Page 58 of Frostbite

Someone screamed.

Then everything went still.

Someone had been shot, she realized.

Olive just wasn’t sure who.

For a heartbeat, Olive couldn’t move.

The sharp, metallic scent of gunfire hit the back of her throat.

JJ stood frozen, eyes wide in shock.

Red bloomed across his chest.

Then his knees buckled.

He hit the floor hard, a dark stain spreading beneath him.

Behind him—at the open door—stood Warren.

He held a rifle, the barrel still faintly smoking, snow caught in his beard and coat. “Guess I got back just in time.”

Mara gasped, covering her mouth. “Warren! Where?—?”

“I went to the old hunting cabin.” He stepped inside, eyes never leaving JJ, who moaned on the floor as blood continued to spread. “It’s about a half mile up the ridge. I wanted to check it out—just in case. When I got there, I found tracks, a fire still warm, and a stash of rations and ammo. Figured whoever’d been camping there wasn’t the friendly kind.”

Olive glanced at JJ and shook her head. No, JJ hadn’t been the friendly kind. He’d been staying there, waiting to make his move.

Warren paused, breath clouding in the cold air swirling through the open door. “Then I found this.”

He reached into his coat and tossed something onto the table—a plastic Pac-Man.

JJ’s.

Warren’s voice softened. “I didn’t know how deep this ran, but I knew something wasn’t right. I waited for the storm to ease before coming back. Guess my timing worked out.”

Silence filled the room again—shaken breaths, the distant moan of wind, the crackle of fire.

JJ was alive—and based on where the bullet had hit, he would recover.

Before Olive could let down her guard and allow herself to believe this was all over, a loud sound filled the air. Lights appeared in the sky above, so bright they were blinding.

“Is it a chorus of heavenly angels?” Mitzi asked, her voice dry.

“That doesn’t sound like anyone singing to me,” Jason muttered.

Olive held her breath.

Had Winterlight sent backup?

They were about to find out.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

The lightsin the sky weren’t a chorus of heavenly angels.