As soon as Logan heard the explosion, he stopped running and ducked instinctively as the flames formed a pillar that looked like it might be holding up the sky. For a split second, bright light overpowered the dusk. Dark smoke followed, billowing upward and blocking out the sun that was setting on the cloud-filled horizon.
The whole world turned black in that instant, and when it cleared, absolutely no one was still standing.
That was the bad news.
But the good news was that any disaster that large could only mean one thing: Maddie was still alive.
Maddie was an idiot. Or so she thought as she forced herself up and away from the fire that still roared behind her.
She’d shaved the entire block of magnesium, kept it clutched in her hands. Even though she knew it burned at four thousand degrees—even though that was exactly why she’d done it—she was still afraid her skin might blister, her hair might catch fire. She’d jumped as far from the flames as possible, and then all she had to do was roll and kick and claw her way over the body of the man who had fallen beside her.
One of the men with the assault rifles.
Maddie didn’t think twice before picking up the weapon.
Through the smoke, Stefan stirred.
“The plane!” Maddie shouted. “Get to the plane. Now!”
Stefan didn’t have to be told twice. He stood and swooped his frail little sister into his arms and started running to where her father’s plane bobbed near the shore.
But Maddie couldn’t leave yet. She would never leave without her father.
She crawled to the second gunman. Blood streamed from his head and he didn’t move, so she grabbed his rifle and hurled it with all her might, sending it end over end into the icy water like she might be returning it to the Lady of the Lake.
Both of the men by the fire were unconscious, but Maddie knew there were two more guards out in the woods.
Two guards who would have no doubt heard the explosion.
Two guards who would be coming. Soon.
She forced herself to her feet. She was still wobbly, but there was no time to worry about a pesky little thing like balance, so she rushed toward the tent, hurled back the flap, and yelled “Dad?”
It was empty.
Maddie felt her legs start to give out. She was more tired, more hungry, more hopeless than she’d ever been in her life.
But then she turned and saw her father—
—on his knees in the snow, the Wolf’s blade at his neck.
Maddie had left Logan the little knife. He thought he might have to thank her for that when this mess was over. Right after he killed her. Then kissed her. Then killed her again.
But the knife did come in handy. So did the rope.
Uri had struggled as Logan led him through the forest, but the man had stayed on his feet long enough to guide Logan to the camp. When the time came to tie Uri to another tree, the man’s wound had started to fester and the fight was leaving him bit by bit. He didn’t even try to struggle. He only smirked.
“Thanks for the tour,” Logan said. He crammed one of Stefan’s spare socks into the man’s mouth. “I think I can find my way from here.”
From that point, it was just a matter of waiting.
Of course, it didn’t take long for Uri to spit out the gag. Of course, he started yelling. Even his grunts sounded Russian as they filled the woods.
And when the perimeter guard recognized Uri, the man rushed right toward him.
It was easier than Logan thought to pull back the tree branch he’d leveraged, send it hurling right toward the guard, and knock him off his feet. Then Logan pounced, pulling back his fist the way Maddie’s dad had once taught him.
“You never know when you might meet a bully,” Mr. Manchester had said.
It was a lesson Logan would never, ever forget.
The Wolf really was dying. It wasn’t just the pallor of his skin, the way his clothes hung on his frame like he used to be a much larger man. It was also the desperation that seemed to be seeping from his pores. He was going to get his revenge. Even if it killed him.
Especially if it killed him. But that suited Maddie just fine.
“Drop the knife,” she told him.
The assault rifle was heavy in her hands. She’d never touched one before. The only thing a gun like this hunted was people, and Maddie felt a little sick just holding it. But she didn’t dare let it go.
The Wolf didn’t care, though. He just laughed and brought the knife closer to her father’s throat. A small drop of blood appeared on the edge of the blade, but her father didn’t even wince.
His eyes were black and his lip was swollen, but he sounded exactly like himself when he ordered, “Get out of here, Mad.”
“But, Dad—” Maddie drew out the word. “I just got here. You never let me have any fun.”
“You were dead,” the Wolf said. He almost sounded impressed. Then he tightened his grip on the knife. “And soon you will be again.”
But before he could pierce her father’s skin further, Maddie’s dad threw back his head, catching Boris on the chin and knocking him off balance.
Her dad’s hands were bound, but he moved like that was his preferred way of fighting as he threw himself at the old man, knocking him to the icy ground.
He was rising, leveraging himself over the Wolf when a shot rang out from the distance, and Maddie’s father collapsed, blood spreading across his back.
“Maddie!” Logan’s shout echoed across the lake, and Maddie spun. Froze. Because there he was, racing toward her.
He was supposed to be safe and warm and halfway through his sixth bowl of soup by now. He was supposed to have sent the Secret Service. He was supposed to have forgotten all about Maddie. Again. But he hadn’t, and she honestly didn’t know whether she should love him or hate him for it.
Boris was righting himself, pushing aside the limp form of Maddie’s father, and Maddie saw the look in his eyes as he realized that the first son was walking willingly into camp, his hands over his head.
“Take me!” Logan shouted.
Another shot rang out, ricocheting off one of the big, flat rocks near the water. Then Boris shouted something in Russian and the firing stopped.
And Logan walked on, like this was the moment he’d been waiting for. Like this was the most important moment in his life. And maybe the last.
“I know who you are,” Logan said. He kept his gaze locked on the old man. “You’re the great Wolf. Your son came to start a war. He died a soldier’s death. This man shot him.” Logan pointed to where Maddie’s father lay on the ground. “Because it was his job to protect me. It was always about me. My father. My mother. It was about my family then. It should be about my family now. So take me.”
