Chapter 6
Now that I’m older, I understand why the Grinch wanted to live alone with his dog.
Hudson sat up in bed, all his senses on high alert. There was enough light from the front porch and beyond that he had no problem seeing around the room.
Not a problem inside, he realized…but something was off. He felt that little tingle at the back of his neck just like he always did when there was danger.
He’d gone to bed dressed, instead of how he normally preferred, so it took only moments to grab one of his pistols. He moved on silent feet down to Scout’s bedroom, eased open her door. It didn’t even creak—and she hadn’t locked it.
Her curtains were lightweight, allowing in some of the outside light so he could see her clearly in her bed. The tension in his chest eased when he saw her face peeking out from a bundle of blankets she’d wrapped around herself like a burrito, her eyes closed as she slept peacefully.
He eased the door shut again, even as he found himself annoyed that she didn’t have an alarm system.
Or more cameras. He’d managed to add three around where most of her livestock was, in addition to the trail cams in a couple grazing fields, but she needed something better out here at the house.
And she should have locked her bedroom door.
She was a single woman all alone. Maybe she hadn’t thought about it before because she’d had her grandfather, but…he didn’t like it. The world was a shitty place, and he couldn’t stand the thought of her or her mean llamas getting hurt.
Not on his watch.
Instead of heading out the front door, he opened up a window in one of the little sitting rooms and dropped onto the porch.
Then he climbed over the side of the railing and slipped behind a cluster of bushes.
There were no sensor lights around here and he didn’t want to alert anyone that he was on the move.
In the distance he heard faint bleating.
The llamas.
Sticking to the shadows, he didn’t waste time looking at the camera feeds on his phone. There was no time to stop and he couldn’t get distracted. The llamas and his instincts were telling him that something was wrong.
As he neared one of the farthest llama shelters from the house, he heard two distinct male voices.
They didn’t sound like the men from earlier. No, these were younger guys.
“God, would you shut that beast up?” one of them snarled.
“I’m not getting close to that psycho!” the other hissed. “It’ll spit on me again.”
“I wish we could just shoot them and be done with it.”
“You know our orders. We have to make this look like an accident.”
On the air, Hudson scented…gasoline. Oh, hell no. He peered around the corner of the shelter and could see two men standing in the shadows behind one of the fence lines, a gas can next to one of them.
They were both dressed in jeans and flannel shirts and had donned cowboy hats.
As they continued to argue with each other about the best way to burn down the shelter and kill Scout’s llamas in the fire, Hudson moved around the back of the shelter. He wondered if the two dumbasses realized that the llamas weren’t penned in and could run free if they started a fire.
Not that it mattered, because they weren’t going to be following through with their plan.
The two men were so focused on each other they never heard him moving into place over on their side of the fence.
The bleating from Lucy covered up any noise he might have made anyway. Patricia and Clover were mostly stomping their feet around in clear anxiety, but Lucy was pissed and ready to kill.
Or maybe maim.
Right there with you, girl, he thought. These were Scout’s girls, and they were starting to grow on him. No way would he allow these assholes or anyone else to harm them.
Sticking to the shadows, he weighed his options as he moved in behind the tree closest to them. There was enough moon and starlight that he could see everything these guys were doing.
“Fine, I’ll climb the fence, and you’ll pass the gas can to me,” the one in the dark blue flannel said in exasperation.
“Or I’ll put a bullet in both of you and call it a day.” Hudson stepped out from the shadows into the moonlight, pistol raised.
Both men swiveled to face him, and one made a move for a weapon tucked into the front of his pants.
Yep, dumbasses.
“I wouldn’t.” Hudson lowered his pistol so it was aimed at the guy’s crotch. “Hands up now.”
“Who the hell are you?” the one in blue snarled even as he raised his hands in the air.
Instead of answering, he said, “You, pull out your pistol with one hand. Slowly. Then toss it on the ground. If I even think you’re going to shoot me, I’m shooting you in the dick. And I don’t miss.”
It was hard to tell even in the moonlight, but it looked like the man’s face paled. At least he did as Hudson ordered and threw his pistol into the brush.
“Now you,” Hudson ordered the second man.
Once they were free of weapons, he motioned toward the fence. “Climb over it. Now.”
They both blinked at him, looked over at the llamas still in their shelter, then back at Hudson. “You serious?”
He focused his aim on the other man. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
The llamas got surprisingly quiet as Hudson herded the two men over the fence so they’d be on the llamas’ side.
As they climbed, he kept his weapon in one hand, then he scaled the fence with ease, not bothering to be quiet now.
“Lucy, do not attack,” he ordered, hoping she’d understand. The lunatic was smart, he’d seen that much. Whether or not she would actually listen to him at all was a risk. One he was willing to take.
