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The two men suspected of armed bank robbery tried to pass the patrol cars as if they didn’t need to stop, and Andy shouted, “Stop them. They might be the bank robbers of the White Bear National Bank.”

Roger jumped into his squad car and blocked the road before the brothers could speed past them. The driver jerked his car off to the left to avoid hitting the patrol car and plowed off the road and into the embankment.

Roger jumped out of his patrol car. “The bank robbers who hit the bank brandished guns.” He pulled his gun out.

Andy, Roger, and the other officer hurried down the embankment to where the car had rolled onto its top, discovering the vehicle was buried in an avalanche of snow.

While the situation with the suspected bank robbers was in action, Monica talked to the EMTs as they pulled Harvey out of the hatchback and cared for him before he was put into the ambulance.

As soon as she was sure he would get the care he needed, she grabbed the folded shovel and hurried down the embankment to help the other cops with the possible bank robbers. No matter what, they had to get the men out of the car before they ran out of oxygen.

Andy took the shovel from her and began digging out the front passenger window where the glass had already broken.

Monica and the other officers had their weapons poised at the window.

It was the only way for the men to get out, but no one was moving around.

They were upside down and maybe injured this time.

“Can you get out?” Andy asked the brothers.

They didn’t answer.

Monica didn’t want Andy to go in and try to get them, not if they were armed and shot him, though they weren’t getting out of this mess that they’d gotten themselves into this time.

“What about digging out around the back window? We can check on them and see if they’re badly injured,” Monica said.

Andy started to dig out the rear passenger window behind the broken one.

“Do we have a tire iron we can use? Duct tape?” Monica asked. “A mirror? Or we can use a phone to insert in there to see what’s happening.”

Mr. Richardson called out, “I have some duct tape in a bag of groceries I had just bought. And I have a tire iron.” He and his wife stood on the road above them, watching them.

“Yeah, that would be great.” Monica thought they were wonderful for wanting to help however they could.

“I’ve got a hand mirror,” Mrs. Richardson said.

The couple trudged off to get the items. Monica wanted to peek in and not waste precious time, but she didn’t want to get shot. Still, if the men stayed there, they could be injured, suffer from critical injuries, and become hypothermic.

Once she had climbed the embankment to get the items from Mr. Richardson, Monica taped her phone onto the tire iron, figuring she could get a better visual using it rather than a mirror.

At least she still had some power left on her phone.

Then she returned to the car and turned the video recorder on.

She slipped the phone in through the back window.

Andy and the other officers viewed the video when she pulled her phone out of the car. Both men appeared sprawled out inside the car on the roof's interior when they had rolled. Neither had been wearing seatbelts. It looked like they had been knocked out and were still unconscious.

The army wool blanket was still covering the front passenger’s window frame where Andy had broken the window.

He yanked the blanket free and tossed it.

Then he shined his cell phone light into the car.

“They’re breathing. I see their frosty breaths, but they’re still unconscious.

I’ll pull the one brother out first, and then you can take him up to the road. ”

“I called for another couple of ambulances,” Roger said.

“Good. They only made this harder on themselves.” Andy strained to pull out the first brother, who had been sitting in the passenger seat.

Once he had him all the way out, the two police officers carried the unconscious man up the embankment.

Monica went down the embankment to help Andy with the other man.

Then, they’d need to verify that the bags were in the car and what was in them.

Once they had pulled the other man out, Roger ran down the embankment to help, leaving Monica to investigate the contents of the bags.

She was glad because her hand and back were giving her fits with all the workouts they were getting.

She took pictures of the bags and opened one, revealing bundles of cash. She released the breath she was holding. Wow. Then she did the same with the next three bags, all containing a ton of cash.

Andy rejoined her and whistled. “We might not have successfully handled the fake kidnapping scheme for the ransom money to its fruition, but at least we caught the bank robbers.”

“Yeah, I’m glad we managed to accomplish that.”

Roger joined them. “The brothers are in the back of two different patrol cars. They’re stirring but still half out of it.

From the information we received from the video of the two men, who have been identified as the Williamson brothers, we’ve got them.

