Page 11

W hile anxiously watching for Monica’s return, Andy heard something rustling by the couch. He jerked his head around and was relieved to see that Lionel was still secure.

“What the hell is going on?” Lionel asked, yanking at his restraints wrapped around the couch leg. He looked to be about six feet three, heavyset, with a black beard and bushy black eyebrows, and he had a crooked nose that appeared to have been broken at some point in his life.

“You’re under arrest for facilitating a case of false kidnapping and obtaining the money for it.” Then Andy continued to watch for Monica, hoping she had found the truck and that it wasn’t too far away.

He wasn’t sure how they would get all the arrestees into the vehicle if they had to travel a long way in this snow, particularly with them all restrained.

The next thing he knew, Lionel must have lifted the couch, gotten loose, and was crossing the floor, heading straight for Andy.

His heart pounding, Andy yanked his gun out, but before he could aim it at Lionel, the guy was on top of him, slamming into him and taking him to the floor.

As a polar bear, Andy was formidable. He was muscled and strong, but didn’t have the bulk of a human that Lionel did.

Between them, they wrestled for the gun.

The gun went off, the round striking the kitchen island with a thwack!

Denny shouted, “Jesus! Try to kill us, why don’t you!”

Andy wasn’t letting go of his weapon. He was glad Monica had the foresight to take their guns with her when she left.

From the back bedroom, Helen screamed, “Let me out of here! Let me out!”

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 freezing to 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.”

“I was hoping we would get close or maybe even run into someone looking for us.”

“Neither of us was traveling on this road,” he reminded her.

“I know. I wonder if they’ve cleared the one where our vehicles are.” She sighed, leaned against the seat, and closed her eyes. “Tell me when we get to where we’re going.”

“We could try the satellite phones.”

“I tried mine when I went to the truck, but still no reception. It's the same with the phone. Then I heard shots fired.”

“At least you had your backpack with your gear in it.”

“I never leave home without it.” She got quiet then, and he let her rest.

This was a chaotic operation, though he reminded himself that they had stranded the people they had arrested, which was a good thing.

Once he was driving, he was battling a strong wind and an icy road. No wonder Monica had trouble controlling the truck, especially with her injuries. He admired her tenacity and fortitude.

Considering the conditions, he was surprised that Wendell and his men had made it to the cabin.

“Ohmigod, the…heat feels…great in here. I was…free-freezing to death,” a woman said from the back seat of the truck.

Shocked to hear someone in the truck, Monica and Andy immediately investigated the back seat to see a woman of about twenty, wrapped up in blankets, brushing her blond hair out of her face. “Who…who are you?”

“Friends of Wendell,” Monica quickly said. “Have you been in the truck all this time? It’s no wonder that you didn’t freeze to death. I’m Monica, and this is Andy. What’s your name?”

“Elo…Eloise.” She sounded like she was half out of it.

Monica turned the heat up on high. “Have you been drinking? Are you on anything?”

“Why? Are…you a…cop?”

“She might be hypothermic,” Monica said. “I’m coming back there to check you out.” She climbed over the seat. “Ugh. A half-empty container of gin is lying on the floor back here.”

“Drinking alcohol and being out in this cold for an extended period can be a lethal combination.” Andy concentrated on the icy road conditions.

“That’s for sure. It looks like she’s just drunk. If we could give her a field sobriety test, I’m sure she couldn’t pass it. But if she’d been out here much longer, she would have been in much worse shape.”

“Who are you? A friend of Denny’s? No…uh, no, Wendell? You…you wouldn’t be driving…driving…driving hisss truck otherwissse. Why…why are you…you driving hisss truck?”

Andy came up with a quick tale to explain the situation, hoping she had been asleep and hadn’t heard their earlier conversation. “We’re getting gas for his truck.”

“Aww.” Eloise closed her eyes and pulled the blanket back over her.

Monica climbed back into the front seat and fastened her seatbelt. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem with her for a while. As long as she doesn’t get belligerent like Helen was.”

“We could put her in the camper.”

“I would be worried about her opening the back door of the camper and falling out of it in her condition.”

“True.”

“I see lights ahead! A few businesses. A service station. Maybe someone’s got reception.” Monica sounded as excited as he felt hopeful.

He sure hoped they could get hold of someone when he saw a van headed in his direction. He thought it looked like one of his cousins’ vans they used on their tours, but when he got close enough to see the side of the van, he realized it wasn’t theirs.

Monica glanced at the van. “Someone you thought you knew?”