I don't own Frozen

Elsa had changed into jeans and a sweater soon after Anna left, and now sat on the edge of her bed, staring down at the floor. The sounds of Anna's motorcycle had disappeared before she'd even made it back up to her bedroom, and the silence of the house was oppressive. Elsa had never been one who cared about being alone, but at that moment, the gap between solitude and loneliness had never seemed so narrow.

She looked around her room. Its stillness made it seem as though Anna had never been there at all, like she was a vibrant, blithe spirit that had come and gone without a trace. And all of Elsa's being seemed to have been swept into the void that she'd left behind.

She reached for the pillow that Anna had used, hugging it to her. The summery scents of sunshine and earth and grass wafted from it, and Elsa buried her face in it, inhaling deeply. Images of those beautiful sea-blue eyes, gazing at her from beneath the faceplate of a motorcycle helmet, lingered behind her closed lids.

How could one person have affected her so much? Anna, with her unique…Anna-ness, had tumbled into her life, literally with guns blazing, and completely upended her ordered existence. Elsa had thought she could blame it on circumstances, the intoxication of their dangerous situation, but she knew there was more to her feelings than that. For all her emotional…inadequacies, she still thought she recognized the raw fullness that swelled in her chest when Anna was with her.

Elsa thought she might be in love.

She found it both exhilarating and terrifying.

There had been a moment earlier when she thought she might be able to tell Anna how she felt. Out there, on her balcony, with Anna captivated by her freakish abilities, the words had danced on the tip of her tongue. But she couldn't get them out, and now Anna was gone.

Will I ever see her again?

Elsa hugged the pillow even tighter.

Her head jerked up as a sound broke the stillness of the house. Was Agdar up and moving around? It sounded like a door closing, but too far away to be Agdar, who was in the bedroom across the hall. Elsa jumped up. Had Anna returned?

As she reached her bedroom door, it struck her: it couldn't be Anna. She would have heard the motorcycle coming up the road. Maybe it was just Agdar stumbling around, but somehow she knew that wasn't the case. Elsa's heart started thumping uncontrollably.

Had she locked all the doors? She thought she had, but she couldn't be sure. Elsa peered out into the hallway. No sign of Agdar. Her ears strained to pick up any sound. She knew she hadn't imagined the noise. She started to walk toward the stairs, but froze when she heard the sound of quiet footsteps. She dropped to her knees and crawled down the hallway, peeking over the edge of the landing when she got to the end.

She bit back a gasp. Kristoff Bjorgman and one of his squad agents – Haugland, Kai Haugland, she thought – were creeping along the main floor from the direction of the kitchen. Haugland had his gun pointed ahead of him, sweeping it back and forth as he made his way toward the great room. Kristoff was close behind him, unarmed and looking distinctly uncomfortable. Elsa was used to Kristoff being a bit disheveled, but she'd never seen him like this: wearing jeans and a ratty hockey sweater, his eyes puffy and his rugged jaw unshaven. Haugland didn't look much better. He was unshaven as well, his normally immaculate suit rumpled, and what was left of his hair stuck out in all directions.

Have they been staking out my house?

Elsa could feel frost forming around her fingertips, and her mind raced. She could get out of the house without being seen – the back bedroom window opened up almost right next to the mountainside, and there was a small ledge within easy jumping distance. She could get to the ground from there. But she couldn't leave Agdar behind, and the two agents would be on them before she could get him up and dressed. And once they got out, where would they go? They didn't have a car. The NPs presumably had a car, but Elsa wasn't Anna. She had no idea how to hot-wire a car, or if it was even possible to hot-wire a police car.

Haugland and Kristoff reached the bottom of the stairs, both of their heads turning in perfect synchronization. They hadn't looked up yet, and Elsa was about to back away from the edge of the landing when movement from the hallway caught her eye.

"Look out!" she yelled as two men in white-and-gray camouflage crept in behind the NP agents.

Kristoff and Haugland jerked their heads up in surprise, then swiveled toward where she was pointing. Haugland swung his gun around, but the two men had their guns out as well, pointed directly at the agents.

"National Police!" Haugland barked out. "Drop your weapons!"

