“Walk forward until I tell you to stop,” Hoffman barked.
Clove groaned. The situation wasn’t getting any better. “Any bright ideas?” she asked out of the corner of her mouth.
“I’m thinking,” Drake whispered.
They started walking. Clove’s hopes for a quick reindeer rescue melted like Frosty on a warm spring day. Every step they took was one more crushed ornament of hope.
“We need to get him out of here,” Drake continued.
“How?” Clove whispered.
“Fly.” he whispered back.
“But–.” All the arguments for keeping Felix on the ground ran through the two steps of silence between them.
“Send him to Hannah.” He glanced up at the sky to the east—the direction of the bed-and-breakfast.
Clove pressed her lips together, trying to figure out how to get Felix to fly when they’d spent so long telling him not to. Not to mention, what would Grandma do when he showed up outside her window? It wasn’t close to the light out, but there were enough porch lights in the residential area that anyone could look out their window and see a flying reindeer. There was only one reindeer in town, and it wouldn’t take long to put two-and-two together.
It was a chance they had to take.
They stopped just inside the halo of light created by the motion light on the back of the building. Hoffman’s car was back here. Felix stood in his pen, his ears pinned back, and he huffed giant clouds of air at Hoffman. If he had a chance to run him over, or chase him up a tree, he’d take it.
“It’s okay, Felix. We’re okay,” she tried to soothe him.
His eyes darted between her and Hoffman:He’d better not get near you.
She nodded. “I know. We’re doing our best to get you out, okay? But we’re all safe and sound in the bed-and-breakfast. Grandma’s sleeping like a log and snoring like a lumberjack.”
He smacked his lips together:Good.
“What are you doing here?” demanded the officer.
Clove kept her eyes on Felix. He moved, so he was right behind Hoffman and pawed at the ground.Ever hear the song “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer?”
Drake snickered. She elbowed him.
“I couldn’t sleep.” She spoke as calmly as possible, ignoring Felix’s threat to Hoffman. “I wanted to make sure Felix was comfortable. He usually sleeps on our porch so he can be near me and Grandma and I worried about him out here. But you’re okay, right Felix?” She smiled at him. “I think you look good. Your coat is shiny and you are so tall and strong.” Adding in a few compliments couldn’t hurt, could it?
He stomped both his feet. The thunder of it tingled the bottom of her feet.Let me at him.
“He is strong. Just the kind of reindeer we love to take pictures of back home,” Drake added. They talked as if they socialized at a holiday party instead of holding their hands in the air in front of an officer.
She turned her attention to Hoffman. He had some kind of weapon trained on them. The end of it was square and wide and she realized with a blink that it was a taser, not a gun. The tension in her neck released. Being tased wasn’t on her Christmas to-do list, but at least she’d survive it.
Right? No one died from being tased.
No one she knew personally. It wasn’t like she spent hours watching online police videos. Why didn’t she spend more time paying attention to what was going on in the world?
Hiding in her little cabin in the woods called to her.
“Can I put my hands down now? They’re starting to lose feeling.” She smiled, though it felt pinched and unnatural to her.
Drake lowered himself before Hoffman grunted at her. She took that as a yes and lowered her arms too, shaking them out to get the blood flowing.
“What areyoudoing here?” Drake asked Hoffman. “Shouldn’t you be tucked in bed?”
He grunted again and looked over their heads at the camera mounted on the corner of the building. Was it on? If she had Felix fly away, would they have it on camera? That just wouldn’t do. Wait, a wire hung loose.
