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Larry, her llama, was still in the truck, not wanting to budge. By then, the snow had begun to come down hard. While I knew enough about llamas to understand that they didn’t mind the snow, all the same, I wanted to make sure that all of us were tucked safely inside before the weather got any worse. Besides, I didn’t like being exposed out there knowing Balaban could be around.
“Come on, bud! Get your butt down here!”
Larry didn’t move, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
“I know you love him,” I said. “But this has got to be about the dumbest animal in God’s creation.”
Aubrey smiled in my direction. “I know. But it’s part of his charm. Larry! Get down here now!”
He didn’t budge.
“Come on, Larry!” Henry, who’d been on the porch with Tyler and Adam, came trundling over. “You have to go inside!”
“Yeah, Larry!” Hattie said, joining in. “It’s not safe out here! It’s going to get cold!”
It was already cold, but I understood what she meant.
The kids began gesturing to Larry, shouting and guiding him into the barn. To my surprise, Larry finally got his butt in gear, coming down the ramp.
“There!” Henry said. “Now go into the barn!”
Larry obeyed, making his way into the open doors of the barn. Aubrey was close behind, guiding him into his stall, then shutting the building up with a sigh.
“Should’ve known I’d need the llama whisperers!” she said, coming over and mussing the twins’ hair.
A smile on my face, I turned my attention to the house.
“Just a matter of getting the rest of the place locked up tight. Come on, everyone, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Chapter 32
Marcus
The next morning…
The snow came down hard, the sky nearly black. As I stood in the kitchen behind the bulletproof windows, part of me couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to just get snowed in without a care in the world, not having to worry about international psycho criminals coming for revenge.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Mac came into the kitchen and headed over to the fridge.
“Any word?” I asked.
“Well, on the weather front, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that we’re in the thick of it. Supposed to come down for another eighteen hours like this.”
“Damn. So much for running into town to grab some Ben and Jerry’s.”
Mac cocked his head to the side as he approached, a cocky grin on his face, a bottle of water in hand. “Was that a joke? Out of you?”
“Hey, Tyler’s not the only one allowed to issue the wisecracks.”
He chuckled. “Anyway, we’re set up. Aggie and the twins are in the basement theater having a Pixar marathon, windows and doors are sealed shut, alarms are activated, shades all pulled tight… there’s no way for anyone to get in here without one hell of a fight. And if we need to get to town for some emergency reason, we’ve got the truck hooked up with the plow.”
“Good. So, we’re in fortress mode, right?”
“Almost. Aubrey’s out in the barn right now.”
“You serious? In this weather?”
“Mmm-hmm. Wanted to take one more check on the animals before we lock down for the next twenty-four hours.”
