When she said that I broke down crying terribly. Kristina was right though, my headache was not nearly so bad when I stopped crying. I had my head on Kristina’s shoulder as we sat on the old wood bench beside the cabin. “We really need to be rescued soon,” I said, “those two need better medical help than I can give them.” “I think you have done very well as a doctor, Steve,” she said, “do you realize that Sigurbjorn tried to kill herself just now?”

Meanwhile, back to the team. Carver and Tony had just entered the fight the girls were having with the 3 men from Carnival. “I told you the next time we met would be the last time,” said Carver to Wheeler. He then stabbed Wheeler and down he went. Tony said nothing, he just stabbed Kristopher and down he went too. Clarence had a gun on the large man, whose name was Tim, known to his friends as Tiny Tim. He was over 6 feet tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds, but he was not muscular, just overweight.

They took him back to the car where the Major and Mandar were waiting. Tony and Carver got in the car too, in order to keep an eye on Tiny Tim. Though a large man, he was a coward, and right now, very nervous. They found out he was Carnival’s top man, right under Carnival himself and was supposed to take over if anything happened to Carnival. Seems odd he was a coward, but that is why he never went anywhere without some strong men around to guard him.

“Where is that cabin?” asked Major. “I really have no idea, never been there,” he said, “flying in a chopper or small plane is out for me, only jets for this guy. Small aircraft just get my stomach.” “Not a good start,” said Major, “so let us start with something easier and I am sure you can answer. Where is Carnival hiding himself.” “If I tell you that, I am a dead man,” he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

“Perhaps you do not realize this, but you are a dead man right now if you do not start answering my questions,” said Major. That is when both Carver and Tony pulled their knives and poked them into his stomach. “Hey, wait, I will talk if there is money so I can get out of the country,” he said. “How much money are you thinking about?” asked Mandar.

“How about 100K,” he replied, “after all, this is important info and I will need to split right away.” “Done,” said Mandar, “and I have the money with me, so take us to where Carnival is hiding.” “If he is there, you get your money,” said Major, “if you are playing with us, you get what the other two got.” “He will be there, you will see,” said Tim. Mandar called back to Baldwin and he and the rest of the team came to join the others.

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.