At 11:47 on Christmas Eve, while our six-month-old twins were sick with fever,

The descent toward the private airfield on the southern outskirts of Geneva was supposed to be a straight run down the highway, but the alpine blizzard had turned the roads into an icy nightmare. Traffic had ground to a halt, forcing our three-vehicle convoy onto a secondary mountain pass through the Col de la Faucille.

Inside the SUV, Leo was nestled securely between Daniel and me, clutching the small silver music box to his chest, fascinated by its rotating brass cylinder.

"Listen, Lauren," Leo whispered, looking up at me with his gray eyes wide. "It sounds like little bells in the snow."

"It does, sweetheart," I replied, wrapping a warm cashmere blanket tighter around his shoulders. "Margaret wanted you to have it."

Up front, Marcus was watching the thermal radar on the dashboard with narrowed eyes. "Boss, we've got an anomaly. Two heavy trucks have pulled off the shoulder half a mile ahead, blocking the bridge crossing."

Daniel leaned forward immediately, his eyes scanning the snow-choked horizon. "Who operates those trucks?"

"No commercial markings," Marcus replied grimly. "Snow tires, armor plating. It’s Von Berg’s contingency team. They know the Canton tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Helena. They're trying to intercept us before we reach international airspace."

"Can we turn around?" Clara asked from the vehicle behind us over the comms.

"Negative," Marcus said. "There’s a sheer rock wall on the left and a three-hundred-foot ravine on the right. If we stop, we're fish in a barrel."

"Then we don't stop," Daniel said, his voice flat and uncompromising. "Ramming speed. Marcus, hit the front reinforced grille against the rear bumper of the lead truck. Push them off the ice."

"Hold on, everyone!" Marcus yelled, slamming his foot down on the accelerator.

The twin-turbocharged V8 engine of our armored SUV roared like a wounded beast, tires biting into the fresh snow as we surged forward through the blinding whiteout.

Leo let out a sharp gasp, and I immediately threw my entire body across him, pinning him safely against the seat cushion, burying his head against my chest. "Keep your eyes closed, Leo! I’ve got you! I’ve got you!"

Through the storm, the dark silhouette of the blocking truck materialized out of the fog like a leviathan. Men on the roadside raised automatic weapons, muzzle flashes illuminating the swirling snowflakes in violent, rhythmic strobes of orange fire.

*CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.*

Armor-piercing rounds peppered the windshield, leaving deep cratered webs in the reinforced ballistic glass, but failing to penetrate.

*BOOM!*

The impact was bone-shattering. Our reinforced steel push-bumper collided squarely with the rear quarter-panel of the blocking truck. The sheer kinetic force threw the truck sideways across the icy asphalt, sending it skidding wildly toward the guardrail.

Metal screamed against metal, throwing showers of sparks into the dark snowstorm. Our SUV lurched violently to the left, tires sliding dangerously close to the edge of the chasm before Marcus skillfully counter-steered, wrestling the heavy vehicle back onto the center line.

"Hold the line!" Daniel shouted, pulling his sidearm as our vehicle blasted through the opening, shattering the truck’s tail lights and clearing the bridge.

Behind us, our escort vehicle—driven by Marcus’s second-in-command—fired smoke canisters and heavy defensive rounds, blinding the pursuers and forcing them to scatter into the snowbanks.

We broke through the pass.

Ahead of us, the dense clouds began to part over the lower valley, revealing the glowing amber runway lights of the private airfield stretching out into the calm night air.

The gunfire faded into the distance, swallowed by the roar of the mountain wind.

I slowly eased my grip on Leo, my breath coming in ragged, trembling gasps. I looked down at him.

He was pale, his small fingers dug into my coat, but he wasn't crying. He looked up into my face, his Margaret-gray eyes filled with an astonishing, quiet courage.

"Did we beat the monsters?" he asked in a small voice.

Daniel reached over, his hand resting warmly on the back of my neck, his thumb brushing against my cheek, before turning to ruffle Leo’s hair with fierce pride.