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“Right. Back to the interview?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She restarted the interview. “Why did you disappear after we tried to haul Helen, Denny, and the rest in?”

“Oh, hell, well, Teague said he knew I had betrayed them and had sicced an FBI agent on them. My handler put me in a safehouse, and it was all hush-hush. Though I tried to contact you and got caught at it before I could get through to you.”

“Who is your handler?”

Pierre hesitated to say.

“I have to know who he is to verify all of this and believe you.” Snowflake stretched, licked her lips, and fell asleep again on Monica’s lap.

“He said he knew you. That you were a great agent, but I already knew that.”

She frowned. “Who?”

“Agent Elio Weland?”

Her eyes widened. “I worked with him.”

“Yeah, and he shot you accidentally. When I got you involved in the kidnapping case, he was furious.”

“He’s DEA now?”

“Yeah.”

Okay, she trusted Elio. “He did it to save my life.”

“Not the way he tells it. He shouldn’t have shot you.”

“He saved my life, and it all turned out right.” Mostly because of her faster healing genetics. No way would she ever think ofElio as anything but her hero in that high-stakes situation of life and death.

Suddenly, Monica’s phone lit up. She glanced at the caller’s ID. “It’s Andy.”

“Answer it. I know he’ll want to come to your rescue. I sure wish I had been the one who had been your hero instead of putting you in harm’s way.”

She smiled. “Snowflake makes up for it.” She answered the call. “Andy?—”

“We’ve got the house surrounded.”

26

Andy was on patrol, not seeing any issues, when Craig called, immediately making him worry that something was wrong back home. “You need to come home right away. A strange black Mercedes is parked about 350 yards from your house on the roadside. All the male members of the family set up a perimeter around the place.”

His heart racing, Andy turned his car around and raced home, breaking every speed limit to get there. He asked for the license plate number and called it in to the police.Pierre Johnson.Andy immediately called Monica and told her the place was surrounded in case she was in trouble.

He got on his radio and said, “Roger, get hold of some officers and send them to my home.” He explained the situation.

“On it.”

Andy pulled up to the house where his brothers and cousins were blocking the Mercedes and parked around the front of the home. The house was quiet.

Sweating like crazy, Andy rushed out of the SUV without shutting the door, which could alert anyone inside that he was on his way.

“Is Pierre there with you? Are you hurt?” Andy still had an open phone line to Monica. He couldn’t keep the anger and worry out of his voice.

“Do not storm into the house with guns drawn,” Monica firmly told Andy over the phone.