The two men ignored him, advancing on them slowly as Haugland's gun swung back and forth between them.

One of the men looked up at Elsa. She gasped. He was barely recognizable, his nose purple and swollen, but the black eye patch gave him away. The men from the airport!

He gave her a malicious grin. "Come down here, Miss Kjarensen."

"Stay up there, Elsa," Kristoff called. His brown eyes found hers and locked on them. "Go to your room and lock the door."

"Elsa?" Agdar appeared on the landing next to her, his hair unruly, eyes blinking sleepily. "What's going on?"

"You too, Erikksen," Eye Patch ordered. "Down here. Now."

Kristoff held up his hand. "No! Both of you stay up there!" He turned to the two men. "Look, there's an ERT on its way here right now. They'll be here in less than three minutes, so I suggest you either put down your weapons or get the hell out of here right now."

Eye Patch's partner chuckled. "We know there's no Emergency Response Team coming, Inspector Bjorgman."

Elsa saw Kristoff's eyes widen in astonishment as he heard his name. But that was nothing compared to the shock on his face at the man's next words:

"Agent Haugland, thanks for the assist. You can go now."

Anna slowed the bike down as she approached town, then came to a stop at the edge of an intersection, her feet setting lightly down on the pavement. She looked back over her shoulder. The winding road behind her was long and black and empty. Had it been daytime, she thought she might be able to make out the roof of Elsa's house, standing sentinel at the top.

It would be daylight soon enough, though. She could see it in the softening edges of the sky, in the hints of pink and orange peeking over the crests of the mountains. In any other situation, Anna would have stopped to savor the beauty of the sunrise, which she thought of as a magic hour when time seemed to stop for a moment, suspended between the past and the future.

If only she could suspend time now.

Why had she been in such a hurry to leave? She could have stayed. Waited at least until the car came to take Elsa and Agdar to the airport. It wouldn't delay her trip that long, and it would certainly ease her mind about their safety. Why was she running away so fast? Olaf was protected; Eugene would see to that. But what about Elsa?

Her hand tapped restlessly against the bike's throttle. She should go back. She could protect Elsa for a little while longer. It would also give her another chance to talk to Elsa. To tell her how she felt. Even if there was no future for them, Elsa deserved that much. She deserved to know that Anna loved her.

She planted one foot firmly and twisted the throttle, swinging the bike around to head back up the mountain.

As she approached Elsa's property, she caught a glint of something off the side of the road, something metallic in the trees reflecting in the beam of the motorcycle's headlamp. She slowed as she got closer. There was a car parked just off the road in the trees, a big sedan that practically screamed -

-Unmarked police car. Oh, shit! How did I miss that on my way out?

She rode straight at the car, her headlamp shining through the windshield. Hopefully she could grab their attention and get them to chase her. She would lead them away from the house, and then lose them on the winding mountain roads.

But there was no movement around the car. Starting to panic, Anna drove right up next to it and jumped off the bike, letting it fall to the snow-covered ground. She threw off her helmet and peered in through the windows. Empty.

Shitshitshitshitshit!

She sprinted up the road toward the house, pulling her pistol from the cargo pocket of her bike suit. At the last curve before the house came into full view, she ducked behind a tree and peered up at it. The first rays of the dawn were beginning to fall across Elsa's house. What they revealed chilled Anna to the bone.

Two men dressed in winter camouflage were sliding over the wall around Elsa's deck. Were they NPs, finally running them to ground? Or were they the hired killers from the airport, coming to finish the job? Oh please, God, don't let it be them! It had to be them, though – the NPs wouldn't be sneaking over the wall in camouflage. They would pull their guns and badges and come straight in.

The two men had already disappeared over the wall. They would be inside the house in seconds. She prayed that Elsa had locked all the doors.

Anna jumped up and raced toward the deck. She hauled herself over the wall, landing in a crouch near the hot tub. Footprints in the light dusting of snow covering the deck led straight from the wall to the solarium door. As she rose to dash to the door, she sensed a flicker of movement to her left.

Her instinctive dodge saved her life.