According to their rap sheets, they’ve been in jail multiple times for store thefts, then decided on bank robberies.

They’ve done three of them in the area. That’s not the vehicle they were driving, though. It was a blue Ford Bronco.”

“Which is down the embankment a few miles back at the scene of the accident they had caused,” Andy said.

They all peered at the money.

“Nice haul,” Roger said.

“Okay, I’ve photographed the car and the bags of money. We need to take them with us,” Monica said. “Do either of the men have IDs?”

“Yeah, they both have their driver’s licenses. They both have prison records for bank robberies in the past,” Roger said.

“While some were trapped in their cars back at the accident site, they were a big help to us,” Monica said. “It’s awful that they threatened others with guns to rob a bank earlier.”

“I agree,” Andy said. “Though I can’t help but feel that they only assisted us because they wanted to appear to be law-abiding citizens and didn’t want us to suspect them of a crime. Particularly, since we are law enforcement officers, and they had bags of stolen cash in the Bronco.”

“True. They also needed a working vehicle to get out of the mess they were in. Are you ready to head back toward White Bear? We need to get out of this cold, and we can meet the ambulances to have the men checked out,” Monica said.

“Yes, let’s go,” Roger said.

Andy and Roger carried the bags up to the road.

They put the bags of money in Harvey’s Yukon hatchback. Then Andy continued to drive the Richardsons’ car while Monica moved the Yukon.

The police patrol cars led the way to White Bear again.

It wasn’t long before they heard ambulance sirens and saw their emergency lights.

Then, more sirens sounded as police joined them.

Everyone stopped again to meet up with the emergency vehicles so that they could move the injured brothers to the ambulances.

Monica thought they would never get to where they were going, but she was glad the bank robbers would receive medical care and be incarcerated.

The new patrol cars had two officers each. The EMTs took care of the bank robbers and then loaded them into the ambulances. A police officer went with each ambulance, and they drove off.

Then they were on their way again.

When they finally reached White Bear, tow trucks and more police cars were headed to the multi-vehicle accident site to deal with the wrecked cars. Andy and Monica drove to the police department and parked. Several people and the media were gathered in the parking lot.

Andy and the Richardsons exited their car.

Thankfully, the police kept the media away from everyone leaving their vehicles.

“Thanks for all your help,” Andy said to the Richardsons, shaking their hands.

“We owe you for all you did,” Mr. Richardson said, his wife agreeing. “In all our years on the force, we never faced as many challenges as you had to go through in so few hours.”

“Me either,” Andy said.

Then, they wished them well. The Richardsons joined their son-in-law and got into his vehicle, and he drove off. Their daughter drove the Richardsons’ car off.

After the EMTs checked out the mother, her brother and sister-in-law picked her and her daughters up. Monica wished them well. The other older gentleman had found a ride with a friend and thanked them for their help.

She was glad everyone had someone to take care of them after the harrowing ordeal.

Afterward, Monica and Andy talked to DEA agents about the drugs in Harvey’s vehicle. The agents confiscated the Yukon.

Federal agents met with Monica and Andy to discuss the stolen bank money. They explained what had happened. The blue Ford Bronco would be hauled in for forensic investigation.

Five vehicles pulled up into the parking lot. An older couple and four men who looked like Andy and were about his age greeted him. He hurried over to talk to them. She smiled as they hugged him, and then Andy pointed to Monica. She waved in their direction but continued to speak with the agents.

Then she explained to the agents about the kidnapping case she had been working on alone until Andy joined her to assist. “So Helen was not a kidnapped victim. We tried to tell her boyfriend, Pierre Johnson, that she was safe and was part of the whole scam but couldn’t get through to him.”

Andy rejoined her.

“We’ll make sure Pierre gets word. We understand you were injured in the first vehicle accident with the trooper’s patrol car. We’ve been looking for the two of you all this time. We need to get you checked out,” the agent said, who was someone Monica had never met before.

“We’ve got the money bags from the Yukon,” another patrolman said.

“Good,” Monica said.

“Thanks,” Andy said.

Then, the EMTs checked her out.