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What if she was watching to ensure he left and returned to his van before she opened the door? She might be paranoid about the cops coming to get her. She was smart if she was.

He turned and headed back to the van, texting Monica: Eloise sounds like she's drunk. She didn't open the door to me, so I had to leave the pizzas. I'm returning to the van.

Roger pulled in front of Andy’s SUV so fast that his patrol car slipped on ice and nearly rammed it. Andy realized he'd been holding his breath, expecting a collision. Talk about it being a failed mission if that had happened.

Andy moved to the driver's side of the van and gave the driver his hat back. "Okay, we're going to start heading that way. Slowly, as if you were afraid of slipping on ice."

"To hide you."

"Yes. Just think of this as your heroic duty."

"I didn't want to get involved."

"You are just doing your civic duty." Andy backed up while the delivery guy moved his van toward Roger’s car.

As soon as the van was out of view of Eloise's house, the pizza guy hightailed it out of there and Andy joined Roger.

"We've got a slew of officers headed this way." Roger sounded tense and excited simultaneously. "You know someone will say this isn't our job."

"Yeah, but we got the intel, and we're backing up the FBI agent on the case."

"Isn't she on leave for her injuries?"

"Slight technicality. There aren't any other agents in the area."

"Speaking of which, where is she?" Roger asked.

"Behind the house in case they start to escape." Andy and Roger hid in some shrubs while watching the front door.

Finally, the door opened, and Eloise, dressed in pajamas and slippers, leaned down to get the pizzas, dropped one, and tried again, cursing all the while.

Then she slammed the door shut, knocking icicles off the roof's edge.

They waited until four more patrol vehicles showed up and parked out of view of the house, but on the other side of the driveway. Again, Andy hoped no one would see the police force and alert Eloise.

Suddenly, the garage door began to open. They were making a run for it, at least Andy assumed.

Out back, he heard, "Stop! FBI!"

Hell, he needed to protect Monica. "Stop whoever is leaving in the car!" Andy told Roger.

He raced around the side of the house to find Lionel running through the deep snow with Monica in hot pursuit. At least it was just a case of one-on-one, and she wasn't outnumbered. But then Teague ran out the house's back door after Lionel and Monica.

His heart pounding, Andy plowed through the snow after him. He intended to tackle Teague before he reached Monica. But he missed him by inches and fell into a face full of snow. Damn it.

As long as Teague and Lionel didn't use deadly force against them, and not knowing all their involvement in the kidnapping case, they couldn't just shoot them.

But Andy couldn't believe he'd misjudged lunging for Teague and missing him.

Only by inches, sure, but it could have been by a mile as the guy kept running after Monica, and Andy was trying to get to his feet.

Then Andy was off and running again, furious with himself for the mistake. If Teague caught up with Monica and hurt her, he would never forgive himself.

Her left hand was still injured, and she wouldn’t have time to tackle Lionel or deal with Teague. With adrenaline surging through his veins, Andy dove forward, trying to reach Teague before he could get to Monica. He was getting closer, but Teague was too close to Monica.

Teague reached her, grabbed her arm, and she swung around with her gun in hand and slugged him in the temple. He went down into the snow, and she glanced back. Andy had a zip tie out and hurried to confine Teague. He and Monica continued to pursue Lionel.

They didn't speak to each other; they just breathed in the ice-cold air, their breaths frosty as they plodded through the snow after their target.

The land dropped off, and suddenly, he was out of sight.

That made Andy think of an ambush. He and Monica slowed down until they reached the dip in the hill.

Down below were more homes. Lionel's body had plowed through the snow, but he had gotten around the front of a white house and was now out of sight.

Still, Andy and Monica continued to follow his tracks and pursue him.

"I'm going this way. You go the other way around." Monica didn't wait for Andy to respond, which showed her leadership qualities and drive to complete the mission.

He admired her for it as he took off in the direction Lionel had gone, still following in his trail. This meant Monica had taken the more difficult route.

He finally reached the side property and got close to the end of the house, his gun out, ready for anything. A car's engine roared to life nearby. He hoped it wasn't Lionel getting away in his vehicle or stealing someone else's.

Monica shouted, "Get out of the car now!"

Hell, she was a firecracker ready to explode. He raced beyond the house and saw her facing down a car, Lionel in the driver's seat.

Andy shot out the car's tires facing him. Lionel was racing the engine, threatening to run Monica over. She was holding her position, her gun in her hands, ready to shoot through the windshield. Andy dashed through the snow to the car, unsure what he would do when he got there.

He needed to keep Lionel from running over Monica, forcing her to shoot him. But he didn't know if Lionel was armed either.

He slipped on the ice and slammed into the passenger's door. That wasn't planned either.

His heart pumping hard, he looked inside the fogged-up window at Lionel, who suddenly gunned the engine. Monica fired at the front driver's side tire and leaped into the snowbank. Andy hoped she hadn't reinjured herself.

He raced into the street and shot out the remaining tire. Lionel had no control over the car on the icy street with four flat tires. He sailed into a mailbox and crashed into a truck parked in front of another house.

Andy should have just run toward the car before Lionel managed to extricate himself from it, but he had to help Monica out of the snowbank in case she was hurting.

He pulled her free, and they both ran toward the wrecked car.

Lionel raced off and slipped on ice, falling onto his backside in what would have been a laugh-out-loud moment, except he had a gun, and he turned it on them.

Andy shoved Monica out of the way, forcing her into a snow pile. And fired back. He hit Lionel in the shoulder. Lionel dropped his weapon as two police cars roared down the street, sirens sounding off and lights flashing this time.

"Move away from the gun!" Andy shouted, realizing that the gun Lionel dropped was Andy’s! He and Monica were still in the line of fire if Lionel retrieved Andy’s gun and shot it out with them. Monica ran for cover behind the wrecked car.

Andy continued to hold his gun on Lionel, who was looking at him and then at the gun, which was only a few inches away from him. Would he take the bait or not?