The knife raked down her arm instead of plunging into her back, and a heavy body crashed into her side. She hit the deck and rolled onto her back, stifling a cry of pain. The heavy mesh of her bike suit had absorbed most of the blow, but she could feel warm blood running down her arm.

Her attacker, a burly man with thick muttonchop whiskers, didn't hesitate, lunging at her again. Anna managed to get her knees tucked up and kicked out at the man's midsection as he dove at her, catching him with the soles of her boots. She grabbed his coat with her good arm and levered him over her head. She heard a hard thud and a grunt of pain when he hit the side of the hot tub.

Anna scrambled for her gun, which she had lost when the guy slammed into her. She wouldn't have any qualms about shooting him down and raising all kinds of hell. Fuck stealth. Right now she wanted the NPs to come running.

Her hand had just closed around her pistol's grip when Muttonchops slammed into her again. She hit the deck floor hard, her wind leaving her with a whoosh when he landed on top of her. He grabbed her shoulder and flipped her over to face him.

Anna gasped for breath as Muttonchops settled heavily astride her hips. He scowled at her, his breathing labored as he brandished the knife under her nose.

"Time for a little payback, Anna Aarndahl."

Anna almost crossed her eyes trying to keep the knife in sight. "P-payback?" she gasped, still sucking for air.

"For the cabin. You screwed up my job." His eyes held a murderous gleam.

The shooter from the cabin! No wonder he wanted payback. She was certain one of her shots had hit him that night. She forced her eyes away from the knife, looking him over for signs of injury.

There. His right arm. It hung awkwardly by his side, like he didn't have complete control of it.

Quick as a cat, she slapped his knife aside and slammed her closed fist against his right forearm as hard as she could. He cried out in pain. She bucked him off her, then twisted away and dove for her gun. Her hand closed around the barrel just as he grabbed her ankle. She swung the gun around desperately as she fell, and heard a crack as the butt smashed against Muttonchop's head.

He released her ankle and she lashed out with a kick, catching him on the cheekbone. He fell prone on the deck, stunned. Anna rolled to her feet and stood over him. When he moaned and tried to push himself up, she pistol-whipped him across the back of his head. He collapsed on the deck and lay still.

Anna dropped her to knees, shaking and nauseous. Then the pain in her wounded arm hit her full force and she bent over, emptying her stomach onto the snow-dusted wood next to Muttonchops.

She straightened up, wiping her sleeve across her mouth, and stared at the man lying motionless next to her. Was he dead? She reached out cautiously and pressed two fingers into the side of his throat. A slow pulse beat against her fingertips.

She pushed herself to her feet and poked at him with a toe. He didn't respond. Anna patted him down and found a cell phone and a suppressed pistol. She crushed the phone under her boot and tossed it out into the yard, then thrust the pistol against the base of his skull, her finger tightening on the trigger before she caught herself.

I can't do this.

She couldn't shoot him in cold blood. That was an execution, not self-defense.

Instead, she pressed the tip of the suppressor against his knee and pulled the trigger, flinching at the spurt of blood that followed the quiet clap of the shot. Anna swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Then she shoved the man's pistol into her cargo pocket. Tightening her grip on her own gun, she hustled into the house, praying with every labored breath that she wasn't too late.

"K-Kai…?" Kristoff stammered, turning to look at his partner. "Wh-what's going on?"

Kai's mouth tightened into a grim line. He didn't look at Kristoff as he lowered his gun.

"Kai?" Kristoff repeated. He felt light-headed from shock, his heart pounding and his breath coming in short puffs as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening. "It can't be. Please, tell me it's not…"

Kai finally looked at him, his expression resigned. "I'm sorry, Kristoff. This wasn't the way it was supposed to work out. My plan was to get you out of here alive, and get your suspension lifted." He looked at Eye Patch, who shook his head. Kai's burly shoulders sagged.

"You're the leak?" Kristoff asked. "Not Persie?"

"No, Persie wasn't the leak," Kai replied. Kristoff saw a flash of anger in his narrowed eyes. "He was a good man."

"But the money in the safe-deposit box?"

"All that came from his stamp collecting and trading. He operated all of that completely in cash. I knew about it – I even did a few of his shows with him. He was incredibly knowledgeable." Kai gave a slight shrug. "Persie was cheating the tax collectors. I failed to see a problem with it, since most of it was going towards his children's education anyway."

