Chapter 1 - The Man Beneath the Snow
Eli Carter dropped to his knees beside the buried man and shouted:
"He's still breathing!"
The stranger opened his eyes as Eli's dog uncovered a black leather wallet in the snow.
A silver card inside it carried one word:
"REAPER."
Eli had not found an ordinary dying man.
At nine years old, Eli Carter knew three things about the woods behind his grandfather's cabin.
Never cross Miller Creek after dark.
Never follow animal tracks you couldn't identify.
And when Scout started growling instead of barking, stop moving.
Eli had already broken the second rule.
Now Scout was warning him about the third.
The golden retriever stood ten feet away, chest rigid, staring between two snow-covered pines. A low growl vibrated in his throat.
"Scout?"
No response.
Eli turned back to the man.
He was half buried in a drift beside the trail, black coat disappearing beneath nearly a foot of snow. Dark hair was frozen against his forehead. A strip of gray tape covered his mouth.
His wrists were tied in front of him with black plastic restraints.
Eli's stomach twisted.
This wasn't someone who had fallen.
Someone had put him here.
Eli reached toward the man's neck because he'd seen his mother check a pulse that way once.
Before his fingers touched skin, the stranger's eyes opened.
Eli jumped backward.
The man's stare was dark, unfocused, and frighteningly sharp even through exhaustion.
"Don't move," Eli whispered.
It was ridiculous advice for someone nearly frozen to death.
The stranger tried to speak behind the tape.
Eli swallowed.
"I'm taking it off."
He pulled one edge carefully.
The stranger barely reacted as the tape came free.
His lips were pale.
"Kid," he breathed.
"Yeah?"
"Run."
Eli stared at him.
Scout growled again.
This time the stranger heard it too.
His eyes moved past Eli.
Something changed in his face.
Not panic.
Recognition.
"Get behind me."
"You can't even stand."
"Behind me. Now."
Eli looked toward the trees.
Nothing.
Only falling snow.
Then a branch snapped.
Scout barked.
Eli scrambled behind the man while the stranger fought to sit upright. His arms shook violently.
"Cut these."
Eli looked at the restraints.
"I don't have a knife."
"Pocket."
"What?"
"My right pocket."
Eli searched the man's coat and found a small folding knife.
His hands trembled as he opened it.
"Careful."
"I know."
"You don't."
Eli sawed through the restraint.
It snapped.
The man's hands separated.
He immediately grabbed Eli's wrist.
"What's your name?"
"Eli."
"How far is your house?"
"My grandpa's cabin. Maybe twenty minutes."
"Anybody there?"
"My grandpa."
The stranger looked toward the trees again.
"Phone?"
"Grandpa doesn't get service."
"Good."
Eli frowned. "Why is that good?"
The stranger didn't answer.
Instead, he tried standing.
His knees collapsed.
Eli caught his arm even though the man weighed more than twice as much as he did.
"You're freezing."
"I noticed."
"We need Grandpa."
"No."
"He can help."
"No police. No ambulance. Nobody."
"You're gonna die."
For the first time, the stranger really looked at him.
Maybe nobody spoke to him that way.
"Probably," he said.
"Then stop being stupid."
A strange expression crossed the man's face.
Almost amusement.
Almost.
Scout suddenly rushed toward them and barked into the woods.
The stranger's expression hardened.
"We move."
They started toward the cabin.
Eli took the man's left arm across his shoulders. Scout ran ahead, then doubled back repeatedly.
Every few steps the stranger stumbled.
"What's your name?" Eli asked.
"Gabriel."
"Gabriel what?"
"Doesn't matter."
Eli remembered the silver card.
"What does Reaper mean?"
Gabriel stopped.
Eli wished immediately that he hadn't asked.
"Where did you see that?"
"Your wallet."
"You opened it?"
"It fell out."
Gabriel held out his hand.
Eli gave him the wallet.
Gabriel removed the silver card and stared at it.
Then he broke it in half.
"Forget that word."
"Why?"
"Because people who know it tend to have bad days."
Eli frowned.
"You're weird."
"So I've been told."
They kept moving.
After ten minutes, Gabriel asked, "Your parents?"
"My mom works at the hospital in Boone."
"Father?"
Eli's face tightened.