“I intend to,” the Wolf said.
“But let the soldier and the girl go. One son for one son,” Logan said, and for a moment it looked like the Wolf might laugh. Then Logan said, “Let them live to tell your story. Let them turn you into a legend—not just in Russia, but all over the world.”
This, at last, seemed to make the old man wonder.
Maddie was aware of the guards pulling themselves upright, coming toward her. One of them gripped her too tight by the arm, shook her a little just to prove he was a big, tough guy as he ripped the rifle out of her hands.
But the Wolf said something in Russian and the man’s grip loosened. Then he let go completely and forced her toward her father with a shove.
“Tell them,” the Wolf said. “Go tell the world how the first son died.”
Maddie looked at where her father lay on the ground, bleeding. Then to Logan, who had dropped to his knees. The Wolf strode toward him with purpose. It was almost ceremonial, almost sacred.
Logan wasn’t the first son. He was a sacrificial lamb as he knelt at the old man’s feet.
“Logan,” Maddie warned, but he just smiled at her.
“Dear Mad Dog,” he said softly. “I’m sorry I didn’t write back sooner. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss you. I missed you every single day. Love, Logan.”
“No!” Maddie’s scream pierced the air, but the Wolf was already bringing his blade to Logan’s throat.
“A son for a son,” the Wolf said. He pulled back the blade.
Then stumbled. Staggered.
When he glanced down at his chest he seemed more confused than in pain. He looked from the knife in his own hand to the blade that was stuck hilt-deep in his chest, right where his heart would have been if he’d had one.
The old man seemed so confused as he dropped to the ground beside Logan.
Then he looked at the girl.
Her arm was still outstretched. Follow through was everything, after all. And even she hadn’t been vain enough to bedazzle both her favorite hatchet and her favorite knife for throwing.
Her aim had been dead on.
For a moment, the only sound was the crackling fire. The hired guns didn’t move, like they had no idea how to live in a world without the Wolf.
Then a soft voice said, “Mad Dog?” Her father stirred. The trance ended. And the Russians seemed to realize where they were and who they’d almost killed.
The two of them came then, rage and fear seeping out of them. The man with the rifle raised it, preparing to shoot. Just as the shot rang, Maddie dove, sliding across the snow and ice, reaching for her father.
She braced for the impact of the bullet, the stinging and the burn, but it was the Wolf’s guard who was falling. His rifle dropped useless to the snowy ground, and Maddie looked back to see Stefan running from the woods, another rifle in his arms.
“Guess Stefan found the fourth guard,” Logan said.
The other man had picked up the Wolf’s knife, though, and he brandished it like a sword.
“Drop it,” Maddie told him.
“You are unarmed. And a girl.”
“She’s the girl who killed the Wolf,” Logan told the man. “And she’s not alone.”
Maddie smiled. It was sweet. She felt almost sorry for calling him an idiot. But then she realized what he’d said and that it was true. She wasn’t alone. For the first time in six years she didn’t have to rely almost entirely on herself. She had her father back, and Stefan. And Logan.
Maddie didn’t let herself wonder how long it would last. It was enough that it was true for now.
Then Logan looked up at the overcast sky, and Maddie realized the full depth of his words. Helicopters filled the dim horizon like a flock of birds. The sun was almost down, and soon ice and snow and glacier silt would be swirling in the air, blinding them.
Maddie threw her body over her father, but he pushed her aside, smoothed her hair. “I’m okay, Mad Dog. I’ve had worse.”
And those were the words that finally broke her.
Tears streamed down her face and she cried in awful, eye-puffing, skin-blotching, gut-wrenching sobs.
“I’ve got you, Mad Dog. You’re okay.”
But was she okay?
She couldn’t help herself. She looked at Logan.
“Uri and another guard are tied up in the woods,” he reported.
“I left a man unconscious on that ridge,” Stefan said, pointing in the direction from which he’d appeared.
“Where’s your sister?” she asked.
“In the plane,” he said, then looked longingly at it.
“Can you fly?” she asked him.
“A bit,” he said.
“Then go.” Maddie didn’t stop and think about the words, what they meant or how far the aftermath might follow them. She just knew that he’d been there for them in the end, and he was right. He’d taken the closest thing the US had to royalty. He might never see the sun.
“Get in the plane and leave. Now. Float it out around the bend and then take off as soon as you’re out of sight of the choppers. Fly as low as you can, and we’ll cover for you, but you have to get out of here. Now. Get your sister to a doctor and then go to ground and stay there. Both of you.”
“Maddie …” Logan started, and she spun on him.
“Right?” she asked.
Logan put the yellow sat phone and its charger in Stefan’s hand. “We’ll call you when the coast is clear.”
“Dad?” Maddie asked.
“Do it” was all her father said.
Then Stefan was running through the snow, and the plane was roaring to life and floating away while the helicopters looked like hornets on the horizon.
But Maddie stayed on the icy ground, holding tight to her father.
“The Wolf’s dead, Dad. It’s over. I think it’s really over.”
He looked up at her. “I’m sorry I never told you. I didn’t want to scare you. You were just a kid and you’d been through too much. I’m sorry.”
“Shh. Save your strength. Help’s coming. We’re going to get you well and then go home.”
Home.
It wasn’t until the helicopters landed and two dozen agents in full SWAT gear swarmed the beach that Maddie realized she actually wasn’t sure where that was anymore.