"You let me think he was the mole!"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Well, obviously I didn't want you to think it was me. When you found Persie's box, it became an easy way to deflect suspicion. Sinclair and Chifu believed it immediately. Unfortunately, they thought you were involved as well."

Eye Patch interrupted impatiently, "There's a recording we're supposed to get from Erikksen."

"Yes," Kai said. "In his briefcase. It's most likely upstairs."

Eye Patch jerked his head at his partner, who took the stairs two at a time and brushed by Elsa and Erikksen. A few minutes later he reappeared on the landing, carrying a briefcase.

"Is this it?" the man asked Erikksen.

Erikksen said nothing. The man raised his pistol and pointed it at Elsa, who cringed back as the tip of its suppressor hovered just inches from her head. Kristoff went cold as the man cocked his weapon.

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Erikksen almost screamed.

"Show me," the man said, slamming the briefcase into Erikksen's chest. He kept his gun trained on Elsa.

Erikksen fumbled the briefcase open and dug around the inside. A moment later he held out a tiny data card. The man took it, turned it over a few times, then threw it on the floor and ground it under his heel. Kristoff watched with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't help but think he had just been given a preview of the next few minutes of his life.

The last few minutes of his life

If these people could turn Kai, then they were capable of almost anything.

"Where is Aarndahl?" Eye Patch demanded.

After a short hesitation, Elsa said in a broken voice, "She…she decided we weren't worth all the trouble, so she left us here."

Eye Patch scowled. "It doesn't matter. We'll hunt her down when we're finished here. Bring 'em down," he ordered his partner.

The second man herded Elsa and Erikksen downstairs to stand with Kristoff.

"How, Kai?" Kristoff asked, glaring bitterly at his partner. "Did they just tail us all the way here? I never saw anybody."

Kai shook his head. "There's a transmitter in my car. They let us find the right house and then they followed."

"Why, Kai?" Kristoff was desperate to understand. Kai had been his mentor, the solid foundation of his squad, steady, reliable, and incorruptible. Or so he'd thought.

Kai's expression hardened a bit. "I've been an agent for over twenty-five years. Twenty-five damn good years. I've put away more than my fair share of criminals and low-lifes, but I'm still just an agent. A grunt in the field." His voice held a bitter edge. "I'm old enough to be your father, and you're my supervisor. Because I wouldn't play the political game with the Muscovians. I wouldn't lie and go along, and my career was ruined because of that."

He met Kristoff's eyes and looked genuinely regretful. "Kristoff, you're one of the department's finest agents. Believe me, I did not want it to happen like this. We were supposed to stay outside and let these men carry out their assignment. Then once I had the all-clear, we would come in and find the bodies. Your name would be clear, and this investigation would end. The plan went sideways when Aarndahl took off like that."

Kai glared at Eye Patch. "But if this idiot hadn't called my name, I still could've come up with a way for you to walk away with me. He blew it for you."

Eye Patch shrugged. "Didn't know it was important to you. But you better get out of here. It's getting lighter outside. Give us a half-hour, then call the cops. Make up any cover story you like."

Kristoff clenched his fists, shaking with rage, his gaze boring in on Kai's. "I've got one for you, Agent Haugland. I come to you, desperate to clear my name, convince you to come up here with me, even though you think it's a wild goose chase. I go in the front; you cover the side. You hear shots, you run in, and find us all dead. You see someone running and empty your piece at them, but miss. You chase them, almost get killed yourself, but they get away. You call the locals, then HQ, and fill them in. Sinclair comes flying up. She bitches you out for coming, but hey, you're just standing by your boss." His voice cracked a little. "Loyalty, you know. Good old Kai, he would never leave anyone's ass hanging out to dry. Sinclair and Chifu investigate, don't really find anything. I get labeled as the leak. Case closed."

Eye Patch grinned at Kai. "Sounds good to me."

Kai dropped his head briefly before meeting Kristoff's eyes again. "I'm sorry, Kristoff. I truly am." He turned away.

