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Adding to the chaos, Wendell and Teague yanked at the poles holding the kitchen island up. As soon as they tried to break free, so did Denny.

Helen seemed to be the only one unable to go anywhere, though if they’d secured one of the guys in the bedroom, he probably could have lifted the bed and gotten loose. At least for now, the brass kitchen counter poles were holding. But as much as the three men were yanking at them, Andy feared they would soon pull them loose.

His biggest problem for now was keeping Lionel from killing him with his own gun. Suddenly, Lionel slammed his fist into the side of Andy’s head.Shit!That hurt. Lionel must have been or still was a boxer.

Andy lost his gun, which slid across the wooden floor. Andy dove for it, but Lionel had his hands on it first. Andy jumped up and ran to the front door, but Lionel was getting to his feet and fired wildly at him.

Andy threw the front door open and ran for the trail Monica had used. Damn it to hell! He wasn’t wearing his parka, gun, hat, gloves, goggles, or anything he would need to keep from freezingto death in the frigid temperatures. Then he saw Monica moving as fast as she could toward him, gun in hand.

“Go back that way.” She motioned back to the road.

“Lionel has my gun. At least you have all the rest of them.”

She hesitated. “Okay, come on, we’ll go back to their truck. They won’t come after us until Lionel frees the other men. Denny will tell him I’m still armed, and I’ve got the rest of their guns. You shift. We’re out of the view of the cabin. You’ll freeze to death the way you’re dressed. I’ll carry your clothes to the truck.”

He quickly stripped off his clothes and shifted. Then she gathered up his clothes and led him half a mile to a pickup with a camper on top. She opened the back of it and climbed in. He soon joined her.

“Here, there are more clothes and a rifle. You can dress and wear this parka and hat.”

He began pulling on the parka and hat and found a ski mask and ski goggles.

“We have a few choices. We can wait for them to come to their truck because they’ll need to leave here, figuring their location is compromised. They can spread out and try to overcome us with greater numbers.” She sounded as winded as he was.

Andy found some bottles of water and emergency food. “Right. Woods surround us. They could come at us from different directions.”

“We could hotwire their truck, leave them stranded, and return to White Bear. Then we would let everyone know where they’re holed up. Or we can return to the cabin and stop Lionel from freeing the others.”

“I hate leaving them behind when we have them all incarcerated, but if he frees them before we return, I’m afraid they could overwhelm us. If Lionel gets off one shot where he manages to kill or wound us, we would be in bigger trouble.”

“True. Once Lionel frees the others, it won’t be long before they’re headed here. We could disable their truck and flatten all the tires, but we would be at risk as they search the area to kill us.”

“Unless they’re afraid of the polar bear. Our best option is to hotwire the truck and drive until we can get some reception to call for backup.” Andy climbed out of the camper and helped Monica out.

She helped Andy start the truck, and once it was running, she drove and backed down the road until they reached the main road. “I don’t want to get stuck anywhere.”

“If we do, then we’ll have to flatten the tires and take the starter…” Andy ran his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry about all this.”

“About what? If I had been in the house and Lionel had overwhelmed me, I would have been dead. At least you made it out alive. I take it he lifted the couch to free himself.”

“Yeah, he came to while I was watching for your return. I didn’t think he could do that with his hands confined behind his back, but I was dead wrong. He somehow managed to get his cuffs off. It was too late when I realized he was coming at me. Once he had my gun, he began shooting at me, and I fled the house.”

“When I heard the shots fired, I nearly had a heart attack. He must be a lousy shot.”

“He might be concussed and seeing double because of me knocking him out initially.”

“I sure hope so.”

Two miles down the road, the truck slipped on the ice, and she slowed down, regaining control of the truck.

“Do you want me to drive?”

She rolled her eyes at him. As soon as she did, he assumed she thought he was saying so because she’d already run into his patrol vehicle and totaled it.

“The roads are icy, and the slide-on, hard-shell camper makes this vehicle top-heavy. I’ve driven one before, so I know what traveling in these conditions is like.”

“All right.” She came to a stop, and they switched places. “The tank is only about a quarter full.”

“We won’t make it to White Bear then.”