For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Before I sent our team out to look for Aasta’s brothers, I decided we needed to check around the area a bit. Mandar has given us some of his security people to help us since Baldwin Security has no extra people to spare at the moment until his security crisis is over. That could take a while. So we sent them up in one of our helicopters to check the area and see if anyone is watching.
Sure enough they found a group of 3 men who began to shoot at the chopper, so they opened fire and the shooting from below stopped. I then sent some girls up to check and all 3 men were dead. Then the chopper looked around for others but found no one else. Now our team can safely leave for town. The only hotel in town is older, small and has a small restaurant too, with good food.
The girls went in first and sat at two different tables. It was not long and the brothers, Layne and Lance, came downstairs and into the restaurant. ”Nice scenery today,” said Lance, referring to our girls. Since there were just the two brothers, the table of two girls went into action, waving and winking at the brothers. Lance went over and asked the girls to join them.
They accepted the invitation and sat with the brothers, talking generally for a bit. ”You two are new in town,” said Aoife, “we know everyone in this area.” ”Yeah, nice to see some handsome new faces for a change,” added Cinnamon. ”What keeps you two girls in town?” asked Layne. Aoife tossed a small packet to him and he knew right away what it was. He checked it.
“That stuff is pure,” he said, somewhat surprised, “where do you get it?” ”Hmm, that is a secret for now,” said Cinnamon, “what brings you to town?” ”Other business,” he said. ”Be careful of that one group outside of town,” said Aoife, “they have been trying to run us out. They call themselves The Investigators, they are trouble.” ”That’s okay,” said Lance, “we got men watching them all the time.”
“Hmm, that is likely why we saw that helicopter flying around,” said Cinnamon, “have you checked with your men lately?” Layne was on the phone right away, but no answer. ”Must have got them,” said Layne. ”You boys interested in a deal?” asked Aoife. ”What kind of deal?” asked Layne. ”Let’s talk tonight, in private,” said Aoife, “our place or yours.”
“Right here,” he said, “we are in room 25, we have things to do later so how about 19:00?” ”Good, we will be here,” said Aoife. ”Those gals with you?” asked Lance. ”Yeah, we have to protect ourselves,” said Cinnamon, “but they will stay outside to make sure we are not disturbed.” ”Good, Lauren wouldn’t like it if things went wrong,” said Lance.
Meanwhile, back at the cabin. “LOOK OUT!” yelled Astrid and pushed everyone into the big kitchen. There was a loud crashing as the heavy load of snow broke through the roof causing that half of the big house collapse right to the main floor! Everyone made it safely to the kitchen, everyone except Penny, she was trapped under all that splintered wood and snow.
The girls called, but there was no answer from Penny. There was no way for them to dig her out either. There was so much snow it was hard to see the wood, and they were unable to move what wood they could see. The cats tried getting under by walking along the edge and looking for an opening into that broken mess of wood. What could they do now?
Would the remainder of the house stand, or would the whole thing come crashing down on them during the night? They could do nothing about Penny now as it was almost completely dark. Rock and his team had stopped to check the distance. It was dark. Perhaps they would have to stay at that small town where the girls had initially booked their hotel rooms.
“We have to keep going Rock,” said Aari, “those girls might be in serious trouble.” ”Yeah, I know it,” he said, “but this snow keeps getting deeper and it is slowing us down. It will be midnight or later before we get there.” So they continued on. The girls were glad they had brought in so much firewood when they arrived. ”Hey, I broke off a couple boards,” said Astrid, “these could save our lives.”
“Those small boards?” asked Sky. ”Yep, we just need two of those long poles from outside now,” she said. So Charly, Crystal and Sky took turns breaking their way through the snow and dug out two long poles and brought them inside.
Dawn had found nails earlier and an old hammer, so they nailed the boards onto the poles. ”These will push the snow off the roof,” said Astrid, “we used to use similar things back home every winter. We need to remove that snow, and quick.”
So, her and Dawn went up, climbing onto the roof from the third floor, then up to the peak and began pushing the snow off the roof. Then Candace and Sapphire took their place for a while, then they changed again. Each pair got two turns on the roof and they got most of the snow off, so now they should be safe. Then, another noise…
To Be Continued.
©2024 Steve McLeod.
Good afternoon everyone! It was cloudy and snowing lightly this morning. We got snow overnight, but only about 2 inches, it is a little hard to tell from up here exactly how much we received. Hmm, the sun is trying to shine through the clouds at the moment. Maybe it will clear.
Just as last year, Saturday will be my time to share stories from the past, just with a different name on the post. We will go back a number years for this one and a nice, warm, summer day. I will use a selection of summer pics to enjoy too, but they are not from this story. A good day for a hike was my thought. So, I got things ready and off I went, stopping for breakfast at a restaurant on the way. Krissy asked what I was doing that day, so I told her.

A small part of our lake in summer.
She just looked at me and said “no!” Then she told me that she had to work that day since her parents were going away for a couple days, so she would not be able to come with me and she said I could not go by myself. Hmm, I am still going. She came back from the kitchen and told me her dad gave her permission to go with me, on one condition.
Why is there always one condition? Anyway, I agreed and we were soon on our way. ”There is the spot,” I said. ”We are going to climb that cliff?” she asked. ”It doesn’t look hard,” I said, “it actually looks like there is a natural path going along over there.” She looked at this ‘path’, then at me. ”Scared?” I asked her. ”If you can do it then so can I,” she replied.

Some White Pelicans soaring overhead.
Off we went along this cliff edge. The path was quite wide, about 4 feet, so it really was not so bad. That is, until Krissy stopped. She was in the lead at that point. ”Um, our path seems to get rather narrow here,” she said. I looked past her. She was right, it narrowed to about 6 inches (15cm). ”But it does get wide again,” she said, “and it’s only about a 6 foot jump, I could do that easily.”

A closer view of one.
“No jumping,” I said, “I don’t want to see you fall.” ”Then close your eyes,” she said giggling. ”We turn back,” I said and I started walking. Then I heard her yelling, “your turn!” She had actually jumped across! ”I will catch you,” she said. ”And we will both fall,” I said, “just remember what you promised.” Sigh.
I ran and jumped, but my foot slipped on the other side, causing me to fall. Krissy quickly fell flat and grabbed my arm. ”Grab that rock,” she yelled, pointing to a small rock by the cliff face. It was part of the cliff rock and not just a loose rock, so by pulling on that and Krissy helping pull my other arm, I was able to get up. I was also able to use my feet to push me up.

Baxter the Blue Jay waiting for a peanut.
Finally I was sitting next to Krissy. That drop would have been about 50 feet. ”You are crazy,” she told me. ”I am crazy?” I asked. ”I just said that,” she said. ”I was asking a question, not agreeing with you,” I said. She just giggled again. We were very much alike, we both liked taking chances.
Although it terrified me when she did it. ”We will find a better way to go back down,” I said. ”Oh, admit it, you enjoyed that adrenalin rush,” she said. ”True, but I do not need to fall off a cliff for that,” I said. Well, guess this is a good place to stop and I will finish this story next time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2024 Steve McLeod.