"Gone."
Gabriel didn't ask again.
The cabin appeared through the trees.
Eli nearly cried with relief.
"Grandpa!"
No answer.
"Grandpa!"
The front door stood slightly open.
Eli stopped.
He had closed it.
He knew he had.
Scout's fur lifted along his spine.
Gabriel gently moved Eli behind him.
"You said your grandfather was home."
"He was."
Gabriel picked up a splitting axe leaning beside the porch.
Despite his weakness, something about the way he held it changed him.
Eli no longer saw a freezing stranger.
He saw a dangerous man.
Gabriel entered first.
The kitchen was empty.
A chair lay on its side.
A mug had shattered on the floor.
"Grandpa?"
Gabriel raised one finger.
Quiet.
Scout sniffed the floor and hurried toward the back hallway.
Eli followed before Gabriel could stop him.
His grandfather, Walter Carter, sat on the bedroom floor with blood along his temple.
"Grandpa!"
Walter stirred.
"Eli?"
Eli dropped beside him.
"What happened?"
Walter touched his head.
"Man came in. Asked if I'd seen anyone."
Gabriel appeared in the doorway.
Walter's eyes locked onto him.
"That's him."
"No," Eli said quickly. "I found him."
Walter studied Gabriel's restraints, frozen clothing and bruised face.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who needs to leave."
"Someone nearly killed you."
"Which is why staying near me isn't smart."
Eli looked at him.
"You can't go back out there."
Gabriel said nothing.
Walter struggled onto the bed.
"The man who hit me had a gun."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"What did he look like?"
"Forties. Gray jacket. Scar under his left ear."
Gabriel went completely still.
"You know him," Walter said.
"Yes."
"Friend?"
Gabriel gave a humorless smile.
"He was."
Walter studied him for several seconds.
Then he pointed toward an old wooden cabinet.
"Blankets."
Eli grabbed them.
Gabriel sat near the woodstove while Walter checked him for frostbite.
"You need a hospital."
"No hospital."
"You're in my cabin."
"And I'm grateful."
"Then don't tell me how to keep you alive."
Gabriel looked at Walter.
For some reason, he obeyed.
An hour passed.
Gabriel's color slowly returned.
Eli heated soup.
Scout refused to leave the window.
"Who buried you?" Eli finally asked.
Walter gave him a look.
"What?"
"You don't ask a stranger that."
"He isn't exactly a normal stranger."
Gabriel stared into the fire.
"Someone I trusted."
"Why?"
"Because he wanted something I had."
"Money?"
Gabriel looked at Eli.
"Power."
Walter understood before Eli did.
"What kind of business are you in?"
Gabriel's silence answered him.
Walter's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, hell."
Eli looked between them.
"What?"
Walter stood.
"Nothing you need to know."
Gabriel spoke quietly.
"He'll know soon enough."
Walter turned.
"No."
"The man who came here saw this cabin. He knows somebody lives here. If he finds out the boy found me—"
"Then what?"
Gabriel looked toward Eli.
"They become leverage."
Walter's face drained.
Eli understood that word.
"They'll hurt us?"
Gabriel didn't lie.
"Yes."
Walter walked to an old hunting rifle above the fireplace.
Gabriel watched him remove it.
"How many?" Walter asked.
"If it's the man you described, he's not alone."
"How many?"
"Enough."
Eli hugged Scout.
Gabriel stood, still unsteady.
"I leave. They follow me."
"You're barely walking."
"Doesn't matter."
"It matters to me," Eli said.
Gabriel looked down.
"You already saved me once."
"So?"
"So don't make me owe you twice."
"I don't care."
Gabriel almost smiled again.
Then headlights swept across the cabin windows.
Everyone froze.
Scout growled.
Walter killed the lamp.
A black SUV stopped outside.
Gabriel moved to the window.
"Is it them?" Walter whispered.
Gabriel looked through the curtain.
His expression changed.
"No."
"Then who?"
Gabriel stepped back.
"Someone worse."
Three men emerged from the vehicle.
The middle one wore a long charcoal coat.
He looked directly toward the darkened cabin.
Then Gabriel whispered his name.
"Dominic."
The front door handle slowly turned.
May you like
It wasn't locked.
Someone was coming inside.