"You're sorry!?" Kristoff yelled at his retreating back. "Tell that to Bulda and Grandpabbie! Tell that to Aggie Norberg and her kids!"

"Shut up," Eye Patch ordered. He gestured to his partner. "We'll do them here. Get this over with and get out of here."

The other man grabbed Erikksen by the arm and forced him to his knees. "You first."

"No!" Elsa cried, and Kristoff felt a blast of icy air swirl around him. In fact, he could see his breath misting in front of him. He heard a crackling sound and looked down, where he swore he saw ice forming under Elsa's feet. What the hell?

"I take it that's a special request from your boss," Erikksen said to the man, his voice dripping with contempt.

"Who? Who is their boss? Who is behind this?" Kristoff demanded, forgetting about Elsa. He advanced on Eye Patch. "I want a name!"

Eye Patch put his pistol in Kristoff's face. "Back off."

"It doesn't matter anyway," the other man said. "It's not like you're going to - "

A gunshot rang out, and the man hit the floor, blood pouring from the back of his head.

"What the - ?" Eye Patch whirled around and took the second blast right in the face. He dropped next to his partner.

Kai stood over the bodies, a wisp of smoke still trailing from the muzzle of his service pistol.

"That was for Persie Norberg, you bastards," he said.

Kristoff felt another gust of that arctic air. He stared at Elsa, who had her hands clapped over her mouth, her eyes wide with fright. Cold seemed to radiate from her entire body, though she didn't seem to be affected by it. Kristoff shivered, and he could see Erikksen rubbing his own arms as his breath fogged in the air.

He pushed his questions aside as Kai spoke again. "I didn't know they were going to kill Persie, Kristoff, I really didn't. But it happened, and there was nothing I could do but bide my time."

"So you let me think he was the leak. Let me chase my tail looking into it. Watched me get suspended, my career ruined."

Kai just looked at him, his pistol hanging by his side. "There wasn't much I could do to prevent that. My intention was to get you out of this, get you reinstated, let you be a hero. Persie would be labeled as the mole. He's dead; it wouldn't matter to him."

"It matters to his family, Kai."

Kai's normally benign features screwed into an angry snarl. "I don't have to explain this to you or anyone else, you puppy. I'm not proud of what I did, but I have my reasons. Don't presume to lecture me on something you know nothing about!" He raised his pistol. "Bitterness and pain? I have twenty-plus years of that."

Kristoff raised his hands and backed off, eyeing the pistol. "You did just save our lives, Kai. I'm sure that'll count for something."

"You think so, do you?"

Kristoff moved one hand slowly to his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone. "Look, I'm going to call Sinclair, have her send a team up here, and maybe - "

"No. Put the phone down." Kai gestured at the floor with his gun. "Now!"

Kristoff let the phone clatter to the floor. "It's over, Kai."

The older man shook his head. "It's never over. You make one mistake and it comes back to haunt you. People find out, and you can never walk away."

Kristoff blinked at that statement. "Is someone blackmailing you, Kai? Is that why you're doing this?"

Kai closed his eyes briefly. "Why does it matter?"

"It matters to me," Kristoff said softly.

Kai let out a long sigh. "When my wife got cancer, she needed highly specialized treatments. The Health Service wouldn't cover them. 'Too experimental,' they said. 'Too expensive' is what they really meant. I mortgaged our house, emptied our bank accounts, but it wasn't enough. Then someone came to me and offered to cover the treatments if I would deliver some sensitive documents on an energy regulation investigation. What was I supposed to do? Let her die? So I delivered, and they delivered. But from then on, I had a new employer." He shook his head. "But the ironic thing is that after all of that, she's relapsed. She's going to die anyway, sooner rather than later."

"I'm really sorry about that, Kai, you know I am. But that's not their fault. Please, let them go," Kristoff pleaded, waving at Elsa and Erikksen. "It's over."

Kai shook his head. "I came to do a job. You know me. Agent Reliable. I always finish what I start." He bent down and picked up Eye Patch's suppressed pistol, aiming it squarely at his former partner. "For what it's worth…I am sorry, Kristoff."

A/N: And there it is. Hope everyone is still enjoying... Drop me a line and let me know what you think.