“Get on the ground, facedown, spread-eagle. I’m going to search you. If you make a wrong move, I put a bullet in your spine and let you bleed out.”
The men were quiet, but did as he said. The energy rolling off them was pure rage, but he didn’t give a fuck. He’d dealt with real pros before. Morons too. And sometimes morons were more dangerous because they were so reckless.
To his surprise the three llamas moved in and surrounded him and the two men on the ground. Lucy stomped around in clear warning, but didn’t attack them. Yeah, she definitely understood.
Hudson pulled out wallets and two more knives from the men, then zip-tied their hands behind their backs, and their ankles together.
“Guard them,” he ordered Lucy.
And he swore that beast nodded as she bleated at him, stomped again.
Moving fast, he raced back to the house. While he would prefer to just put bullets in the men then dispose of their bodies, he knew the llamas had cameras on them and… He felt a twinge of something at killing these guys on Scout’s property.
He wanted her to get a look at the men, see if she recognized them at all. He had to know who he was working with before he offed them.
“Scout,” he whispered as he stepped into her room. When she didn’t move, he spoke a little louder. “Scout.”
She opened her eyes, blinking rapidly. “What?”
“You’ve got some intruders. The girls are guarding them. I think they meant to burn down some of your property.”
At the word burn, she shoved off her blankets, rubbing at her eyes. “Are my girls okay?”
“They’re fine,” he rasped out.
She was wearing little shorty pajamas covered in Christmas-themed llamas. Because of course. He tried not to stare as she stalked past him, but he could see the clear outline of her butt cheeks in the pajama shorts and he didn’t hate it.
As if she maybe realized that at the last minute, she gave him a bleary-eyed look over her shoulder. “Don’t you judge my pajamas.”
“I’m not judging,” he murmured. More like admiring.
She just grunted and slipped on knee-high boots and a puffer coat, and stalked outside.
He slid in front of her as they hurried across her property. “Let me do the talking,” he said.
She gave him a tired look and grunted again.
“Also, you’re getting a security system. And you should be locking your bedroom door at night,” he added because he was annoyed.
“I don’t know what to say to any of this right now,” she murmured.
“You don’t have to say anything. It’s happening.”
She made an exasperated sound, but seemed to fully wake up as they moved in on the three llamas who, yep, were still guarding the cowboys.
Patricia ran for Scout the second she spotted her, making worried sounds as she trotted alongside the two of them.
“Get your fucking alpacas off me!” the man in the blue shirt screamed on the ground.
“They’re llamas,” Hudson said at the same time Scout did.
Lucy was busy eating the man’s flannel shirt and Clover had her face right up in front of the other man’s, her stare menacing. She looked like a fuzzy demon with her eyepatch.
“Girls, fall back,” Scout ordered.
To Hudson’s surprise (or maybe not), they did just that, but they didn’t go far.
“You recognize either of these guys?” he asked.
She eyed the two men for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “They work at the Willman Ranch,” she murmured, for his ears only.
“Do you want to call the sheriff’s department?”
She bit her bottom lip, then took a step back from them. He followed, but kept the men in his line of sight.
“I don’t know if I should,” she whispered. “Normally I would say yes, but I’ve seen those two guys having lunch with the owner—Zack Willman—and the sheriff. What if…”
“The sheriff is involved?” he finished.
She nodded.
Hudson looked back at the two men, who were still cautiously eyeing the llamas.
“Can I borrow your truck? I’m going to take them for a little drive.”
Her eyes widened slightly.
“I’m not going to kill them or anything.” Probably not. “Just talk to them. Get some answers.” And he really didn’t want Scout to see how he was going to get those answers.
She glanced back over at them, bit her bottom lip.
“They were going to burn your girls to death. I heard them say it.” He motioned to the big red can of gasoline past the fence.
“Whatever their full plan was, it involved killing Lucy, Patricia and Clover.” He used their names, not that he thought she even needed the extra emotional push.
“When you go back and check the camera feeds you’ll hear it for yourself. ”
Her blue-green eyes flared in surprise, then pure rage as she glanced over at the zip-tied men. “You’re just going to talk to them, right?”
“Yep.” He paused. “And find out more about what they want. This is more than simple property damage at this point. You need to know why they’re here. Let me handle this for you, and you take care of your girls.”
She bit her bottom lip again, but he could see that she was going to let him do it. “Fine, but don’t…kill them or anything.”
“I would never.” Okay, that was a lie, but he didn’t feel bad about it. The less she knew right now, the better.
“Okay.” But she still seemed hesitant. Until she looked over at her girls. “Come on, let’s go.”
The three llamas lined up and trotted toward her. Lucy gave Hudson the stink eye, but at least she didn’t spit at him.
Small victories.