The subtle metal-on-metal click from inside the man's heavy coat was a sound I had heard in every dusty corner of Helmand Province.

"Get down on the floor, Lena!" I roared.

Lena ducked beneath the front seat back without a second's hesitation, tucking herself into a tight ball with her stuffed dog.

The man in the road raised the shotgun.

BOOM!

A spray of heavy birdshot slammed into my windshield, spiderwebbing the reinforced safety glass on the passenger side.

I didn't hit the brakes. I hit the gas.

The heavy steel snowplow attached to the front of my F-250 roared forward, the V8 engine screaming as six thousand pounds of American steel hit the side of the red pickup truck at thirty-five miles per hour.

CRASH!

The impact sounded like a bomb going off. The red truck was violently hurled off the road, spinning out of control and flipping down the steep embankment toward the frozen river below.

Eli was thrown into a snowdrift, his shotgun flying from his hands into the white darkness.

I slammed the truck into park, grabbed my Kimber .45, and slammed my door open.

"Rex, stay! Guard Lena!"

Rex dropped into the back seat, positioning his massive frame directly over Lena, growling softly at the windows.

I waded through waist-deep snow toward the spot where Eli had landed. The blizzard was howling so loud it sounded like a jet engine in the narrow canyon.

Eli was scrambling through the snow, reaching for a hunting knife tucked into his boot belt.

I closed the distance in three strides, my combat boot slamming down on his hand, pinning his wrist against a frozen rock. I pointed the barrel of the .45 directly between his eyes.

"Where is Sarah Miller?!" I roared over the wind.

Eli gasped in pain, his eyes wide with absolute terror as he stared up at a six-foot-two Marine holding a gun to his head in the middle of a blizzard.

"In... in the cabin!" Eli choked out, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. "Bear is setting the fire right now! Garth called from the police station—he told us to burn the place and clear out!"

My heart stopped.

"They're burning the cabin?!"

"Yes! Bear's dousing the cellar with kerosene!"

I didn't waste another second. I brought the heavy butt of my pistol down across Eli's jaw, knocking him cold into the snowdrift.

I sprinted back to my truck, jumping into the driver's seat.

"Lena!" I shouted, dropping the truck into gear. "How far to the driveway?!"