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From where Wendell was lying on the floor next to the couch, and Andy still had his knee in his back, one hand in the cuffs pulled behind his back, neither man could see the doorway.

"You're lying," Wendell said.

"Hell, you can't hear it huffing around the front door?" Andy asked.

Then she heard snuffling around the door. Black bears wouldn't be roaming during winter storms unless they awoke prematurely from a nap.

"Black bear?" Andy asked her, sounding a little worried.

"You said it was a polar bear," Wendell said. “I knew you were lying."

Then suddenly, a polar bear entered the cabin, and her heart raced. "Ohmigod, it's a polar bear."

The bear roared.

20

"Come on, Monica." Andy released his hold on Wendell and grabbed Monica’s arm as if protecting her from the polar bear, leaving Wendell to fend for himself.

Andy rushed up the stairs with her.

"What about me!" Wendell tried to get to his feet, one handcuff dangling from his wrist as the polar bear came for him.

"That's Craig," Andy whispered as he led Monica up the stairs to check on the other two detainees.

"Oh, that's good to know." She wondered who he was and why he had arrived at the cabin.

She glanced downstairs. Wendell backed up, screaming, "Help me!" Before the bear took a swipe at him and knocked him out.

Monica smiled and gave Craig a thumbs-up. He growled in his fiercest polar bear way.

She and Andy entered the bedroom, but neither Denny nor Eloise was there. They couldn't have escaped! She headed for the bathroom, and both were standing in the shower, still handcuffed, hiding from the polar bear.

Andy shut the bedroom door and joined her in the bathroom. "Okay, so here's the deal. You come out, and we'll let Denny out of his cuffs to get dressed. It's the only way you'll survive this situation with the polar bear coming after us. Agreed?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Denny said.

Now, this was more like it! Cooperation. Finally.

Monica and Andy left the bathroom so Denny and Eloise could leave the shower stall and join them in the bedroom.

"If you fight me at all, I will have to leave you for the bear and take Eloise and my partner to safety.” Andy didn’t mind using threats if it got what he wanted in a tense situation like this.

"I'm not going to cause any trouble. You've got guns. There's no way I can protect myself."

Andy released one of Denny's cuffs while Monica held her gun on him.

"Okay, get dressed. You don't need to have the cuff removed from your wrist to do it."

Monica was glad he had left Denny's one wrist cuffed. That way, they could put him back in cuffs more easily once he was dressed.

"You can't keep us cuffed," Denny complained.

Eloise looked out the window. "Ohmigod, is that the bear?"

Believing Eloise wasn’t bluffing, Monica glanced out the window. Andy trained his gun on Denny while he dressed. The polar bear suddenly rose on his hind legs, and Eloise immediately jumped back. Monica knew Craig was doing it for show.

"He's going to get us!" Eloise screamed.