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.