My truck broke down, so I came home 6 weeks early and found my son Tyler missing. My wife claimed he was at an “enrichment program.” One hour later, I found him trapped inside a 95°F greenhouse, underweight and begging me not to leave. Then he told me about another little boy.

The rain beat down like a hammer, turning the forest floor into a treacherous sea of mud. I tracked them by the broken branches and the deep boot prints left in the silt. There were two of them, and they were carrying Leo.

"Leo!" I screamed into the wind, the storm swallowing my voice.

I ran blindly, guided only by pure adrenaline. Suddenly, a flash of lightning revealed three figures up ahead, ascending a steep, rocky ridge that led toward an abandoned logging trail. One man was carrying a thrashing, crying Leo over his shoulder, while the other man held a flashlight, guiding their path.

"Drop him!" I roared, picking up my pace.

The man with the flashlight spun around. In the beam of his light, I saw the cold, calculated face of a Voss operative. He didn't hesitate. He pulled a silenced pistol and fired. A bullet whizzed past my ear, thudding into the oak tree behind me.

I threw myself behind a boulder. Think, Jack, think, I told myself. I was outgunned, but I knew these woods better than they did. This was my backyard now.

I slipped out from behind the boulder, crouching low, circling around the ridge through a thicket of briars that tore at my skin. I didn't care about the pain.

As the two men struggled up the slippery mud of the ridge, I came up from behind them like a ghost. I tackled the man with the flashlight from the side, sending both of us crashing into the mud. The flashlight flew from his hand, spinning wildly on the ground and illuminating the chaotic scene.

I punched him hard across the jaw, feeling his bone give way. He went limp.

The second man, holding Leo, panicked. He dropped Leo into the mud and drew his weapon, but Leo, showing a spark of the fierce survival instinct he’d learned from Tyler, bit the man's leg with everything he had.